Gibbet Rath massacre The Gibbet Rath massacre was the massacre of some 300 – 500 rebels by British forces which took place during the Irish Rebellion of 1798 on the Curragh of Kildare on 29 May 1798 . Background . News of the outbreak of the rebellion had prompted Major - General Sir James Duff , Military Commander in Limerick , to gather a force of about 600 men , mainly Dublin militia , backed up by seven artillery pieces , and set out on a forced march to Dublin on 27 May . His twin objectives were to restore communications between the two cities and to crush any resistance encountered on the way . As the soldiers entered County Kildare they discovered the bodies of several rebel victims , among them Lieutenant William Giffard , the son of the commander of the Dublin militia , Captain John Giffard , which reportedly inflamed the soldiers . However , by the time Duff ' s column arrived in Monasterevan in County Kildare , at 7 . 00 a . m . on the 29th , the bulk of the rebel forces had already accepted a Government amnesty from generals Gerard Lake and Sir Ralph Dundas , following their defeat at the battle of Kilcullen and had surrendered at Knockaulin Hill , several miles to the east of the Curragh on 27 May . Not aware that the rebels were gathering to surrender on the Curragh plain , Duff reinforced his column and marched to the nearby town of Kildare , and on to the adjacent southwest corner of the Curragh . Massacre . General Duff ' s force had by now grown to 700 militia , dragoons and yeomanry with four pieces of artillery ( three having been presumably left at Monasterevan ) . The designated place of surrender , the ancient fort of Gibbet Rath , was a wide expanse of plain with little or no cover for miles around but neither the rebels nor Duff ' s force had seemingly any reason to fear treachery as a separate peaceful surrender to General Dundas at Knockaulin Hill , who was accompanied only by two dragoons , had been successfully accomplished without bloodshed . By the time of Duff ' s arrival at Gibbet Rath on the morning of 29 May , an army of between 1 , 000 – 2 , 000 rebels were waiting to surrender in return for the promised amnesty . They were subjected to an angry tirade for their treason by Duff who ordered them to kneel for pardon and then to stack their arms . Shortly after the weapons were stacked an infantry and cavalry assault resulted in the death of about 350 men . Accounts of why the massacre began differ . Rebel claims that Duff ordered his troops to attack the disarmed and surrounded men were denied by Duff himself who claimed that the rebels fired on his men , while another source recorded “ " one man in the crowd , saying he would not hand over his fire - lock loaded , blazed it off in the air " ” . However , Duff redrafted his own official report of the engagement before submission to Dublin Castle , his final draft was transmitted without the references to his knowledge of the surrender preparations . The original report read as follows with the items in brackets excised from his final report ; " " My Dear Genl . ( I have witnessed a melancholy scene ) We found the Rebels retiring from this Town on our arrival armed . We followed them with Dragoons ; I sent on some of the Yeomen to tell them , on laying down their arms , they should not be hurt . Unfortunately some of them Fired on the Troops ; from that moment they were attacked on all sides , nothing could stop the Rage of the Troops . I believe from Two to Three hundred of the Rebels were killed . ( They intended , we are told , to lay down their arms to General Dundas ) . We have 3 men killed & several wounded . I am too fatigued to enlarge . I have forwarded the mails to Dublin . " " The grieving Captain John Giffard expressed his own satisfaction as follows ; " " My troops did not leave my hero unavenged – 500 rebels bleaching on the Curragh of Kildare — that Curragh over which my sweet innocent girls walked with me last Summer , that Curragh was strewed with the vile carcasses of popish rebels and the accursed town of Kildare has been reduced to a heap of ashes by our hands . " " Aftermath . General Duff received no censure for the massacre and , upon his arrival in Dublin the following day , was feted as a hero by the population who honoured him with a victory parade . General Dundas , by contrast , was denounced for having shown clemency towards the rebels . However , because of the massacre , wavering rebels were discouraged from surrendering and there were no further capitulations in county Kildare until the final surrender of William Aylmer in July . Dr . Chambers ( see below ) considers that Lake and Duff were not in communication about the surrenders , being on opposites sides of the Curragh . Duff and his 500 men had arrived in Kildare town after a forced march from Limerick and found it sacked by the rebels , along with the piked body of Duff ' s nephew . Duff was later involved in an unsuccessful campaign after the battle of Vinegar Hill to trap and destroy a surviving rebel column in Wexford led by Anthony Perry who fought and eluded Duff ' s forces at the battle of Ballygullen / Whiteheaps on 5 July .