Battle of Meelick Island The Battle of Meelick Island took place on the river Shannon , on the border between Connacht and Leinster , in Ireland in October 1650 . It was fought between the armies of Confederate Ireland and the English Parliament during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms . The battle occurred when an English force under Colonel Daniel Axtell attacked the Connacht Irish army led by Clanricarde . The result was the rout of the Connacht army by Axtell ' s soldiers . Background . The Parliamentarian capture of the Castle at Tecroghan enabled the English to approach the borders of Connacht during the summer of 1650 . Ulick Burke , then Earl of Clanricarde , was forced into action by the impending threat . Clanricarde was the leading Irish commander in the province and by August recognised as the de facto successor to Ormond as Lord - Lieutenant of Ireland . Clanricarde was a better diplomat than a military man , but he had maintained peace in Connacht during the turmoil of the 1640s . As the English armies approached the borders of Connacht , Clanricarde organised an army of 3 , 000 men to support Lord Dillon ' s garrison at Athlone . When Ireton marched south from Athlone in late September and early October , Clanricarde launched a counter - attack across the River Shannon , with the intention of cutting English communications between Athlone and Limerick and denying them supplies from King ' s County . Clanricarde ' s forces crossed the Shannon at fords around Shannonbridge ( to the south of Athlone ) in early October . The Connacht army quickly captured Ferbane Castle and Colonel Axtell , the English commander in the region , was forced over the River Brosna and then to Birr after some skirmishes between his regiment and the Irish army . Clanricarde ' s forces then seized some small English outposts . As Axtell ' s regiment retreated , Clanricarde was reinforced by James Preston , bringing the strength of his army to just over 4 , 000 infantry and 500 cavalry . However , English reinforcements under Colonels Cook and Abbot quickly marched up from Wexford and Kilkenny to join Axtell at Roscrea on 21 October . When Axtell advanced towards Birr to challenge the Irish army , Clanricarde decided to withdraw and to take up formidable defensive positions on Meelick Island , a Crannog on the River Shannon . The battle . Soldiers were posted to overlook the ford that the English would have to cross in order to attack the Irish entrenchments on Meelick Island . Axtell however launched an attack as the light was fading on the evening of 25 October . The fighting was initially fierce , with clubbed muskets being used in close quarter fighting , but soon the Irish were driven from the forward post guarding the ford and the Parliamentarians gained an entrance to the island . The Irish were thereafter routed . Several hundred Irish soldiers were killed in the battle , many drowning in the waters of the Shannon as they tried to escape . The English captured Clanricarde ' s baggage train , including weapons , tents and many horses , though Burke himself escaped . The castle and posts taken by the Irish on the eastern side of the Shannon were quickly recaptured by the victorious Parliamentarians . The rout at Meelick Island was a major blow to the Connacht Irish army , comparable to the loss of the Leinster army at Rathmines or the defeat of the Ulster army at Scarrifholis a few months before . Clanricarde attempted to put an army back together in subsequent months , but after this defeat he had great difficulty . After the battle it was alleged that Axtell ' s soldiers had executed many of the Irish soldiers after promise of quarter . As a result , Axtell was court - martialled by Ireton and ordered to return to England .