BBC - History - British History in depth: The 1798 Irish Rebellion Print this page Origins The immediate origins of the 1798 Rebellion in Ireland can be traced to the setting up of the Society of United Irishmen in Belfast in October 1791. Inspired by the French Revolution, and with great admiration for the new democracy of the United States, the United Irishmen were led by Theobald Wolfe Tone, Thomas Russell, Henry Joy McCracken and William Drennan. They came together to secure a reform of the Irish parliament; and they sought to achieve this goal by uniting Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter in Ireland into a single movement. The unabashed admiration of the United Irishmen for the French seemed akin to treason. From the beginning, Dublin Castle, the seat of government in Ireland, viewed the new organisation with the gravest suspicion, and with the outbreak of war between Britain (and Ireland) and France in February 1793, suspicion hardened to naked hostility. The unabashed admiration of the United Irishmen for the French seemed akin to treason.

The discovery of negotiations between certain United Irishmen, notably Theobald Wolfe Tone, and the French government confirmed suspicions and led to the suppression of the society in May 1794. Top United Irishmen Driven underground, the Society re-constituted itself as a secret, oath-bound, organisation, dedicated to the pursuit of a republican form of government in a separate and independent Ireland. This was to be achieved primarily by direct French military intervention. The plan came closest to success following the arrival of a French invasion fleet, carrying some 14,000 soldiers, off the southern coast of Ireland in December 1796. Adverse weather conditions, however, prevented the French from landing, and the fleet was forced to make its way back to France. From this date on, Dublin Castle stepped up its war against the United Irishmen, infiltrating their ranks with spies and informers, invoking draconian legislation against subversives, turning a blind eye to military excesses, and to those of the resolutely loyalist Orange Order, and building up its defence forces lest the French should return in strength. ...there seemed no possibility of French assistance.

By the spring of 1798, it appeared that Dublin Castle had been successful in its determined efforts to destroy the Society's capacity for insurrection: many of its leaders were in prison, its organisation was in disarray, and there seemed no possibility of French assistance. Despite these difficulties, on the night of the 23rd/24th May, as planned, the mail coaches leaving Dublin were seized - as a signal to those United Irishmen outside the capital that the time of the uprising had arrived. However, as a result of the failure of Dublin to rise, the Rebellion when it came was distinguished everywhere by a lack of concert and by a lack of focus. The uprisings outside the capital had been intended by the United Irishmen as supporting acts - sideshows - to the main event in Dublin, but as Dublin did not perform as planned, rebels in outlying areas now found themselves promoted to centre-stage. In the lack of co-ordination between the rebel theatres of war lay the salvation of Dublin Castle and British rule in Ireland. Top Rebellion The initial outbreak of the rebellion was confined to a ring of counties surrounding Dublin.

The fighting in Kildare, Carlow, Wicklow and Meath had been largely suppressed by government forces, and the capital secured, when news arrived of a major rebel success in County Wexford. On 29 May 1798 a terse communiqué was issued from Dublin Castle confirming the rumours that had swept the city a day earlier. For the first time in the rebellion, a detachment of soldiers - in this case over 100 men of the North Cork Militia - had been cut to pieces in an open engagement at Oulart, County Wexford. Wexford was ablaze. The eruption of Wexford was a most unexpected (as well as most unwelcome) development for Dublin Castle for the county had, by and large, escaped official scrutiny in the months and years before the rebellion. The Castle had had very few informants (or informers) in Wexford and, most unwisely, it had clearly considered this lack of information as pointing towards a general quiescence among the people there. Accordingly, the garrison in that county numbered only a few hundred men.

On 26 May came stunning news of the summary execution of some 34 suspected United Irishmen at Dunlavin... Two developments had pitched Wexford over the edge and into full-scale rebellion. The first of these was the campaign of terror unleashed - particularly to the north of the county from mid-May 1798 onwards. Reports of half-hangings, floggings, pitch-cappings and house-burnings conducted principally by the North Cork Militia, under the direction of loyalist magistrates, inflamed that part of County Wexford that bordered on Wicklow, and induced panic everywhere. On 26th May came stunning news of the summary execution of some 34 suspected United Irishmen at Dunlavin, in south Wicklow; and there was a further report that at Carnew, across the border in Wexford, 35 prisoners had been summarily executed. Fevered rumours of extirpation now appeared to have substance. In terror, the peasantry - United Irishmen or not - prepared to resist. Top Irish breakthrough United Irishmen on the attack © The second precipitating factor was the very fact of the crushing rebel victory at Oulart.

This victory in an open engagement, the first such for the rebels anywhere, electrified the county, tempting many to join in who might otherwise have hung back. Undoubtedly, it also had the effect of re-igniting the rebellion in those areas near Dublin in which it had shown every sign of petering out; and in a broader context, news of the rebels' success at Oulart sparked off renewed efforts to raise the hitherto quiescent north-east of Ireland, principally counties Antrim and Down. The defences of the town were swept aside by means of a stampede of cattle... On 29th May, under the command of Father Murphy of Boolavogue, a priest who had been in dispute with his bishop and who had reluctantly stepped forward as leader, the Wexford insurgents, gaining strength as they advanced, stormed Enniscorthy. The defences of the town were swept aside by means of a stampede of cattle, and behind the terrified animals came the rebels. The next day the rebel army, by now possibly 15,000 strong, turned its attention to Wexford town.

Plans to defend the county capital were given up on news of the destruction of the approaching relief column, and the town was abandoned by its defenders. The fall of Wexford was the highpoint of the rebellion in the south-east: thereafter, the rebels' campaign met with devastating defeats at New Ross, Arklow and Newtownbarry and these had the effect of corralling them within the county. Demoralised, and having suffered thousands of casualties, the rebels fell back to re-group on Vinegar Hill, outside Enniscorthy. Top Ulster rising Soldiers seek out the ringleaders © While rebellion had been raging in the south-east, the north generally had been quiet. On receipt of news of the fighting in Leinster, there had been a stormy meeting of the Ulster Provincial Council of the United Irishmen on 29th May, at which there were loud protests at the failure to rise in support. The existing leadership was accused of having 'completely betrayed the people both of Leinster and Ulster' and it was promptly deposed. New men, Henry Joy McCracken among them, were now appointed and plans were hurriedly made for a rising.

On 7th June a large number of rebels assembled in different parts of County Antrim. In Ballymena, the green flag was raised over the market house, and there were attacks on Larne, Glenarm, Carrickfergus, Toomebridge and Ballymoney. The rebels, almost entirely Presbyterian, captured Antrim town for a few hours but were then driven out 'with great slaughter' by government artillery fire. An attempted mobilisation in County Derry had come to nothing, and by the evening of 8th June, the Antrim rebels had also lost heart and had begun drifting home. Some weeks later McCracken was captured and executed. At Ballynahinch, some 12 miles from Belfast, the rebels were routed... As the rising in County Antrim, and elsewhere was petering out, on 10th June (known thereafter as 'Pike Sunday') the United Irishmen in the adjacent County Down began to assemble their forces. This was under the command of Henry Monro, a shopkeeper from Newtownards and, ironically, a direct descendant of General Robert Monro who had commanded the Scottish force in Ulster in the wars of the 1640s.

At Ballynahinch, some 12 miles from Belfast, the rebels were routed on 12th-13th June, suffering several hundred casualties. Military losses were three dead and some thirty wounded. 'General' Monro was captured and, a few days later, hanged outside his front door. The rebellion in the north-east was over. Top Vinegar Hill The Battle of Vinegar Hill © With the rebels scattered in the north, attention shifted once again to those still 'out' in Wexford, and the army laid plans to attack their camp at Vinegar Hill. On 21st June, General Gerard Lake attempted to surround Vinegar Hill with some 20,000 men, in four columns of soldiers, in order to prevent a rebel breakout. Battle was joined. It lasted about two hours: the rebels were mercilessly shelled, and artillery carried the day. 'The rebels made a tolerable good fight of it' wrote Lake, and then pronounced the 'carnage ... dreadful' among them; hundreds of men may have fallen on the field of battle, though numbers managed to escape.

Although a 'little war' continued in the Wicklow mountains for some time afterwards, in effect, after Vinegar Hill, the rebellion in the south-east was over. In defeat, rebel discipline collapsed in some places. After the defeat at New Ross, about 100 loyalists had been killed at a barn in Scullabogue; and now, following the disaster at Vinegar Hill, about 70 Protestant prisoners were piked to death on the bridge at Wexford town. The army repaid these atrocities with interest: the mopping-up operations after Vinegar Hill resembled, to the fury of the newly-appointed Lord Lieutenant, Marquis Cornwallis, little other than universal rape, plunder and murder. Retribution for the rebel leaders was swift and largely uncompromising. Bagenal Harvey, Cornelius Grogan, Mathew Keogh, and Anthony Perry - all Wexford commanders (and, incidentally, all Protestants) - were executed; their heads were cut off and stuck on spikes outside the courthouse in Wexford town.

Father John Murphy, the hero of Oulart and Enniscorthy (or a latter-day mixture of Attila, Genghis Khan and Tamerlane, as loyalists viewed him), was captured in Tullow, County Carlow. He was stripped, flogged, hanged, and beheaded: his corpse was burned in a barrel. With an eye for detail, the local Yeomanry spiked his head on a building directly opposite the local Catholic church, and with great glee, they forced the Catholics of Tullow to open their windows to admit the 'holy smoke' from his funeral pyre. Humbert scored a striking victory at Castlebar but then his campaign ran out of steam. For a brief period in late August, there appeared a prospect that the rebellion would flare up again. On 22nd August, a French force of some 1,100 men, under the command of General Humbert, waded ashore at Kilcummin Strand, near Killala, County Mayo. Humbert scored a striking victory at Castlebar, but then his campaign ran out of steam. It soon became clear that the apparent signal victory at Castlebar was an empty triumph.

On 8th September at Ballinamuck, County Longford, the French force, vastly outnumbered, laid down its arms. The French were treated as honoured prisoners of war, but those Irish auxiliaries who had recklessly joined them were promptly massacred. The rebellion was finally over: between 10,000 and 25,000 rebels (including a high proportion of non-combatants), and around 600 soldiers had been slain, and large areas of the country had been effectively laid waste. Top Legacy The 1798 rebellion, and its aftermath, shattered existing relationships within Ireland, awakened ancient fears and evoked memories of the bloody rebellion of 1641. The very fact that a rebellion had occurred at all also called into question the future of the Irish political structure. Marquis Cornwallis had been charged in June 1798 not only with crushing the rebellion, but also with seizing the opportunity the crisis offered to put through a legislative union between Ireland and England. The Irish parliament was to be another casualty of the 1798 rebellion, while Union was represented as the perfect answer to those separatists who had sought to pull Ireland and Britain apart.

Union was duly accomplished in January 1801. The memory of 1798 would be both a proud inspiration for some and a dire warning to others. The decade that began with the founding of the United Irishmen, with high hopes for an international 'brotherhood of affection' and for the inauguration of an Irish 'fellowship of freedom', was to close with increased sectarian bitterness. It also saw the end of the Irish parliament, and Ireland and England drawn ever closer together. The rebellion would cast a long shadow before it, bequeathing to subsequent generations a legacy of republican separatism, of insurrection with assistance from abroad, of heroic sacrifice, of murderous government reprisals and of sectarian cruelty. The memory of 1798 would be both a proud inspiration for some and a dire warning to others. The commemoration of the rebellion in historical writing, popular literature, and ballads was to prove equally contentious: some 200 years on, the 1798 rebellion continues to fascinate, to inspire and to appal.

Books The People's Rising: Wexford 1798 by Daniel Gahan, (Dublin, Gill and MacMillan, 1995) Life of Theobald Wolfe Tone. Compiled and arranged by William Theobald Wolfe Tone', Thomas Bartlett (ed) (Dublin, Lilliput Press. 1998) The Mighty Wave; the 1798 Rebellion in Wexford by Daire Keogh and Nicholas Furlong (eds) (Dublin, Four Courts Press, 1996) The Summer Soldiers: the 1798 Rebellion in Antrim and Down by A T Q Stewart (Belfast, Blackstaff Press, 1995) The Fellowship of Freedom: Companion volume to the Bicentenary Exhibition by the National Library and National Museum at Collins Barracks, Dublin 1998 edited by Kevin Whelan (Cork University Press, 1998) Places to visit National 1798 Centre , Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, Ireland. Museum featuring interactive exhibits taking the visitor through the major events of the 1798 Rebellion and its aftermath.

Top About the author Thomas Bartlett MRIA is Professor of Modern Irish History at University College Dublin. He has published The Fall and Rise of the Irish Nation: The Catholic Question 1690-1830 (Dublin, 1992), and has edited, with Keith Jeffery, A Military History of Ireland (Cambridge, 1996). Battle of Vinegar - 1798 Irish Rebellion | Ireland Calling Store The Battle of Vinegar Hill – 1798 United Irishmen Rebellion The Battle of Vinegar Hill above the town of Enniscorthy in Co Wexford was one of the decisive encounters of the United Irishmen Rebellion of 1798. The rebels were trying to consolidate their gains in Co Wexford but they were poorly equipped and so were quickly overcome by superior might of the British Army. The 1798 Rebellion was organised by the United Irishmen led by Protestants Theobald Wolfe Tone and Henry Joy McCracken. The aim was to unite Catholics, Prostestants and Presbyterians to provide a united front to overthrow British rule in Ireland.

The uprising was supposed to take place simultaneously across Ireland but due to poor communications and infiltration by British spies, it was reduced to isolated battles and skirmishes across the country. Most of the substantial fighting took place in Co Wexford, where Father John Murphy had reluctantly taken up arms to help protect his parishioners from the brutality of the British Army. The Wexford rebels had managed some victories against the British in relatively minor battles such as Oulart Hill, but there had also been some heavy defeats, most notably at New Ross and Arklow where they lost 2,000 and 1,000 men respectively. They had been engaging in battles in small units and coming out defeated. The rebel leaders included Father Murphy and Bagenal Harvey, Cornelius Grogan, Mathew Keogh, and Anthony Perry, who were Protestants. They decided that all Wexford United Irishmen should gather at Vinegar Hill on 21 June for one ultimate battle against the British. An estimated 20,000 answered the call but although they were large in number, they were poorly armed and included women and children seeking safety from the brutality of rampaging soldiers.

The British Army, led by General Gerard Lake, had an instruction to not only defeat the rebels but to crush their spirit as had been done to those in the north at battles at Antrim and Ballynahinch. There were an estimated 10,000 British troops, fewer in number than the rebels but much better equipped. They surrounded the hill with the plan to attack from all sides leaving no way of escape for the rebels. Lake wanted to seal off all escape routes by dividing his troops into four columns with their own commanding generals. They fired cannons and gunshots at the rebels, who were lambs to the slaughter with most armed only with pikes. The battle lasted about two hours and hundreds of United Irishmen were killed. Most of them managed to escape through a small gap in the British Army’s circle around the hill. The gap was called “Needham’s Gap” after General Needham, whose soldiers were supposed to complete the circle but were late arriving. Execution of Father Murphy Fighting also took place in the town of Enniscorthy at the foot of the hill on the banks of the River Slaney. The rebels put up a stong resistance but were driven out by artillery fire.

Following the battle the British soldiers went on a rampage, raping the women who had sought protection, killing fleeing rebels and burning buildings. Sign up to our FREE newsletters Please click on your confirmation email,Check your junk mail folder in case it gets sent there. Email Address The rebel leaders Harvey, Grogan, Keogh and Perry were all executed. Father Murphy was captured a month or so later. He was stripped, flogged and hanged. His head was cut off and placed on a spike, and his corpse burnt in a barrel of tar opposite a Catholic church. The British soldiers forced the Catholics in the area to open their windows so they could smell the burning corpse. The escaped rebels mostly fled into the Wicklow mountains, and although some continued to fight in small groups, the British had taken back Wexford, the last remaining rebel stronghold. There were occasional outbreaks afterwards but the 1798 Rebellion was effectively over. Follow: The Irish Rebellion of 1798 The Irish Rebellion of 1798 Click to enlarge By the time of the American and French revolutions, Ireland was still under the rule of Britain's monarch, and Ireland was obliged to send men into Britain's armed forces.

The Irish were also forced to pay tithes to the Church of England, despite most of the Irish being Roman Catholic. In the city of Dublin, Ireland had its own parliament for making laws that applied to Ireland, but, like parliament in London, it was elected by only a small percent of the population, and Catholics were not permitted as deputies or to hold any other public office. Nor could Catholics study at any university. The parliament in Dublin was dominated by a few wealthy Protestant landowners, and only those laws were passed that were in their interest and the interest of British rule. The American and French Revolutions encouraged a group of radical Protestants and Catholics in Ireland. They were influenced by ideas that accompanied these revolutions, and they looked forward to arms and troops from France to help them create an independent republic. In 1791 a group of Protestant liberals in Belfast founded the Society of United Irishmen and they became the main organizing force behind a coming rebellion. Membership included Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, Methodists and other Protestant "dissenters" groups, and the Society proclaimed policies of democratic reforms and Catholic emancipation.

The outbreak of war between Britain and France in 1793 forced the Society underground and pushed it toward armed insurrection with help from the French. The United Irish spread its organization throughout Ireland, and it linked with Catholic agrarian resistance groups known as the Defenders, who had started raiding houses for arms. Leadership of the United Irish decided to postpone their rising against the British until French troops arrived. Theobald Wolfe Tone, a leader of the United Irishmen, travelled from the United States to France to urge France's intervention. In December 1796, following Tone's efforts, a force of 14,000 French troops under General Hoche eluded Britain's Royal Navy and arrived at Ireland's Bantry Bay. Bad weather, indecisive leadership and poor seamanship combined to prevent a landing, and the fleet made its way back to France. In early 1797 the British launched a campaign to crush Ireland's rebel organization. They burned houses, tortured and killed.

In Northern Ireland, the British used their divide and conquer tactics to engender hostility between Protestants and Catholics, trying to instill among the Protestants the idea that the rebellion was a papist plot – while the Roman Catholic Church was opposed to rebellion in Ireland. Theobald Wolfe Tone, regarded as the father of Irish Republicanism. Inscription at Tone's gravesite. In Dublin in March 1798, intelligence from informants allowed British troops in raids to capture most of the United Irish leadership. The British imposed martial law over much of Ireland, and continuing brutality by British forces led the rebels to decide to rise up sooner than previously planned. A rising in Cahir in southern Ireland was quickly crushed by the British. What was left of the United Irish leadership fixed the date of their uprising as May 23, to take place without French aid. The plan was to take the city of Dublin, with the counties bordering Dublin to rise in support and prevent the arrival of British reinforcements, and risings in the rest of the country were expected to tie down government forces. The colonial government was informed in time to occupy rebel assembly points in Dublin one hour before rebels were to assemble.

Although the uprising in central Dublin failed, the surrounding districts of Dublin rose as planned, as there were risings in most of the counties surrounding Dublin. The rebels gained control of much of Kildare County. In Wicklow County, south of Dublin, news of the rising panicked loyalists, and they responded by massacring rebel suspects held in custody at Dunlavin Green and in Carnew. The rebellion was most successful in Wexford County, where the rebels succeeded in liberating the towns of Ferns, Enniscorthy, Wexford town and Gorey. In June, Wexford was declared a republic, while its citizens waited anxiously for the arrival of the French to help secure their independence. In Meath County the rebels were not doing so well. On 2 May 1798, 4,000 United Irish rebels met 400 British soldiers on Tara Hill, the Irish losing something like 400 killed, the British 30, the defeat effectively ending the United Irishmen's rising in Meath County. In the North the British were conducting a campaign that included torture. The British succeeded in terrifying and disorganizing the United Irishmen.

Falsehoods were spread among Protestants that in Wexford the Catholics were massacring Protestants. A few Protestant men had been killed in the town of Enniscorthy, and by June 4 the story was circulating in the North that at Enniscorthy every Protestant man, woman and child, even infants, had been murdered. The Northern rebels had been winning minor skirmishes against the British but they failed in major battles against Britain's experience and better equipped regulars. In Antrim County in the North the mostly Presbyterian rebels, led by Henry Joy McCracken, rose up on June 6, but the rising collapsed in defeat on June 7. Rebellion in Down Country in the North also failed. Rebels there led by Henry Munro were defeated in the longest battle of the rebellion, at the Battle of Ballinamuck on June 13, 1798. Battle of Vinegar Hill. The Redcoats of course are the British. Around 18,000 British troops poured into the so-called Wexford Republic and defeated the rebels at the Battle of Vinegar Hill on 21 June.

Rebels fled in two columns, and the last remnants of these forces were defeated on 14 July in neighboring Meath and Dublin counties. Fragments of the rebel armies waged minor guerrilla warfare there and elsewhere. On 22 August, about 1,000 French soldiers landed at Kilcummin, and they were joined by 5,000 local rebels. They defeated the British at Castlebar, and there they set up a short-lived "Republic of Connaught." This encouraged uprisings in Longford and Westmeath in the middle of Ireland, which the British quickly defeated. On 8 September the French were defeated at the Battle of Ballinamuck in Longford County. The French troops who surrendered there were to be repatriated to France in exchange for British prisoners of war. Hundreds of the captured Irish rebels were executed. On 12 October 1798, a French force consisting of 3,000 men with the rebel leader Wolfe Tone attempted to land in Donegal County, near Lough Swilly, in the north-west, but in a three-hour battle Britain's navy prevented their landing and forced their surrender.

In prison on 12 November, Wolfe Tone cheated the hangman by slitting his own throat. Captured rebels were regarded as traitors to the Crown and executed, usually by hanging. Almost every British victory included the massacre of captured and wounded rebels with large scale massacres at Carlow, New Ross, Ballinamuck and Killala. The British have been described as responsible for particularly gruesome massacres at Gibbet Rath and Enniscorthy. Meanwhile, bribery was used to get parliament in Dublin to vote itself out of existence. With the Act of Union of 1801, parliament in London became the government also for Ireland. This was done under the impression that the rule in Ireland of King George III was being reformed. When the Irish discovered that all that was happening was a greater domination by the British, here and there uncoordinated uprisings occurred, and by 1803 those rebellions were crushed by military force. In 1803 and 1804 the last of the rebels were vanquished, but unrest among the Irish would remain through the rest of the century.

In Wexford, the British continued to apply the death penalty to anyone who had been an officer in the United Irish army. Former leaders defended themselves by claiming they had been forced into their role by rebel mobs. In remembering the rebellion of 1798, the pro-British Protestants in Northern Ireland, the Orange Order (founded in 1796), minimized Presbyterian participation in the rising. They described the rebellion as a Catholic affair. The Catholic Church joined in remembering the rebellion as Catholic, associating Irish nationalism with loyalty to the Church. By the centenary of the Rebellion in 1898, both conservative Irish nationalists and the Catholic Church would claim that the United Irishmen had been fighting for "Faith and Fatherland." 1798 – BATTLE OF OVIDSTOWN 1798 – BATTLE OF OVIDSTOWN by mariocorrigan on September 1, 2007 Kildare Voice 22 June 2007 1798 Kildare’s Vinegar Hill.

Without the mythologising that went on in the south east through the work of Patrick Kavanagh and PJ McCall, the Battle of Ovidstown on June 18 1798 might have a big a place in Irish history as the Battle of Vinegar Hill. At first sight Ovidstown does not seem significant. There were bigger battles. The battle of Ross was the bloodiest of the entire rebellion. More people died on Gibbet Rath than at Ovidstown. Kildare had its own sequence of about a dozen skirmishes and encounters and a march through the bogs by a rebel army that seemed to keep its shape for two months even when the odds were stacked against it. Until Ovidstown on that midsummer evening, the rebels still had a chance of victory. At first things went well for the rebels in Kildare. Two days after the first shots of the entire rebellion were fired at either Naas or Prosperous in the early hours of May 24th, they held a huge swathe of South Kildare and most of the towns apart from Naas and Athy.

But over the next ten days they lost most of what they had gained and suffered sever casualties, including one of the greatest atrocities in the history of Irish warfare, the massacre of 350 prisoners who had surrendered at the Curragh. When Prosperous, their last urban stronghold, was retaken and Kildare rebels were defeated at Kilcock by James Duff on June 2nd, all seemed lost for the rebels. Not so. As Seamus Cullen says “there came a development that changed the entire course of the rebellion.” William Aylmer, who had come out of hiding and taken command of the rebels camped in the bog at Timahoe- Hodgestown. He managed to regain momentum and take Maynooth. The camp moved to Ovidstown, just six miles from Cloncurry, where Lord Edward FitzGerald’s grand plan had envisaged Kildare rebels were to assemble before taking Dublin. The United Irishmen of Wicklow, Meath and Kildare would encircle Dublin, march on the capital and then appeal for French and American assistance (as well as the patriotism of Irish officer and sailors in the British navy) to resist the inevitable invasion.

Except it was not FitzGerald who was now in charge, it was William Aylmer of Painstown. It was not to be. Aylmer’s rebel camp of Ovidstown was disrupted and their threat to the capital rendered void by a surprise attack on June 18-19. Edward Whiteman says there were 5,000-6,000 rebels there. Army commanders say there were 3,000. The battle didn’t last long, snipers failed to stop the British/loyalist advance and steady bombardment from two pieces of artillery broke the ranks of the pikemen. They lost 200 men before they retreated to Timahoe. The Battle of Vinegar Hill took place three days later. Both the rebel force (20,000) and the casualties (500) were greater than Ovidstown but both battles had the effect of finishing the rebel momentum. But while Wexford’s rebellion was by then a purely local affair, Kildare’s rebellion was the last remnant of a grand plan to capture Dublin and secure political independence.

As Liam Chambers, historian of the Rebellion in Kildare, concluded “the rebellion in Kildare was United Irish in its origins, timing and leadership and remained focused on Dublin throughout.” Ovidstown was where the agenda of the war turned back from national to local objectives. Aylmer believed the cause was doomed and started suing for peace. Maybe it was, maybe not. The American cause looked doomed after the Battle of Long Island in 1776. America’s rebels recovered and carried on to victory. Ireland’s did not. Kildare’s rebels held out for another month before their surrender on July 21st. There was even another massing at Timahoe on July 10th, when the arrival of Wicklow and Wexford insurgents brought rebel camp numbers back to 4,000. This was the largest encampment of insurgents in Kildare throughout the rebellion. But Aylmer had lost heart and they were not to take part in another engagement. Unravelling the significance of Ovidstown is a difficult task. Historians have had great fun picking through the debris and propaganda in search of what really took place in 1798.

Even the bicentennial of the rebellion in 1998 was to become a battleground in its own right, where new fights were fought with old allegations. The disadvantage is that historians have precious little material about what happened in 1798 from the rebel side. Instead they have handwritten confessions of dozens of penitent rebels and exuberant army victors. There is just one account of a Kildare rebel, Patrick O’Kelly’s “General History”, published after his return from exile in 1842. It may have been self-serving given the politics of the 1840s. He depicted the whole affair as heroic but ideologically unsound and ill-led, more a reaction to Yeoman atrocities than a strike for freedom. After his surrender William Aylmer was allowed to go into exile and took a commission in the Austrian army. His “confession” to the authorities is less informative than it might be. A memoir written under less duress, should it exist, would be an interesting read. But does one exist and is there more? Did Aylmer and other exiles commit further thoughts to paper?

And we can be sure there are treasures in chests of drawers throughout Kildare: the equivalent of the Elmes papers of Wexford. When local historian King Milne uncovered them in his family attic and unveiled them in a series of articles, they revealed a contributory factor in the rebellion no-one had thought of before: the collapse in the price of grain and its effect on the local farming community. Those local letters with local gossip and sentiments can take on national significance. References Liam Chambers: Rebellion in Kildare 1798-1803. Seamus Cullen and Hermann Geissel editors, Fugitive Warfare, 1798 in North Kildare. Key dates: May 23 1798 Outbreak of rebellion: Prosperous captured May 27 tahangan retaken.

Surrender of most of the rebels arranged June 2 William Aylmer takes command, rebels regain initiative June 19 Battle of Ovidstown end of threat to Dublin prosperous retaken July 21 Final surrender of rebels An article from the Kildare Voice by Eoghan Corry which analyses the Rebel defeat at Ovidstown during the 1798 Rebellion in County Kildare. Our thanks to Eoghan. 1798 United Irishmen Rebellion | Ireland Calling Store 1798 Rebellion – United Irishmen fought for freedom The 1798 Rebellion was a major event in the history of Ireland, even though it failed. A group of Irish nationalists became inspired by the French and American Revolutions, and rose up to fight for their independence. However, the rebels were disorganised and lacked a clear command structure. The rebellion was ultimately defeated by the British Army. Despite the defeat, the rebellion set a tone in Ireland. It paved the way for several more rebellions throughout the 19th century, and eventually the Easter Rising , War of Independence and Civil War .

Society of United Irishmen The build-up to the rebellion started with the formation of the Society of United Irishmen, a political movement led by Theobald Wolfe Tone and Henry Joy McCracken amongst others. They hoped to unite the Catholics and Protestants in Ireland to form a strong political movement aiming to improve conditions. They had been inspired by the American and French Revolutions, and had political links in France. When Britain went to war with France, the United Irishmen were driven underground. The group soon began plotting an uprising against the British. Britain began to take threat seriously Wolfe Tone and other United Irishmen leaders travelled to France to try and gain military support. A fleet of 14,000 French soldiers were recruited but they failed to complete the journey to Ireland after bad weather forced them to turn their boats around. The British authorities found out about the planned rebellion and sent spies out to identify and arrest any United Irishmen leaders. Wolfe Tone was forced to stay in France, and continued to try and gain support for the Irish cause. The uprising went ahead without help from the French A plan for an uprising was formed with the Dublin United Irishmen seizing the mail coaches leaving the city on the evening of the 23rd May.

That would be the signal for all other branches of the United Irishmen to rise up in their own cities. The mail coaches were seized, but the Dublin leaders decided not to go ahead with the rebellion until military support from France had arrived. However, the rebels in the south of the country went ahead and began attacking British forces and gaining control of the cities. This statue of Wolfe Tone at Bantry, looking out to sea, is symbolic of hope for French help, rather than literal portrayal of where Tone was at any precise moment. Dozens of United Irishmen leaders were executed Most outbreaks were quickly quashed by the government forces in places such as Kildare, Wicklow, Carlow and Meath. The lack of action from the Dublin rebels meant the British Army were not being overstretched in dealing with the minor disruptions. Rebel leaders were captured and executed to dismantle the United Irishmen organisation and deter others from entering into battles. British soldiers patrolled through major cities, torturing any United Irishmen suspects and burning their homes and businesses. It seemed the government had stopped the rebellion from gathering any momentum. Victory at Oulart re-ignited the rebellion However, a group of United Irishmen in Wexford were seriously bucking the trend.

They were led by a Catholic priest named Father John Murphy. He had initially urged his parishioners not to take up arms against the British, but changed his opinion when a group of soldiers tried to intimidate the villagers by burning down houses in the hunt of rebels. A minor conflict led to the death of two of the soldiers. The townspeople gathered at Oulart Hill, knowing that the government forces would be returning with reinforcements and hungry for revenge. Father Murphy led the Wexford rebels to a successful battle which resulted in the death of more than 100 British soldiers. The battle shocked the authorities at Dublin Castle who had not anticipated such military prowess from the Wexford rebels. In the following days, Father Murphy led his brigade of United Irishmen – now up to 15,000 strong – in the storming of Wexford city. These victories gave hope and boosted the morale of United Irishmen across the rest of the country. Northern rebels ousted leaders Many United Irishmen in the north of Ireland were growing restless and frustrated at the lack of action in their areas. The leaders that still wanted to wait for the French were ousted and that policy was abandoned.

Morale sapping defeat at Antrim Henry Joy McCracken took control of the Antrim rebels. About 4,000 tried to take the city of Antrim, and a long and error-strewn battle took place. Initially, the rebels cleverly lured the British soldiers towards them after appearing to retreat. However, more rebels were hidden in side streets and houses and ambushed the British. The rebels forced the British back and attempted to seize control of the city’s castle. More British troops arrived and managed to fend off the attack. Despite a promising start to the battle, the United Irishmen had been defeated. McCracken was arrested a few days later and executed after he refused to give up the names and activities of other United Irishmen leaders. Poor leadership signalled end of rebellion in the north Another group of Northern rebels were assembled by shopkeeper Henry Monro. They encountered a troop of British soldiers at Ballynahinch just outside Belfast on the 12th June. The British fired cannons from a distance but night soon fell and the battle was delayed with both sides holding their position. The rebels tried to persuade Monro to attack during the night but he refused considering it unchivalrous.

Many slipped away in the night disillusioned by their leader’s decision. The following day the battle did take place and the rebels suffered hundreds of casualties, with the conflict descending into a hunting and massacre exercise for the British. This defeat, coupled with the defeat at Antrim, signalled the end of the United Irishmen rebellion in the north of the country. Monro escaped death on the battlefield but was betrayed by someone supposed to be hiding him and handed over to the authorities. He was hanged outside the front door of his home. The Battle of Vinegar Hill The Wexford rebels led by Father Murphy had also suffered some heavy defeats to the British Army notably at New Ross and Arklow where they lost 2,000 and 1,000 men respectively. They had been entering battles in small units and being defeated. It was decided that all Wexford United Irishmen unit should gather at Vinegar Hill for one ultimate battle against the British. They did this and there were an estimated 20,000 in total. The British Army, led by General Gerard Lake, had an instruction to crush the spirit of the Wexford rebels, as had been done to those in the north.

The Army was also better equipped than the rebels, and equal in number. They surrounded the hill with the plan to attack from all sides leaving no way of escape for the rebels. They fired cannons and gunshots at the rebels, who were lambs to the slaughter with most armed only with pikes. The battle lasted about two hours and hundreds of United Irishmen were killed. Most of them did manage to escape through a small gap in the British Army’s circle around the hill. The gap was called “Needham’s Gap” after General Needham, whose troop of soldiers was supposed to complete the circle. Execution of Father Murphy Father Murphy was captured a month or so later. He was stripped, flogged and hanged. His head was cut off and placed on a spike, and his corpse burnt in a barrel of tar opposite a Catholic church. The British soldiers forced the Catholics in the area to open their windows so they could smell the burning corpse of Father Murphy. The escaped rebels mostly fled into the Wicklow mountains, and although some continued to fight in small groups, the British had taken back Wexford, the last remaining rebel stronghold. The rebellion was over.

Late arrival of French forces too little too late A little over two months later, a troop of 1,100 French soldiers finally arrived in Ireland. They were led by General Humbert, a veteran of the French Revolution. Unfortunately, by the time they arrived, the United Irishmen had already been defeated. Humbert joined his troop with a remaining Irish rebel group and they were victorious in defeating the British Army at Castlebar in County Mayo. They briefly claimed an independent republic of Connaught but surrendered under the threat of the superior British Army. Humbert and his French soldiers were treated as prisoners of war but the United Irishmen fighting with them were massacred. Atrocities of United Irishmen and British Army The United Irishmen rebellion had ended. It lasted just four months but saw the deaths of an estimated 10,000 Irish rebels and 600 British soldiers. Throughout the rebellion there were merciless killings and horrendous atrocities carried out by both sides. Many of the United Irishmen that were captured were tortured for information before being violently executed. The British soldiers were also known to go on killing sprees through villages, with beatings, rapes and tortures occurring in extreme cases.

Sign up to our FREE newsletters Please click on your confirmation email,Check your junk mail folder in case it gets sent there. Email Address The rebels were guilty of equally heinous crimes. In one revenge killing following a defeat in battle, they trapped more than 100 Protestants in a barn and set it alight. The rebels reportedly stood guard to make sure no-one escaped, even piking a young boy to death as he tried to slip through a hole in the wall. Ireland was left firmly under Britain’s control The result of the 1798 Rebellion was that Britain removed the Irish parliament, and the Union of Great Britain and Ireland was formed in 1801. This was deeply unpopular with the Irish republicans, but they had failed in their rebellion, and ended up with less political freedom. 1798 Rebellion Castle Hill convict rebellion 1804 Castle Hill convict rebellion 1804 Castle Hill convict rebellion 1804 Anne-Maree Whitaker The Castle Hill rebellion, which occurred in Sydney in 1804, originated in the 1798 Rebellion in Ireland.

This rebellion has been described as one of the most concentrated episodes of violence in Irish history, with a death toll on all sides estimated at 30,000. In turn it grew from the seeds of the American Revolution of 1776 and the French Revolution of 1789. It was the first nationally organised rebellion in Ireland, and is generally considered the startof the modern phase of Ireland's struggle for self-government. The 1798 Rebellion culminated at the Battle of Vinegar Hill, outside Enniscorthy in County Wexford, although military and legal mopping-up operations continued until 1801. In the aftermath of the rebellion, 400 or more participants were transported to New South Wales. The impact of the 1798 exiles in their destination was profound. In 1800, when the Minerva and Friendship arrived from Ireland, Sydney Town was a 12-year old settlement with a population of some 2,500, of whom 43 per cent were convicts. The combined population of Parramatta and Toongabbie was slightly under 1,500, of whom over two-thirds were convicts.

The Hawkesbury was predominantly a free settlement, with convicts comprising only 13 per cent of its 1,100 residents. The military were mainly concentrated in Sydney, with small garrisons at the other settlements. The Irish could scent the vulnerability of their place of exile, and as a result their rebelliousness continued. In New South Wales it was coupled with the desire to escape, return to their homeland and assist in the anticipated renewal of rebellion. There were disturbances throughout 1800: in February a seditious gathering was broken up in Sydney, and in May another plot was reported. In September and October further conspiracies were investigated, and supposed participants flogged or sent to Norfolk Island. In December, a plot on Norfolk Island was forestalled by the execution of two of its leaders. More ships arrived from Ireland – the Anne in 1801, followed by the Atlas I, Atlas II and Hercules in 1802. Each of them brought more veterans of the 1798 Rebellion, and more news of continuing unrest in the Irish countryside.

On Sunday 22 January 1804 a whaling ship arrived in Sydney: the Ferret, five months out of London, with newspapers as recent as 22 August 1803. These brought first reports of the new uprising in Dublin, led by Robert Emmet. Rebellion at Castle Hill Exactly six weeks after New South Wales first heard of Emmet's failed insurrection, on Sunday 4 March 1804, the Irish prisoners at Castle Hill staged a rebellion. The sun set at 6.28 pm, and the rebels made their move at seven o'clock as darkness fell. The house of one of the leaders at Castle Hill was set alight as a signal that the rising had begun. The 200 convicts at Castle Hill were guarded only by a few convict constables, most of whom joined the rising. Led by Philip Cunningham, a former United Irish captain and recruiting officer, now overseer of Government stonemasons, the convicts raided all the houses in Castle Hill for weapons.

Then Cunningham gathered them together and gave a rousing speech: he assured the prisoners that Sydney and Parramatta were ready to be taken, and that after scouring the settlements for arms he would lead them to the Hawkesbury, where they would form a combined force of 1,100 men. This army would return to Castle Hill on Tuesday morning for breakfast, and then proceed to capture Parramatta. After planting a Tree of Liberty at Government House, the rebels would go to Sydney where they would embark on the ships which would be waiting for them. He ended with the rallying cry, 'Now, my boys, Liberty or Death!' Cunningham then led them to the top of a nearby hill, where they divided into parties to raid the surrounding settlements for more arms and volunteers. Shortly after 9 pm, word of the rising reached Parramatta. The settlers believed their plan was to draw most of the garrison of 50 out of the barracks and enable the rebels to take the arsenal it contained. Instead the main group of rebels assembled on Constitution Hill at Toongabbie.

The crest of the hill, three and a half kilometres north-west of Parramatta across the Government Domain, provided a panoramic view, enabling the rebels to see anyone approaching with torches from Sydney or Parramatta. Equally, any fires on the hill were visible from a great distance. It was a spot well chosen to create an intimidating presence and ensure the rebels had early warning of any large-scale troop movements overnight. In addition it dominated the road between Parramatta and the Hawkesbury. The authorities respond The general alarm was given in Sydney town at 11.30 pm with the firing of cannons and the beating of drums. At midnight Major George Johnston of the New South Wales Corps was awakened by a trooper at his home in Annandale and told that the governor was on his way. Shortly afterwards Governor King rode up with word that 500 to 600 Croppies were in arms and that troops were on their way from Sydney. At 1.30 am a company of 55 soldiers arrived at Annandale, where Major Johnston took command and led them to Parramatta.

The Governor arrived at Parramatta at four o'clock and announced the imminent arrival of Major Johnston and 100 soldiers. The sun rose on 5 March at 5.46 am, so it was not long after five o'clock when Major Johnston reached the Parramatta barracks 'at the dawn of the day'. The troops then divided. Lieutenant Davies led half of them north towards Castle Hill. The other half under Major Johnston headed west to the rebel camp at Toongabbie. When he reached the camp, Johnston was told that 400 rebels were on the top of Constitution Hill. He sent an advance guard of five soldiers and six or eight settlers armed with muskets along the Hawkesbury Road to flank the rebels, while he and Quartermaster Laycock led the remaining 20 troops and nearly 40 armed volunteers up the hill. They found that the rebels had retreated towards the Hawkesbury. After a forced march through the night, the troops now faced a pursuit on a day which was 'intensely hot'. Johnston and Trooper Thomas Anlezark rode ahead while the main party proceeded on foot.

After a chase of 16 kilometres Johnston finally received word that the rebels were less than two kilometres ahead. It was about 10.30 am on Monday 5 March. Demands and defeat Johnston and Anlezark galloped after the rebels and asked to speak to their leaders. The estimated rebel force of 250 called to Major Johnston to come among them. He replied that he was within pistol shot so was no threat, and their commanders should come out and speak to him. Eventually after some delay Philip Cunningham and William Johnson advanced from the rebel lines. Major Johnston told them he wanted to avoid bloodshed and offered to bring Father Dixon to speak to them. Their response was a modification of the usual slogan: 'Death or Liberty, and a ship to take us home'. Major Johnston rode back to the advancing troops and returned with Father Dixon to the rebels who were forming into a line on the 'second hill this side of the last Halfway Pond' under the command of Johnson and Cunningham. Major Johnston called for the two men he had spoken to earlier to come forward again. Major Johnston, apparently unarmed, renewed his call for them to surrender, Father Dixon adding his own appeal to avoid bloodshed. The reply was the same as before.

At that moment, however, Quartermaster Laycock and his force came into view. With the rebels distracted, Major Johnston produced a pistol he had concealed in his sash and clapped it to the head of one of the rebel leaders, telling him he would 'blow his soul to hell'. Trooper Anlezark did the same to the other. Retreating with his captives, Johnston ordered the troops to open fire and charge. Firing commenced on both sides, although the rebels offered little resistance and soon scattered and ran. In the initial stages, nine rebels were killed at the Last Pond, many wounded and seven prisoners taken. Soon after, three more were killed and another 19 captured. There is no report of any deaths or injuries among the soldiers and their volunteer supporters. The rebels were pursued in all directions until an 'excessive dark' night fell. In the aftermath, nine rebels were executed and some 30 were exiled to the Coal River (Newcastle) chain gang. Many were also flogged or placed in irons. The location of Sydney's Battle of Vinegar Hill remained contentious until research by local historian Kevin Moore was confirmed by a Commission of Inquiry in 1982.

The site in Castlebrook Memorial Park, Rouse Hill, is marked by a memorial designed by Vladimir Sitta and Ivan Polak and unveiled in 1988.

References Kevin Moore, 'Behind Vinegar Hill', Blacktown and District Historical Society Quarterly Journal, March 1982 Kevin Moore, 'The Road to Vinegar Hill', Blacktown and District Historical Society Quarterly Journal, vol 2, no 4, December 1981 Objections made to the proposal to make a permanent conservation order in respect of land in the vicinity of Windsor Road at the Second Ponds Creek as being a site associated with the Battle of Vinegar Hill, Proposed Permanent Conservation Order No 192, report by Commissioner of Inquiry Charles O'Connell, Sydney, 1982 Official Program, 200th Anniversary of the Castle Hill Rebellion and the Battle of Vinegar Hill, Blacktown City Council, Blacktown NSW, 2004 Anne-Maree Whitaker, Unfinished Revolution: United Irishmen in New South Wales 1800–1810, Crossing Press, Sydney, 1994 History of Ireland 1789 - 1800: The United Irishmen and the 1798 Rebellion Next > In 1789 the French Revolution occurred during which French peasants overthrew the monarchy.

Out of the bloodshed emerged a new democratic French republic. For many peasant people across Europe, this new democracy concept was very appealing, since it gave the power to them and not to the aristocracy. In 1791, the newly installed French government offered military assistance to any group who wanted to overthrow their own King. This was very worrying for the surrounding monarchies of England, Spain, Germany and Austria and war soon broke out between them and France. At the same time, a new organisation was formed in Ireland. Under Wolfe Tone, the United Irishmen (who consisted of Protestants and Catholics alike) declared their belief in a peaceful future for Ireland in which Protestants and Catholics could live together in peace and with equality. They wanted to set up a French-styled democratic republic in Ireland, which was independent of Britain. They quickly gained support, although some, most notably the newly-formed Orange Order which was set up to preserve loyalty to the monarchy, were against them. Supporting French Republicanism was seen as treasonous by the British considering they were at war with France. Also, Britain was a constitutional monarchy, which meant that the King did not have absolute power. Therefore the British regarded themselves as already democratic.

Because of these facts, the British saw the United Irishmen as a national threat to be disposed of. In 1798, the British began attacking known United Irishmen, and murdering large numbers of Protestant and Catholic members. Tone realised that if they were going to have their rebellion, it would have to be now or never, before the British destroyed them. So a large rebellion began in the spring concentrated in counties Down, Antrim and Wexford. Several bloody battles took place at Antrim, Ballynahinch and Saintfield. The United Irishmen were finally defeated at the Battle of Vinegar Hill in County Wexford. Almost all the several hundred United Irishmen were slaughtered. However, it was not over. In late 1798, the French sent reinforcements to Ireland and they landed at Mayo, in western Ireland. They invaded and took over the area and gained popular support among the local Irish who saw it as an opportunity to get a better government. The French and their Irish allies got as far as county Sligo before being defeated by the British. While the French were taken prisoner, the local Irish were massacred as a punishment for treason. Wolfe Tone committed suicide in prison whilst awaiting execution.

Note that this was the last time a hostile army ever invaded Ireland. Although the rebellion had been put down, it was clear that Republicanism in Ireland could not be ignored and serious changes were needed in the way Ireland was governed to ensure that such violence did not occur again.

Question: In which country did the Battle of Vinegar Hill take place in 1798?
Answer: Ireland