Siege of Enniskillen (1594)

Siege of Enniskillen
Part of Tyrone's Rebellion
DateJune 1594 - May 1595
LocationEnniskillen, County Fermanagh, Ireland
Result Rebel victory.
Belligerents
 Kingdom of Ireland Irish confederates
Commanders and leaders
James Eccarsall Hugh Maguire
Hugh Roe O'Donnell
Cormac MacBaron O'Neill
Strength
30-40 Several thousand
Casualties and losses
Entire garrison is killed Unknown

The Siege of Enniskillen took place at Enniskillen in County Fermanagh, Ireland when a Gaelic Irish force under Hugh Maguire and Cormac MacBaron O'Neill, laid siege to the royal garrison of Enniskillen. Although the garrison was able to hold out for a lengthy period, the besiegers were ultimately successful and massacred the defenders once they captured them.

Hugh Maguire, the Gaelic lord of Fermanagh, had objected to the behaviour of the newly appointed Crown sheriff Humphrey Willis. Willis embarked on a programme of raiding and spoiling of Maguire's territory. Maguire was not strong enough to resist the sheriff, but after receiving troops from Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, Maguire expelled Willis. Maguire launched two major raids into Connacht, in which his followers plundered and caused great destruction. This was part of a proxy war fought to distract the Crown while Tyrone strengthened his position in Ulster. A hoped for, the Crown responded by dispatching an Irish Army force under Sir Henry Bagenal and the Gaelic leader Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone (outwardly still loyal to the Crown) who defeated an Irish force at the Battle of the Erne Fords. However, Maguire's main force remained unscathed. In February 1594 forces Captain John Dowdall captured Enniskillen after a nine-day siege. Artillery was placed on the high ground surrounding the castle, but the guns were too small to make much of an impact on the castle walls. An amphibious assault made a breach in the outer bawn wall, forcing the Irish to take shelter in the keep. Dowdall threatened to destroy the castle with gunpowder if the garrison did not surrender.[1] The defending Irish surrendered, possibly 30-40 men and 40 women and children (Dowdall suggested this was closer to 200), after which Dowdall had them put to the sword. Captain Thomas Lee who was present described this as a great dishonor to the Queen as the occupants had surrendered ‘uppon composicion, And your majesties worde being past to the poore beggars that kept it, they were all notwithstandinge dishonourably putt to the sworde in a most miserable state'.[2] A royal garrison was left in place.

In June 1594, now acting with the covert support of Tyrone, Hugh Maguire laid siege to Enniskillen which was now isolated in hostile country. Maguire's forces grew rapidly with support arriving from other northern leaders such as Hugh Roe O'Donnell and Cormac MacBaron O'Neill. The constable, James Eccarsall, had just 50 foot and 24 horse to defend the position.[3] Many of the garrison had fallen sick due to food shortages and exhaustion brought on by incessant skirmishing with the Irish. Maguire and his allies were able to defeat a government relief force for Enniskillen at the Battle of the Ford of the Biscuits. Nonetheless, a second relief force commanded by the Lord Deputy William Russell was able to successfully relieve the beleaguered garrison by 30 August. He put fresh supplies in and then withdrew.[4]

The castle was again attacked in January 1595, when Maguire attacked at night. His men overran the outer defences but the garrison held out in the tower. The Irish withdrew, taking with them the garrison's three boats.[5]

The garrison's plight was not lost on the authorities in Dublin, but the crown did not have enough troops for a relief force, and Lord Deputy Russell considered withdrawing the garrison.[6] In May 1595 the garrison agreed to surrender Enniskillen in exchange for their lives. However the entire garrison was then massacred.[7] Russell reported that the garrison had surrendered on terms to Cormac MacBaron O'Neill, who later reneged on his word and had the entire garrison slaughtered. This was inconsistent with the treatment of other garrisons, such as the Blackwater Fort, who were granted liberal terms to leave their position in February 1595. However, they may have been killed in retaliation for given Dowdall's treatment of the Irish ward of Enniskillen the previous year.[8]

References

  1. ↑ O'Neill, Maguire's revolt but Tyrone's war: proxy war in fermanagh 1593-4, Seanchas Ard Mhacha, vol. 26, no. 1 (2016), pp 48-9
  2. ↑ Hiram Morgan (transc.) Infformacion giuen to Queen Elizabeth against Sir William Fitzwilliams, his gouernmente in Irelande..by Captain Thomas Lee, viewed at http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/E590001-002/index.html
  3. ↑ Disposition of the forces in Leinster and Ulster, 10 June 1594 (TNA, SP 63/175, f.92).
  4. ↑ Falls p.185
  5. ↑ O'Neill, Three sieges and two massacres: Enniskillen and the outbreak of the Nine Years War, 1593-5, irish Sword, vol. XXX, no. 121 (2016), p. 248.
  6. ↑ Ibid.
  7. ↑ Falls p.187
  8. ↑ O'Neill, Three sieges and two massacres, p. 249
  • "Death in the lakelands: Tyrone's proxy war". academia.edu. 25 September 2016.

Bibliography

  • Falls, Cyril. Elizabeth's Irish Wars. Constable, 1996.
  • Heath, Ian. The Irish Wars, 1485-1603. Osprey Publishing, 1993.
  • Morgan, Hiram. Tyrone's Rebellion. Boydell Press, 1999.
  • O'Neill, James. Three sieges and two massacres: Enniskillen at the outbreak of the Nine Years' War, 1593-5, in The Irish Sword, xxx, no. 121 (2016), pp 240–9.
  • O'Neill, James. 'Maguire's revolt but Tyrone's war: proxy war in Fermanagh, 1593-5, Seanchas Ard Mhacha, Journal of the Armagh Diocesan Historical Society, vol. 26, no. 1 (2016), pp 43–68
  • O'Neill. James. The Nine Years War, 1593-1603: O'Neill, Mountjoy and the Military Revolution (Dublin, 2017)

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.