of the Durham Fencibles was unbounded. Thrice the rebels "came forward in immense force against the wing of this noble regiment, and as often, a destructive volley from their musketry, with grape from the battalion-guns, obliged the assailants to recede from a fire they found intolerable. But maddened by intoxication, and encouraged by their ghostly leader, the deluded wretches again and again returned to the attack-and the General, despairing of repulsing the continued efforts of desperate savages, determined to yield the ground and abandon the position. Colonel Skerrett, well aware that to retire with a handful of beaten troops in the presence of five-and-twenty thousand men, would lead to their total destruction, as sternly resolved to hold the post he had taken to the last-and an unforeseen event decided the fortune of this doubtful day, and crowned the gallant few with wellmerited victory.

On every repulse, and when his deluded followers retreated, Murphy of Ballycanoo had induced fresh victims to come forward-and blinded against danger by whiskey and fanaticism, they rushed, on more than one occasion, to the very muzzles of the guns. Were the fact not accredited beyond a doubt, it would not be believed that the drunken scoundrel persuaded the unhappy savages who obeyed his orders, that his person was impervious to heretical balls, producing a handful of musket-bullets, which he averred had struck him during the action, or had been caught as they innocently whistled by. However potent the spell might be that saved the worthy churchman from lead, it proved inefficient against "cold iron." A round-shot from one of the Durham guns struck him down while leading these ignorant wretches to the charge*. -the ruffian went to his account-and his followers broke finally and disbanded.

About eight o'clock, when it was almost dark, they began to retreat towards Coolgreney in an irregular and disorderly manner, carrying off nine cart-loads of dead and wounded. Had the cavalry but one hour's daylight to have pursued them, they must have cut off great numbers in the retreat. The loss of the rebels was said to have amounted fully to one thousand, while that of the royalists in killed and wounded did not exceed sixty or seventy. In this number a very gallant private gentleman was unfortunately included-and what rendered his death the more to be regretted was, that he was killed by the fire of his friends. †

that Shepherd was not favouring their cause while loading with grape, obliged him to load with round-shot, but the balls flew a mile beyond the town, on which Kyan levelled the cannon himself, and one of them in such a direction, that the ball smashed the carriage of one of the Durham guns to shivers, and another struck the top of the inn."-Taylor's History.

"When Murphy fell, he was but a few paces from the barricade, and was waving a banner over his head emblazoned with a huge cross, and the motto of 'Death or Liberty.'

"Captain Grogan Knox, who commanded the Castletown yeomen cavalry, with two privates, fell in this action. It is supposed that they advanced too far in pursuit of the enemy, after they had been driven out of the Fishery, and that by doing so, they got within the range of our shot. This loyal gentleman was brother of Mr. Cornelius Grogan, who was hanged at Wexford."-Musgrave.

Although night saved the rebels from any pursuit, and probably thus abated their losses extensively, as the wounded were enabled to crawl away, the moral effect of their defeat was incalculable-obli terating entirely the false confidence which the affairs at Oulart and Three Rocks, and the calamity at Tubberneering, had produced. The mischief occasioned by their first neglect in seizing Arklow when deserted by its garrison, was consummated by the defeat attendant on the attempt to redeem the original error, and carry the town when it had been rendered defensible. Had the rebels not lost time at Goreyhad they advanced and seized Arklow-Wicklow and Bray must of necessity have fallen into their hands without the snapping of a flint. Within a short march of the metropolis, who can imagine the consequences which might have followed or deny that all the results foretold in the intercepted letter of the slain priest, might not have been realized to the very letter?

The effect of the defeat, and the deductive inferences from it as drawn by Gordon, are interesting and correct—and we shall therefore give them in his own words:

"As the repulse at Arklow decided the fate of the rebellion, so it fortunately left undecided a question how far the Romanists would have carried religious animosity had the insurrection been successful. The violent acts of the insurgents in Gorey and its neighbourhood were not near so great as in the southern parts of the county. The former might, by an advocate of their cause, be coloured with a pretext of retaliation, since acts of the same kind had been committed by the loyalists, as the burning of houses, the quartering of men on families for subsistence, imprisonments, trials of prisoners by courtmartial, the shooting of prisoners without trial, and the insulting of others by cropping the hair and covering the head with a pitched cap. But an opinion is entertained, I fear indeed with too much foundation, that if the town of Arklow had been taken, and thus a wide prospect opened for the success of the rebellion, the Protestants remaining in the power of the rebels in the county of Wexford were to have been massacred. Many believe also that the persons excepted from this first massacre were destined for ultimate slaughter on the final success of the insurgents-and that even such leaders of the rebels as were Protestants, were to be included in this proscription. The war from the beginning-in direct violation of the oath of the United Irishmen-had taken a religious turn, as every civil war in the south or west of Ireland must be expected to take, by any man acquainted with the prejudices of the inhabitants. The terms Protestant and Orangeman were synonymous with the mass of the insurgents; and the Protestants whom they meant to favour, had been baptized into the Romish church by the priests of that communion. But whatever degree of religious bigotry or party hatred had been hitherto discovered by the insurgents, there were still many individuals who evinced the greatest humanity in their endeavours to mitigate the fury of their associates."

The ulterior movements of the routed enemy are briefly detailed :The greater body which retreated from Vinegar-hill, by the position

which General Needham was to have occupied, marched by the east side of the Slaney, first to Carrick-bridge, commonly called Carrickferry, within three miles of Wexford, headed by Fathers John Murphy and Kearns, Perry, Fitzgerald, and John Hay. After passing Carrick-bridge, one column entered Wexford, under Murphy, Kearns, and Perry, where they remained about two hours, threatening the destruction of the town, and a general massacre of the remaining Protestants, without distinction of age, sex, or condition, but they were dissuaded by the inhabitants of the town, who feared the loss of their property, and dreaded the approach of General Moore.

Having left the town, and retreated over the bridge, they took the direct road to the county of Wicklow; which county with the northern part of Wexford, they continued for some time to desolate.*

The other column, headed by Priest Roche, John Hay, and Murphy, proceeded from Carrick-bridge to the mountain of Forth, where they remained for about three hours, holding a council of war, in which Roche and Hay differed in opinion, and left them; but they were taken a few days afterwards, and hanged on Wexford Bridge. Father John Murphy and another priest of the same name, then led the rebels a circuitous route through the barony of Forth, by Maglas, the moor of Mulrankin, and the Scar pass of Barretstown across the Scallogh-gap, into the county of Kilkenny, spreading desolation in their progress, plundering and burning as they went along, and massacreing such Protestants as they could lay their hands on.t

*There is one point which has never been explained to my satisfaction. After the defeat at Vinegar-hill, the main body of the rebels retreated to Wexford, where they divided-one column crossed Wexford bridge, and made their way to the north of the county about Gorey; now this body must have been due north while General Lake was moving due south from Vinegar-hill, upon Wexford, so that they must have actually passed each other at a distance of not six miles between the parallel roads, as a glance at the map will shew. Perhaps General Lake did not consider himself strong enough to divide and occupy both roads to Wexford, or perhaps he might have thought the stag at bay's a dangerous foe,' and permitted them to weaken themselves by allowing them to quietly disbandon. It cost, however, much loyal blood at Gorey."-MS. Journal of a Field Officer.

† Musgrave.

CHAPTER XIII.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE REBELS AFTER THEIR DEFEAT AT ARKLOW-ACTION AT FOULKES'S-MILL-CAPTURE OF VINEGAR-HILL.

FROM the hard-contested fight of Arklow, we return once more to Wexford.

After their defeat on the 9th of June, a large proportion of the beaten rebels moved from the position they had taken at Gorey after the action, and entering Wicklow, bivouacked at Mount Pleasant, close to the town of Tinnahely. On the 17th they plundered and burned the place, murdering several unoffending loyalists, and committing every species of excess. A body of regular troops under General Dundas, assisted by an irregular corps, called the True Blues, with two pieces of cannon marched from Hacketstown to attack them, but the rebels evaded the threatened conflict, and fell back to Kilcavanhill, taking there a strong position within a mile-and-half of Carnew. The design of their leader, Garret Byrne of Ballymanus, was to have attacked the garrison of Hacketstown during the night-but the True Blues being reinforced, the insurgents were intimidated, and gave up their intended attempt at a surprise-while Dundas, reinforced by Loftus and a detachment from Tullow, felt the necessity of deforcing the rebels from the height they occupied, and marched on the 18th to attack Kilcavan-hill.

But neither party was desirous to come to action-and the movement ended in a harmless cannonade. General Lake-who had taken the command of the united detachments-was afraid, from the strength and intricacy of the position, that his troops were numerically too weak to command a certain success-while there were other intelligent officers who held a very different opinion, and urged that the trial should be made. The general, however, declined the advice, and retreated that evening to Carnew,*-while Byrne abandoned Kilcavan the same night, retired his corps, and resumed his former post on Vinegar-hill.

"When General Dundas had advanced a considerable way towards the point where he was to begin his attack, he suddenly found himself in a deep hollow road, with strong fences on each side. He perceived also, that he must have proceeded some time in it, before he could have extricated himself, and recollecting the fate of Colonel Walpole, he very prudently ordered the column to countermarch; and at the same time sent orders to General Loftus to take such a position as to cover this retrograde movement. By this unexpected event, the two columns became united, and the rebels had a clear country to the north, the east, and the south-east, and were so strongly posted, that the main object of the generals was to protect themselves on the west side, where the position of the enemy was so well secured by a ravine in front, by large banks and high hedge-rows, that General Lake, who arrived at this time with his whole staff, thought it prudent to defer the attack till reinforcements should have joined them."-Musgrave.

The fatal effects of the defeat at Arklow, on the subsequent fortunes of the insurrection, became every day more apparent and during these transactions, the rebels who had remained in Gorey and its neighbourhood were gradually dispersing. "A part of them retired to Wexford, bringing with them the prisoners who had been confined in the market-house of Gorey. These had been severely treated; they had been supplied with food only once in the twenty-four hours, cropped, pitch-capped, and exposed from the windows to the insults of the shouting multitudes on their march to attack Arklow, while many had been shot or piked to death. As the mass of remaining rebels had taken their station on the hill of Ask, only a mile from Gorey, after the battle at Arklow, the royal army remained some days close within its quarters, sending out patroles with caution, at first to a very small distance, and afterwards gradually advancing farther. At last a troop of yeomen cavalry ventured so far on the road towards Gorey, as to approach the rebel station on Ask-hill, and found the post had been so thinned by perpetual desertions, that not more than about a hundred men fit for action were then remaining in it, and these without a leader."*

For every reason, military and political, it was now unanimously determined by the royalist commanders, that the relief of Wexford and Enniscorthy, so long and so unhappily in possession of the rebels, must be preceded by the capture of the camp, and a total dispersion of the insurgent bodies collected on Vinegar-hill. To effect this difficult but desirable object, a vigorous and well-combined attack would be required—and on the 16th of June, the preparatory movements of the different corps were arranged by General Lake-and the following orders were issued to their respective commanders :

G. O.

General Dundas will move on the 17th to Hacketstown, and issue orders to General Loftus at Tullow, to unite his force with him on the 18th at Carnew.

General Needham, to move at three o'clock A.M., on the 19th, to Gorey; General Dundas sending a strong patrole under General Loftus from Carnew, at six o'clock on the same morning to Grove's-bridge, four or five miles on the road to Gorey, to support General Needham, in case he should meet resistance at Limerick-hill or Gorey; and also to communicate General Needham's situation to General Dundas.

General Johnson, on the 19th, at four A.M., to move to Old Ross, and unite with General Moore in driving the rebels from Carrickbyrnehill. He will then take a position near Old Ross, and patrole the country towards the Black-stair mountains, in conjunction with Sir James Duff. This movement will require a concerted arrangement between General Johnson and Sir James Duff. The patroles to return to their respective corps on the same day.

Sir Charles Asgill, on the

18th, to occupy Gore's-bridge, Borris

* Gordon.