The year 1798 saw the largest failed rebellion in Ireland against English for over 100 years and there would be nothing on this scale again until the violence of 1916-21. That latter rebellion led to the Anglo-Irish treaty, 100 years ago, and arguably the 1798 rebellion was just as profound, leading to the end of the Irish parliament in Dublin and the founding of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801.
The main focus of the 1798 uprising was in Co Wexford, with a lesser rising in other parts of Leinster and Northern Ireland. But there was also a French landing in Killala, Co Mayo which led to a second major front from the west known in local folklore as “Blíain na bhFrancach” (Year of the French), also the title of a Thomas Flanagan novel about the events, published in 1979.
France was in the middle of its revolutionary wars in 1798 led by the Paris Directory though Napoleon was on the rise. Directory leaders feared Bonaparte’s popularity after his victories in Italy, and were relieved when he proposed to leave France and mount an expedition to Egypt to gain further glory against the British Navy. Ireland was a minor concern though United Irishmen leaders in Paris including Dublin lawyer Theobald Wolfe Tone had long been keen for French support for a rebellion in the supposed weakest link of the British Isles, with claims of 250,000 Irish irregulars ready to support an invasion.
Two years earlier General Lazare Hoche led a plan to invade Ireland with a force of 20,000 men but arrived off the Co Cork coast in winter. Storms sunk several ships and prevented a landing. After two fruitless weeks in Bantry Bay the French sailed home in frustration forcing a postponement of the planned Irish rising. Tone called it “Britain’s luckiest escape since the Armada”. There was also a short-lived invasion of the Welsh coast at Pembrokeshire in 1797. By 1798 the United Irishmen felt ready to start a rebellion without French aid but authorities arrested most of the leaders, helped by informers, and imposed martial law.
Despite the crackdown rebels began fighting in May but were swiftly overcome by British forces in Dublin and Antrim. They had more success in Wexford but were eventually annihilated at Vinegar Hill near Enniscorthy on June 21 though fighting dragged on in the midlands until mid July. Tone agitated for another French force which left port in early August. A force of 1000 men under General Jean Humbert landed on the west coast on August 22 at Killala Bay. While there was Whiteboy activity in this region with violence against landholders, it was no United Irishmen hotbed. Nevertheless Humbert quickly raised several hundred poorly disciplined recruits to join him, and moved south.
Flanagan uses fictional narrators to tell the tale. There is Protestant clergyman Arthur Vincent Broome, probably based on Church of Ireland bishop of Killala and Achonry, Joseph Stack, a loyalist who “grieves for the sufferings of all”. Stack was captured and his bishop’s palace was used as military headquarters during the rebellion. Episodes are also written by United Irishman Malcolm Elliott and his wife Judith, as well as a Castlebar schoolteacher Sean MacKenna and Harold Wyndham, a fictional aide to British forces leader Lord Cornwallis.
Within five days of landing, the invasion force took the Mayo country town, Castlebar. Although General Lake had 6000 defenders, the 2000 attackers had the benefit of surprise, taking a seemingly impassable route before arriving at an unguarded side of town. The British panicked under a bayonet charge and fled to Athlone in an act known as the “Castlebar Races”. The exultant Irish and French force declared the newly formed Republic of Connaught.
Though the victory gave Humbert 5000 Irish recruits, they were poorly armed and trained. Castlebar did not lead to a renewed outbreak of the rebellion as hoped. A massive British army, 25 times the size of the French, assembled in Athlone under Field Marshal Lord Cornwallis, newly appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Cornwallis was determined not to repeat Lake’s errors. He moved to Tuam and headquartered at Ballinrobe, 20km from the rebel army. With no sign of reinforcements from France, Humbert abandoned Castlebar and moved towards Sligo to ignite a rising in Ulster.
Humbert’s army marched 50km northeast to Tobercurry, and on September 4 he routed a small body of loyalist yeomen under Captain O’Hara. O’Hara alerted Colonel Vereker, commander of the Sligo garrison. The following morning Vereker marched with 500 men and two guns and took up a position near Collooney, 13km south of Sligo with his left protected by the Ballysadare River and his right anchored on a steep, wooded hill.
The French advanced on the right along the river, while the Irish deployed to the left. Their advance was held up by Loyalist gunfire. United Irishman Colonel Bartholomew Teeling, who held a French commission, galloped forward alone to the British line, pistolled the enemy gunner at point-blank range, and rode back unscathed under a hail of musket-fire. Inspired by his example, the Irish and French surged forward and routed the Loyalists.
After the victory Humbert made a surprise decision to change direction towards the midlands. He hoped to link up with a reported uprising in Longford and Westmeath. Cornwallis ordered Lake to harry Humbert’s rearguard but not attack directly. The French headed east to Manorhamilton then south, crossing the Shannon at Drumshambo towards Longford and Granard. They would not make it to either town with the British quickly putting down an insurrection at Granard. It was now a forced march with Humbert abandoning heavy guns. He wanted a short skirmish followed by an honourable surrender and return to France. What happened to the Irish was not his concern.
Cornwallis set up his army to meet them on a hill near Ballinamuck, 20km north of Longford town. Humbert’s army arrived on September 8 wedged between 15,000 Cornwallis troops in front and 14,000 troops under Lake behind him. The boggy ground didn’t help French cavalry and the Irish regiment narrowly escaped heavy British reinforcements arriving from the southwest.
Companies of British foot and horse ascended the hill toward the main Irish position. Twice, they were repulsed by counter-charges of Irish pikemen. General Lake sent a large force on a flanking movement around the hill. The French and Irish withdrew east and south. When the British grand assault poured up the hill in overwhelming numbers from three sides, Humbert surrendered. The battle lasted 30 minutes.
While Humbert’s French were treated as gallant prisoners of war after an honourable defeat, the Irish were massacred. Many were driven into the bog south of the hill where they were hunted down and executed. Captured Irish officers including Teeling were seized and hanged as traitors, despite their French commissions. The 800 French prisoners were taken to Dublin and were exchanged and repatriated a few weeks later. Killala, where the rebellion started, was retaken on September 23 amid much slaughter.
The last act of the 1798 rebellion came a month later when Wolfe Tone arrived in Irish waters with a 3000-strong French naval force. On October 12 they attempted to land in County Donegal near Lough Swilly but were intercepted by a large British Navy squadron. The French surrendered after a three-hour off-shore battle. Wolfe Tone was tried by court-martial in Dublin and found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging. Tone slit his throat in prison on November 12, and died a week later.
The rebellion was the deathknell of the Protestant parliament in Dublin and the Act of Union was signed in 1800. The rebellion would bring Ireland more under London’s control at time when British hegemony was stretching across the globe. But neglect of the country on its doorstep would continue to haunt Britain and eventually led to a massive famine which laid the groundwork for future rebellions.
“The huntsman’s horn echoes from hill to hill, and their cries have a mystery of ritual, from a view to a kill.” (Thomas Flanagan, Year of the French).
Woolly Days 