Battle of Arklow (1649)

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Arklow (1649)
partof=the Irish Confederate Wars and Wars of the Three Kingdoms
date=November 1649
place=Near Arklow, South Wicklow, on the East coast of Ireland
result= Parliamentarian victory.
combatant1=Irish Confederate Catholics allied to Royalists
combatant2=English Parliamentarians
commander1=Baron Inchiquin & Taffee
commander2=Major Nelson
strength1=1000 cavalry, 1500 infantry
strength2=350 cavalry, 800 infantry
casualties1=low
casualties2=low|The Battle of Arklow took place on the coast road through Arklow, in county Wicklow, Ireland in November 1649. It was fought between the armies of Confederate Ireland (allied with the Royalists) and the Parliamentarians during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.

Background

By late October, the Irish had suffered a number of major defeats at the hands of the army of Parliament- A defeat at the battle of Rathmines, and the loss of the important towns of Drogheda and Wexford. Ormonde was keen to regain the initiative. In October he received word (via Castlehaven, via his Sister's footman) [Scott-Wheeler pg 261] that a column of English soldiers were preparing to march from Dublin to Wexford to reinforce Cromwell's troops in the south. This presented the Irish leadership a chance to engage the Parliamentarians without risking too many soldiers.Murrough O'Brien, the Baron of Inchiquin and Theobald Taaffe (who had fought on opposite sides at the battle of Knocknanuss only two years before) were given command of a force of 2,500. This operation was of particular importance to the credibility of Inchiquin: He was distrusted by the majority Catholic population of Ireland due to a number of atrocities he had committed in the previous years of fighting, and in the Autumn of 1649 many of the Protestant soldiers in Munster formerly loyal to him had mutinied and joined with the forces of Parliament. He now had a chance to regain some standing; it was more or less Inchiquin’s last throw of the dice.

The English soldiers under Major Nelson left Dublin in the last days of October. As he proceeded through the Wicklow Mountains his soldiers were harassed by tories; these attacks did not substantially hinder the force. In the meantime Inchiquin prepared an ambush a little to the south of the town of Arklow, where the hills come close to the sea. A log barricade was placed across the road to Wexford and 1,000 infantry men were deployed behind it or otherwise concealed by the roadside. Nelson however heard a rumour that an ambush was planned and so moved his force using a more roundabout route, hoping to avoid Inchiquin’s army. Inchiquin realised what was happening, and swiftly moved his cavalry to intercept the New Model soldiers. Most of his foot however could not keep up, and thus did not take part in the fighting.

The battle

As Inchiquin’s largely mounted force came into view, the English hurriedly deployed on a beach, their backs to the sea. As the Irish were ordering themselves in preparation for an attack, the 350 English horse charged, hoping to catch the enemy by surprise, but were successfully repulsed on two occasions. After the second failed charge, Inchiquin launched a full cavalry assault on the horsemen; demoralised and outnumbered, the English horse fled back towards the infantry, with the Irish in pursuit. The highly disciplined English infantry opened up their ranks to allow the horse to pass through, after which the gaps in the ranks were closed once more. Inchiquin’s charging cavalry now unexpectedly found that the horse had disappeared to be replaced by a mass of pike-heads and leveled musket barrels [Esson states that the Irish forces were driven off by light cannon fire, but there does not seem to be evidence for this ] . Close range musket fire tore into the Irish Cavalry, throwing them into disorder and leaving the beach bloodstained. The English cavalry then counter-attacked, forcing the Irish to retreat. Nelson then resumed his march into Wexford unmolested.

Consequences

The battle of Arklow was a relatively small battle, and thus the failure of the Irish forces to cripple Nelson's New Model force was a demoralising setback but little more. For Inchiquin however the consequences were more serious. The battle presented an opportunity for him to regain the trust of his countrymen, both Catholic and Protestant. His failure to defeat the numerically smaller English force left Inchiquin disgraced. After the battle, Inchiquin returned to Munster, where there were still a number of companies loyal to him, but these were routed by Broghill in March the next year [Scott-Wheeler pg 145] . Shortly afterwards Inchiquin fled to the continent.

Footnotes

*fnb|1 Scott-Wheeler, Cromwell in Ireland, pg 261
*fnb|2Esson states the Irish were driven off by light cannon fire but presents no evidence. Esson, The Curse of Cromwell
*fnb|3 Scott-Wheeler, Cromwell in Ireland, pg 145

ources

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ee also

*Battle of Arklow the second battle of Arklow was fought in 1798.
*Confederate Ireland
*Irish battles
*Irish Confederate Wars

References