Battle of Saintfield

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Saintfield


caption=
partof=1798 Rebellion
date=June 9, 1798
place=Saintfield, Down, Ulster
result=United Irish victory,
combatant1=United Irishmen
combatant2=British Army, Irish Militia, Yeomanry
commander1=Various- Richard Frazer, McKinstry
commander2=Colonel Staplyton
strength1=
At least 1,000

strength2=
350, two six-pounder guns

casualties1=
c.30-40 including McKinstry killed, many wounded

casualties2=
58 killed, c.10 captured, many wounded
|

The Battle of Saintfield was a short but bloody clash in County Down, in Northern Ireland. The battle was the first major conflict of the Irish Rebellion of 1798 in Down. The battle took took place on the Saturday of 9 June, 1798.

Background

A rebel force, over a thousand strong, converged on a large house owned by the McKee family. The McKees were a family of loyalists, who were unpopular in the region: one year before, they had provided information to the authorities leading to the arrest of a radical Presbyterian minister by the name of Birch and some members of his congregation. The McKees knew that they were unpopular and were thus armed to the teeth. As the house was surrounded, shots were fired from the fortified house, hitting some of the attackers. Gunfire held the insurgents back for a short while, until a fiddler by the name of Orr managed to sneak around the back of the house with a ladder, and thence set the roof alight. The house was destroyed, and all eight memebers of the family inside killed. News of this quickly reached the British forces in the area, and a 300 strong force under Colonel Granville Staplyton, consisting of Newtownards Yeomanry cavalry and 270 York Fencibles, as well as two light cannon, marched to the region.

The Battle

The rebels, however, had anticipated the move and were waiting in ambush. Stapylton saw the road ahead twisting into woods, and ordered a pair of scouts to check for anything suspicious. The men do not seem to have been particularly vigilant, as when they returned they declared that the road ahead was safe.

The redcoats marched into the wooded area, a dense hedge snaking along the road on one side: on the opposite side, the ground steadily rose, with the areas higher up the slope dominated by demesne woods. This provided cover for the Irish. The Irish rebels were mostly armed with pikes and the terrain allowed them to quickly swarm the soldiers on the road below. In the fierce hand-to-hand combat that followed the British forces were overwhelmed. One of the fencibles, a veteran of wars in Europe who managed to survive the attack later stated that he had never before witnessed such fierce fighting:"every man had to fight his way in the best manner he could in opposition to the charged pike and other weapons, to which he had not been accustomed."

Over fifty men were piked to death before Staplyton managed to order the soldiers; he then brought his cannon into play against the mass of rebels before him, inflicting enough casualties with canister and grapeshot to blunt their attack. In the meantime, Staplytons force used the situation to march to safety.

Aftermath

The battle of Saintfield was largely regarded as a victory of the United Irish rebels. Long after, in the 1950's, two skeletons and a sword and bayonet of the York fencibles were found in the area.

The rebellion in Down would prove short lived, however- only a few days later the rebel army was slaughtered at the Battle of Ballynahinch.

References

Stewart, A.T.Q, "The Summer Soldiers: The 1798 Rebellion in Antrim and Down" (1995)