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Historical Notes and Stories of the Ballinamuck, Co. Longford III

Historical Notes and Stories
of the
County Longford.
James P. Farrell
1886 – Dollard Printing House, Wellington Quay, Dublin


CHAPTER III.
BALLINAMUCK AND DRUMLISH. (part 3)

Copy of a letter from Lieutenant-General Lake to Captain Taylor, Private Secretary to His Excellency the Lord Lieutenant, dated, “Camp, near Ballinamuck, September 8th, 1798.”     .

“Sir,-I have the honour to acquaint you, for the information of His Excellency the Lord Lieutenant, that finding upon my arrival at Ballaghy the French army had passed that place from Castlebar, I immediately followed them to watch their motions. Lieutenant-Colonel Crawford, who commanded my advanced corps, composed of detachments of Hempesch’s (?) and the 1st Fencible Cavalry, vigilance and activity, being so close upon their rear, that they could not escape from me, although they drove the country and carried with them all their horses. After four days and nights’ most severe marching, my column, consisting of the Carabineers, detachments of the 23rd Light Dragoons, the 1st Fencible Dragoons, and the Roxburg Fencible Dragoons, under the command of Colonel Sir Thomas Chapman, Lieutenant-Colonel Maxwell, Earl of Roden, and Captain Kerr; the 3rd Battalion Light Infantry, the Omagh, and part of the Kerry Regiment, the Reay, Northampton and Prince of Wales’ Fencible Regiments of Infantry, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Innes, of the 6th Regiment, Lord Viscount Gosford, Earl of Glandore, Major Ross, Lieutenant Colonel Macartney, arrived at Cloon about seven this morning, where, having received ,directions to follow the enemy in the same line, whilst his Excellency moved by the lower road to intercept them, I advanced, having previously detached the Monaghan Light -Company, mounted behind dragoons to harass their rear. Lieutenant-Colonel Crawford., on coming up with the French rear-guard, summoned them to surrender; but, as they did not attend to his command, he attacked them, upon which upwards of 200 French infantry threw down their arms, under the idea that the rest of the corps would do the same thing. Captain Pakenham, Lieutenant-General of Ordnance, and Major-General Cladock arrived., upon which I ordered up the Third Battalion of Light Infantry, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Innes, and commenced upon the enemy’s position. The action lasted upwards of half-an-hour, when, the remainder of the column making its appearance, the French surrendered at discretion. The conduct of the cavalry was, on all occasions, highly conspicuous. The Third Light Battalion, and part of the Armagh Militia (the only infantry that were engaged), behaved most gallantly, and deserve my warmest praise. Lieutenant-Colonel Innes’s spirit and judgment contributed much to our success. To Brigadier General Taylor I have to return my most sincere thanks for his great exertions arid assistance on this day; also to Lord Roden, Sir Thomas Chapman, Major Kerr, and Captain Ferguson, whose example contributed much to animate the troops. I ought not to omit Lieutenant-Colonel Maxwell, Major Pockenham, and Captain Kerr, whose conduct was equally meritorious, and I feel infinitely thankful to all the commanding officers of corps, who, during so fatiguing a march, encouraged their men to bear it with unremitting perseverance. I cannot conclude my letter without expressing how much our success is to be attributed to the spirit and activity of Lieutenant-Colonel Crawford. I beg leave to recommend him as a most deserving officer.- I have the honour to be, &c.,
“G. LAKE,
“Lieutenant-General.”

Copy of the Lord Lieutenant’s letter to the Duke of Portland, relative to the defeat of the French.
“St. Johnstown (Ballinalee),
“County Longford,
“9th September, 1798 .
“My Lord, – When I wrote to your Grace on the 5th, I had every reason to believe, from the enemy’s movement to Drumahaire, that it was their intention to march to the North, and it was natural to suppose that they might hope that a French force would get into some of the bogs in that part of the county, without a succour of which kind every point of discretion for their march seemed equally desperate. I received, however, very early in the morning of the 7th, accounts from General Lake that they had turned to the right at Drumkeerin, and that he had reason to believe that it was their intention to go to Boyle or Carrick-on-Shannon, in consequence of which I hastened the march of the troops under my immediate command in order to arrive before the enemy at -Carrick, and directed Major-General Moore, who was at Tubbercurry, to be prepared, in the event of the enemy’s movements to Boyle. On my arrival at Carrick I found that the enemy had passed the Shannon at Ballintra, where they attempted to destroy the bridge; but General Lake followed them so closely that they were not able to effect it. Under these circumstances I felt freely confident that one more march would bring this disagreeable warfare to a conclusion; and, having obtained satisfactory information that the enemy had halted for that night at Cloone, I marched, with the troops at Carrick, at ten o’clock on the 7th, to Mohin, and directed General Lake to proceed at the same time to Cloon –  which is about three miles from Mohill, by which movement  I should be able to join with General Lake- in the attack of the enemy, if they should remain at Cloone, or to intercept their retreat if they should, as it was most probable, retire on the approach of our army. On my arrival at Mohill, soon after day-break, I found that the enemy had begun to move towards Granard. I therefore proceeded, with all possible expedition, to this place, through which I was assured, on account of a broken bridge, that the enemy must pass on their way to Granard, and directed General Lake to attack the enemy’s rear, and impede their march as much as possible without bringing the whole of his corps into action. Lieutenant-General Lake performed this service with his usual attention and ability; and the enclosed letter, which I have just received from him, will explain the circumstances which produced an immediate surrender of the enemy’s army. – I have the honour, &c.,
(Signed)    “CORNWALLIS.”

Immediately after the battle, as the foregoing letters go to show, a great many rebels were hanged and sabred.  Amongst the rest was a man named Andrew Farrell, who, despite the fact that some influence was brought to bear on the authorities to save his life, was, hanged out of a spoke-wheel car. When life was extinct, the body, and also the bodies of several other men, were brought into a barn and stretched on a table on some straw. After: a time, a Catholic soldier of the Longford Militia, who knew Farrell, came into the barn, and seeing him, said “Poor Farrell, I’m sorry to see you there;” and a yeoman ruffian, hearing the words, drew his clenched hand and smote the lifeless man’s face, breaking his nose and forcing the very blood to the roof, whilst the Catholic soldier could do nothing to prevent this outrageous act lest he would bring himself into trouble. Farrell’s friends afterwards attempted to bury the body in Longford graveyard, but the authorities prevented them; and they had to inter it at Newtownforbes.

After the famine of 1847 and 1848, which committed fearful ravages in this and the neighbouring parishes, the landlords made a desperate attempt to evict all the Catholic tenants, and plant in their stead a number of Scotch families. Such indeed was the venom with which King-Harman set about this monstrous task, that the tenants, bad and all as they were with the pangs of hunger, rose up en masse, and every attempt at eviction was a bloody massacre, in which the tenants fought wildly and madly for their homesteads; and many of them were sent to their last account by the use of the rifle.  The fearful sacrifice of life considerably subdued them, and their vengeance then took the form of midnight attacks on the “planted” families, during which several of them were killed, and one whole family wiped out. A strong police barracks, loop-holed for musketry fire, was then erected by the Harman family, which is the martial-looking building I have referred to at the commencement of this chapter. But after all these determined attempts to exterminate the people, it is gratifying to know that they are still “to the front,” and that there are few better men in the county than in this same Ballinamuck, or ” The Mouth of the Ford of the Pig.”

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Historical Notes and Stories of the Ballinamuck, Co. Longford II

Historical Notes and Stories
of the
County Longford.
James P. Farrell
1886 – Dollard Printing House, Wellington Quay, Dublin


CHAPTER III.
BALLINAMUCK AND DRUMLISH. (part 2)

Humbert had marched from Coollony to Boyle, thence to the north of Carrick-on-Shannon, where he crossed that river and halted at a small village called Cloone, in the County of Leitrim. Here a wretch called Neary, who had originally been a servant to a Mr. West, of Cloone, in the darkness of the night stole the chains of the French cannon and, when about to move in the morning, there could be only some ropes got with which to bring along a few cannon, the major portion of these having to be left behind. And it is but a very few days ago since the writer of this little book was told that the chains of Humbert’s cannon are yet in the village of Cloone, in the possession of a Protestant gentleman there, to whose grandfather Neary had sold them. There are many thrilling tales told of this battle, and the names of a number of brave men who heroically distinguished themselves on the battlefield are held in profound veneration to this very day among the people of the County Longford. Such a one is Gunner M’Gee, whose services to the cause of Ireland at Ballinamuck were of the highest order. He was a soldier in. the English artillery, and was present at the “Races of Castlebar.” Here the inward promptings of a brave and noble heart inspired him to desert from the British ranks to those of his countrymen, and he became in the “rebel” (?) lines a tremendous aid to his brethren in many ways. At the battle of Ballinamuck he had charge of a cannon, which he used to such good purpose and aimed with such precision that he twice confused the British ranks. At length his ammunition ran short, and he had not missiles to place in his gun. In this extremity a number of the camp pots and kettles were smashed to pieces, and with these it was loaded. The British were advancing in heavy order, a massive column having just been ordered up to carry the day. But Magee, taking careful aim, fired his cannon with such precision that a lane of dead and dying was cut through the advancing host. This, however, was his last shot, for the British just then succeeded in capturing the other guns the French had, and they captured poor Magee, too, and strangled him as be bravely stood by the side of his faithful gun. It is related that there were two cousins of his at the gun at the last discharge, whose action was the bravest performed that day. When Magee was ready to fire, having just completed the loading, one of the stocks of a’ wheel broke, and the gun could not be fired, until these two cousins, stepping forward, propped it up with their backs whilst M’Gee applied the match. The discharge broke their spines, and their miserable state was soon put an end to when the brutal British captured the gun.

The following letters, written by British officers, who commanded at this battle, speak volumes for the humanity of the victors ;-

“Ballina, October 3,1798 .
“My very dear Friend,- I was in Dublin the evening the express brought intelligence that the French had landed. I went the same day to Naas; it was eleven o’clock at night when I arrived. You will admit that I had a great escape. The army had marched; I followed, and overtook them at Frankfort. We marched from thence to Athlone, where we joined the Commander-in-Chief’s grand army, destined for Castlebar. We then marched forward and encamped at a little village called Baltimore (Ballymore). The next evening we lay at Knock, on the side of a mountain. From that we proceeded to Tuam, and there encamped; we were then ordered to join General Taylor’s brigade – on their march from Sligo; our regiment (the Armagh) and the Reay Fencibles left Tuam Camp (consisting of 14,000 soldiers), and marched through Castlebar for Ballaghadereen, where we lay that night. Here it was that I met my brother with the Light Brigade from Blairs; you may conceive what I felt on the occasion. About two in the morning we marched from Swinford for Castlebar, but the French had given us the slip and went for Sligo; we encamped at Tubbercurry. The French and Limerick Militia had a skirmish at Colooney; many were killed on both sides; we lost two pieces of cannon. Same evening, we lay at Drumahair. Our advanced guard pressed so bard after the French, that they left seven pieces of cannon and a great quantity of ammunition on the road; the road was dreary and waste, owing to their depredations, the houses being all plundered. Next day we marched upwards of twenty miles, and encamped near Leitrim. They attempted to breakone of the bridges down, but the Hessians charged and. killed many of them, which forced them to retire; the road was strewed with dead bodies. Near Cloon they drew up in line of battle, but on our advance they retreated towards Granard.  At Ballinamuck they drew up again, and extended their line across a bog to prevent the cavalry from charging them, and planted their cannon on a hill to the left of the road. As it led through the bog; and in this order they awaited our approach. The Light Brigade attacked them first; our Light Company after a few fires, leaped into their trenches, and a dreadful carnage ensued. The French cried for mercy.  We ran for four miles before we could get into action; the men forgot all their troubles and fought like furies. We pursued the rebels through the bog; the country for miles was covered with their slain. . We remained for a few days burying the dead ;  hung General Blake and nine of the Longford Militia; we brought 113 prisoners to Carrick-on-Shannon, nineteen of them we executed in one day, and left the remainder ‘With another regiment to follow our example, and then marched to Boyle.-Yours, &c.”

Killeshandra, Sept., 1798.
“My dear Brother,-God only knows my grief of mind for your present situation. You being still alive is a strong argument that the hearts of all men are in the hands of the Most High. Some days before the Battle of Ballinamuck we were much alarmed here, although we little thought the French were so near us. The day previous to the battle our yeomen-horse and foot, Carrick gallon and Oakhill men, 106 in number – went to Ballinamuck, on an information that a vast number of rebels were there the day before; yet, after traversing the mountains, not a man could be seen; they returned by Ballinalee and Bunlahey. That evening, expresses from Ballinamuck informed us that the French we’re there. The yeomen of that place fled to Ballyconnel and Belturbet. The main body of the French lay in Cloon that night. A Lieutenant West had his horse shot under him while re-connoitring the enemy. The wounded beast carried his master two miles, when he fell; the helmet was also shot off the lieutenant’s head. The French general and most of the officers agreed to take some rest at Cloon, giving orders that they should not be suffered to sleep more than two hours; the guard let them sleep four hours, by which time the English army came much nearer than the French expected. This was the place General Lake’s vanguard skirmished with their rearguard, and from thence to Ballinamnck, four miles from Ballinalee, and four from Cloon. The French being closely pursued, prepared for an unavoidable battle. They formed on a hill to very great advantage, having a bog on their left, and a bog and lake on their right. Five flank companies, viz., the Dublin, Armagh, Monaghan, Tipperary, and Kerry, requested General Lake to let them mount behind the Hessians, Carabineers, and Roxburgh, &c., so ardent were they to over-take the enemy. This request was granted, and they soon came up with the foe. Seeing the enemy so advantageously posted, wisdom was needful on the part of our general.  A column of our troops faced to the left, and marched behind an eminence; to this our artillery marched in front. The enemy had their cannon covered with pikemen, who were about to take our cannon under cover of our own smoke. General Lake, aware of their design, ordered the artillery to retreat to another hill, and, finding his men so brave, he ordered his men to charge the French through the smoke. This they did, and, with a terrible war-shout, so overwhelmed the French that they threw up their arms with caps on them. yielding themselves prisoners. Here I should observe that the whole of the French army was not engaged; four hundred and more remained concealed behind the intrenchments, and resolved by treachery to surprise our men. When attacking the rebels the point was to get them from this hold; a volley or two being fired, our men feigned to retreat. The end was answered; the French rushed out and our soldiers as suddenly met them. Here the contest was desperate. In a little time the French fell down, offering up their arms and, as our men advanced to receive them, they treacherously arose and fired on our unguarded men, and then fell again on their knees. The enraged troops rushed in and killed numbers of them before they could be prevented. Thus they overpowered disarmed and made prisoners all the French, before the grand army arrived. The rebels, expecting no quarter, did all possible harm, fired many cannon-shot, but to no effect; they fled into a bog, the whole of which was surrounded by horse and foot who never ceased while a rebel was alive-after which the Marquis marched off with his prisoners. They dead about 500. I went next day, with many others, to see them. How awful to see that healthy mountain covered with dead bodies, resembling at a distance flocks of sheep, for numbers were naked and swelled with the weather! We found fifteen of the Longford Militia among the slain. Our loss were twelve – two of which were Hessians, whom the yoomen took for French, and fired on.”

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Historical Notes and Stories of the Ballinamuck, Co. Longford I

Historical Notes and Stories
of the County Longford.
By James P. Farrell
1886 : Dollard Printing House, Wellington Quay, Dublin


CHAPTER III.
BALLINAMUCK AND DRUMLISH. (part 1)

THE word “Ballinamuck” is derived from “Beal-aith-na-muic,” which means, “The Mouth of the Ford of the Pig” and the pig here referred to is no other than the celebrated black pig which rooted up the Danes’ Cast in Armagh, and came as far as Ballinamuck, making her famous trench, until she arrived at the Ford of Lough Gaun, where a man knocked her on the head with a blow of a stone and put an end to her rooting. The hollow trench extending from Ballinamuck to Lough Gowna, and said to have been formed by this pig, was at one time recognised as the barrier between Ulster and Leinster, and subsequently the barrier between Breiffny and Annaly.

The Danes’ Cast in Armagh here referred to was celebrated line of fortifications which extended from near the city to the old ruins of Emania – the residence of the ancient kings of Ulster. The fabulous black pig was supposed to have commenced her operations here, and rooted onwards until she came to Lough Gownagh, where she was killed by a man who had been born predestined to destroy her. The course of her peregrinations was marked by a deep valley, which is plainly traceable from this place to Armagh.

The parishes of Drumlish and Ballinamuck, Killoe, Abbeylara, Dromard, and Columbkille, form what one might call a wild country – in some places (oases in the desert) beautifully productive and fertile; in others wild, barren, and wintry looking. Yet, strange to say, at all times and places the men of these parishes have been looked upon as the, best and bravest men in the County Longford. Hardworking, and in many cases ill-clad, through the heavy burdens they have to carry in the shape of impossible rents and cruel taxes, these men are ever recognised as the men of the County Longford.

Perhaps no part of the county presents such a fine field for the pen of the war correspondent, or the pencil of the painter, as the high plains of Ballinamuck. For miles after leaving Drumlish, the country is one succession of sloping hills and by no means fertile dales, interspersed with bog; and in the neighbourhood of the village of Ballinamuck the country presents as likely a field of action for an army as could be found in Europe. It is the fitting scene of what was the fatal termination of a great national movement : for here, as the world knows, was fought the celebrated Battle of Ballinamuck, which terminated the French invasion of Ireland in 1798. On leaving Drumlish, a succession of rocky hills abound on each side of the road, and a short distance outside the town a brawling rivulet crosses it; a level plain of moor and bog then succeeds for some distance, which is terminated by a rising knoll of very considerable dimensions. Seen as the author saw this knoll, which formed the base of the British troops on that memorable 8th of September, in the grey dawn of a cold winter’s morning, with people crossing its heathery surface on their way to their chapel to assist at the Holy Mass, it would greatly remind one of a scene in the Afghan or Balkan Mountains during some of the late troubles in the East; and on going on a little further there was pointed out to me the two hills which formed the positions of both armies. They are on the south side of the village-the one on which by the British centre being on the left of the road, whilst the Irish position was on the right. The former, in my opinion, was decidedly the best of the two, being more elevated and having a better slope for a charge on the Irish position; whilst the latter, although not so elevated, presented no small difficulty to the advancing troops to overcome in the broken ground in front of it. There are no traces whatever of any earthworks thrown up to defend either of the positions, and if such did exist they have been effectually demolished. On entering the village of Ballinamuck, the writer was astonished to see a large square building erected on a very elevated piece or plateau of ground, and flanked by two towers, loopholed for musketeers, and minaretted on the top to also afford shelter to besieged troops. This, I was informed was a barracks specially erected here during the troubled days of the nineteenth century, to afford shelter to the troops of the Queen in case of another outbreak, and is at present used as au extensive police station. Such precaution does not look unlike “taking time by the forelock” on the part of the rulers of this country.

In order to give the reader a true idea of what the Battle of Ballinamuck was, it is better to quote from a well known authority on this subject. The following passage from Haverty will, doubtless. throw as much light on the battle as there can be thrown on it (histor:cally speaking) by any other writer:-

“On the morning of the 8th of September (1798). at Ballinamuck, in Longford, Humbert prepared to give battle to his pursuers. His band was reduced to about 800 rank and file, and his undisciplined Irish auxiliaries could render but little assistance, whilst the army which was closing around him numbered 20000 men, Regarding their position as hopeless, 200 of the French laid down their arms at the first attack; but the remainder made a gallant resistance for a short time, and captured Lord Roden as he charged at the head of the cavalry. Finally, General Lake coming up with the bulk of the English army, Humbert was obliged to surrender at discretion. The French, to the number of 748 privates and 96 officers, became prisoners of war, but no stipulation was made for their Irish auxiliaries, who were pursued and slaughtered without mercy, the number slain being, according to Gordon, 500.”

As is well known, the French Directory, in 1798, at the solicitation of Wolfe Tone, who acted on behalf of the Irish Directory of the United Irishmen, determined to send an expedition of troops to Ireland, to assist the latter in their attempt to shake off the yoke of British thraldom. The United Irishmen rose in rebellion, as agreed among themselves; but their rising was not simultaneous, neither was it organized; and, to add to their misfortunes, the French expedition did not sail at the time the Dublin Directory ex·pected. Consequently, the rising was crushed and past when Humbert sailed from Brest with his troops. Nevertheless, he seems to have been a man of iron will, for he landed in Killala early in August, captured Castlebar and marched for Dublin. The southern pass to the capital was closed at Athlone, and Humbert thought that by taking the northern route he would baffle pursuit and bring a host with him who would strike terror to the hearts of the British. In both these expectations he was disappointed. The tyranny and oppression of the British soldiers and officers at the outset of the rebellion had crushed the spirit of the Irish peasantry, whose lives were daily sacrificed, homes burned, and crops destroyed, by the accursed yeomen and soldiery; and so it was but the young and hardy men of each county who joined him. On the other hand General Lake, a fiercely savage brute, hung on his rear with a large force of troops, and Lord Cornwallis marched from Dublin with all the available troops in Leinster, to intercept Humbert in his route. So that when both armies effected a junction they were fully eighteen to one, Humbert’s force not amounting to 2,000 men.

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