corous and sanguinary, that blood alone could satisfy party hatred and thirst for vengeance and the best interests of the cause itself, were sacrificed to stupid and unproductive brutalities, from which grey hairs afforded no protection, nor boyhood could claim an immunity.t * * "Providentially the rebels had too many commanders; and those of the Wexford force being mostly priests, their attention was more divided to the interests of their church by purging the land of heretics, than to the concerns of the Irish Republic,' which the northern leaders had in view. Consequently, time was wasted in collecting and piking Protestants, which might have been employed with far greater advantage to the cause."-MS. Journal of a Field Officer. +"A drummer, named Hunter, of the Antrim regiment, only some twelve years old, fell into the hands of the rebels in the unfortunate affair in which Colonel Walpole lost his life. He carried his drum with him-and when conducted to the town of Gorey, with some other prisoners, being ordered to beat it, actuated by a spirit of enthusiastic loyalty, he exclaimed, That the king's drum should never be beaten for rebels;' and at the same instant leaped on the head and broke through the parchment. The inhuman villains, callous to admiration of an beroic act even in an enemy, instantly perforated his body with pikes."--Musgrave. CHAPTER XI. BATTLE OF ROSS-MASSACRE AT SCULLABOGUS, THE operations of the rebel armies which we have already detailed-namely, the attempt on Newtown Barry by the corps under Father Kearns, and that on Gorey by the insurgents under the two Murphys and Perry of Inch, with the intervening occurrence of Walpole's defeat at Tubberneering, must be connected by a simultaneous transaction, probably, in military importance, the most interesting which marked the outbreak. The strongest of the insurgent corps had assembled on the hill of Carrickbyrne, under the chief command of Bagenal Harvey, with Father Roche acting "en second." Their encampment was six miles from the town of Ross,* of which it was their first and greatest object to obtain possession. The dangerous proximity of the rebel host had caused alarm for the safety of the town, and, consequently, the garrison had been strengthened. On the 5th of June, the County Dublin Militia, with detachments from the Clare, Donegal, and Meath Militia, 5th Dragoons, Mid-Lothian Fencibles, and English artillery, occupied the place; a force amounting to 1,400 men of all arms, of which 150 were yeomen. General Johnson commanded. On the evening of the 4th of June, the rebel camp at Carrickbyrne broke up,† and the insurgents moved bodily to Corbet-hill, within a mile and a half of Ross, on which, after driving in an outpost, they bivouacked for the night. The royalists, fearing a surprise, remained under arms: the infantry and guns in position on the southern and eastern faces of the town-the yeoman infantry holding the bridge *The town of Ross is situated on a large river, formed by the junction of the Nore and Barrow, which unite about one mile above it, and meeting the river Suir, at Dunbrody, runs in a south-east direction by Passage, and discharges itself into the sea, at Hook-tower, from which it is about twenty-five miles distant. The navigation to Ross is good-as vessels of nearly 400 tons burthen can lie close to the quay. For this reason, it was a place of considerable trade even as early as the reign of Henry V., and large quantities of corn and provisions were annually exported from it. It was formerly a place of strength-surrounded with high walls, and strengthened by towers and bastions, of which there are still considerable remains. The whole of the town, except Friary-street, South-street, North-street, the quays, and the space between them and the river, is on a very steep descent. It is ten miles from Waterford, nineteen from Wexford, and sixteen from Enniscorthy. "A person who was forced to attend them in their march informed me, that they moved by parishes and baronies, each having a particular standard; and that in their way they stopped at a chapel where mass was said at the head of each column by priests, who sprinkled an abundance of holy water on them."-Musgrave. -and the cavalry formed on the quay. Night passed however, without alarm; and it was four o'clock on the morning of the 5th, before Bagenai Harvey-who had been a few days before elected to the chief command-sent a formal summons to General Johnson, which unfortunately (as some say) was not delivered. Furlong, the rebel leader who carried it, was shot, through the ignorance of the advanced sentry, who paid no respect to a white handkerchief he waved on approaching the royal outposts. On searching the pockets of the dead man, the following cartel was found: "Sir, "As a friend to humanity, I request you will surrender the town of Ross to the Wexford forces, now assembled against that town; your resistance will but provoke rapine and plunder, to the ruin of the most innocent. Flushed with victory, the Wexford forces, now innumerable and irresistible, will not be controlled, if they meet with resistance. To prevent, therefore, the total ruin of all property in the town, I urge you to a speedy surrender, which you will be forced to in a few hours, with loss and bloodshed, as you are surrounded on all sides. Your answer is required in four hours. Mr. Furlong carries this letter, and will bring the answer. "Camp at Corbethill, "half-past three o'clock morning, "June 5th, 1798. "I am, Sir, "B. B. HARVEY, "General commanding, &c., &c." The death of Furlong is said to have precipitated the attack,* for immediately afterwards, the rebels moved forward in dense masses, cheering and yelling, and directing their march directly on the Threebullet Gate. The advance of this armed multitude-by some estimated at from 20,000 to 25,000 men-was described to me by an eye-witness, as the most singular spectacle imaginable. The irregularity of their array -partly in close column and partly in line-had the effect of displaying their enormous strength to full advantage; while the presence of several priests, who were observed flitting through their ranks, and haranguing their deluded followers with certain assurances of victory, inspired an enthusiastic fanaticism, which blinded them to danger and rendered * "The movement upon Ross shewed some head on the part of Baganal Harveythe object being to force the principal passage of the Barrow, and, in conjunction with the insurgents of Kilkenny, bear down upon Waterford, which was then very disaffected, weakly garrisoned, and presented strong temptations in the way of plunder. But Harvey had no idea of attacking Ross when that event took place-and there were evidently no arrangements made for it. Harvey expected, and with reason, that the appearance of his masses on the hills which domineered the town, would have secured the active co-operation of the Kilkenny men from the other side of the Barrow. And this would have been the case had time allowed it; but Furlong was a popular leader among the rebels-and when he was shot by a sentinel at the out-post, the mass of the rebels, maddened by the occurrence, rushed by a sudden impulse, in a mighty but disordered torrent, along one road on the Threebullet Gate, instead of making a combined movement on an open town, by which, facility of approach and enormous preponderance in numbers could not but have succeeded."-M.S. Journal of a Field Officer. |