on to attack the Three-bullet gate, being the part of the town next to them; and this it was that princi pally prevented the concerted plan of assault from being carried into execution; as three divisions of their forces were to have begun their operations against different parts of the town at the same time. This particular division, therefore, not waiting till the other two should have reached their several stations of action, the latter not only did not proceed, but were seized with such a panic that they dispersed all over the country, flying in all directions to their several homes, and bearing as they went along the tidings of a total defeat; and this derout was, in a great degree, occasioned by the example of one of the divisional commanders, who, without the least effort to answer the intent of his appointment, turned away from the action, and rode hastily homeward. Even in the town of Wexford, nineteen miles distant from Ross, the news of a defeat was announced at an early hour of the day, by many fugitives who had taken that direction, relating various and strange adventures to account for their own precipitate flight. One fourth of the numbers that encamped on Corbet Hill the evening before, did not stand in the morning of the day of action, so that even the division that commenced and afterwards continued the assault, was by no means complete, numbers of those who constituted it having also abandoned their stations, which were far from being adequately supplied by such of the two panicstruck divisions as had the courage and resolution to join in the battle then going forward and in its greatest heat. From this statement, however, it must appear, that no plan was pursued in the attack by the insurgents, but that whatever they accom plished in the onset, must have been from individual

courage and intrepidity. They first dislodged the army from behind the walls and ditches, where they were very advantageously posted; and on this occasion the cavalry, in their charges, were repulsed with considerable loss, Cornet Dodwell and twentyseven men of the fifth dragoons having fallen in the first onset. The military then retreated into the town, through the Three-bullet gate, pursued hot foot by the insurgents, who obliged them to move from one situation to another, until they at last drove them over the wooden-bridge on the Barrow, into the county of Kilkenny. The main guard at the market-house, however, consisting of a sergeant and fifteen men, not only maintained their situation, but even defended it with uncommon bravery and resolution, having two swivels to support them. Major Vandeleur, of the Clare militia, also continued the whole of the day, with a strong detachment of his regiment, at his post at Irishtown, where he stood pretty severe duty, but not altogether so violent as it would be had the place been generally attacked, according to Mr. Harvey's original plan, this being the principal entrance. When the insurgents had thus got possession of the town, they fell to plundering and drinking, on which they became so intent, that they could not be brought to follow up their advantage. In the mean time the army rallied on the county of Kilkenny side of the bridge; and although a retreat was before determined on, yet they were induced to return upon perceiving that there was no pursuit, and besides they were powerfully instigated to this by the spirited exhortations of Messrs. M'Cormick and Devereux, two yeomen not possessed of any command, but the display of whose active courage and intrepidity contributed in a great degree to turn the fate of the day, and to whose real merit ev

ery praise is justly due on this occasion, wherein few officers distinguished themselves, as may be fairly concluded from the official returns of the killed and wounded, these casualties in regard to the officers not bearing due proportion to those of the private men, which could hardly be the case had the former maintained their stations with becoming firmness. The county of Dublin militia, on hearing of the death of their favorite colonel, Lord Mountjoy, were the first to renew the attack under the command of Major Vesey. Their example was followed by the rest of the troops, and their united efforts shortly compelled such of the insurgents as were not too drunk, to fly out of the town, of which they had been by this time some hours in possession. Having respired a little, however, from their hasty retreat, which in a great degree made them sober, they again returned to the charge, and the contest which now ensued was maintained on both sides with great obstinacy, both parties being induced, by experience of the former encounter, not to relax their exertions. The intrepidity of the insurgents was truly remarkable, as notwithstanding the dreadful havoc made in their ranks by the artillery, they rushed up to the very mouths of the cannon, regardless of the numbers that were falling on all sides of them, and pushed forward with such impetuosity, that they obliged the army to retire once more and leave the town to themselves. But even after this they soon fell into the same misconduct as before, crowning their bravery with drunkenness. Of this the proper advantage was quickly taken by the army, who again renewed the attack, by which they finally became perfect masters of the town. Several houses were set on fire and consumed in the course of this and the former attack, but one of these deserves particular

notice this was a slated house, four stories high, on the summit of the main street near the church, in which seventy-five persons were burnt to ashes; none having escaped but one man, who, in running away, was fortunate enough to get clear of the fire of the soldiery. On the evening of the preceding Wednesday, Mr. Cullimore, a quaker, wishing to visit his family at his country-house, a short distance from the town, was taken prisoner as he attempted to pass the patroles, brought in, and confined in the market-house, from which he was not released on the day of battle, as if it were by the special interference of Providence, for some of the military, when they imagined the day going against them, had resolved to put all the prisoners in the town to death, but when a party of those on guard entered the place of confinement for the nefarious purpose, Mr. Cullimore addressed them with an authoritative and impressive tone, saying-" You shall not shoot the prisoners: there are some men here as loyal as you are." This address and manner of a man better than Marius, awed and overcame the sanguinary slaves, so that they retired without perpetrating the horrid crime of their bloody intent !!! Some officers and privates of the king's troops, in the various success of the day, were induced from time to time to attempt a retreat to Waterford, through the county of Kilkenny. Some of these succeeded in their efforts; and from their unfavorable accounts of the battle, the Roscommon militia, who were in full march towards Ross, turned about for Waterford; and even Captain Dillon, with some of the county of Dublin militia, were intercepted and put to death in their progress by the country people, who, on sight of the fugitives, and on the report of the success of the county of Wexford insurgents, were ma

king every preparation, and nearly in readiness, to join them. The insurgents being upbraided by their chiefs for sullying their bravery by drunkenness, made a third attempt to regain the town, and in this they displayed equal valor with what they exhibited in the earlier part of the day; but by this time the army had acquired a greater degree of confidence in their own strength, while several houses blazed in tremendous conflagration; and the insurgents received an irreparable loss, when their intrepid leader, John Kelly of Killan, whose dauntless valor on this day was but too conspicuous, received a wound in the leg, which put an end to his career of victory! Paralyzed by the loss of such a man's exertions, and no longer able to withstand the violence of the flying artillery, the insurgents sounded a regular retreat, bringing away with them a piece of cannon taken from the army in the course of the action, having lost one which they brought with them, together with some swivels and small pieces which had been drawn on for mere show, and which could not be of much use to either party. The insurgents after their defeat returned to their former station, having encamped this night at Carrickbyrne.

The loss of the army on this day, by official statement, is allowed to be two hundred and thirty, in killed, wounded, and missing; but that of the insurgents has been variously reported even by different eye-witnesses-some making it but five hundred, while others state it at two thousand. Indeed, it is impossible to ascertain their loss during the battle itself, as the number of dead is said to be doubly accumulated by those who were killed unarmed and unresisting after it was all over. Many men had become so intoxicated in the course of the day, that they were incapable of flying out of the town in the