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.†

* "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 heroic act ever, in an enemy, instantly perforated his body with pikes." —--Musgrave.

CHAPTER XI.

BATTLE OF ROSS-MASSACRE AT SCULLABƆOUH,

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,t 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 briests, 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 suc. ceeded."-M.S. Journal of a Field Officer.

them additionally formidable. They pushed fczward four guns, and a cloud of musketeers-some in extended order, and others heading the pikemen, whose crowded columns occupied the whole road, far as the eye could range.

As might have been expected, the pickets were roughly driven inand, in a wild rush made by the rebels on the troops in front of the Three-bullet Gate, the latter were obliged to recede, and one of the guns was captured. In turn, however, the troops rallied, and drove back the insurgents and perceiving their unsteadiness when mobbed together in the repulse, General Johnson ordered the 5th Dragoons to charge. For cavalry effect, the ground was totally unsuited-the numerous fences enabling the rebels to avoid the charge-while, protected themselves, they inflicted a heavy loss on men, who very gallantly, but very ineffectively, had thus assailed them at disadvantage.*

An entrance to the town was gained-and while some of the rebels fired the houses, the others pushed forward towards the bridge. But the advance, by Neville-street, was swept by the steady fire of a gun placed in the market-place, and which looked directly down the approach. Notwithstanding the murderous fire which fell on a dense mass of men, wedged together in a narrow street, and which shore the head of the column down as frequently as it came forward, others succeeded those who fell, and fresh numbers momentarily appeared. The troops, terrified at the armed crowds who swarmed through the Three-bullet Gate, and, maddened by ebriety and fanaticism, seemed rather to court death than avoid it, at last, despairing of offering a longer resistance, retreated across the bridge.

Virtually, the day was lost-for although part of the royalists still held most gallantly a position in the vicinity of the Three-bullet Gate, had the insurgents followed up their success, a total and a bloody defeat of the king's troops must have been unavoidable. But, once within the town, drink and plunder engrossed the attention of the majority while the admirable gallantry of that brave old man who commanded the retreating royalists, retrieved the fortunes of the day. Crossing to the Kilkenny side, General Johnson rallied the fugitives

* Musgrave narrates the very singular escape of the officer who commanded the cavalry :

"When Captain Irwine was approaching the Three-bullet Gate from the last field, a twelve-pounder posted there was fired, and killed his horse, which, falling on his leg, prevented him from moving, at the same time that our troops in that quarter had retired within the gate, and were retreating towards the bridge, and the rebels had advanced within a few yards, and would have killed him, but that they were engaged in taking possession of the gun. In that critical moment, an artillery horse happened to gallop by, and so near him that he laid hold of one of the traces, and was dragged into the town, by which his life was saved."

† One rebel, emboldened by fanaticism and drunkenness, advanced before his comrades, seized a gun, crammed his hat and wig into it, and cried out, "Come on, boys! her mouth is stopped." At that instant the gunner laid the match to the gun, and blew the unfortunate savage to atoms. Incredible as this instance of savage ignorance may appear, the fact has been verified by the affidavit of a person who saw it from a window.

and urged them to follow him once more. "Will you desert your general?" he exclaimed to the disheartened militia ;* but this appeal was coldly heard. "And your countryman too?" he added. The chord of national honour was touched a cheer answered it-the old man wheeled his horse round, and.riding in front, brought back his rallied troops to the fight-and rejoining the few who still held the post beside the Three-bullet Gate, announced that a large reinforcement had just arrived from Waterford. When the fortune of a doubtful day is in the balance, a feather turns it frequently. Such was the case at Ross, The troops cheered, and plied their musketry with additional spirit and excellent effect and turning the rebel rear, put their massive column into a confusion which proved irretrievable; and at last, with desperate slaughter, drove them fairly from the town. The exhaustion. of the garrison, prevented any thing being attempted beyond a brief pursuit in the direction of Corbet-hill-while the rebels made no effort to rally and renew the action, but went off dispersedly, some, to their old camp at Carrickbyrne, and others, to a new position, which they. had taken on a height called Slieve-Keilter, some four miles' distance from the town.

In this the most sanguinary and hardly-contested action of the insurrection, commencing at five in the morning, and ending at three in the afternoon, the loss on both sides was immense, † although, in gross numbers, wholly disproportionate. Musgrave states the rebels killed to have exceeded 2,500, besides the many "carried off on cars." Probably, an abatement of a thousand would give a fairer and more correct account. Before the walls-between the Three-bullet and Bunnion Gates-and in the cross lanes and streets which led directly to the market-place, the slaughter was enormous,

It appeared that the rebels had been induced to think that the militia regiments at Ross, from being almost entirely composed of Romanists, would have either joined them in the action, or offered a feeble opposition. The Clare regiment was 'considered friendly-and the Dublin County were believed not particularly loyal or: trust-worthy. "Be this as it may, their colonel, Lord Mountjoy, was heading them up the street leading to the Three-bullet Gate, when he met his death, and the attachment which his men bore him, superseded every other feeling but a desire for revenge. Although they had retired at first before the torrent, they rallied instantly, and shewed no appearance of disaffection afterwards, but fought stoutly at Vinegarhill. Lord M. was riding a little way a-head of the regiment, when he was shot from a window by a baker's boy. The boy left the country for some years-but when I was in Ross, in 1838, and inquiring into matters connected with the battle, I found he had returned home, and was living in his native town unmolested. Such were the results of the fall of Furlong on the one side, and the death of Lord M. on the other."-MS. Journal of a Field Officer.

"The loss of the king's troops was one colonel, one ensign, four serjeants, three drummers, eighty-oze rank and file, and fifty-four horses killed; one captain, one drummer, fifty-four rank and file, and five horses wounded; one captain, three lieutenants, one ensign, two serjeants, two corporals, seventy-two rank and file, and four horses missing. Lord Mountjoy, colonel of the Dublin regiment, who fell in the first onset, at the Three-bullet Gate, was universally lamented, as his public and private virtues had made him an object of general esteem. He was possessed of high mental endowments-an elegant scholar and a good public speaker. He had the gentlest manners and the mildest affections imaginable-warm and sincere in friendship, and so benevolent and humane that he never harboured revenge." Musgrave.