Battle of Knocknaclashy: Encyclopedia II - Battle of Knocknaclashy - The Battle

Battle of Knocknaclashy - The Battle

The Parliamentarians were outnumbered but were better trained and supplied than the Irish and had more cavalry, which was a big advantage in open country. The two sides exchanged a volley of musketry at close range and then closed hand to hand. The Irish cavalry were scattered in the first charge, leaving their infantry alone. However, the infantrymen, mostly armed with pikes, bravely charged their adversaries. Orrerry’s men were almost outflanked by the Irish pikemen, but recovered the advantage by charging the flank of the Irish line. Orrerry reported that his horsemen broke into the Irish pike squares at the "angles" (corners) by riding up, firing their pistols, reloading and repeating the process until there was a large enough gap in the formation for the English cavalry to break in with their swords. In this way, Orrerry’s men turned the flank of the Irish line and put them to flight. Hundreds of Irish soldiers were ridden down by the Parliamentary cavalry in the subsequent pursuit. Orrerry ordered the killing of all prisoners except "men of good quality" (i.e. of high social rank) who could be ransomed. He also related that his men found Catholic "charms" sown into the clothing of the Irish dead, which promised that the wearer would be invulnerable to weapons. The Parliamentarians lost only 26 dead and 130 wounded. The surviving Irish, including Muskerry, retreated in disorder to Ross Castle, where they surrendered in 1652.

Sources

• Padraig Lenihan, Confederate Catholics at War, Cork 2001
• James Scott Wheeler, Cromwell in Ireland, New York 1999.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "The Battle", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki