Battle of The Yellow Ford - Nine Years War - PT.3

will O'Neill be able to gain the support of the Scots can the English relieve yet another besieged Garrison and a fierce Ambush that led to a humiliating defeat for the English [Music] in the northeast of Ulster the Crone's only foothold in Antrim was carrickfergus as well as a small Garrison in Belfast Castle to the east were the lands of the clan Boyle needs and to the north the McDonald's the McDonald's of Antrim were an Irish branch of the Scottish Clan Donald their coat of arms a lion fish cross and ship symbolizing courage Christ and the sea their motto perhaps there is worth immunity the McDonald's adopted a wait and see policy without committing themselves fully to the crown or the Rebellion in 1597 the recently appointed English governor of carrickfergus John Chichester had enjoyed successes against the strongholds of the clan boyoneels and was negotiating a parley with James McSorley McDonald unbeknownst to the governor James McSorley had met with eunil on the 1st of November where O'Neill offered his daughter's hand in marriage and more importantly reinforced the Scots with 500 Irish shot on the day of the parley the governor marched to the meeting point four miles outside of Carrick Fergus where McSorley was cited both sides were accompanied by hundreds of soldiers this show of strength demonstrates the distrust between the two parties at this point the governor turned to his Commander Captain Marmion and said no Captain Yonder be your old friends what say you shall we charge them marmione agreed and the order to charge was given the English Cavalry charged straight into the Scots the Scots took a stand and shot arrows at the English while their foot soldiers attacked with great swords and axes as a result the English horse was held the English foot had also engaged and it was at this point that O'Neill's shot Rose from the bushes and fired intensely into the flanks of the English the Scots then Kinder charged breaking their formation after an attempt to restore order the governor was shot in the head and killed soon after the remaining English fled this key Victory expelled the English from carrickfergus and secured the northeast of Ulster in 1597 the Lord Deputy of Ireland Thomas Burrough built a new fort on the river Blackwater five miles Northwest of the English Garrison in Armand soon after it was built Hugh Neil laid sieged it in 1598 with the besieged Garson running low on supplies the English debated whether or not to abandon the fort as it was too far into Uni's territory to be sustainable 's arch nemesis Sir Henry bagnall argued that the fort should be resupplied and in August 1598 he was appointed to lead the expedition a substantial Army of 4 000 troops were mustered and advanced to the Garrison town of Arma the force was well equipped with musket and Pike and had substantial supplies as well as artillery including a heavy Cannon being drawn by oxen O'Neill who had an excellent intelligence network was fully aware of the force that was being sent against him he called on red Hugh O'Donnell for assistance he personally led a large army from Donegal and connacht most of the Ulster Clans had sent men to O'Neill and O'Neill himself had his own mercenaries from other parts of Ireland and the Scottish Highlands it is estimated that he had a slightly larger Force than baganal prior to the arrival of the English unil who had English and Spanish military advisers dug trenches at strategic spots along the Route uncovered Pathways with branches and trees they also set up thorned bushes to facilitate ambushes and slow down the advancing forces wagonal arrived in Arma on the 13th of August his Scouts advised him of the potential for ambushes along the way but he knew the country well and was confident of the superiority of his forces and their weaponry early morning on the 14th of August wagonal set out to relieve the besieged Garrison at Blackwater fort as the column moved North they were hit with gunfire from Irish troops hidden on both flanks of the column [Music] no resistance was met at the head of the column as it crossed the river Callan wagonal's forces were organized into six regiments two forward two Center and two rear O'Neill with the objective to disrupt bagonal's formation harassed his army with Musketeers O'Neil was also greatly assisted by the bogie turian throughout wagonal's route as they came under Fire the distance between the regiments increased and they became isolated as the front regiment pushed further they crossed the yellow Fort to an area of raised grind bagano's following regiment lagged behind burdened with supplies and artillery the front regiment claimed a second Hill where they find a mile long trench across their route the trench was five foot deep and crested with thorns pestered by gunfire from their flanks the regiment went down the hill and over the blockade the trench was not defended and O'Neill made no effort to stop them reaching the top of a third hell the regiment could see the Blackwater Fort the beleaguered Garrison could see their relief and threw their caps in the air but this Joy wouldn't last the English regiments at the rear under Captain's Connie and billing had been halted crossing the river Colin and the rest of the English army had stalled on the second Hill sent more troops to attack the front regiment forcing the English Musketeers to withdraw into their pikemen needs shot to fire at the compact body of trips with close range gunfire O'Neill's horse and Swordsmen then started to open gaps in the pike defense under severe pressure baganal ordered the front to retreat back over the trench but this could not be done in an orderly way and the trench had cut off the soldiers from their cavalry bagonal LED his man forward to help the shattered infantry but as he descended the hell towards the trench he was shot through the head and killed the English counter-attack continued but it was badly mauled by O'Neill's man sending them spelling back over the trench the third regiment pushed up to their relief but it was too late Cannon had got bogged down in the rear of the column and The Oxen that Druid were killed the man in the fourth regiment made frantic efforts to free it fighting for their lives as the Irish swarmed around them while all this was taking place at the front there was hard fighting at the rear as O'Donnell McGuire and maxarly engaged the rear and flanks of the column at this point Thomas Wingfield took over the command of the English army as the fourth regiment left their Cannon and made for the trench matters went from bad to worse as an English Soldier attempted to refill his supply of gunpowder straight from the powder store the soldier still had his match lit from his firearm and two to four hundred pounds of gunpowder exploded killing and wounding many O'Neill observing the confusion seized the moment for a furious charge the main body of the English had been already weavering after the explosion and no there was a general advance from every direction with little option Wingfield ordered a retreat to yarma the Irish moved to cut off the English retreat at the river Callan but fire from the English column's remaining Cannon halted the Irish advance after re-crossing the river Callan the English army returned to Arma O'Neill had inflicted the worst defeat ever suffered by an English army at Irish hands on Irish soil about 1500 of the English crowned forces were killed this included 18 officers and 300 soldiers deserted to the Irish including two Englishmen out of the four thousand that had set out from Irma just over 2 000 returned those who did reach our man were besieged and after three days of negotiations it was agreed that the soldiers could leave as long as they left their arms and ammunition behind the most badly wounded soldiers were left in our Cathedral many with severe burns from the gun biter explosion but O'Neill agreed to tend to them and had them transported to Nuri when they were fit to travel according to the English two to three hundred of Uni's Army were killed though that is likely to be an overestimate to mitigate the scale of the disaster [Music] when the southern Chiefs heard of Uni's victory the monster Rebellion broke out plans were retaken and settlers expelled and O'Neill who now exercised almost as much Authority as if he were king of Ireland bestowed the title of Earl of Desmond on James Fitzgerald the ultimate result of the battle of the yellow Ford was the expansion of the nine years war from a conflict fought largely in Ulster to a struggle against English control throughout Ireland as a whole I'd like to give a special thanks to Jim O'Neill for providing detailed maps on the yellow Ford be sure to check out his book if you'd like to learn more about the nine years war I hope you enjoyed the video be sure to like And subscribe so you don't miss the next part

Channel: Handy History

Views: 6,511

Keywords: Ireland, History, Documentary, Nine Years War, War, Battle

Id: BM0zsodpcC4

Length: 10min 52sec (652 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 13 2023