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Siege of Duncannon
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Siege of Duncannon
52°13′15″N 6°56′12″W / 52.220771°N 6.936627°W
The siege of Duncannon took place in 1645, during the Irish Confederate Wars. An Irish Catholic Confederate army under Thomas Preston besieged and successfully took the town of Duncannon in County Wexford from an English Parliamentarian garrison. The siege was the first conflict in Ireland in which mortars were utilized.
At the outbreak of the Irish Rebellion of 1641, most of south-eastern Ireland fell to the Catholic insurgents. Roughly 1,000 rebels blockaded Duncannon, which was heavily fortified and contained an English garrison of about 300 men. Around 150 of the English troops were killed in forays against the Irish at nearby Redmond's Hall, but without siege artillery, or expertise in siege warfare, the rebels were unable to take Duncannon.
Hostilities continued throughout 1642, as the Irish, now organised as the Irish Confederacy raided the town's hinterland. As in much of Ireland, the conflict was bitter. In one incident, Laurence Esmonde, Lord Esmonde, the Royalist commander hung 16 Irish prisoners who had been taken at nearby Ramsgrange. In response, the Irish executed 18 English prisoners whom they had been holding.
In 1643, because of his need for troops to fight in the English Civil War, Charles I signed a ceasefire with the Irish Confederates. As a result hostilities between Duncannon and the Catholic-held surrounding area were suspended.
However, in 1644, the English garrison of Cork, under Lord Inchiquin, unhappy with the Royalist truce with the Irish Confederates, declared for the English Parliament, who were to remain hostile to Irish Catholic forces throughout the 1640s. Esmond, under pressure from elements of his garrison, also changed to the side of Parliament and effectively re-declared war on the Catholic Confederates. His motives are unclear: though he was a Protestant convert, the Esmonde family were Anglo-Irish Roman Catholics, and he owed his entire advancement to the Crown.
Duncannon was a strategically important town for two reasons. Firstly, it had formidable defences. Secondly and more importantly, its guns overlooked the sea route to Waterford and New Ross, two of the most important Catholic-held towns and also ports at which the Confederates received military aid from Catholic Europe.
Needing to keep this channel open and also fearing the presence of an English garrison deep in their territory, the Confederates' Supreme Council in Kilkenny despatched Thomas Preston, general of their Leinster Army, to take Duncannon in January 1645. Preston had at his disposal 1,300 men, four cannons and a mortar. The mortar, the first of its kind to be used in Ireland had been donated by Spain the previous year and was commanded by a French military engineer named Nicholas La Loue. La Loue had served with Preston in Flanders and was chief of engineering in the Leinster Army.
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Siege of Duncannon AI simulator
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Siege of Duncannon
52°13′15″N 6°56′12″W / 52.220771°N 6.936627°W
The siege of Duncannon took place in 1645, during the Irish Confederate Wars. An Irish Catholic Confederate army under Thomas Preston besieged and successfully took the town of Duncannon in County Wexford from an English Parliamentarian garrison. The siege was the first conflict in Ireland in which mortars were utilized.
At the outbreak of the Irish Rebellion of 1641, most of south-eastern Ireland fell to the Catholic insurgents. Roughly 1,000 rebels blockaded Duncannon, which was heavily fortified and contained an English garrison of about 300 men. Around 150 of the English troops were killed in forays against the Irish at nearby Redmond's Hall, but without siege artillery, or expertise in siege warfare, the rebels were unable to take Duncannon.
Hostilities continued throughout 1642, as the Irish, now organised as the Irish Confederacy raided the town's hinterland. As in much of Ireland, the conflict was bitter. In one incident, Laurence Esmonde, Lord Esmonde, the Royalist commander hung 16 Irish prisoners who had been taken at nearby Ramsgrange. In response, the Irish executed 18 English prisoners whom they had been holding.
In 1643, because of his need for troops to fight in the English Civil War, Charles I signed a ceasefire with the Irish Confederates. As a result hostilities between Duncannon and the Catholic-held surrounding area were suspended.
However, in 1644, the English garrison of Cork, under Lord Inchiquin, unhappy with the Royalist truce with the Irish Confederates, declared for the English Parliament, who were to remain hostile to Irish Catholic forces throughout the 1640s. Esmond, under pressure from elements of his garrison, also changed to the side of Parliament and effectively re-declared war on the Catholic Confederates. His motives are unclear: though he was a Protestant convert, the Esmonde family were Anglo-Irish Roman Catholics, and he owed his entire advancement to the Crown.
Duncannon was a strategically important town for two reasons. Firstly, it had formidable defences. Secondly and more importantly, its guns overlooked the sea route to Waterford and New Ross, two of the most important Catholic-held towns and also ports at which the Confederates received military aid from Catholic Europe.
Needing to keep this channel open and also fearing the presence of an English garrison deep in their territory, the Confederates' Supreme Council in Kilkenny despatched Thomas Preston, general of their Leinster Army, to take Duncannon in January 1645. Preston had at his disposal 1,300 men, four cannons and a mortar. The mortar, the first of its kind to be used in Ireland had been donated by Spain the previous year and was commanded by a French military engineer named Nicholas La Loue. La Loue had served with Preston in Flanders and was chief of engineering in the Leinster Army.