| 17 French soldiers were killed in the brief fight, 96 French officers and 748 men were taken. British losses were initially reported as 3 killed and 16 wounded or missing [1], but the number of killed was later reported as 12 [2]. Approximately 500 Irish lay dead on the field, 200 prisoners were taken in the mopping up operations, almost all of whom were later hanged, including Matthew Tone, brother of Wolfe Tone. The prisoners were moved to Carrick-on-Shannon, St Johnstown, today's Ballinalee, where most were executed in what is known locally as Bullys Acre.
Humbert's aide-de-camp, Bartholemew Teeling, is executed. Sept 24th, 1798. Humbert and his men were taken by canal to Dublin and repatriated. The British army then spread out into rebel held Mayo in a brutal campaign of killing and house burning which reached it's climax on 23 September when Killala was stormed and retaken with much slaughter. Members of the Franch inspired "Republic of Connaught" such as George Blake, were hunted down and hanged with many other suspected insurgents. November 10th Wolfe Tone is tried and sentenced to death, the 12th Wolfe Tone cuts his throat with a pen knife and on the 19th Wolfe Tone dies. |
| in the end.............. |
| LIBERTY OR DEATH
NORTHERN ARMY OF AVENGERS Head Quarters. The first year of Irish Liberty. GENERAL, JN TANDY, to his COUNTRYMEN. UNITED IRISHMEN, What do I hear? The British Government are dared to speak of concessions! Would you accept of them? Can you think of entering into a treaty with a British Minister? A Minister too, who has left you at the mercy of an English soldiery, who has laid your cities waste, and massacred inhumanely your best Citizens . . . a Minister, the bane of society, and the scourge of mankind . . . behold, Irishmen . . . he holds in his hand the olive of peace; be aware, his other hand lies concealed armed with a poniard. NO, IRISHMEN, no . . . you shall not be the dupes of his base intrigues. Unable to subdue your courage, he attempts to seduce you, let his efforts be vain. Horrid crimes have been perpetuated in your country. Your friends have fallen a sacrifice to their devotion for your cause. Their shadows are around you and call aloud for Vengeance. It is your duty to avenge their death. It is your duty to strike on their blood-cemented thrones the murderers of your friends. Listen to no proposals, IRISHMEN, wage a war of extermination against your oppressors, the war of Liberty against tyranny, and Liberty shall Triumph. JN TANDY |
| Charles Teeling's brother Bartholomew Teeling was one of the United Irishmen who landed in Ireland with Humbert, he was captured after the Battle of Ballinamuck, court-martialled and hanged. Charles was also arrested along with his father on suspicion of treason, but was later released. He was editor and later owner of several Irish newspapers including the Newry Examiner. His account can be read in: History of the Irish Rebellion of 1798; TEELING, (Charles Hamilton) |
| Sources
* Thomas Packenham, The Year of Liberty: The Great Irish Rebellion of 1798. Abacus, London 1997. * Art Kavanagh, Ireland 1798: The Battles. IFN, Bunclody, 1998. * Daniel Gahan, The People's Rising: Wexford 1798. Gill & Macmillan, Dublin 1995. * John Killen (ed.), The Decade of the United Irishmen: Contemporary Accounts 1791-1801. Blackstaff, Belfast 1997. * Danny Doyle and Terence Folan, The Gold Sun of Irish Freedom: 1798 in Song and Story. Mercier, Dublin 1998. * Thomas Flanagan, The Year of the French. Arrow, London 1979. (An extraordinary, meticulously researched historical novel of Humbert's campaign and the Mayo uprising.) * Paddy Griffith, That Most Vulnerable, and, at the Same Time, Most Mortal Part. In Jonathan North (ed.), The Napoleon Options. Greenhill, London 2000. (An alternate history, supposing a successful landing by Hoche at Bantry Bay in December 1796. One of the best essays in a superlative collection!) * Georges Six, Dictionnaire Biographique des Généraux et Amiraux Français de la Révolution et de l'Empire (1792-1814). Saffroy, Paris 1934. Reprinted 1999. * David Whelan, The French Invasion of Ireland, 1798. In First Empire #3, 1991. * David Flintham, 1798: The Last Invasion of the British Isles. In The Age of Napoleon #27 and #28, Partizan Press, 1995. * Emma Browne, Father Andrew Conroy, Parish Priest of Addergoole & Irish Patriot. www.addergoole-mayo.com/conroy.html * The Battle of Ballinamuck 1798. http://longford.local.ie/content/47511.shtml/ballinamuck/history/general * Diary of an Expedition: Humbert's Army of Ireland, 1798. www.iol.ie/~fagann/1798/conaught.htm * National 1798 Centre, Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford. www.iol.ie/~98com/english.htm * The map of the Battle of Ballinamuck is based on a Record Place Map, scale 1:10,560, published by Ordnance Survey Ireland, Phoenix Park, Dublin |
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