Battle of Knocknaclashy

The Battle of Knocknaclashy took place during the re-conquest of Ireland in County Cork in southern Ireland in July 1651. The Confederate troops under Donagh MacCarthy met English Parliamentary forces under Roger Boyle and were defeated.

Background

The control of a large part of the province of Munster fell through the reconquest of Ireland in the years 1649 to 1650 back in English hands. Oliver Cromwell led from his conquest of the New Model Army from the southeast, while Roger Boyle by a mutiny in the English- royalist garrison brought the Cork city back under the control of the parliament. This meant that the alliance of the Confederacy and royalists an enemy garrison was sitting in the back, which forced them to retreat across the river Shannon into Connacht in the cities of Limerick and Galway.

The only organized army in South Munster was the one under Donagh MacCarthy, the west was staying in the hilly area of Cork. In July 1651 MacCarthy tried to Ross Castle ( Killarney ) to get out the besieged city of Limerick to help. He marched with a 3,000 -strong infantry ( and a few cavalrymen ) direction Mallow ( County Cork) in order to ally with groups of Irish guerrilla fighters. But Ireton had foreseen this train and stationed the army under Roger Boyle in this area. In Knocknaclashy, near the town of Banteer, both troops clashed.

The Battle

The Irish army was outnumbered, but worse trained and equipped than the parliamentary army, which also had more cavalry, which was a big advantage in the open terrain. The battle began with a firefight, which almost completely ausschaltete the Irish cavalry. But the Irish infantry, mostly armed with pikes, fought bravely and took advantage of their numerical superiority. But Boyle rider attacked on the flanks of the pikemen and so opened a flank for the infantry. The Irish troops came now panicked and tried to flee. Hundreds of Irish soldiers were ridden down by the riders in the escape. Boyle ordered to take no prisoners, except in cases of high -ranking Irish leaders. The parliamentarians lost only 26 soldiers - 130 were injured. The surviving Irish soldiers, including MacCarthy, fled back to Ross Castle, where they surrendered in 1652.