Red Hugh O'Donnell and the Nine Years War by Darren McGettigan

Author:Darren McGettigan [McGettigan, Darren]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biography & Autobiography, General, History, Europe, Great Britain, Ireland, Military, Other
Google: HodnAAAAMAAJ
Publisher: Four Courts Press
Published: 2005-07-14T23:00:00+00:00

Águila’s force was also suffering in the siege, and his instructions threw the confederate leadership into confusion. By now, all the Gaelic chieftains were becoming anxious at being away from their vulnerable lordships for so long. Hugh O’Neill attempted to force his allies to maintain their resolution, ‘as it was O’Neill’s advice not to attack them [the English] immediately by any means but to keep them still in the straight in which they were, until they should perish of famine, and the want of all necessaries of which they stood in need, as some of their men and horses had already perished’.26 This was very sound advice, indicating a good grasp of strategy and awareness of the capabilities of the confederate troops on O’Neill’s part.

However, Red Hugh was much more eager for action than O’Neill. Ó Cléirigh states that ‘he felt it a shame and disgrace to be taunted with the great straights Don Juan and the Spaniards were in, without making an attempt to relieve them though his death should come of it, and besides, lest the Irish be thought little of and despised by the king of Spain’.27 In essence, this may be the reason for O’Donnell’s desire to attack. Since 1592 he had invested a great deal in the Spanish alliance, much more than Hugh O’Neill, and now he was eager to assist the Spanish army that had finally arrived in Ireland. However, given the unreliability of his own troops, O’Donnell should have been much more wary of a direct confrontation with Mountjoy’s army. Despite these considerations, the confederates decided to follow Red Hugh’s counsel and planned to advance early on the morning of 3 January 1602.

The ensuing battle of Kinsale is rightly regarded as a watershed event in Irish history and has been written on extensively.28 New sources concerning the battle continue to be unearthed,29 and historians differ on the exact course of events. Unlike the careful preparations before the confederate victories at the Yellow Ford in 1598 and the Ballaghboy Pass in 1559, which included the assiduous maintenance of the morale of the troops, there were scenes of great confusion in the Irish camp the night before the advance on Kinsale. O’Neill, although he had advised against the entire operation, wanted to lead the attack himself, probably because he had become aware that O’Donnell’s force was unreliable. However, Red Hugh refused to agree. Ó Cléirigh states that ‘They spent much time in the early hours of the night in the dispute’. 30 In the end, O’Donnell was given the role of forming the rear-guard, but the effect of the argument on the confederate chain of command must have been substantial.

The confederates planned to advance in three formations which Hayes-McCoy states were modelled on Spanish tercios.31 O’Neill commanded the vanguard, Captain Richard Tyrrell the main battle, and Red Hugh the rearguard. O’Neill intended to seize a small hill near the English positions and wait for Águila to sally out with his Spanish troops and effect a joining of the two forces.

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