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Siege Of Drogheda





THE FIRST SIEGE 1641-1642

After their victory over government troops at Battle Of Julianstown , an Irish rebel force under Phelim O'Neill laid siege to Drogheda in December 1641 . The rebels, who were mostly from Ulster and about 6000 strong, did not have siege Artillery (or indeed any artillery) to breach the walls of Drogheda and so blockaded the town, hoping to starve it into surrender. Drogheda was garrisoned by about 2000 English soldiers under Colonel Tichborne.

The rebels tried three assaults on the town. On the first occasion they simply tried to rush the walls. In their second attempt, a small party of 500 men broke into the town at night through dilapidated sections of the walls, with the aim of opening the gates for a storming party of 700 men outside. However, the initial incursion was repulsed in confused fighting and in the morning, the garrison opened the gates to rebels outside, only to take them prisoner once they entered the town. The rebels tried for a final time in March 1642 , when a relief of the town was imminent, attacking the walls with scaling ladders, but were again repulsed. Shortly afterwards, English reinforcements arrived from Dublin, under Colonel Moore. They broke the rebel siege and also drove them out of Dundalk and back into Ulster.


CROMWELL'S SIEGE 1649


Military Information

  conflict Siege of Drogheda
  partof the Irish Confederate Wars
  date September 1649
  place Drogheda, eastern Ireland
  result English Parliamentarians take town and massacre the garrison
  combatant1 Irish Catholic Confederate and English Royalist troops
  combatant2 English Parliamentarian New Model Army
  commander1 ''' Arthur Aston
  commander2 ''' Oliver Cromwell
  strength1 c3100
  strength2 12,000
  casualties1 c2800 soldiers killed, 200 captured C 700 civilians and Catholic clergy killed
  casualties2 150 killed