The Battle had now lasted near six hours: about five in the evening the approach of succour was descried from the house—the hopes of all were elevated and they fought with renovated vigour.
One of the guard who had been excluded by the sudden shutting of the gates in the morning, finding he could be of no other use, repaired to Kinnegad, represented the situation of his friends at Clonard, upon which fourteen of the Kinnegad Infantry, under Lieutenant Houghton, and eleven Northumberland Fencibles, under the command of a Serjeant, immediately collected and with great gallantry marched for Clonard. The communication by the Bridge having been kept open in the manner before related, Lieutenant Tyrrell sallied from the house, and soon effected a junction with this reinforcement. A few vollies completely cleared the roads, and having then placed the Northumberland and Kinnegad men in such situations as most effectually to gall the enemy in their retreat from the garden, the Lieutenant
undertook in person, the hazardous enterprise of dislodging them from thence.
At this time, it is supposed there were 400 Rebels in the garden; numbers of them were posted upon a mount planted with old fir trees, which afforded considerable protection, and many lay concealed behind a privet hedge, from whence they could distinctly see every person who entered the garden, tho' they could not be seen themselves—Lieutenant Tyrrell at the head of a few picked men, rushed into the garden; and was received by a general discharge from both parties of the enemy: no time was lost in attacking the party behind the hedge, who being defeated, retired to the mount;—here the action again became warm, the Rebels appeared determined to maintain the advantage of their situation, and the Yeomen, tho' fatigued with the labour of the day, could not think of retiring. Six of them were badly wounded, among whom was Mr. Richard Allen, who had so gallantly defended the Turrett—a ball passed thro' his left arm, and entered his side; his comrades still persevered with
the most undaunted courage, and supporting a steady and well directed fire against the mount, the enemy were at length dispersed, and in their flight were met by the Northumberland and Kinnegad Corps who made great havoc among them.
The victory was now complete—as glorious an achievement, we will venture to say, as occurred during the whole rebellion, and for which the gallant officers and men can never be too much applauded, whether we consider it as an unexampled display of genuine loyalty and true courage, or estimate its value from its immence importance to that part of the country and the kingdom at large. It was the first check which the United Army of Wexford and Kildare experienced and proved the fore-runner of those multiplied defeats which terminated in its total dispersion.
MRS. TYRRELL'S SUFFERINGS WHILE PRISONER WITH THE REBELS.
After the Battle it might have been expected that the little garrison would have given themselves
up to an excess of joy; but the breast of their Commander was filled with anxious solicitude——the partner of his heart—his wife, the mother of those three gallant youths, who mixed in the hottest scenes of the day, was absent the whole time, and no tidings of her had reached the garrison. The men sympathised with the husband and the children, and success was thought incomplete, until she was restored to their embraces.
Probably the reader may participate somewhat of a similar feeling, and desire some gratification from a brief narrative of the circumstances attending the Lady while in possession of the Rebels.