Drogheda was not closely invested.
Narrow escape of Sir Phelim,
who retires from Drogheda.
Ormonde relieves the town, March 11.
During the first three weeks of February several successful sallies were made by the garrison. They were, however, at one time reduced to small rations of herrings, malt, and rye, and it seemed doubtful whether they could hold out. Many horses died for lack of provender. At four o’clock on the morning of Sunday, February 21, Sir Phelim attempted an escalade at a quiet spot near St. Lawrence’s Gate, but the sentries were on the alert, and the assailants fled, leaving thirteen ladders behind them. On the 27th there was another sally, and three hundred of the Irish were killed on the fatal field of Julianstown. On March 1 Tichborne sent out four companies of foot and a troop of horse to forage on the south side of the Boyne. There was some resistance, and in the afternoon the governor went out himself. The Irish advanced from the little village of Stameen, but fled at the approach of horse. The redoubtable Sir Phelim only escaped capture by crouching like a hare in a furze-bush, and the Meath side was thenceforth safe. ‘The noise of vast preparations for besieging the town,’ says Bellings, ‘which at first was frightful, grew contemptible.’ Food supplies were now secure, and Tichborne assumed the offensive more boldly than before. On March 5 Lord Moore led out five hundred men to Tullyallen, near Mellifont, Tichborne following him with a reserve force. Moore engaged the Irish and defeated them with a loss of four hundred men and many officers. Among the prisoners was Art Roe Macmahon, for whose head a reward of 400l. had been promised by Government. The soldiers were going to cut it off when he cried out that Lady Blaney and her children should be saved if his life was spared. Macmahon kept his word, though the result was long doubtful. After this disaster the rebels abandoned their headquarters at Bewley, and Sir Phelim was seen before Drogheda no more. On March 11 Ormonde arrived with 3000 foot and 500 horse, and the so-called siege came to an end. Plattin and Slane were soon in Tichborne’s hands. The Irish army had at one time numbered at least 16,000, but they had neither the skill nor the means for reducing a strong place.[305]
Fire and sword in the Pale.
Ormonde hampered by the Lords Justices.
Ormonde had orders from the Irish Government, who would have preferred to send Sir Simon Harcourt, to ‘prosecute with fire and sword all rebels and traitors, and their adherents and abettors in the counties of Dublin and Meath,’ and to destroy their houses. He was not to go beyond the Boyne, not to do any mischief within five miles of Dublin, and not to be absent more than eight days. He carried out these orders, and reached Drogheda without opposition, after devastating a great part of Meath. There, after consultation with Harcourt, Sir Thomas Lucas, Sir Robert Farrar, Tichborne, and Moore, he asked to be allowed more time and to have leave to advance as far as Newry. This was peremptorily refused, and Temple wrote privately to say that the proposal was ‘absolutely disliked’ by all the Council, and ‘more sharply resented by some.’ The question of proclaiming the lords of the Pale traitors had been referred to England, and Ormonde suggested that it might be well to wait for an answer before burning their houses. He was told that it was no business of his, and that he was to burn. He did so, merely remarking that he had never supposed there was ‘any difference between a rebel lord and a rebel commoner.’ Tichborne had certain information that an attack on Dundalk was feasible, and Ormonde was allowed to give him 500 men and one or two guns. A large force might have been provisioned from Drogheda, but as it turned out Tichborne was strong enough to do the work. Newry fell to the share of the Scots.[306]
Tichborne takes Ardee and Dundalk.
English prisoners released.