Cromwell was very ill during a part of his stay at Ross, but the bridge greatly impressed the Irish with a sense of his power as Cæsar’s had impressed the Germans in an earlier age. ‘A stupendous work,’ says the author of the ‘Aphorismical Discovery,’ ‘for there were two main rivers, Nore and Barrow, joining there unto one bed, and the sea-tide passing over the town in the said rivers six or seven miles, he was building this bridge upon this swift and boisterous-running tide-water with barrels, planks, casks and cables.’ Ormonde had a superior force in the neighbourhood, but the dissensions between his officers and between the English and Irish elements of his army made it impossible to risk a pitched battle. Taaffe made an unsuccessful attempt to destroy the unfinished bridge, and Cromwell lost no time in fortifying Rosbercon, on the Kilkenny bank. Ireton and Jones occupied Inistioge without fighting, but found the bridge at Thomastown broken down and the walled town garrisoned, while the bulk of Ormonde’s army retired towards Kilkenny. The road into Tipperary was, however, open from Inistioge, and Reynolds was detached with a body of cavalry to Carrick-on-Suir. While he was parleying with the garrison at one gate, a part of his men surprised the other and took more than a hundred prisoners, the remainder escaping in boats over the Suir. The castle, ‘one of the ancientest seats belonging to the Lord of Ormonde,’ made no further resistance, and Cromwell with the main body of his army, having taken Knocktopher by the way, passed through Carrick towards Waterford, which he summoned on November 21.[158]
Siege of Waterford Nov.-Dec.
Castlehaven relieves Duncannon,
but is refused admission to Waterford.
Waterford was unassailable from the left bank of the Suir, and Cromwell, like Mountjoy before him, had to cross at Carrick. Before the naval superiority of the Parliament could be made available it was necessary to secure the forts at Duncannon and Passage below the city. Duncannon had been in the hands of the Confederates since 1645, and was commanded by Captain Thomas Roche, a very incompetent officer. Jones was detached from Ross with 2000 men to besiege the place, and he took Ballyhack, commanding the ordinary communication between the Fort and Waterford. Parliamentary ships lay near, and seeing that Duncannon was in danger Ormonde sent Captain Edward Wogan to supersede Roche. As a deserter from the Parliamentary army Wogan fought with a rope round his neck, and he restored the courage of the garrison. Ormonde then sent Castlehaven to Passage opposite Ballyhack, whence he managed to get to Duncannon in a boat. After consultation with Wogan, Castlehaven returned, and that night embarked eighty horses without riders in boats, which slipped into Duncannon on the tide. Wogan mounted officers and picked men on the horses thus provided, and immediately attacked the Parliamentary camp. The appearance of cavalry where there had been none before seemed to indicate the approach of an army, and the siege was raised next morning. After this piece of service Ormonde made Castlehaven governor of Waterford with 1000 men, but the citizens refused to admit him or his soldiers.[159]
Ormonde garrisons Waterford.
Inchiquin repulsed from Carrick, Nov. 24.
While Cromwell was threatening Waterford, Ormonde brought his whole army to Carrick, the recapture of which he left to Taaffe and Inchiquin, while he marched on with the tidal river between him and the Parliamentary host. The city was open on the river side, and there was no difficulty in ferrying over 1500 Ulster soldiers with Lieut.-General Ferrall as governor. Jones had previously succeeded in occupying Passage, ‘a very large fort with a castle in the midst of it, having five guns planted in it, and commanding the river better than Duncannon.’ The garrison surrendered on condition of quarter only, and Ballyhack being already in Cromwell’s hands, Waterford was pretty thoroughly cut off from the sea. The attempt to recapture Carrick failed, perhaps for want of a good engineer, for the assailants’ mine exploded to their own injury, and without damaging the wall. Reynolds’s men spared their ammunition and defended themselves mainly with stones. The gates were burned, but quickly barricaded inside with rubble, and Inchiquin, having no stock of provisions, was forced to retreat with heavy loss. Ormonde on his return was very nearly captured, for he expected to find Carrick in the hands of friends, and had to ride twenty miles round to join his men at Clonmel. He met the Tipperary rustics flying in all directions with their portable goods, so as to escape being plundered by the soldiers.[160]
The siege of Waterford raised, Dec. 2.
Death of Michael Jones.