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Battle of Ballymore-Eustace 1798

Marker: recorded battle location (no official boundary).

Key facts

Date (year)1798Wikidata P585 point in time
Century18th centuryderived
PeriodJacobite & laterderived
CountryIrelandderived
War / conflictIrish Rebellion of 1798Wikidata

About the battle

The Battle of Ballymore-Eustace was one of the events in the United Irish rebellion of 1798. It took place on 24 May 1798 after the stationing of the 9th Dragoons, and members of the Tyrone, Antrim and Armagh Militias at Ballymore in County Kildare near the Kildare-Wicklow border on 10 May. The town had been recently garrisoned by almost 200 soldiers and militia who had been sent to repress sedition in the area. The troops had been dispersed in billets among the populace as per counter-insurgency practice of "free-quarters" where responsibility for the provisioning and sheltering of militia was foisted onto the populace. During this time a quantity of arms were surrendered and letters of protection issued.

On 23 May 120 soldiers were recalled, leaving a garrison of around 80 men. At around 1 a.m. on 24 May, the rebel force of approx. 200 attacked the town. As in the attacks on Naas and Prosperous, the rebels sought to surprise and overwhelm the garrison by coordinated attacks before it could react and rally against them. The houses containing troops of the 9th Dragoons and the Tyrone Militia were to be attacked simultaneously.

However, the attack on garrison headquarters was miscarried due to lack of coordination and numbers so that the building became a rallying point for the Government troops.

Visiting the battlefield

Location

  • Approximate location: the point for Ballymore Eustace, the place Wikidata gives as the battle’s location: 53.8100, -6.3655

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Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Ballymore-Eustace (revision 1370433186), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; condensed by selecting paragraphs and trimming at sentence boundaries; citations removed. No text added.

Battle location from Wikidata (CC0).

Nearby battlefields

Other battles of the Irish Rebellion of 1798

All battles of the Irish Rebellion of 1798 →

Browse more: battles in County Louth · battles in Ireland · Jacobite & later · 18th century battles

Further reading