Publisher's Synopsis
On Friday 5th June, 1646, near the village of Benburb, Owen Roe O'Neill, leader of the Confederate native Irish Ulster army, brought about his greatest military triumph in Ireland by putting to rout the combined Scottish/British force of Robert Monro. This was no ordinary battle as the combatants came from Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland with the mixed interests of the imprisoned King Charles I, his rebellious English parliament, the Scottish covenanters, the 'old English', the Vatican, the Ulster plantation and the native Irish. A battle in which the wind and sun played their part and, above all, a battle in which the victors threatened the very existence of the Ulster plantation but, ironically, brought about the fall of their own Assembly of the Catholic Supreme Council. At the heart of this work lies an extended study of the events that brought about the battle and the experience, planning and thinking by the two continental mercenary veterans (O'Neill and Monro) that lead their respective armies. The rival forces themselves are investigated with full orders of battle identifying (many for the first time) the troops of horse and regiments of foot that participated in the campaign and the different types of soldiers that made up these units. Victuals, logistics, and religion, are also evaluated but much effort has been paid to the tactics adopted by the rival armies as it was on the field of Benburb where the German and Spanish schools of war collided. With the latter in mind much use has been made of the material from military writers of the time, particularly Sir James Turner's Pallas Armata and Memoirs of his own Life and Times, as he fought not only in mainland Europe but in Ireland during this period. Robert Monro's own book of military advice written from his experiences of the Thirty Years War entitled, Monro, His Expedition with the Worthy Scots Regiment called Mac-Keys Regiment is also utilised in the same respect. The battle itself, though previously researched, has been re-examined and broken down into phases so as to better understand the tactics, the experiences the men had to endure and the reasons why the battle turned out the way it did. Source material not referenced in previous accounts has been used which includes an account dispatched from Monro's camp the day after the battle, A Letter from the Commissioners of Ulster. and, A Relation of the Defeat .. . In addition a new translation (from Irish/Gaelic to English) of Friar O'Mellan's Journal (Cín Lae Uí Mhealláin), who reflected the Ulster native Irish view, has been utilised. The end result is a product of much research which offers a fresh perspective on an under studied period of Irish history and the last great victory of a native Irish army.
