Commemoration to mark 350th Anniversary of Gaelic War.

national | history and heritage | event notice Tuesday March 28, 2006 00:11 by Craobh Gal Greine - Craobh Gal Greine

A commemoration to mark the 350th anniversary of the Gaelic War against Cromwell, is to be held on the 2nd April 2006, at the National Monument in Cork City.

Between the years 1652 - 1659, English Troops murdered over 500,000 Irish men, women and children. Another 100,000 (possibly as high as 250,000) Irish people, mainly children were sold into slavery to places like Barbados and the Caribbean. There was about 30,000 Irish soldiers sent into exile as wild Geese and another 50,000 became known as Toraidhe (Tory's) who fought a guerrilla war against English colonialism. The English also forced over 500,000 Irish from their homes into the barren regions of Connacht and Clare as part of the Plantations and Extermination project. But in the midst of all this chaos, the Irish fought bravely against English tyranny and killed possibly as high as 100,000 English soldiers and Colonists in the period. Republican Sinn Fein in Cork is invited to lay a reed to show the continuity of the fight against English occupation then and today.

Cogadh na dTóraithe
Cogadh na nGael in aghaidh Chromail

350ú cuimhne 1652 – 1659

Commemoration at National Monument, Cork City on Sunday 2nd April 2pm to mark

Craobh Gal Greine is a Irish Cultural society based in Cork open to all Irish Nationalists. The society, promotes, Irish language, culture, history, nationalism, etc. It is non political, except on the issue, that we support the absolute freedom of Ireland both from English occupation and the European Union.

A commemoration to mark the 350th anniversary of the Gaelic War against Cromwell, is to be held on the 2nd April 2006, at the National Monument in Cork City.

Between the years 1652 - 1659, English Troops murdered over 500,000 Irish men, women and children. Another 100,000 (possibly as high as 250,000) Irish people, mainly children were sold into slavery to places like Barbados and the Caribbean. There was about 30,000 Irish soldiers sent into exile as wild Geese and another 50,000 became known as Toraidhe (Tory's) who fought a guerrilla war against English colonialism. The English also forced over 500,000 Irish from their homes into the barren regions of Connacht and Clare as part of the Plantations and Extermination project. But in the midst of all this chaos, the Irish fought bravely against English tyranny and killed possibly as high as 100,000 English soldiers and Colonists in the period.

Craobh Gal Greine have decided we will mark the occasion with a commemoration, so the suffering of our ancestors will not be forgotten, in our generation. The commemoration coincides with a period in history, when 1000 Irish boys and 1000 Irish girls between 12 and 14 were taken from the vicinity of Cork city and sold into a life of slavery.

Republican Sinn Fein in Cork is invited to lay a reed to show the continuity of the fight against English occupation then and today.

Our long term project is to get a monument erected to mark this period of our history in Cork, and this is to get the ball rolling, and get people interested.

Here are just a few notes on the events of the period that we will be commemorating.

The Gaelic War against Cromwell was one of the most fiercely fought battles against the tyranny of English rule in our island. With the unfortunate death of Eoghan Rua O Neill and the renewed attacks by the English against the Gaelic Confederates, during the period of 1652 – 1659 the Gaelic clans were at severe war against the English planters and Crown Forces. With most of the country being dispossessed of their territorial lands and being forced into the province of Connacht, the Gaelic warriors became known as Tory’s from the Gaelic word ‘Toraithe’.

Once Cromwell landed in Drogheda in 1649 and slaughtered over 3,500 people committing desperate war crimes against the Irish people the resistance was slowly changing from open warfare to precision raids against the English garrisons. In 1650 the Irish made a strategic mistake by placing Fr. Mac Mahon in charge of the Irish forces at Scarrifhollis instead of Henry O Neill, which resulted in 3,000 Irish warriors being killed, and both O Neill and mac Mahon being executed. In 1651 5000 Irish died in the siege of Limerick with many Irish leaders were executed along with a further 800 Irish soldiers. While moral in the country had already being low from the Confederate wars which saw the population of the country reduced by over 616,000 people out of the 1.6million people, worse was to come.

While most of the records of the war were destroyed in 1922 through the bombing of the Four Courts, there are still some important events still in record from the period. The O Byrnes, O Tooles and Kavanaghs put up a huge resistance in the Wicklow mountains against the English troops coming from Dublin and in 1652, 4,000 of the English cavalry searched the mountains and burnt all the crops of Irish farmers in the surrounding countryside. The English along with executing 14 priests burnt 300 men women and infants to death in a house in Wexford. Sean O Fhiona O Conchurbhair a great Irish chieftain was executed in Kerry along with twelve of his brethren. In Carrickmacross 15 Tories were killed while holding out in a cave and another five were executed upon their surrender. Murtagh Cullen a leading Tory pregnant wife was put to death after they kept a priest refuge. In Cork and Clonmel over 200 Irish were put to death, yet there was some success with a Tory army in Connacht killing over 270 English soldiers near Inishbofin, but many locals including a number of priests were killed in reprisal.

In 1653 the O Sullivans and O Driscolls were two of the most senior tribes in Cork and Kerry that led a continuous war against Cromwell plantations. Feiritear an Irish chieftain along with a Bishop Egan and Fr. Tadhg O Connor were hanged in Killarney, while Phelim O Neill, one of the most important Gaelic chiefs in Ireland at the time was executed along with many of his troops. The O Flaherties in Galway seized Galway town and destroyed much of the Crown Forces around Connacht but late in the year Eamonn mac Morogh na Maor chief of the clan was captured in a cave in Galway, and killed. Many of the chiefs of the smaller clans loyal to the O Flaherty’s were also executed as a warning to the people of the district with a further 200 executions in Cashel. Fr. Donogh O Kennedy a Jesuit priest was executed along with his brother Eamonn and father Colonel Dermot O Kennedy. Both Col. Edward Fennell and Lt. Col. William Bourke were hanged in Cork and a further 200 executions took place in Dublin.

Eamonn Dubh O Reilly one of the most notorious and successful Tory’s was executed along with Fr. Tadhg Moriarty, Fr. William Tirry of Tipperary. Fr. Bonaventure Carens were executed in Killarney while the most famous Tory of the period Blind Donogh O Derrick and Irish Chieftain John Byrne were executed. In 1954 the Tory’s managed to seize one of the English war ships that was transporting them to Barbados and killed all the English onboard. The reprisal was the English who were transporting 300 Irish slaves to Barbados place all of them upon a desert island and let them starve to death in cruel conditions.

In 1655 several Tory’s including Daniel Mulachy of Kildare were killed along with Edward Hetherington a Tory leader who was pursued after he took the lives of seven English soldiers. The Irish on the continent who were transported from Ireland as wild geese (at least 40,000) took to war against the Waldeness who supported Cromwell, while maintaining a good supply of weapons onto the west coast to maintain a resistance against the English. In 1656 the English seized Donogh O Derricks wife and transported her to Barbados while in the same raid executing four Tory’s, while in Waterford they killed a further two Tory chiefs. The English starved Fr. John Carolan to death while Fr. Patrick Archer was executed after 210 English soldiers drowned tear Timoleague. In 1657 three of the most senior Tory’s in the country were executed, they being Henry Archer, William Shaffe and Daniel Kennedy. In all about 400,000 Irish people lost their lives during the Cromwell conquest with a further 100,000 plus being transported to slavery in Barbados and the Caribbean islands. The Irish were disposed of most of their lands and had to flee to Connacht during a severe winter without their crops. The English who had a scorch earth policy destroyed most of the forests in the country and reduced the cattle population from 4,500,000 to 1,200,000 in an attempt to starve the people to death