Battle of Vinegar Hill

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"Defense of the rebels at Vinegar Hill"

Date	June 21, 1798
Location	Enniscorthy, Wexford
Result	British Victory, regain control of county Wexford

Combatants

Irish Rebels

British Army, Hessian Mercenaries

Commanders

Rebel Council

Gerard Lake

Strength

20,000

15,000

Casualties

1,000 (inc. c. 400 women & children)

100

1798 Rebellion
Ballymore-Eustace – Naas – Prosperous – Kilcullen – Carlow – Tara Hill – Oulart Hill – Newtownmountkennedy – Gibbet Rath – Three Rocks – Bunclody – Tuberneering – New Ross – Antrim – Arklow - Saintfield – Ballynahinch – Ovidstown – Foulksmills – Vinegar Hill – Ballyellis – Castlebar – Collooney – Ballinamuck – Killala

The Battle of Vinegar Hill was an engagement on 21 June 1798 between forces of the British Crown and Irish rebels when over 10,000 British soldiers launched an attack on Vinegar Hill outside Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, then the largest rebel camp and headquarters of the Wexford rebels. It marked a turning point in the Irish Rebellion of 1798 as it was the last attempt to hold and defend ground against the British military and forced rebels to rely on tactics of mobile warfare for the remainder of the Wexford rebellion. The battle was actually fought in two locations, on Vinegar Hill itself and in the streets of nearby rebel-held Enniscorthy.

1 Bombardment of Vinegar Hill
2 Attack on Enniscorthy
3 Taking of Vinegar Hill
4 Aftermath
5 Primary sources
6 Secondary Sources
7 See also

[edit] Bombardment of Vinegar Hill

The battle began shortly before dawn with an artillery bombardment of rebel positions on the hill. Advance units quickly moved against rebel outposts under cover of the shelling, and moved artillery closer as forward positions were secured. The rebel strength was estimated at 20,000 but they were accompanied by thousands of women and children. The tightening ring forced the thousands of rebels into an ever shrinking area and increased exposure to the constant shelling including new experimental delayed fuse explosives resulting in hundreds of dead and maimed. At least two mass charges by the rebels on Vinegar Hill brought temporary relief and heavy casualties but failed to break the advancing lines of military.

[edit] Attack on Enniscorthy

In town, the military simultaneously launched an attack on the town to cut off escape via the bridge linking Vinegar Hill with Enniscorthy town. British progress in the town was much slower and they suffered heavy casualties as experienced heavy street fighting for the second time in the space of one month. The rebels were eventually driven across the bridge but were reinforced by a large contingent of newly arrived rebels, and rallied to prevent the military from breaking through with fighting.

[edit] Taking of Vinegar Hill

The rebel position on the Vinegar Hill was becoming more desperate and when troops crested its eastern summit, the rebels began a withdrawal through a gap spotted in the British lines later known as “Needhams Gap” after Francis Needham whose late arrival allowed the bulk of the rebels to reach safety.

When it became clear that the rebels were retreating, the British [ unleashed a massacre of stragglers, mostly women and children, ensued causing hundreds more deaths. The infantry followed and were guilty of more atrocities.

[edit] Aftermath

The bulk of the rebel forces streamed unmolested towards the Three Rocks camp outside Wexford town, and following the decision to abandon the town, split into two separate columns, one setting out to the west, the other northwards in a new campaign to spread the rebellion beyond Wexford. The defeat was therefore not the crushing blow to the rebels that it has traditionally been depicted but it did alter the course of the rebellion. Continuing resistance now took the form of mobile warfare, raids and large scale guerilla-type operations.