Battle of Cavan

Battle of Cavan
	Part of Williamite War in Ireland
Date	11 February 1690
Location	Cavan, County Cavan, Ireland
Result	Williamite victory
Belligerents
Williamites	Jacobites
Commanders and leaders
William Wolseley	Duke of Berwick ; William Nugent
Strength
1,500	1,000
Casualties and losses
880	800

Last updated July 20, 2024

The Battle of Cavan took place in Cavan, Ireland on 11 February 1690 between forces of Williamite and Jacobite troops during the Williamite War in Ireland. It ended in a victory for the Williamites who captured, sacked and burned the town of Cavan before withdrawing to their forwarding base at Belturbet and further afield Enniskillen.

The Williamite commander over Ennisskillen (Inniskillinger) cavalry troops was Colonel William Wolseley had been instructed by his overall commander Marshal Schomberg to observe and harry Cavan, as Jacobites were using it as a forwarding base to launch relief raids across Ulster for Jacobite forces. At the time Cavan was one of the few remaining settlements in Ulster still loyal to James II of Ireland. The Duke of Berwick led a reinforcement to the Jacobite garrison commanded by Brigadier John Wauchope.

Wolseley left Belturbet with a force of 1,200 infantry and 300 cavalry. He hoped to catch the Jacobites by surprise by using a roundabout route to cross the River Annalee via Bellanacargy but his expedition was spotted by a Jacobite outpost and word passed on to Cavan of its approach. Berwick decided to march out and confront Wolseley in the open, as Cavan town was unfortified without canon and indefensible seeking to minimize local casualties. Wolseley was unaware that Berwick had arrived to reinforce Cavan the previous day bringing the Jacobite strength up to 1,000.^[1]

Wolseley felt that he had to now launch an attack, as it would be dangerous to attempt a withdrawal fearing mutiny by his English conscript mercenaries promised land and silver to defeat the Jacobite rebellion. He ordered his men and cavalry forwards, but they were pushed back by a Jacobite cavalry charge. Wolseley then ordered his infantry to forward march, who received the Jacobite fire until they were close enough to fire a devastating volley due to their overwhelming numbers. The Jacobite infantry retrenched and regrouped for the safety of a nearby entrenched fort pending await of relief.

Wolseley's troops now surged into the town, looting and committing crimes against women and children, led by the Enniskillen troops, notorious for their cruelty against local populations. Seeing this some of the Jacobites sallied out of the fort and attacked them but were driven off by the Williamite forces, many of the plunderers rejoining the ranks to see off the threat.^[2] During the fighting the Jacobites lost Brigadier William Nugent, and their casualties have been estimated at around 550 compared to slightly higher Williamite losses.

Wolseley then burned the town and withdrew back to Belturbet. The defeat was a blow to Jacobite plans for the area and for its leadership in Ulster under general Patrick Sarsfield. Berwick returned to Dublin to claim his land and monetary rewards for suppression of rebellion in the region. In his report, Berwick inflated both the size and casualties of the Jacobite force.^[3]

The victory at Cavan began a successful year for the Williamites, and preceded the general Protestant victory to the east at the Battle of the Boyne that summer, leading to the capture of Dublin. Cavan subsequently fell to the Williamites.

Related Research Articles

The Battle of the Boyne took place in 1690 between the forces of the deposed King James II, and those of King William III who, with his wife Queen Mary II, had acceded to the Crowns of England and Scotland in 1689. The battle was fought across the River Boyne close to the town of Drogheda in the Kingdom of Ireland, modern-day Republic of Ireland, and resulted in a victory for William. This turned the tide in James's failed attempt to regain the British crown and ultimately aided in ensuring the continued Protestant ascendancy in Ireland.

Lieutenant-General William Cadogan, 1st Earl Cadogan was an Irish-born British Army officer. He began his active military service during the Williamite War in Ireland in 1689 and ended it with the suppression of the 1715 Jacobite Rebellion. A close associate and confidant of the Duke of Marlborough, he was also a diplomat and Whig politician who sat in the English and British Houses of Commons from 1705 until 1716, when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Cadogan.

Cavan is the county town of County Cavan in Ireland. The town lies in Ulster, near the border with County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. The town is bypassed by the main N3 road that links Dublin with Enniskillen, Ballyshannon and Donegal Town.

The siege of Derry in 1689 was the first major event in the Williamite War in Ireland. The siege was preceded by an attempt against the town by Jacobite forces on 7 December 1688 that was foiled when 13 apprentices shut the gates. This was an act of rebellion against James II.

The Williamite War in Ireland took place from March 1689 to October 1691. Fought by Jacobite supporters of James II and his successor, William III, it resulted in a Williamite victory. It is generally viewed as a related conflict of the 1688 to 1697 Nine Years' War.

The Battle of Aughrim was the decisive battle of the Williamite War in Ireland. It was fought between the largely Irish Jacobite army loyal to James II and the forces of William III on 12 July 1691, near the village of Aughrim, County Galway.

The Battle of Newtownbutler took place near Enniskillen in County Fermanagh, Ireland, in 1689 and was part of the Williamite War in Ireland between the forces of William III and Mary II and those of King James II.

Limerick, a city in western Ireland, was besieged twice in the Williamite War in Ireland in 1689–1691. On the first occasion, in August to September 1690, its Jacobite defenders retreated to the city after their defeat at the Battle of the Boyne. The Williamites, under William III, tried to take Limerick by storm but were driven off and had to retire into their winter quarters.

The Break of Dromore took place on 14 March 1689 near Dromore, County Down in the early stages of the Williamite War in Ireland. It featured Catholic Jacobite troops under Richard Hamilton and Protestant Williamite militia led by Hugh Montgomery and Arthur Rawdon.

Events from the year 1689 in Ireland.

Charles Chalmot de Saint-Ruhe was a French cavalry officer, serving in the armies of Louis XIV.

The 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, first raised in 1689 as Sir Albert Cunningham's Regiment of Dragoons. One of the regiment's most notable battles was the Battle of the Boyne in July 1690. It became the 6th (Inniskilling) Regiment of Dragoons in 1751. The regiment also fought with distinction in the Charge of the Union Brigade at the Battle of Waterloo and again as part of the successful Charge of the Heavy Brigade against superior numbers at the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War. The First World War sounded the death knell for mounted cavalry as it became apparent that technology had moved forward with greater destructive power and made horsed cavalry redundant on the modern battlefield. The British Army reorganised and reduced its cavalry corps by disbanding or amalgamating many of its famous cavalry regiments. The Inniskillings was one of those affected. It saw service for two centuries, including the First World War, before being amalgamated with 5th Dragoon Guards to form 5th/6th Dragoons in 1922.

The 3rd Hussars was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, first raised in 1685. It saw service for three centuries, including the First and the Second World Wars, before being amalgamated with the 7th Queen's Own Hussars, to form the Queen's Own Hussars in November 1958.

William Nugent was an Irish soldier of the seventeenth century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Carrickfergus (1689)</span> 1689 siege

The siege of Carrickfergus took place in August 1689 when a force of Williamite troops under Marshal Schomberg landed and laid siege to the Jacobite garrison of Carrickfergus in Ireland. After a week the Jacobites surrendered, and were allowed to march out with the honours of war.

The raid on Newry took place in November 1689 during the Williamite War in Ireland when a Franco-Irish force loyal to James II attacked the Williamite garrison of Newry in County Down. The raid was carried out by the French Major General Alexandre de Rainier de Droue, Marquis de Boisseleau a French officer serving with James' Irish Army. It was largely unsuccessful and the Jacobite forces withdrew having suffered casualties.

The Capture of Bandon occurred in 1689 when the town of Bandon in County Cork, Ireland was forcibly seized from its rebellious Protestant inhabitants by force of Irish Army troops under Justin McCarthy. The skirmishing at the town took place during the early stages of the Williamite War in Ireland. The Jacobite success at Bandon helped suppress any chance of a general Munster uprising against the rule of James II similar to that which occurred in Ulster the same year. The slogan "No Surrender!" is believed to have been first used at Bandon and subsequently taken up, more famously, by the defenders at the Siege of Derry the same year.

Dundalk Camp was a military camp which served as the headquarters of the Williamite Army under Marshal Schomberg in Autumn 1689 as part of the Williamite War in Ireland. The camp rapidly became notorious for the great loss of life suffered by soldiers due to the exposed conditions, shortage of supplies and inadequate medical facilities.

The Lord Grand Prior's Regiment, also known as Fitzjames' Regiment and as the Regiment of the Marine, was an infantry regiment originally raised in Ireland to fight for the deposed monarch James II during his war against his successor, William of Orange. While technically classed as a regiment of marines for much of its existence, as James possessed no navy it generally fought as conventional infantry. Its colonel was James's illegitimate son Henry Fitzjames, Grand Prior of the Knights of Malta, although in practice field command was delegated to an experienced lieutenant-colonel.

Brigadier-general William Wolseley, PC was an English army officer who fought in the Williamite War in Ireland.

References

↑ Childs p.190
↑ Childs p.190-191
↑ Childs p.191

Bibliography

Childs, John. The Williamite Wars in Ireland. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2007.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] Childs p.190

[2] Childs p.190-191

[3] Childs p.191

[1]

[2]

[3]