The Battle of The Ford of the Biscuits Ireland 1594

The Battle of The Ford of the Biscuits can be seen as an overture to the main engagements of the Nine Years War.  It was the first outing for units of the new Irish Army as recreated below by the National Museum.

There were older martial elements there too.  Redshanks charged and Kern threw darts.  It’s one of the smaller battles and we are fortunate to have an excellent map (courtesy James O'Neill of  Clann Ársa Uí Neíll) of the ground.  Let’s have a look at what happened on that day 7^th of August 1594.

The English under the command of Sir Henry Bagenal had captured Enniskillen and garrisoned it. It was soon under blockade by the Irish.  A relief column was organised under the command of Sir Henry Duke and Sir Edward Herbert.  The joint commanders estimated that they would need a minimum of 1,000 soldiers but were allocated 600 Foot and 46 Horse.  We can note the latter represent a slightly understrength Troop.

The Irish Army was commanded by Hugh Maguire Lord of Fermanagh with Cormac Mac Barron as his second in command.   

We have the testimony of Joan Kelly the Irish wife of an English soldier for the heavy Tyrone presence in the Irish Army. The O’Hagans, key adherents of Tyrone, were well represented.  Turlough Bui, Henry and Donal O’Hagan all led companies of shot as did Brian Mc Art Mc Barron, Patrick O’Molan and Donal Mc Art Ban O’Neill. 

 

I have yet to discern the levels of seniority among them although pleasingly we can note Owen Corr, a junior officer, led 10 men the minimum unit of the Tyrone shot. Owen had been a page to Tyrone and fought in the red livery of the O’Neill.  Another three of his fellow pages fought presumably also as junior officers and definitely in red.

Joan Kelly also identified Eoin Mc Avghin Ban and Gyllandryas Mc Havghin as leading the Redshanks. The latter she described as Tyrone’s chief Scottish adviser.  I think both of these men are MacGavins or possibly MacGowans.  Gilla Andrew (the servant of St Andrew) would be a perfectly plausible Gaelic reading of Gyllandryas. I’d suggest they each led a company of Redshanks.

So far, we have identified 7 units of shot and two units of Redshanks in the Irish Army.  We also know that there was at least one unit each of pike and horse.  There was also a company or two of Kern presumably survivors of the defeat at Enniskillen.  In total the Irish Army numbered about one thousand men.

 

The English column marched in the traditional tri-partite division of Van, Battle and Rearward. Taking the strength of each company to be a notional 85 men we get a total of 7 units of Foot.  The usual English ratio of pike to shot would give us 2 units of pike, two units of musket and two units of caliver leaving one unit to be designated.  Pike men play a significant role in the battle so I’d suggest the 7^th unit was of pike men.  This means the English infantry have more shot than pike as was normal practice.

We do not know how many companies were allocated to each of the three divisions of the column.  Although I’d favour the slower moving muskets along with a company of pike being in the Van which was commanded by Sir Henry Duke. We do know that because of the boggy ground the cavalry was told to dismount and lead their horses.  That suggests demi lances to me but we can note the Irish Horse avoided that ground too, so who knows?

The column was escorting a large amount of supplies carried on wagons and strings of pack horses and had a sizeable contingent of camp followers.  These noncombatants were placed in the gaps between the three wards.

When the head of the column reached the ford of the river Arney they received heavy fire from troops concealed on the far bank.  The column halted.

The flanks of the column were then assailed by Irish shot.  The English shot shook out to engage them.  A regular skirmish developed.  We should understand this as a highly disciplined affair and not as soldiers skipping about and firing at will. Proper skirmishers moved in groups of 4, two of whom were always loaded. To develop this further, a company of 80 men set to skirmish would divide into 20 groups of 4 and then advance and retire as needed.  The company officers would seek to direct their actions. In theory half of the company would be giving fire while the other half stood ready to do so. 

The Irish shot drove in the English shot and began to shoot down the English pike men.  They may already have exceeded the shooting abilities of their English counterparts.  Certainly they benefited from a better command and control structure with 8 officers to a company compared to 5 in an English company.

The Rearward was then hit with a charge of Irish Pike and Redshanks and gave way to panic causing a concertina effect with the English rearward and battle colliding with the Van.  This tells us the English were no longer in good order as the light Irish pike would not charge ordered English armoured pike men.  The Redshanks of course would.  Pike men never seemed to have troubled them, something that would surely repay further research.

Sir Henry kept his head and ordered his pike to charge across the ford.  They did so and the Irish shot evaded the charge.  In doing so they were now covered by the Irish cavalry, seconded in the military argot of the time. The English pike men had done their job and the ford was now open.

The Battle and Rearward now crossed the Arney, presumably the camp followers did so too.  The baggage train was abandoned on the far side of the river.  The English officers set about restoring order.  Captain Fuller shook out the English shot and led them into a skirmishing fight. He was soon dead pierced by a dart  and with that the English Commanders realised they had no hope of continuing the four miles to their goal of Enniskillen.  

In front of them were Irish shot and Horse behind them Irish pike, shot and Redshanks.  The position was not tenable. Commanders Duke and Herbert abandoned their mission and set off along the riverside to seek another ford that would enable them to march back to safety.  At this point some of the English troops began to throw away their arms and armour in anticipation of a deadly pursuit.  It never came and we might wonder why Hugh Maguire did not unleash his cavalry.

The English  losses were officially reported as 56 killed and 69 wounded, that is to say the best part of two companies. The baggage was lost too.  Duke and Herbert gave "The Lord hearty thanks for preserving the rest considering the odds and the great over match which the traitors had against us."  They had of course said before setting out that they needed more troops for the mission and so in defeat lost little time in reminding their superiors of it.

The Irish Army let them go. They had accomplished their mission which was to prevent the relief of Enniskillen which consequently fell to them.  As a bonus they had routed their opponents and captured considerable supplies the least of which were the biscuits.  The abandoned powder and shot were of much greater value to them.The Irish losses were minimal although two of the O'Hagan Captains were wounded.