The Battle of the Yellow Ford Part 3

  
Sir Thomas Maria Wingfield was a veteran of the action at Clontibret.  He had commanded the English Rearward there.  Based upon his experience there he could anticipate that soon the Irish Army would move in for the kill with companies of mutually supporting shot, Horse, pike and the Redshanks. That is what happened at Clontibret. This time they would be complemented by targeteers who excelled in swordsmanship.   Sir Thomas had no intention of waiting for that to happen and he sought to regain the military initiative. 

He could now abandon Marshal Bagenal’s battle plan.  Tyrone had fought his own battle not Bagenal’s anticipated one. The English needed to respond with a new plan.

Wingfield instructed the column to reverse its direction of travel and head back to Armagh.  His fellow officers do not seem to have demurred.  Leaving colonel Cosby to restore order among Percy’s and Bagenal’s regiments he turned his attention to the Rearward of the army.  It would now become the English Van.

Colonels Billings and Cuney led there. They had been engaged almost continuously since the march began. They had burned a lot of powder but so far, the fighting had been at a distance.  Their men were in good order but must have been aware of series of disasters happening at the front of the column.  It is also reasonable to suppose that they were becoming tired.  The psychological pressure of being pinned by the enemy while the rest of the army marched on should be recognised.

Wingfield’s new orders came at the right time. Colonels Billings and Cuney had noticed the Irish Horse increasing in number and moving up to second the Irish shot.  This was normally a prelude to a close assault.  On their other flank the Redshanks could transform themselves from missile men to close combat troops in the twinkling of a two-handed blade. 

It appeared to the colonels that the Irish Army intended to bar the road back to Armagh by driving their men into the English Battle and taking possession of the Yellow Ford.

Liberated by their new orders the colonels took action. The light guns were unlimbered and brought to bear on the squadrons of Irish Horse.  The heavy English Horse formed into line of battle.  It is hard not to think that these decisive orders must have heartened their men.  Equally the news that they must now lead the fight back to Armagh and safety likely filled them with purpose.

A cannonade from the English light guns stayed the Irish advance.  The newly minted English Van began to retrace its steps.  The Irish and the Redshanks watched them go.  Soon the cannon would be re-limbered and the English cavalry would move on. New targets would present themselves and they would engage once more.

At the trench and in Sir Thomas’s absence colonel Cosby decided to act on his own cognisance.   Amazingly, he ordered his own regiment over the trench along with any of Bagenal’s and Percy’s survivors he could cajole to join them.  The result was entirely predictable.  His men were caught disordered, cut up and sent reeling back over the trench with the Irish at their heels.  The presence of Sir Callisthenes Brook’s cavalry probably prevented the Irish troops from crossing the trench themselves and finishing the job. 

Colonel Cosby’s behaviour calls for comment. He had been one of the senior officers who elected Sir Thomas as General of the Army.  He knew that Wingfield was an experienced and effective soldier. He had been given, and accepted, express orders to form and command the English Rearward.  That was a responsible and perilous duty. He also knew the consequences of the crossing the Irish field works.  Yet, we know that he did so.   

Perhaps he felt he could do better than those who tried before him.  Maybe he was moved by personal or political motivations that we cannot discern at this distance of time.  All we can say is that he acted with extreme folly.

In the aftermath Sir Thomas restored order once more. Likely he made a swift mental assessment of the condition of his army.  Of the six regiments that had marched out that morning three were now shattered.  His own regiment and those of Billings and Cuney were in reasonable order.  The cavalry was still eminently serviceable but the English shot had burned most of their powder.   

It was a perilous position. About 1,500 English soldiers lay dead or wounded on the battle field.  Among the dead were 18 officers. One English officer was later to say that if the Irish had closed, he doubted any of his command would have survived.  Yet survive they all did-more or less.

The reason was twofold.   

Tyrone’s army was out of powder and Irish tactics now revolved around firepower.   

The enthusiasm with which the Irish had embraced the military revolution meant that they lacked close fighting troops. Only the Redshanks and the targeteers now specialised in close assault.  The Galloglaich who would once have led a charge were now carrying pikes and standing ready to interdict the English cavalry.  The Kern swordsmen were now carrying calivers.  

Irish losses had so far been low, no higher than 300 men and possibly as low as 120.  Any attempt to exterminate the English Army would have considerably increased Irish casualties without producing any additional strategic benefit. The English could always replace soldiers.

As it stood Sir Henry Bagenal’s great expedition had been stopped and brutally punished. It was now marching off the field in the right direction, and carrying Sir Henry’s remains with it.  There was no military imperative for the Irish Army to do more.

Sir Thomas led his men back the 4 miles or so to Armagh without much interference.  Once there the cavalry rode hard for Dublin.  There was little they could do by staying with the army.   

The English Army negotiated a withdrawal agreement that in return for their arms, equipment and supplies and the surrender of the Blackwater Fort they could march unmolested back to Dublin. This, they duly did.

In Dublin the Irish Privy Council, nerves shattered, sent a pleading letter to Tyrone begging him to desist from further hostilities.  

In London Queen Elizabeth raged at her advisors and damned the Irish Privy Council.  She decided to send her personal favorite and the most most powerful man in England to put things right.  Neither money nor men would be spared. There would be another great expedition and Robert Dudley the Earl of Essex would command. It was to cost him his head. 

Quietly but significantly a planned sea borne English expedition to Ulster was cancelled and the troops re assigned to protect the Pale.

That was the Battle of the Yellow Ford and we might recall how it began that morning.

Two young captains … had the leading of the two forlorn hopes in the vanguard. They marched gaily with two pipes of tobacco in their mouths … the vanguard followed as fast as they could as if they would win the goal in a match at football play[ed] without the help of their followers’