The Battle of the Moyry Pass - Ireland 1600

Thomas Williams, the veteran Welsh captain who had skillfully defended the Black Water Fort, was now in service with Mountjoy.   On the 25^th September 1600 he led out 100 English shot on a desperate scouting mission.  It had previously rained solid for a week. In the English camp it had barely been possible to keep a fire lit.  The soldiers were consequently getting sick.  

Now the weather had broken. A dense fog had descended limiting vision to “A butt’s length”. Williams was tasked to spy out the position and defences of the Irish Army. 

He made contact with the Irish outposts and was shot at.  Upon returning his company was mistaken for an Irish attack and was shot at again. Of the 100 men who had gone out 12 were now dead and 30 were wounded. It might have been taken as an ill omen.

Captain Williams reported to Lord Mountjoy that the Irish position was well fortified and full of soldiers. In fact, he had only seen the Irish picket line and the first line of defences. There was so much more hidden by both fog and the topography of the Moyry Pass.

The next morning some Irish Horse rode up to the English camp and enquired “Since the English Churls had finished eating, perhaps they could come out and fight?”

Mountjoy fully intended to do so.  He had with him around 3,500 foot and 375 Horse.  Or, in the parlance of that time about 41 companies of foot and 9 troops of Horse.  He had not wished to march to the Moyry Pass.  It was an enterprise that he considered to be both “miserable and dangerous”.  Pressure from Queen Elisabeth and Cecil and fear of intrigue against him at the English court had forced his hand.  He had after all been an Essex man.

Tyrone faced Mountjoy without the benefit of his Tirconnell allies- at best he had 3,000 men and very likely nearer 2,000.

Mountjoy had formed his troops into five regiments in an inverted V formation, a chevron if you like.  With it he intended to over run the Irish field work.  The point of the chevron was comprised of Sir Thomas Burke’s regiment.  The English cavalry were all deployed in support.  Possibly with squadrons at each flank of the chevron with others behind apex. The army moved off as one.

Burke’s men at the point were hammered by the fire of the Irish shot.  Soon morale began to waiver the soldiers were “falling down on their knees for fear”. They had endured “terrible volleys of shot at the barricadoe’s.”

Sir Thomas opted for the grand classical gesture and rallied his men by throwing the colours and himself over the Irish barricade.  Luckily, for him, his men followed supported by the regiments in the two wings of the chevron. 

The English soldiers were now confronted by a second barricade. Seized with momentum they stormed it or so they thought. In fact, the Irish had simply retreated to their third line of defence. From that vantage point and from flanking sconces and trenches the Irish shot punished to English foot at close range. The difficulty was encapsulated by an English officer who subsequently wrote “that they had to endure gunfire in the open whereas all they could see were the Irish defender’s heads.” 

Both Mountjoy and Tyrone were observed to be closely supervising the fighting.  It was not without risk.  John St. John a Gentleman Volunteer was shot dead at Mountjoy’s side. 

On the left flank the English foot began to give way. Sir William Godolphin led up his troops of Horse to support them.  His own mount was “stricken under him stark dead with a blow (bullet) on the forehead, that the blood sparkled into his face and some of the powder of the shot”.  The position was not tenable for either Horse or foot.  The Horse could not charge the Irish works and the foot could barely see their foes.  Any hopes Mountjoy had of the English pike storming the Irish final position seem to have been misplaced.  Here we must ask ourselves had Mountjoy’s decision to reduce their armour worked against him?  

The fighting had been going on for four hours and the English were both out of steam and options.  Mountjoy ordered the retreat.  It was a “ gallant and orderly retreat”. The Irish followed up “the Irish fell on again very hotly”.  They harried the retreating English soldiers and re occupied their own lines of defensive works as they went.  In effect both armies went back in their starting lines. 

Mountjoy admitted 200 casualties 55 dead and 145 wounded.  He claimed that the Irish had lost more but as they had constantly fought from hard cover that is hard to credit.  Mountjoy had got in and then had to fight his way out.

For the next two days Mountjoy rested his troops.  His instincts had been proved right he should not have fought at the Moyry Pass. Disease was taking its toll on his men and desertion steadily grew.  Yet, he knew he must attack again. The political factors which had brought him to the Pass still prevailed in his mind.

On the third day, on the 5 October, he attacked once more.  Three regiments attacked the first Irish entrenchment hoping to pin the Irish there while the remaining two regiments attempted to turn a flank.  Like many military men of the time Mountjoy had studied the tactics of the Great Captains of Antiquity.

The English centre failed to take the first barricade probably because they were waiting for the Irish flank to be turned before they made a serious effort.  In any event the Irish were disinclined to give way.  The two sides exchanged fire with the Irish once again enjoying the advantage of their fortifications.

On the flank Sir Charles Percy and Sir Oliver St. John led their regiments forward onto high ground. St. John’s regiment hit very rough ground and fell behind, unable to advance. This left Percy’s regiment exposed.  Tyrone struck hard with three hundred men engaging the English to the front and flank.  Percy ordered a charge to push back the Irish shot.  St John ordered forward his shot to Percy’s aid. This stabilised the situation and succoured Percy’s regiment.  We might observe that the newly caliver equipped English shot seem to have proved more serviceable than the old slower musketeers.

That was as good as it got for Percy's and St John’s men.  Tyrone’s soldiers could not be moved and the flank attack was halted.   

Here we can see the impact of desertion and disease on the English army because Percy’s regiment was only 250 men strong.  This despite its crucial role.  It is true that they were reinforced by St John’s shot likely another 140 men.  That is to say 390 men of the reformed English army fought 300 men of the New Irish Army and were beaten.  Yet, we can note they were not destroyed.  They claimed to have killed 12 Irish soldiers.  A meagre total by most battle combat reckonings.  I’m inclined to think that the true achievement was to survive the encounter and retreat in good order. That, of course, could not be trumpeted and yet it was a real improvement.

 
Percy’s and St John’s regiments retreated.  Unmolested, for Tyrone was outnumbered and he too had read the Ancients.  He intended to defend the gate to the North, and he had done so.  He needed to conserve his soldiers.

The failure of Mountjoy’s flank manoeuvre ended the day’s fighting.  He put his losses at 130 killed and 360 wounded.  The Irish losses are unknown but the fighting on the flank may have been hard on the New Irish Army.

By the 6^th of October Mountjoy’s army was in serious difficulties. Disease and desertion had greatly exceeded the men lost in the fighting. It is possible that overall losses might have reached fifty percent.  It is of interest that Mountjoy sent for (300) additional calivers to re arm his pike men as shot. This confirms the pike men had not proved useful in storming the Pass.

Later in the day Mountjoy once again led his men out to confront the first line of the Irish defences.  He ordered no attack.  The English Army could do no more. It contented itself with a demonstration at a safe distance.  Three days later Mountjoy retreated, leading his diminished army off to Dundalk.

Subsequently Mountjoy claimed the action as a victory. We can observe it wasn’t-at least for him.  The actual victor, Tyrone, made no great play of the action. From this I would conclude that the fighting and the conditions at the Moyry Pass were very hard on both sides.

It only remains to us to consider the Irish field defences.  We know there were three lines of entrenchments flanked with sconces and supporting revetments.  Each line was in caliver shot of the others. It was designed for execution by gun fire.  You can see Bartlett’s drawing at the top of the page. 

Sir Francis Stafford who saw the works wrote “I vow unto God I did never see a more villainous piece of work; and an impossible thing for an army to pass without an intolerable loss”.

News reached England and Privy Councillor Sir Geoffrey Fenton opined "We are now back where we started."   Mountjoy's anxieties about Elizabeth's court were well founded.

The battle of the Moyry Pass had been a bitter fight.  It was the first major test of Mountjoy’s reformed English Army against the New Irish Army.  The New Irish Army outnumbered but entrenched had prevailed.  From our distant perspective we can see, clearly, I think, the improvements in the English Army.  Unlike the aftermath of the Yellow Ford the English got to march away without negotiating Tyrone’s prior permission.