Siege of Enniskillen (1594) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Siege of Enniskillen |
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| Part of the Nine Years' War | |||||||
 Enniskillen Castle |
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Irish Alliance |
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| John Dowdall (1st siege) James Eccarsall (2nd siege) |
Hugh Maguire Hugh Roe O'Donnell Cormac MacBaron O'Neill |
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| Strength | |||||||
| Roughly 2,000 | 34 | ||||||
The Siege of Enniskillen was a series of battles that happened at Enniskillen in Fermanagh, Ireland. These events took place in 1594 and 1595 during a big conflict called the Nine Years' War.
In February 1594, English soldiers captured Enniskillen Castle from the Irish. They attacked by water and then killed the Irish defenders after they had surrendered.
Starting in May 1594, an Irish army led by Hugh Maguire and Cormac MacBaron O'Neill surrounded the English soldiers inside the castle. In August, the Irish army won a battle against an English group trying to help the castle. This battle was called the Battle of the Ford of the Biscuits.
Another English group managed to bring supplies to the castle, but the English soldiers inside were still cut off. Finally, in May 1595, the English soldiers gave up the castle to the Irish. Sadly, the Irish then killed the English soldiers who had surrendered.
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Why the Siege Started
In 1593, Hugh Maguire was the Irish lord of Fermanagh. He was very unhappy with the actions of a new English sheriff named Humphrey Willis. Willis had been raiding and taking things from Maguire's land.
Maguire wasn't strong enough to fight the sheriff alone. But he got help from Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, a powerful Irish leader. With Tyrone's help, Maguire forced Sheriff Willis out of his territory.
In May and June 1593, Maguire and another Irish leader, Brian Oge O'Rourke, attacked lands controlled by an English official named Richard Bingham. They destroyed the town near Ballymote Castle. This was part of a hidden war. The Irish leaders wanted to keep the English busy while Tyrone made his position stronger in Ulster.
The English government sent an army to respond. This army was led by Sir Henry Bagenal and also included Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone. Tyrone was still pretending to be loyal to the English at this time. In October 1593, they fought Maguire's forces at the Battle of Belleek. The English won, but most of Maguire's main army was still safe.
First Attack on Enniskillen Castle
Enniskillen Castle was built on the River Erne. It was in a very important spot between two large lakes, Upper and Lower Lough Erne. This made it a key place to control the area.
On January 25, 1594, an English captain named John Dowdall arrived at Enniskillen by boat. He brought three groups of foot soldiers. They dug trenches and set up small cannons and soldiers with muskets. However, the cannons were too small to do much damage to the castle walls. On January 30, Captain George Bingham arrived with 300 more men.
The English then launched an attack on the castle from the water. Soldiers in boats and cannons on land fired at the castle. A large boat with 67 men anchored near a weak part of the walls. They used pickaxes to make a hole in the wall. This forced the Irish defenders to hide inside the castle's main tower.
Captain Dowdall threatened to blow up the castle with gunpowder if the Irish didn't surrender. An Irish person who was there said there were 36 fighting men and 40 women and children in the castle. Dowdall, however, claimed there were 200 people. After the Irish surrendered, Dowdall ordered them to be killed. He claimed to have killed 150 people.
Captain Thomas Lee, who was also there, said this was a great dishonor to the Queen. He wrote that the defenders had given up "upon agreement," and that the Queen's "word" had been given to them. But they were "dishonorably put to the sword in a most miserable state" anyway.
On February 2, Dowdall wrote to the English leader in Ireland, saying he had captured the castle from the "rebel" Hugh Maguire. An English group of soldiers was left to guard the castle. A detailed drawing of this attack was made soon after.
Second Attack on Enniskillen Castle
On May 17, 1594, Hugh Maguire and Cormac MacBaron O'Neill began to attack Enniskillen again. This time, they had secret support from Tyrone. The castle was now alone in an area controlled by their enemies.
Their army had 1,400 foot soldiers and 600 horsemen. More help quickly arrived from Hugh Roe O'Donnell, another Irish leader. The English commander, James Eccarsall, had only 50 foot soldiers and 24 horsemen to defend the castle. He also had some small cannons.
Eccarsall tried to send soldiers out by boat, but they had to go back because of heavy Irish gunfire. The Irish built defenses that blocked access by river, and they attacked the castle every night. Many of the English soldiers got sick because they didn't have enough food. They were also very tired from constant small fights with the Irish.
On August 7, Maguire and his allies defeated an English group that was trying to bring help to Enniskillen. This battle was known as the Battle of the Ford of the Biscuits.
A second English group, led by the English leader in Ireland, William Russell, was sent by a different route. The Irish did not attack this group. However, none of Russell's scouts or messengers reached the castle or came back. Russell finally reached the trapped soldiers by August 30. He brought six months' worth of supplies, and then he left. After this, there was a short peace. But during this time, both sides used tricky tactics and tried to deceive each other.
Third Attack on Enniskillen Castle
Maguire's soldiers attacked the castle again in January 1595. Forty chosen men, wearing chain mail armor and carrying axes, attacked at night. His men took over the outer defenses, but the English soldiers held out in the main tower. The Irish left, but they took the English soldiers' three boats. This stopped the English from patrolling the river and cut them off completely.
The English leaders in Dublin knew the soldiers in the castle were in trouble. But the English government didn't have enough troops to send another rescue team. Lord Deputy Russell even thought about taking the soldiers out of the castle. A report to the Lord Deputy suggested that the Irish planned to use gunpowder to blow up the walls.
In May 1595, the English soldiers agreed to give up Enniskillen to the Irish. In return, they were promised that their lives would be spared. However, the entire group of soldiers was then killed. Russell reported that the soldiers had surrendered to Cormac MacBaron O'Neill, who later broke his promise and had them executed.
This was different from how other English soldiers were treated. For example, at the Blackwater Fort, English soldiers were allowed to leave safely in February 1595. However, the Enniskillen soldiers might have been killed as revenge. This could have been for Captain Dowdall's killing of the Irish defenders of the castle the year before.
Images for kids
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Enniskillen Castle
