The Battle of Cavan took place in

Cavan 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 (to the south) with Enniskillen, Bal ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

on 11 February 1690 between forces of

Williamite A Williamite was a follower of King William III of England (r. 1689–1702) who deposed King James II and VII in the Glorious Revolution. William, the Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, replaced James with the support of English Whigs. O ...

and Jacobite troops during the

Williamite War in Ireland The Williamite War in Ireland (1688–1691; ga, Cogadh an Dá Rí, "war of the two kings"), was a conflict between Jacobite supporters of deposed monarch James II and Williamite supporters of his successor, William III. It is also called th ...

. 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 Enniskillen ( , from ga, Inis Ceithleann , ' Ceithlenn's island') is the largest town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is in the middle of the county, between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of 13,823 a ...

. The Williamite commander over Ennisskillen (Inniskillinger) cavalry troops was Colonel William Wolseley had been instructed by his overall commander

Marshal Schomberg Friedrich Hermann von Schönberg, 1st Duke of Schomberg, 1st Count of Mertola, (french: Frédéric-Armand; pt, Armando Frederico; 6 December 1615 – 1 July 1690) was a Marshal of France and a General in the English and Portuguese Army. He was ...

to observe and harry Cavan, as Jacobites were using it as a forwarding base to launch relief raids across

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...

for Jacobite forces. At the time Cavan was one of the few remaining settlements in Ulster still loyal to

James II of Ireland James VII and II (14 October 1633 16 September 1701) was King of England and King of Ireland as James II, and King of Scotland as James VII from the death of his elder brother, Charles II, on 6 February 1685. He was deposed in the Glorious Re ...

. The Duke of Berwick led a reinforcement to the Jacobite garrison commanded by Brigadier

John Wauchope John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Seco ...

. 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 The River Annalee () is a river in County Cavan, Ireland. The source of the river is Lough Sillan near Shercock from which it flows westwards through Lough Tacker, and south of Cootehill, until it reaches Butlersbridge. To the west of the vil ...

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. 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

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. During the fighting the Jacobites lost Brigadier

William Nugent William Nugent (Irish: ''Uilliam Nuinseann'') (1550–1625) was a Hiberno-Norman rebel in the 16th century Kingdom of Ireland, brother of Christopher, fourteenth baron of Delvin (Sixth Baron Delvin), and the younger son of Richard Nugent, thir ...

, 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.Childs p.191 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 The Battle of the Boyne ( ga, Cath na Bóinne ) was a battle in 1690 between the forces of the deposed King James II of England and Ireland, VII of Scotland, and those of King William III who, with his wife Queen Mary II (his cousin and J ...

that summer, leading to the capture of

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

. Cavan subsequently fell to the Williamites.

References

Bibliography

* Childs, John. ''The Williamite Wars in Ireland''. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2007. {{coord missing, County Cavan 1690 in Ireland

History of County Cavan