Battle of the Yellow Ford
| Battle of the Yellow Ford | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Nine Years' War | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Irish alliance |
 English Army
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Hugh O'Neill Hugh O'Donnell Hugh Maguire |
Henry Bagenal † Thomas Maria Wingfield Maelmora O'Reilly † |
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| Strength | |||||||
| ~5,000 | ~4,000 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| ~low | ~1,500 killed ~300 deserted |
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The Battle of the Yellow Ford (Irish: Cath Bhéal-an-Átha-Buí) was fought in western County Armagh, Ulster, in Ireland, near the river Blackwater on 14 August 1598, during the Nine Years War (Ireland).
It was fought between the Gaelic native Irish army under Hugh O'Neill and Hugh O'Donnell and a crown expeditionary force from Dublin under Henry Bagenal.
The crown forces were marching from Armagh town to re-supply a besieged fort on the Blackwater when they fell into an ambush and were routed with heavy losses.
In 1597, Lord Deputy Thomas Burgh built a new fort on the river Blackwater five miles northwest of the government's garrisoned town Armagh. The river Blackwater defines the border between counties Armagh and Tyrone. The Blackwater fort was intended to facilitate later military excursions into county Tyrone. Soon after it was built the Earl of Tyrone (O'Neill) laid siege to it. In 1598, with the besieged garrison still intact but running precariously low on supplies, the Dublin government debated at length whether to abandon the fort, for the reason that its location was too far into O'Neill's home territory to be sustainable. It was located only a few miles from the O'Neill headquarters at Dungannon on the other side of the river. Sir Henry Bagenal, who was very experienced at fighting Ulstermen, argued the fort should be re-supplied, and eventually won the argument in early August 1598, and was appointed to lead the expedition. About 4,000 troops were assigned to the expedition, a large number in those days.
According to the Annals of the Four Masters: "When O'Neill had received intelligence that this great army was approaching him, he sent his messengers to O'Donnell, requesting of him to come to his assistance against this overwhelming force of foreigners who were coming to his country. O'Donnell proceeded immediately, with all his warriors, both infantry and cavalry, and a strong body of forces from Connacht, to assist his ally against those who were marching upon him. The Irish of all the province of Ulster also joined the same army, so that they were all prepared to meet the English before they arrived at Armagh." Although historians don't have good records about the number of troops O'Neill had on battle day, an estimate of roughly 5,000 troops is generally accepted; i.e., the number of O'Neill troops was about the same and modestly larger than the number on the opposing side.
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