Battle of the Ford of the Biscuits

The Battle of the Ford of the Biscuits took place in County Fermanagh, Ireland on 7 August 1594 when a force of Irish Army soldiers led by Sir Henry Duke was ambushed and defeated by a rebel force under Hugh Maguire in the region of the fords of the Arney River on the approaches to Enniskillen. Duke's men were a relief column for the town which had been under siege since June.

The battle acquired its distinctive name due to the supplies of the Crown forces, largely hard biscuits, which were scattered and left floating in the river. The battle was an early exchange of Tyrone's Rebellion, and exposed the vulnerability of Crown forces to ambushes in the wilder parts of Ulster with its thick woods and bogs.

Background

As part of the Tudor reform programme in Ireland, a policy of surrender and regrant was introduced that involved the formal submission of the Gaelic lords to the Crown. Fermanagh was shired as a county and elements of English law were introduced to replace Brehon Law overseen by Hugh Maguire the Gaelic Lord of Enniskillen. The Maguire revolt grew out of his resentment at the introduction of English law which reduced his overlordship over his weaker neighbours, and particularly the activities of a local sheriff, Captain Humphrey Willis who was known for his heavy-handed behavior.

Maguire launched his rebellion by sacking the lands of his neighbours. The government responded by sending a force under the Marshal of Ireland, Sir Henry Bagenal to confront the rebels. The leading Gaelic lord of Ulster, Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone also led forces into the field, and alongside his estranged brother in law Bagenal defeated the rebels at the Battle of the Erne Fords in 1593. Maguire's capital at Enniskillen was captured and garrisoned by a force of government troops. Maguire then agreed to submit, and an agreement was brokered by Tyrone. However the peace did not last long and Maguire and his supporters laid siege to Enniskillen in June 1594. A relief force was despatched to aid the stranded garrison.

Battle

As the relief expedition approached Enniskillen from the south, the rebel forces laid an ambush for them. The Army's cavalry scouts failed to detect the Gaelic warriors laying in wait for them, and the infantry escourting the supply wagons for Enniskillen ran straight into the ambush.

Aftermath

The badly-mauled Crown forces retreated to Cavan. News of the defeats caused some alarm due to the small size of the peacetime Royal Irish Army, which was scattered in garrisons across the island. Although this could be supplemented by forces of loyal Gaelic chiefs, fresh troops needed to be raised in England sent across the Irish Sea to contain the developing northern rebellion. In addition a force of soldiers who had been serving in Britanny was brought to Ireland.

A second relief expedition, this time led by the Lord Deputy of Ireland William Russell, 1st Baron Russell of Thornhaugh, managed to reach Enniskillen and re-supply it. However Enniskillen did fall to the rebels in May the following year and the garrison was massacred, despite having been promised their lives when they surrendered.

A number of factors, including the presence of his brother Cormac MacBaron O'Neill, have led some historians to conclusions that Tyrone had encouraged Maguire to revolt a second time as a stalking horse for himself, hoping to prod the government into making more favourable concessions without formally taking up arms himself. Nonetheless Tyrone went into open rebellion, triggering the full outbreak of Tyrone's Rebellion which lasted until the Treaty of Mellifont in 1603.

Bibliography

• Falls, Cyril. Elizabeth's Irish Wars. Constable, 1996.
• Heath, Ian. The Irish Wars, 1485-1603. Osprey Publishing, 1993.
• Morgan, Hiram. Tyrone's Rebellion. Boydell Press, 1999.