The Battle of Benburb (Hardcover)

A fresh perspective on the famous battle in which the victors threatened the very existence of the Ulster plantation but, ironically, brought about the fall of their own Assembly of the Catholic Supreme Council. On Friday 5th June, 1646, near the village of Benburb, Owen Roe O'Neill, leader of the Confederate native Irish Ulster army, brought about his greatest military triumph in Ireland by putting to rout the combined Scottish/British force of Robert Monro. This was no ordinary battle as the combatants came from Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland with the mixed interests of the imprisoned King Charles I, his rebellious English parliament, the Scottish covenanters, the 'old English', the Vatican, the Ulster plantation and the native Irish. In this fresh new perspective the battle itself has been re-examined and broken down into tactical phases to understand the experiences the men had to endure and the reasons why the battle turned out the way it did. The rival forces themselves are investigated with full orders of battle, the troops of horse and regiments of foot that participated in the campaign and the different types of soldiers that made up these units.