The Boys of Wexford

The Battle of Vinegar Hill: 21 June 1798
By Professor Thomas Bartlett; BBC.co.uk)

With the rebels scattered in the north, attention shifted once again to those still 'out' in Wexford, and the army laid plans to attack their camp at Vinegar Hill. On 21st June, General Gerard Lake attempted to surround Vinegar Hill with some 20,000 men, in four columns of soldiers, in order to prevent a rebel breakout. Battle was joined. It lasted about two hours: the rebels were mercilessly shelled, and artillery carried the day. 'The rebels made a tolerable good fight of it' wrote Lake, and then pronounced the 'carnage ... dreadful' among them; hundreds of men may have fallen on the field of battle, though numbers managed to escape. Although a 'little war' continued in the Wicklow mountains for some time afterwards, in effect, after Vinegar Hill, the rebellion in the south-east was over.

In defeat, rebel discipline collapsed in some places. After the defeat at New Ross, about 100 loyalists had been killed at a barn in Scullabogue; and now, following the disaster at Vinegar Hill, about 70 Protestant prisoners were piked to death on the bridge at Wexford town. The army repaid these atrocities with interest: the mopping-up operations after Vinegar Hill resembled, to the fury of the newly-appointed Lord Lieutenant, Marquis Cornwallis, little other than universal rape, plunder and murder.

Retribution for the rebel leaders was swift and largely uncompromising. Bagenal Harvey, Cornelius Grogan, Mathew Keogh, and Anthony Perry - all Wexford commanders (and, incidentally, all Protestants) - were executed; their heads were cut off and stuck on spikes outside the courthouse in Wexford town. Father John Murphy, the hero of Oulart and Enniscorthy (or a latter-day mixture of Attila, Genghis Khan and Tamerlane, as loyalists viewed him), was captured in Tullow, County Carlow. He was stripped, flogged, hanged, and beheaded: his corpse was burned in a barrel. With an eye for detail, the local Yeomanry spiked his head on a building directly opposite the local Catholic church, and with great glee, they forced the Catholics of Tullow to open their windows to admit the 'holy smoke' from his funeral pyre.

For a brief period in late August, there appeared a prospect that the rebellion would flare up again. On 22nd August, a French force of some 1,100 men, under the command of General Humbert, waded ashore at Kilcummin Strand, near Killala, County Mayo. Humbert scored a striking victory at Castlebar, but then his campaign ran out of steam. It soon became clear that the apparent signal victory at Castlebar was an empty triumph. On 8th September at Ballinamuck, County Longford, the French force, vastly outnumbered, laid down its arms. The French were treated as honoured prisoners of war, but those Irish auxiliaries who had recklessly joined them were promptly massacred. The rebellion was finally over: between 10,000 and 25,000 rebels (including a high proportion of non-combatants), and around 600 soldiers had been slain, and large areas of the country had been effectively laid waste.



The Boys of Wexford (By R.D. Joyce)
In comes the captain's daughter, the captain of the Yeos,
Saying, "Brave United man, we'll ne'er again be foes.
A thousand pounds I'll give you, and fly from home with thee
And dress myself in man's attire, and fight for liberty!"

Chorus:
We are the boys of Wexford, who fought with heart and hand
To burst in twain the galling chain, and free our native land!

"I want no gold, my maiden fair, to fly from home with thee;
Your shining eyes will be my prize - more dear then gold to me.
I want no gold to nerve my arm to do a true man's part
To free my land I'd gladly give the red drops from my heart."

Chorus

And when we left our cabins, boys, we left with right good will,
To see our friends and neighbours that were at Vinegar Hill!
A young man from our ranks, a cannon he let go;
He slapt it into Lord Mountjoy - a tyrant he laid low!

Chorus

We bravely fought and conquered at Ross, and Wexford town;
And, if we failed to keep them, 'twas drink that brought us down.
We had no drink beside us on Tubberneering's day,
Depending on the long bright pike, and well it worked its way!

Chorus

They came into the country our blood to waste and spill;
But let them weep for Wexford, and think of Oulart Hill!
'Twas drink that still betrayed us - of them we had no fear;
For every man could do his part like Forth and Shelmalier!

Chorus

My curse upon all drinking! It made our hearts full sore:
For bravery won each battle, but drink lost ever more.
And if, for want of leaders, we lost at Vinegar Hill,
We're ready for another fight, and love our country still!

Chorus

Grace

Joseph Plunkett was a poet, nationalist, journalist and leader of the Irish movement for independence in 1916, known as "The Easter Rising." He played a key role in the planning of the Rising, which was put down quickly by British forces in Dublin. He struggled all of his young life with health issues, as he was stricken with tuberculosis as a child. Just before the Easter Rising, he had surgery to remove the glands in his neck, and it was only with great effort and struggle that he was able to bring himself to be present for the Rising.

While the Easter Rising was a colossal military failure, it is recognized as the starting point of Irish Independence, and the executions that followed brought outrage throughout Ireland, Britain, and even the United States.

Plunkett was engaged to marry Grace Gifford. While imprisoned in Kilmainham Gaol in western Dublin, Plunkett and Gifford were allowed to wed in the prison chapel. Hours later, Plunkett was taken to the courtyard outside and executed by firing squad.



Grace
As we gather in the chapel here in old Kilmainham Jail
I think about these past few weeks, oh will they say we've failed
From our school days they have told us we must yearn for liberty
Yet all I want in this dark place is to have you here with me.

Chorus:
Oh Grace just hold me in your arms and let this moment linger
They'll take me out at dawn and I will die
With all my love I'll place this wedding ring upon your finger
There won't be time to share our love for we must say goodbye.

Now I know it's hard for you my love to ever understand
The love I bear for these brave men, my love for this dear land
But when Padraig called me to his side down in the GPO
I had to leave my own sick bed, to him I had to go

Chorus

Now as dawn is breaking, my heart is breaking too,
On this May morn as I walk out my thoughts well be of you
And I'll write some words upon the wall so everyone will know
I love so much that I could see His blood upon the rose.

Four Green Fields

This song is a simple allegory reflecting on the Irish struggle throughout the centuries of British occupation. The "proud old woman" is the geographic island of Ireland, the "four green fields" are the four states of Ireland (Ulster, Munster, Leinster, Connacht), the old woman's "sons" are the soldiers who fought for the independence of Ireland, and her "children" are all the citizens of Ireland.

It is sung by the legendary Tommy Makem, who recently passed away.



Four Green Fields
What did I have, said the fine old woman
What did I have, this proud old woman did say
I had four green fields, each one was a jewel
But strangers came and tried to take them from me
I had fine strong sons, who fought to save my jewels
They fought and they died, and that was my grief said she

Long time ago, said the fine old woman
Long time ago, this proud old woman did say
There was war and death, plundering and pillage
My children starved, by mountain, valley and sea
And their wailing cries, they shook the very heavens
My four green fields ran red with their blood, said she

What have I now, said the fine old woman
What have I now, this proud old woman did say
I have four green fields, one of them's in bondage
In stranger's hands, that tried to take it from me
But my sons had sons, as brave as were their fathers
My fourth green field will bloom once again said she