Less than a week after the capture of Wexford, Cromwell marched to New Ross, on the right bank of the Barrow, below its junction with the Nore. There was then no bridge, and Ormonde with Castlehaven and Lord Montgomery of Ards were able to ferry over 2500 men into the town, many of them under Cromwell’s very eyes. The governor was Lucas Taaffe, who made some show of resistance when Cromwell appeared and sent the usual summons ‘to avoid effusion of blood.’ Two days later a breach was effected, and Colonel Ingoldsby was chosen by lot to lead the stormers. Taaffe knew very well that the case was hopeless, and accepted the very liberal terms offered. The garrison were to march away with colours flying and with their arms, leaving the artillery behind, and ‘protection from the injury and violence of the soldiers’ was guaranteed to the inhabitants. Those who wished to depart with their goods were given three months to think it over. ‘For what you mention,’ wrote Cromwell, ‘concerning liberty of conscience, I meddle not with any man’s conscience, but if by liberty of conscience you mean a liberty to exercise the mass, I judge it best to use plain dealing, and to let you know, where the Parliament of England have power, that will not be allowed of.’ He told Lenthall that there was nothing to prevent the garrison from recrossing the river without his leave. About 500 English soldiers of the garrison, many of them from Munster, here joined Cromwell, as they had probably been long anxious to do. There was a considerable delay after this, for Oliver was determined before moving to make a satisfactory bridge for access to Kilkenny and the interior generally. Before the work was completed Cork and Youghal surrendered, and Inchiquin’s once formidable army practically ceased to exist.[155]

Lord Broghill had played a very important part in the earlier years of the civil war, his last considerable exploit being the relief of Youghal in September 1645. He was never on very cordial terms with Inchiquin, but could work with him as the champion of the Protestant interest in Munster. The scene changed when Inchiquin deserted the Parliament, and Ormonde was fain to ally himself with the Kilkenny Confederates. Broghill retired to Marston Bigot in Somersetshire, which his father had bought for him, and waited there for the times to disentangle themselves. The execution of Charles I. seems to have been too much for him, and the Royalist idea prevailed so far that he was preparing to go to Spa, nominally for the gout, but really to be within reach of Charles II. According to the Rev. Thomas Morrice, who is the sole and not very trustworthy authority for this passage of Broghill’s life, Cromwell visited him at this juncture, and offered him his choice between the Tower and a general’s command in Ireland. He accepted the latter on the understanding that he was not expected to fight against any but the Irish. It is at all events certain that he was with Cromwell not very long after his arrival in Ireland, and that he told Inchiquin that he served upon some such terms and would be glad to do him personal service, ‘though, perhaps, I might not believe it.’ The promise of a general’s commission is doubtful from what Ludlow says, but work was soon found for Broghill, who, in Cromwell’s own words had ‘a great interest in the men that came from Inchiquin.’ At the beginning of November 1649, he was at Cork and Youghal as a commissioner for Munster, along with Sir William Fenton, the two famous seamen Blake and Deane, and Colonel Phaire, who was on duty at the late King’s execution. The military authority was at first in Phaire’s hands, but a troop of reformadoes—that is, unemployed officers—was given to Broghill, and before Christmas he was in command of at least 1200 horse. Kinsale was the first Munster garrison to declare for Cromwell; Cork soon followed, and commissioners from the English inhabitants were with him before he left Ross. Their first request, ‘out of a sense of the former good service and tender care of the Lord of Inchiquin to and for them,’ was that he should enjoy his estate and have his arrears paid up to the last peace, and that an Act of oblivion should be passed in his favour. This article Cromwell refused to answer, but promised that Inchiquin’s defection should not be remembered to their prejudice, and that their charter should be renewed in its old form. Similar terms were given to the Youghal people, who abstained by Broghill’s advice from making any conditions. He informed Cromwell that he and his colleagues were received at Youghal ‘with all the real demonstrations of gladness an overjoyed people were capable of.’[156]

After the capture of Ross Cromwell lay there for about a month, his men being occupied in making a bridge of boats over the Barrow, below its junction with the Nore. He ordered the invalided soldiers in Dublin to march along the coast to Wexford, which they did to the number of 1200, of whom nearly one-third were cavalry. Many of them were but imperfectly recovered. At Glascarrig near Cahore Inchiquin set upon them with a greatly superior force, the detachment sent to meet them not arriving in time. ‘But it pleased God,’ says Cromwell, ‘we sent them word by a nearer way, to march close and be circumspect,’ so that they were not entirely surprised. Inchiquin overtook their rear, but the passage was narrow between high sand-hills and the sea, so that the number of his cavalry was of comparatively little advantage. After a sharp fight the Dublin party were victorious, and pursued Inchiquin’s men for a short distance, after which they proceeded to Wexford without further molestation. Not many fell on either side, but Colonel Trevor, who had showed so much enterprise as a cavalry leader, was dangerously wounded.[157]

Cromwell was very ill during a part of his stay at Ross, but the bridge greatly impressed the Irish with a sense of his power as Cæsar’s had impressed the Germans in an earlier age. ‘A stupendous work,’ says the author of the ‘Aphorismical Discovery,’ ‘for there were two main rivers, Nore and Barrow, joining there unto one bed, and the sea-tide passing over the town in the said rivers six or seven miles, he was building this bridge upon this swift and boisterous-running tide-water with barrels, planks, casks and cables.’ Ormonde had a superior force in the neighbourhood, but the dissensions between his officers and between the English and Irish elements of his army made it impossible to risk a pitched battle. Taaffe made an unsuccessful attempt to destroy the unfinished bridge, and Cromwell lost no time in fortifying Rosbercon, on the Kilkenny bank. Ireton and Jones occupied Inistioge without fighting, but found the bridge at Thomastown broken down and the walled town garrisoned, while the bulk of Ormonde’s army retired towards Kilkenny. The road into Tipperary was, however, open from Inistioge, and Reynolds was detached with a body of cavalry to Carrick-on-Suir. While he was parleying with the garrison at one gate, a part of his men surprised the other and took more than a hundred prisoners, the remainder escaping in boats over the Suir. The castle, ‘one of the ancientest seats belonging to the Lord of Ormonde,’ made no further resistance, and Cromwell with the main body of his army, having taken Knocktopher by the way, passed through Carrick towards Waterford, which he summoned on November 21.[158]

Waterford was unassailable from the left bank of the Suir, and Cromwell, like Mountjoy before him, had to cross at Carrick. Before the naval superiority of the Parliament could be made available it was necessary to secure the forts at Duncannon and Passage below the city. Duncannon had been in the hands of the Confederates since 1645, and was commanded by Captain Thomas Roche, a very incompetent officer. Jones was detached from Ross with 2000 men to besiege the place, and he took Ballyhack, commanding the ordinary communication between the Fort and Waterford. Parliamentary ships lay near, and seeing that Duncannon was in danger Ormonde sent Captain Edward Wogan to supersede Roche. As a deserter from the Parliamentary army Wogan fought with a rope round his neck, and he restored the courage of the garrison. Ormonde then sent Castlehaven to Passage opposite Ballyhack, whence he managed to get to Duncannon in a boat. After consultation with Wogan, Castlehaven returned, and that night embarked eighty horses without riders in boats, which slipped into Duncannon on the tide. Wogan mounted officers and picked men on the horses thus provided, and immediately attacked the Parliamentary camp. The appearance of cavalry where there had been none before seemed to indicate the approach of an army, and the siege was raised next morning. After this piece of service Ormonde made Castlehaven governor of Waterford with 1000 men, but the citizens refused to admit him or his soldiers.[159]

While Cromwell was threatening Waterford, Ormonde brought his whole army to Carrick, the recapture of which he left to Taaffe and Inchiquin, while he marched on with the tidal river between him and the Parliamentary host. The city was open on the river side, and there was no difficulty in ferrying over 1500 Ulster soldiers with Lieut.-General Ferrall as governor. Jones had previously succeeded in occupying Passage, ‘a very large fort with a castle in the midst of it, having five guns planted in it, and commanding the river better than Duncannon.’ The garrison surrendered on condition of quarter only, and Ballyhack being already in Cromwell’s hands, Waterford was pretty thoroughly cut off from the sea. The attempt to recapture Carrick failed, perhaps for want of a good engineer, for the assailants’ mine exploded to their own injury, and without damaging the wall. Reynolds’s men spared their ammunition and defended themselves mainly with stones. The gates were burned, but quickly barricaded inside with rubble, and Inchiquin, having no stock of provisions, was forced to retreat with heavy loss. Ormonde on his return was very nearly captured, for he expected to find Carrick in the hands of friends, and had to ride twenty miles round to join his men at Clonmel. He met the Tipperary rustics flying in all directions with their portable goods, so as to escape being plundered by the soldiers.[160]

Ormonde said that if the weather ‘proved but as usual at this time of the year,’ Cromwell might be repulsed from Waterford. Two days later the siege was abandoned for this very reason, a great part of the men being sick, and Cromwell marched to Kilmacthomas on ‘as terrible a day’ as he had ever known. He found poor quarters, but in the morning was encouraged by a messenger from Broghill, who lay at Dungarvan, which had lately surrendered to him, with about twelve or thirteen hundred men. Michael Jones died at Dungarvan of ‘a pestilent and contagious spotted fever,’ contracted during a cold and wet march, and Cromwell lamented his loss both as a friend and as a public servant. The Parliamentary cause certainly owed him a great deal, though there is reason to believe that he did not approve of the execution of Charles I. At the moment Ferrall made an attempt to recover Passage, the loss of which made it very difficult to victual Duncannon, but Colonel Sankey was despatched with 320 men from Cappoquin, and after a sharp fight succeeded in taking about the same number of prisoners. Ferrall retreated into Waterford, where Ormonde was himself present, though the mayor absolutely refused to let his troops cross the river, saying that an increase of the garrison would cause a famine in the town. It was proposed to quarter them in huts outside the walls, but even this was rejected, and Passage remained in the enemy’s hands, though an overwhelming force was ready to attempt its relief. Wogan was among the prisoners taken by Sankey, and Cromwell seriously thought of hanging him; but he was sent to Cork, whence he soon escaped, and went to England to seek the adventure which has made him famous.[161]

When Cromwell broke up from before Waterford on December 2, he had not more than 3000 effective infantry in the field, the garrisons taking up many and sickness accounting for more. Ferrall had as many men in Waterford as there were besieging him, and the whole of Ormonde’s army was ten or twelve thousand including O’Neill’s men, who were at least 7000 and all effective, ‘these being the eldest sons of the Church of Rome, most cried up and confided in by the clergy.’ The rest were old English, Irish, some Protestants, some Papists, and other popish Irish. The interests of Ormonde, Clanricarde, Castlehaven, Muskerry, Taaffe, and the rest provided a formidable force, who could live on the country, for there were scarce twenty natives favourable to Parliament. ‘God hath blessed you,’ Cromwell wrote, ‘with a great tract of land in longitude, along the shore, yet it hath but a little depth into the country,’ and the inhabitants were so robbed by their neighbours that they could give little help. Therefore it was still necessary to send money and stores from England, and to maintain a strict naval blockade, lest supplies should reach the enemy from abroad. But Ormonde had to disperse his men in winter quarters for want of means to support them in the field, and Cromwell did the same, his headquarters being at Youghal. He spent the short winter days in visiting Cork and other Munster garrisons. The tradition is that he went to Glengariffe, where the ruins of ‘Cromwell’s bridge’ may still be seen, but there seems to be no evidence of his having gone further west than Kinsale. His applications to Parliament for help were not in vain, for 1500 fresh men were sent to Dublin about this time, and a few weeks later Henry Cromwell came to Youghal with further reinforcements, followed by thirteen ships laden with oats, beans, and pease. The sick men recovered with rest and dry lodgings, and by the end of January Cromwell was able to take the field again.[162]

Broghill, who was now Master of the Ordnance, left Youghal about the middle of November with 500 foot and 300 horse. A fort with three guns on the Corkbeg peninsula partially commanded Cork harbour, and had annoyed Blake’s ships. Captain Courthope, ‘who knew not only the commander of it, but every particular soldier in it, so well persuaded and terrified them that they delivered up the fort’ without fighting. At Belvelly, commanding the strait between the mainland and the island on which Queenstown now stands, Colonel Pigott had a strong castle and three Irish companies. Broghill had formerly ‘particularly well known’ this officer, and in half an hour’s private conversation satisfied him that it was a national quarrel. At Cork, Broghill found 700 armed inhabitants and 500 foot soldiers, who received him ‘with as great a joy as is almost imaginable.’ A messenger came from Kinsale to offer that town to the Parliament, and a detachment was sent strong enough to check the garrison of the fort. At Bandon, Colonel Courtney, ‘who had ever been my particular friend,’ stood for the King; but the townsmen and most of the soldiers were English Protestants, and he could but surrender. Broghill armed the inhabitants, and nearly all the officers and soldiers ultimately joined him. The people showed ‘at least an equal joy to our reception at Cork.’ The bridge at Bandon enabled Broghill to march straight to the south side of Kinsale harbour, where Rupert had greatly strengthened the fort, which was held by 400 Irish under a Scotch governor. The works were too strong to attack before the return of Blake’s fleet, but the regiment inside was commanded by ‘an Irish Protestant, a great sufferer by the rebellion; an ancient dependant of our [the Boyle] family, and one particularly recommended to my care by my father,’ who set the governor aside, and persuaded the soldiers to capitulate. After this Baltimore, Castlehaven, Crookhaven, and Timoleague surrendered without giving Broghill the trouble of a march, and Mallow did the same, thus securing the only bridge over the Blackwater, except that at Cappoquin, which was already in Parliamentary hands. Colonel Crosby was detached to see what could be done in Kerry. Cromwell might well say that Broghill had a great interest in the men and in the districts which were lately Inchiquin’s, and that there could have been no rebellion if every county had contained an Earl of Cork.[163]

While Cromwell was building his bridge at New Ross, Dalziel was closely besieged in Carrickfergus by Coote and Venables. It was the most important place in Ulster, and the Scotch veteran made good terms for himself and his men, agreeing to surrender on December 13 if not relieved in the meantime. A few days before that date Sir George Monro with Lords Montgomery and Clandeboye, collected a force which Coote, on the report of deserters, estimated at 2000 foot and 800 horse, their object being to relieve Carrickfergus. On December 1 they were at Comber and next day at Newtownards. After a good deal of manœuvring Coote took up his quarters at Lisburn, while Monro crossed the Laggan somewhere between that place and Moira. On their return upon the Antrim side of the river, Coote allowed them to pass him, and then attacked their rear ‘upon a boggy pass on the plain of Lisnesreane.’ Sir Theophilus Jones, who had come out of Lisburn with his cavalry, met with little resistance, and during a pursuit of ten miles over 1000 were killed with scarcely any loss to the victors. Monro and Montgomery fled to Charlemont, most of their Scots followers leaving them, and Carrickfergus was then surrendered in due course.[164]

Rinuccini having departed and O’Neill being dead, the Irish were as sheep having no shepherd. Stubborn resistance was made in detail, but there was very little concerted action after Cromwell’s arrival. The remains of the Confederacy still adhered to Ormonde, but it became evident after the last peace that he could never rally the native population. Under these circumstances twenty bishops, with the procurators of three others, the abbot of Holy Cross and the Provincials of the Dominicans and Franciscans, met at Clonmacnoise on December 4, of their own mere motion as they were careful to set forth. After some days’ deliberation they announced that nothing could be done without unity, and that past differences must be laid aside. It was, they said, the evident intention of Cromwell and his masters to root out the Catholic religion, which could only be done by getting rid of the people and recolonising the country, ‘witness the numbers they have already sent hence for the tobacco islands and put enemies in their places.’ Cromwell had told the governor of Ross that he meddled with no man’s conscience, but that a liberty to exercise the mass would nevertheless not be allowed of. This was naturally quite enough for the clergy, and doubtless for most laymen also. The formal decrees of Clonmacnoise were embodied in four articles. By the first fasting and prayer were ordered ‘to withdraw from this nation God’s anger, and to render them capable of his mercies.’ By the second the people were warned that no mercy or clemency could be expected ‘from the common enemy commanded by Cromwell by authority from the rebels of England.’ By the third the clergy were ordered under severe penalties to preach unity, ‘and we hereby manifest our detestation against all such divisions between either provinces or families, or between old English and old Irish, or any of the English or Scotch adhering to his Majesty.’ The last decree was one of excommunication against the highwaymen called Idle Boys, and against all who relieved them. Clergymen were forbidden on pain of suspension to give them the Sacrament or to bury them in consecrated ground.[165]

CHAPTER XXXII

CROMWELL IN IRELAND, 1650

In their published utterances the bishops were careful to say nothing alarming to Protestants, and to lay stress upon the royalism or loyalty of those for whom they spoke. In writing to Rome they were silent about the King, but urged the necessity of union among Catholics. Ormonde, who had no illusions, thought it much that there had been no public demand for his own removal; but this too was to come later. He knew that Antrim had been intriguing to obtain such a declaration, and he begged the King to recall him before his position became quite untenable. Charles directed him to hold on as long as possible, and to leave Ireland when he was finally convinced that nothing more could be done.[166]

The printed proceedings of the Clonmacnoise prelates reached Cromwell at Youghal, and he lost no time in answering it. The task of uniting clergy and laity, he said, was only necessary because the distinction had been invented by ‘the Antichristian Church’ of Rome, and maintained by her priests as the foundation of their own power. Their royalism was a ‘fig-leaf of pretence,’ whereas they really fought for their own supremacy. Cromwell had a right to say that they began the war, but he much exaggerated the goodness of the terms on which English and Irish had lived before the outbreak. No doubt there were some friendships, but all competent observers had long realised that the Ulster settlement would be disturbed whenever the children of the dispossessed natives had the chance. As to liberty of conscience, he took his stand upon the purely English ground that the mass had long been prohibited by law, and that he could not extirpate what had no root. He reiterated his statement to the governor of Ross and said plainly, ‘I shall not, where I have power, and the Lord is pleased to bless me, suffer the exercise of the mass where I can take notice of it.... As for the people, what thoughts they have in matters of religion in their own breasts I cannot reach; but think it my duty if they walk honestly and peaceably, not to cause them in the least to suffer for the same.’ He defended the raising of money by mortgaging lands which rebels would forfeit, but denied that there was any intention to extirpate the people. He defied anyone to give an instance since his arrival in Ireland of ‘one man not in arms, massacred, destroyed, or banished’ with impunity. Those who had been exiled to the West Indies were all in fact liable to be put to the sword according to the laws of war. All who had not been actors in the rebellion should be spared and protected. ‘And having said this,’ he concluded, ‘and purposing honestly to perform it,—if this people shall headily run on after the counsels of their prelates and clergy and other leaders, I hope to be free from the misery and desolation and blood and ruin that shall befall them; and shall rejoice to exercise utmost severity against them.’ Cromwell’s ideas about toleration were in advance of his age, but his knowledge of Ireland before 1641 was derived from the published histories of May and Temple.[167]

When Lady Fanshawe joined her husband, a few weeks before Cromwell’s landing, she found Cork an agreeable place of residence enough, and so it remained for about six months. She lived in the old Augustinian Friary called the Red Abbey, which then belonged to Michael Boyle, Dean of Cloyne, who vied with Inchiquin and Roscommon in civility to her. She calls the latter Lord Chancellor, but he is not generally included in the list. ‘My Lord of Ormonde had a very good army, and the country was seemingly quiet.’ And so it continued outwardly for some time, though Inchiquin’s power had been gradually wasting away since Rathmines. Suddenly one night, at the beginning of November, Lady Fanshawe was roused from her bed by the sound of cannon, and by screams and cries outside. Opening the window, she saw a crowd, who informed her that they were ‘all Irish stripped and wounded and turned out of the town by Colonel Jeffries.’ Hurrying off to the Colonel she reminded him of her husband’s former civilities to him, which he handsomely acknowledged, and at once granted a free pass. She passed ‘through thousands of naked swords’ with her family, 1000l. in cash and other light property, and got to Kinsale where she was safe for the moment. Cromwell was much annoyed at Fanshawe’s papers having thus escaped him.[168]

The Parliamentary managers were alarmed by the negotiations of Charles with the Scots. They knew, too, that Fairfax could hardly be trusted to lead an attack on the Presbyterian kingdom, and they resolved to recall Cromwell. The letter was written on January 8, but it did not reach him until he was already in the field again, and he thought proper to treat the reports of its coming as Nelson treated the signal at Copenhagen. On January 29 he set out from Youghal with twelve troops of horse, three troops of dragoons, and between two and three hundred foot. Reynolds and Ireton, with about the same number of horse and dragoons and 2000 foot, were sent to Carrick to threaten Ormonde’s quarters at Kilkenny. Cromwell himself marched towards Mitchelstown, took Kilbenny Castle, Clogheen, and Rehill, near Cahir, and went from there to Fethard. The last-named walled town surrendered after a night’s discussion ‘upon terms which we usually call honourable; which I was the willinger to give, because I had little above two hundred foot, and neither ladders nor guns nor anything else to force them.’

The besiegers had not fired a single shot. The honourable terms were that the garrison should march away with arms and baggage, and that the inhabitants, including priests, should be fully protected. Some Ulster foot at Cashel, hearing of Cromwell’s arrival at Fethard, ran away in confusion, and he protected the townsfolk at their own request. He then went onto Callan, which he found already in Reynolds’s hands. The garrison of two castles ‘refusing conditions seasonably offered were put all to the sword.’ Those in a larger castle surrendered, and were allowed to march away without their arms. Among the prisoners taken in a skirmish was one of those who had betrayed Enniscorthy, and he was hanged. Some Irish gentlemen had feasted the garrison and sent in women to sell them spirits. When most of the soldiers were drunk the enemy rushed in and killed all, except four who had been bribed to open the gates. Colonel Cooke, the governor of Wexford, soon retook Enniscorthy by storm, and in his turn put all the garrison to the sword. Reynolds was despatched to take Knocktopher, and after a fortnight in the field, Cromwell returned to Fethard, ‘having good plenty of horsemeat and man’s meat’ in that rich district. Ireton took Ardfinane, of which Henry II. himself had chosen the site, and which was important to bring guns ‘ammunition, and other things’ from Youghal and Cappoquin. Cromwell came before Cahir, which was surrendered without costing a man. He was told that it had stood an eight weeks’ siege against Essex, but that most incompetent of heroes really took it in two days. Kiltinan, Goldenbridge and Dundrum were also taken, and the county of Tipperary submitted to a contribution of 1500l.[169]

The regicide John Hewson was governor of Dublin with a numerous garrison, consisting chiefly of sick and wounded. A division of these half-recovered invalids had won the fight at Glascarrig and joined Cromwell, and by the end of the year a good many more were fit for service, and some reinforcements had also arrived from England. Kildare, the hill of Allen, Castle Martin and other places were occupied, but Kilmeague was found too strong to attack without artillery. When his provisions were spent Hewson returned to Dublin, where he received a curious proposition from the strong garrison of Ballisonan or Ballyshannon near Kilcullen. This he describes as ‘having double works and double moats full of water, one within another, and a mount with a fort upon it, most of the officers with me esteeming the taking of it to be unfeazable.’ After the rout at Rathmines some of Ormonde’s fugitive cavalry had summoned this formidable stronghold, which surrendered to them under the impression that Dublin was taken. The defenders now offered to join the Parliament, on condition of being made a regiment with their own officers, liberty of religion, and two priests as chaplains. Their arrears since May were to be paid, Taaffe and Dillon to be excluded from any accommodation with the Parliamentary party. In fact, they preferred Cromwell to Ormonde, which shows how desperate the latter’s position had become. Such terms were of course unacceptable, and Hewson attacked Ballisonan with a force of 2000 foot and 1000 horse, with two guns and a mortar. An entrenched battery was erected, but the place capitulated before any breach had been made. Hewson was glad to give easy terms, as Castlehaven was at Athy, and might make an attempt to raise the siege. The garrison marched out with the honours of war, Maryborough and Kilmeague were abandoned by the Irish, and all Kildare except the extreme south was in Hewson’s power.[170]

After consulting the Commissioners of Trust, Ormonde allowed agents to meet at Kilkenny in January for the discussion of grievances affecting the different districts, but nothing was reduced to writing, and there were, as he expected, no results. The agents proposed an adjournment to Ennis, and to this he agreed. The approach of Cromwell’s forces on the south and of Hewson’s on the north had doubtless something to say to this, and the plague which began to rage in the town still more. Cromwell made a strong reconnaissance towards Kilkenny, where a Captain Tickle had been bribed or in some other way induced to undertake that one of the gates should be opened, but the plot was discovered and the captain hanged; so that Cromwell had to retire. In spite of the plague and of enemies within and without, Castlehaven used to go out fox-hunting in the early morning. Ormonde met him in the field, told him that it was decided to withdraw into Clare, and appointed him, much to his disgust, general of Leinster. Ormonde himself went to Limerick during the first week in February, and was not destined to see Kilkenny again until after the Restoration. Cromwell, having failed in the plot with Tickle, waited patiently and let the plague do his work. Castlehaven had one success, surprising Athy and taking Hewson’s garrison of 700 men, but he found the place untenable. ‘Not knowing,’ he writes, ‘what to do with my prisoners, I made a present of them to Cromwell, desiring him by letter to do the like to me ... but he little valued my civility, for in a very few days after he besieged Gowran, where Colonel Hammond commanded, and the soldiers mutinying and giving up the place, he caused Hammond with some English officers to be shot to death.’ Cromwell’s own account confirms this, and he adds that Hammond was ‘a principal actor in the Kentish insurrection,’ and so not entitled to mercy more than Lucas or Lisle. A priest who acted as chaplain to the Roman Catholic soldiers was hanged. ‘I trouble you with this the rather because this was the Lord of Ormonde’s own regiment.’ At Gowran Cromwell was joined by Hewson, who had taken Castledermot, Lea, Kilkea, and other castles in the meantime, he himself having taken Thomastown. Castlehaven did not find himself strong enough to meet Hewson in the field. Lord Dillon promised to join him with about 3000 men, but they never came, and all he could do was to provision Kilkenny and leave it with a garrison of 1000 foot and 200 horse. Soon afterwards an Ulster regiment, which was nearly half his army, deserted on account of the plague, saying that they were ready to fight against men but not against God. Having tried to relieve Kilkenny in vain he gave orders to the governors of the town and castle to make the best terms they could, and not to attempt to hold the latter after the former had surrendered. Cromwell and Hewson corresponded about this time by letters enclosed in balls of wax, so that the messenger might swallow them if necessary. Some of these reached Castlehaven, but only served to show him that he was hopelessly overmatched.[171]