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The Irish Thermopylae: Charlemont, 1850

donal_cam · 2011-04-13 00:52:57

I posted this in the greatest generals thread, but I thought this little known battle deserves a discussion of its own. Interesting topic I must say. The Battle of Charlemont was the last battle fought in Ulster during the Confederation Wars, and was akin to a last stand, except that the defenders lived to tell the tale.…

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13-04-2011 1:52am

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donal_cam

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Join Date: April 2011

Posts: 25

I posted this in the greatest generals thread, but I thought this little known battle deserves a discussion of its own. Interesting topic I must say. The Battle of Charlemont was the last battle fought in Ulster during the Confederation Wars, and was akin to a last stand, except that the defenders lived to tell the tale.

The small remains of the Ulster Army, which had been almost completely destroyed at Scarrhofilis a month prior to the siege, repelled an assault on Charlemont fortress by the forces of Charles Coote. Coote was infamous for ordering the slaughter of Catholics, and so everyone in the fort took up arms- according to the accounts, even the women carried arms- and the assault was repelled, with the defenders killing between 600 and 800 soldiers in 2 hours, using even pots of boiled urine as weapons in their desperate battle. Although they surrendered the fortress, they kept their lives and arms and were allowed to depart for any port they wished, something that was unheard of for anyone surrendering to Coote who happened to be an Irish Catholic.

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