Wexford, Battle of

Assault on the southern garrison town of Wexford, County Wexford, by Oliver Cromwell's Puritan Parliamentary army in October 1649, during Cromwell's Irish campaign (1649–50). A traitor among the Irish opened the town to the English army, and it was quickly taken. However, over 2,000 people were killed, including many civilians, in scenes reminiscent of the massacre at the Battle of Drogheda in September 1649. The event further fuelled Irish hatred of English rule.

Wexford massacre, 1649 Following his success at Drogheda, Cromwell wished to consolidate his hold over Ireland and finally crush the Great Rebellion against English rule that had begun in 1641. Cromwell still had his army of around 12,000 men, and Wexford was defended by just over 2,000 men and 100 cannons. The Irish commander, the Duke of Ormonde, was camped 32 km/20 mi away at Ross, with the remnants of his rebel army. While Cromwell had clear numerical advantage, he faced the problem of a well-fortified town and a rapidly approaching winter that would decimate his strength through cold and disease. The Irish had the further advantage of two warships with 54 guns in the harbour ready to fire on the English army.

On this occasion, however, there was no opportunity for a proper fight, as there was a traitor in the midst of the Irish rebels. Capt James Stafford opened the town to Cromwell's soldiers on 11 October 1649 and the town was soon subdued. A slaughter similar to that at Drogheda soon commenced, with priests and women killed alongside the rebel soldiers. Over 2,000 people were killed by Cromwell's soldiers and the town's churches were destroyed.

Impact on Irish history Cromwell's successes at Drogheda and then Wexford broke the strength of the Irish rebellion, and soon the alliance between the Catholics and Protestants who had made common cause in the 1640s was broken.

Following Cromwell's victories over the Irish rebels, he proceeded to reward his soldiers, and the City of London merchants who had backed the expedition, with land and power in Ireland. In 1640 Protestant settlers had owned 40% of the land in Ireland, by 1690 this figure had reached 80%. Cromwell forced anyone associated with the rebellion to leave their relatively fertile lands in the eastern half of Ireland and to go to the worst farmland in the province of Connaught. This policy became associated with a phrase that summed up the choice given to the rebels by Cromwell. They could go to ‘Hell or Connaught’. This could be given two interpretations. Firstly the rebels could die a horrible death or live in Connaught, or secondly the choice was limited, as life in Connaught would be little better than hell anyway.

Through his actions at Drogheda and Wexford and his subsequent redistribution of Irish lands, Oliver Cromwell has secured for himself a particularly heightened status in the politics of the history of Ireland. To Catholics he represented the barbarity of British treatment of the Irish. The massacres of women, children, and priests at Drogheda and Wexford were quoted by the later movements of Irish nationalism and Irish republicanism to show the inhumane way in which the British behaved towards the Irish. The fact that Cromwell then forcibly redistributed the land and population of Ireland to suit British interests is regarded as evidence of the links between military occupation and the colonization of Ireland.

For those defending the principles of unionism, Cromwell's actions are seen as unpleasant but necessary to defend the vital link between Britain and Ireland. The people of Dublin and many other Irish towns and cities with strong economic ties with Britain welcomed Cromwell with open arms in 1649. Cromwell was just seen as a soldier fighting a war against rebellious subjects who paid for their treason with their lives.