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Drogheda, siege of

The Oxford Companion to Irish History | 2007 | Copyright

Drogheda, siege of (Sept. 1649), Oliver Cromwell's first major, and most infamous, action in Ireland. The parliamentarians were anxious to recapture Drogheda, wrested from them the previous July, to prevent a possible juncture between Ormond and Owen Roe O'Neill. The royalist–Confederate Catholic garrison under Sir Arthur Aston defended stoutly until Cromwell's artillery began a bombardment on 9 September. The walls were breached on the third day, the Boyne draw‐bridge taken, and Aston overwhelmed in a last‐ditch stand on the Millmount.

Official figures were 3,500 slain. The quarter given to the Millmount's defenders was ignored. Cromwell tried to vindicate the killing of civilians, of whom possibly 1,000 were slaughtered, on the erroneous grounds of their involvement in the massacres accompanying the rising of 1641. His other claim, that the action was an expedient to win the war quickly by terrifying other towns into submission, was borne out only in the case of nearby garrisons.

Hiram Morgan

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Drogheda, Siege of

A Dictionary of World History | 2000 | Copyright

Drogheda, Siege of See CROMWELL, OLIVER.

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"Drogheda, Siege of." A Dictionary of World History. 2000. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O48-DroghedaSiegeof.html

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