Battle of Newtownbutler

The Battle of Newtownbutler took place near Enniskillen in County Fermanagh, Ireland, in 1689 and was part of the Williamite War in Ireland between the forces of William and Mary and those of King James II.

The war in western Ulster
In Enniskillen, armed Williamite civilians drawn from the local Protestant population organised a formidable irregular military force. The armed civilians of Enniskillen ignored an order from Robert Lundy that they should fall back to Derry city and instead launched guerrilla attacks against the Jacobites. Operating with Enniskillen as a base, they carried out raids against the Jacobite forces in Connacht and Ulster plundering Trillick, burning Augher Castle and raiding Clones.

A poorly trained Jacobite army of about 3,000 men, led by Justin McCarthy, Viscount Mountcashel, advanced on them from Dublin. McCarthy's men were mostly raw recruits, raised from in and around his own lands in south Munster. On 28 July 1689, McCarthy's force encamped near Enniskillen and bombarded the Williamite outpost of Crom castle to the south east of Enniskillen. Crom (pronounced Crumb) Castle is almost 20 miles from Enniskillen by road and about 5 miles from Newtownbutler.

The battle
Two days later, they were confronted by about 2,000 Williamite 'Inniskilliniers' under Colonel Berry, Colonel William Wolseley and Gustave Hamilton. The Jacobite dragoons under Anthony Hamilton stumbled into an ambush laid by Berry's men near Lisnaskea and were routed, taking 230 casualties. Mountcashel managed to drive off Berry's cavalry with his main force, but was then faced with the bulk of the Williamite strength under Wolesley, who was pursuing him with more twice his number of troops. Unwisely, McCarthy halted and drew up his men for battle about a mile south of Newtonwbutler.

Many of the Jacobite troops fled as the first shots were fired and up to 1500 of them were hacked down or drowned in Upper Lough Erne when pursued by the Williamite cavalry. Of 500 men who tried to swim across the Lough only one survived. McCarthy, the Jacobite commander, along with about 400 Jacobite officers were captured and later exchanged for Williamite prisoners; the other Jacobites were killed. Mountcashel was wounded by bullet and narrowly avoided being killed. He went on to command the Irish Brigade in the French army.

The Williamite victory at Newtownbutler ensured that a landing by the Duke of Schomberg in County Down in August 1689 was unopposed.

The battle is still commemorated by the Orange Order celebrated in Northern Ireland, and is mentioned in the traditional unionist song, "The Sash".