Battle of the Ford of the Biscuits

The Battle of the Ford of the Biscuits took place in County Fermanagh, Ireland on 7 August 1594 when a force of invading English colonial soldiers led by Sir Henry Duke was ambushed and defeated by a native Irish force under Hugh Maguire in the region of the fords of the Arney River on the approaches to Enniskillen. Duke's men were a relief column for the town which had been under siege since June.

The battle acquired its distinctive name due to the supplies of the Crown forces, largely hard biscuits, which were scattered and left floating in the river. The battle was an early exchange of Tyrone's Rebellion, and exposed the vulnerability of Crown forces to ambushes in the wilder parts of Ulster with its thick woods and bogs.

Background
As part of the English Tudor colonial programme in Ireland, a policy of surrender and regrant was introduced that involved the formal submission of the native Irish lords to the English Crown. Fermanagh was shired as a county and elements of English law were introduced to replace Brehon Law overseen by Hugh Maguire the Gaelic Lord of Enniskillen. The Maguire revolt grew out of his resentment at the introduction of English law which reduced his overlordship over his weaker neighbours, and particularly the activities of a local sheriff, Captain Humphrey Willis, who was known for his heavy-handed behavior.

Maguire launched his resistance by sacking the lands of his neighbours. The English government responded by sending a force under the Marshal of Ireland, Sir Henry Bagenal to confront the native Irish. The leading Gaelic lord of Ulster, Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone also led forces into the field, and alongside his estranged brother-in-law Henry Bagenal defeated the Irish at the Battle of the Erne Fords in 1593. Maguire's capital at Enniskillen was captured and garrisoned by a force of English government troops. Maguire then agreed to submit, and an agreement was brokered by Tyrone. However the peace did not last long and Maguire and his supporters laid siege to Enniskillen in June 1594. A relief force was despatched to aid the stranded garrison.

Battle
As the English expedition approached Enniskillen from the south, the native forces laid an ambush for them. The English cavalry scouts failed to detect the Gaelic warriors lying in wait for them, and the infantry escorting the supply wagons for Enniskillen ran straight into the ambush.

Aftermath
The badly-mauled Crown forces retreated to Cavan. News of the defeats caused some alarm due to the small size of the peacetime English Army, which was scattered in garrisons across the island. Although this could be supplemented by forces of loyal Gaelic chiefs, fresh troops needed to be raised in England and sent across the Irish Sea to contain the developing northern resistance to the encroaching English colonial state. In addition a force of soldiers who had been serving in Brittany was brought to Ireland.

A second relief expedition, this time led by the Lord Deputy of Ireland William Russell, 1st Baron Russell of Thornhaugh, managed to reach Enniskillen and re-supply it. However Enniskillen did return to Irish hands in May the following year and according to Russell the garrison was massacred, having allegedly (by Russell) been promised their lives when they surrendered.

A number of factors, including the presence of his brother Cormac MacBaron O'Neill, have led some historians to conclusions that Tyrone had encouraged Maguire to revolt a second time as a stalking horse for himself, hoping to prod the government into making more favourable concessions without formally taking up arms himself. Nonetheless Tyrone went into open rebellion, triggering the full outbreak of Tyrone's Rebellion which lasted until the Treaty of Mellifont in 1603.