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Races of Castlebar
On 6 August 1798 a French fleet with approximately 4000 men left the port of La Rochelle and headed for Ireland. General Humbert arrived at Kilcummin Strand in County Mayo on 22 August 1798 with 1100 men and captured Killala. The remaining part of the invasion fleet, led by General Hardy, was delayed and sailed strait in a British blockade when trying to catch-up. General Hardy's ships were dispersed and would never reach the Irish coast.
Luckily the decimated French army landed far from the British forces, which were concentrated around Dublin and in the turbulent regions of north-east Ulster and south Leinster. Although many Irish from County Mayo joined the French they could not compensate the 3000 well-trained and war hardened soldiers from General Hardy. Obviously General Humbert had to change his plans.
The initial plan was an outflanking movement through Ulster. While advancing United Irishmen would join them and they would engage Dublin from the north. At the same time the rebels in south Leinster would have been regrouped and move up to Dublin from the south.
General Humbert thought that, even with the United Irishmen, his army would not stand a change against the 100,000 British forces in Ireland. He decided to use the element of surprise and headed almost straightforward to the east.
Before heading for Dublin General Humbert had to take care of Castlebar, which was held by General Gerard Lake. In what became known as The Races of Castlebar the French-Irish army captured Ballina on 24 August. General Lake decided to retreat and on 27 August 1798 General Humbert captured Castlebar, including supplies and guns.
In the following days several other towns fell and on 31 August Humbert proclaimed the Provisional Republic of Connaught. Motivated by the successes of the French-Irish force the rebellion flared up in the counties Longford and Westmeath and France decided to sent a small reinforcement force of 270 men.
Battle of Ballinamuck
Seemingly the advance was unstoppable and on 7 September General Humbert crossed the River Shannon, which was considered as a natural barrier between the outback in the west and civilised Ireland in the east. The next day, on 8 September, the French met the full fury of the Crown forces near Ballinamuck in County Longford.
The Battle of Ballinamuck was effectively the end of the French adventure in Ireland which officially was meant to throw off the English yoke in Ireland.The British forces recaptured town after town and the retake of Killala on 23 September ended the battles on land.
The captured French were treated as prisoners of war, but the Irish who had joined them were slaughtered or deported to Botany Bay in Australia. Several Irishmen escaped their fate by representing themselves as Frenchmen, joined the French army as soldiers and fought in the Napoleonic wars under the French flag. If you are in Paris sometime you know the story behind those typical Irish and Scottish names on the Arc de Triomphe.
The Humbert campaign is remembered in the song The Men of the West and the captured French army standard, the only foreign national flag ever captured in Ireland, is on display in the Saint Patrick's Church of Ireland Cathedral in Armagh.
The reinforcements, accompanied by James Napper Tandy, arrived on 16 September off County Donegal at Rutland Island. When they heard the news about the French defeat in the Battle of Ballinamuck they returned to France.
A second French invasion fleet, with approximately 3000 men, among which Theobald Wolfe Tone, one of the founders of the Society of Unites Irishmen and advocate of the Irish cause in France, left France on 17 September and was captured at sea on 12 October 1798.
Theobald Wolfe Tone was arrested and sentenced to the gallows. The verdict was never executed because Wolfe Tone, age 35, died in prison on 19 November 1798, probably on a self-inflicted wound. His name lives on in The Wolfe Tones, a group of musicians famous for their nationalistic repertoire.
The sad balance of the rebellion after this last spasm: between 10,000 and 25,000 rebels and non-combatants civilians and only 600 soldiers has died. Large parts of the country were disrupted. However, although it was a failure by itself the United Irishmen Rebellion left a valuable mental legacy: the ideal of republican separatism, an insurrection with assistance from abroad and heroic sacrifices.
The ideals of the French Revolution would remain a source of inspiration for the next generation of Irish Nationalists, but France, although the archenemy of Britain since time immemorial, would turn out not as loyal to the Irish cause as the Nationalists hoped for.
The heaviest weight on the balance however would be the Act of the Union.