The Battle of the Big Cross was an engagement of the Irish Rebellion of 1798 fought between the forces of the United Irishmen and a column of British troops. It was fought on the 19th of June on a spot on the Shannonvale-Ballinascarty road known locally as the big cross, about 4 miles east of Clonakilty in West Cork. It was the only battle fought in the rebellion in Cork or indeed the whole of Munster.
Prelude events in West Cork
The attempted landing of a French invasion fleet in Bantry Bay in late 1796 shook the British establishment. In response, British troops were garrisoned all over West Cork. In early 1798, Major General Sir John Moore was given command of the 3,000 British troops in West Cork. A proclamation was issued that all weaponry be handed up to either the military of local magistrates by the 2nd of May under an amnesty. Despite this, Moore issued orders for his troops to treat the locals as harshly as possible and to take any provisions they needed for three weeks. In May, British troops scoured West Cork searching for arms burning homes and generally terrorizing the common people. Moore himself wrote the moment a single redcoat appears, everyone flees. The official disarming of West Cork was completed by the 23rd of May. Moore and his troops had found 800 pikes and 3,400 firearms, and large numbers of suspected United Irishmen were arrested.
Summer 1798
When the United Irishmen in Leinster, especially Wexford, rose in rebellion in late May and early June 1798, West Cork remained very quiet. Many of the British troops in West Cork were in fact Irish and were recruited from among the peasantry. There is strong evidence that the British troops may have had United Irishmen members or sympathizers among their ranks.
Battle
A detachment of the Westmeath militia was stationed in Clonakilty under Lieutenant Colonel Sir Hugh O'Reilly. On the afternoon of the 18th, Sir Hugh received orders that his troops were to transfer to Bandon, about 15 miles east of Clonakilty. Early on the morning of the 19th of June, the Westmeath militia, including two artillery pieces, were marching in column when they were confronted by a force of 300-400 United Irishmen, very lightly armed and mostly local peasantry, at a local crossroads known as the Big Cross under the command of a man named Tadhg an Astna O'Donovan. Much of what we know of the engagement comes from local folklore or from the pen of Sir Hugh. O'Donovan is said to have appealed to the mostly Irish troops and United Irishmen among the Westmeath militias ranks to join his party. He was instead met with gunfire, though the Westmeath militia's commanding officer Sir Hugh O'Reilly denied this happened. In the short engagement that followed, the United Irishmen who had few firearms were routed. The United Irishmen were also attacked by the Caithness Legion, a Scottish regiment relieving the Westmeath militia in Clonakilty. Casualties were heavy with at least 100 United Irishmen left dead, including O'Donovan, possibly shot in the back during an almost successful assault on the British position. With few British casualties after the battle the Yeoman cavalry dragged the bodies of the dead United Irishmen into Clonakilty town and left them in front of the town's market house for several days. They were later dumped in a local strand at a spot now known as the Croppy Hole, with their relatives recovering them afterwards. Public notices were placed, written in both Irish and English, urging the local people to yield up to justice their leaders and instigators, surrender all their illegal weapons, return to their habitations and resume their industrious employments.
