Society of United Irishmen - 1798 Rebellion

1798 Rebellion

By early 1798, the United Irish membership on the ground (by now 280,000 sworn members) was under severe pressure, suffering from the terror of a roving campaign of disarmament while under instructions to do nothing until the arrival of French aid. In March 1798, the bulk of the leadership was arrested and preemptive risings had already broken out in Tipperary but indecision still divided the rump leadership. Finally, the unrelenting pressure led the militant faction of the United Irishmen to set the date for a general uprising on 23 May without French aid. However, information from the informers Thomas Reynolds and Francis Magan led to the arrests of Lord Edward Fitzgerald and Samuel Neilson shortly before the rising but more crucially foiled the planned rising in Dublin which was to be the central core of the planned rebellion.

Nevertheless, tens of thousands rose in the surrounding counties but the resulting rebellion was severely hampered by the lack of leadership and was crushed with vicious brutality. The campaign met with little success except in Wexford where a number of massacres of loyalist civilians who were largely Protestant raised the spectre of sectarianism which was seized upon by enemies of the United Irishmen to weaken their non-sectarian appeal. The eventual arrival of 1,000 French troops in Killala, County Mayo in August was too little and too late to turn the tide for the United Irishmen. In October, Wolfe Tone himself was captured when a supporting French fleet of 3,000 troops was intercepted and defeated by the Royal Navy near Lough Swilly.

Upon his capture, Wolfe Tone famously said, "From my earliest youth I have regarded the connection between Ireland and Great Britain as the curse of the Irish nation, and felt convinced, that while it lasted, this country would never be free or happy. In consequence, I determined to apply all the powers which my individual efforts could move, in order to separate the two countries." After being denied a soldier's death by firing squad, Wolfe Tone cheated the hangman by cutting his own throat.

The suppression of the rising was followed by a period of renewed repression of the United Irishmen as the general amnesty offered by Lord Lieutenant Cornwallis specifically excluded rebel leaders many of whom were United Irishmen. However the United Irishmen still managed to survive as both a functioning clandestine organisation, especially in Dublin and as a military force with several rebel bands still active, though severely reduced and confined to a few counties.