Background
News of the outbreak of the rebellion had prompted Major-General Sir James Duff, Military Commander in Limerick, to gather a force of about 600 men, mainly Dublin militia, backed up by seven artillery pieces, and set out on a forced march to Dublin on 27 May. His twin objectives were to restore communications between the two cities and to crush any resistance encountered on the way. As the soldiers entered County Kildare they discovered the bodies of several rebel victims, among them Lieutenant William Giffard, the son of the commander of the Dublin militia, Captain John Giffard, which reportedly inflamed the soldiers.
However, by the time Duff's column arrived in Monasterevan in County Kildare, at 7.00 a.m. on the 29th, the bulk of the rebel forces had already accepted a Government amnesty from generals Gerard Lake and Sir Ralph Dundas, following their defeat at the battle of Kilcullen and had surrendered at Knockaulin Hill, several miles to the east of the Curragh on 27th May. Not aware that the rebels were gathering to surrender on the Curragh plain, Duff reinforced his column and marched to the nearby town of Kildare, and on to the adjacent southwest corner of the Curragh.
Read more about this topic: Gibbet Rath Massacre
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