Siege of Drogheda - Background To The Siege

Background To The Siege

See also: Irish Confederate Wars and Cromwellian conquest of Ireland

Since 1642, most of Ireland had been under the control of the Irish Catholic Confederation, who had taken much of the country in the aftermath of the 1641 Irish rebellion. In 1648, the Irish Confederates allied themselves with the English Royalists to oppose the English Parliamentarians. With his New Model Army, Oliver Cromwell landed in Ireland in August 1649 to re-conquer the country on behalf of the English Parliament.

Just before Cromwell's landing, Dublin had been secured for the Parliamentarians at the Battle of Rathmines. After their defeat there, the Royalists, under James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde, retreated in disarray. Some of their Protestant regiments defected to the Parliamentarians and Ormonde had to rally the remaining "dispersed forces" so as to put together a new field army.

On 23 August the Royalists held a council of war at Drogheda, present at which were: the Earls of Castlehaven and Westmeath, Sir Arthur Aston, Sir Thomas Armstrong (Quartermaster-General of Horse), Sir Robert Stewart and other Royalist leaders. It was resolved that the town should be held and four regiments were chosen for the defence. The garrison was composed of both English Royalists and Irish Confederate troops under Arthur Aston, with a total strength of about 2,550. The army was half Catholic, including some English Catholics, and half English and Irish Protestants. Butler's strategy was not to confront the Parliamentary forces in battle but to hold the towns in the east of Ireland and "let his allies hunger and sickness weaken the invaders".

Cromwell's tactics at Drogheda were determined by a need to take the port towns on Ireland's east coast quickly to ensure re-supply for his troops. The normal "campaigning season", when armies could live off the land, ran from spring to autumn. Cromwell had landed in Ireland late in the year and campaigning through the winter necessitated securing a constant re-supply from the sea. Cromwell therefore favoured rapid assaults on fortified places over time-consuming blockades to secure the all-important ports.