O'DO
O'DO
his own people at Ballysbannon. There he remained under the care of physicians until April, having to suffer amputation of his great toes, which had been frost- bitten on Slieve Eoe. On 3rd of May (1592) his father resigned the lordship and he was solemnly inaugurated The O'Donnell. The first use he made of his power was to march into Tyrone and pil- lage the country of Sir Turlough Luineach O'Neill, then in alliance with the Anglo- Irish. He besieged him in his castle of Strabane, and burned the town up to the walls of the fortress. His friend, Hugh O'Neill, fearing that his exploits would bring against them both the full power of the Pale, brought about a meeting be- tween him and the Lord-Deputy at Duu- dalk. A free pardon was accorded him, his title of O'Donnell was acknowledged, andfor a short time he settled down in the undisputed government of his ancestral domain. Two years afterwards, in 1594, when the Lord-Deputy placed a garrison in Enniskillen, he threw off all semblance of allegiance, proceeded to the aid of his friend Maguire, besieged the castle of Enniskillen, and wasted the lands of those who lived under English jurisdiction. A force for the relief of the town, under Bingham, Sir Edward Herbert, and Sir Henry Duke was defeated with heavy loss by Maguire at Bel- Atha-na-mBriosgaidh (Dru- mane bridge, on the river Arney), where- upon the garrison capitulated, and was permitted to depart unharmed. It is un- necessary to enumerate the minor opera- tions of the war between the northern confederacy and the Government, in which he acted such an important part. In 1595, when Hugh O'Neill went openly into rebellion, O'Donnell threw himself heartily into the struggle. In March and April he skirmished in Connaught, mov- ing with such rapidity as to escape any serious ccVision with the forces of the Lord-Deputy. His successes raised the confidence of the Irish, and Sligo was given up to him by Ulick Burke. "With the aid of 600 Scots under MacLeod of Ara, he overran the country as far as Tuam and Dunmore, raised the siege of Sligo, and demolished the castle, that it might not be re-occupied by the English. In the autumn he again marched out and destroyed thirteen castles. In 1 596 three Spanish pinnaces arrived off the coast of Donegal, bringing a supply of military stores and encouraging letters, addressed specially to O'Donnell, who entertained Philip III.'s messenger with great state at Lifford. He took part in the conference between O'Neill and the Queen's Com- 392
missioners at Dundalk early in the same year. On 24th July 1597, Sir Conyers Clifford assembled a large force at Boyle, marched into O'Donnell's territory, and laid siege to Ballysbannon Castle, which was defended by Crawford, a Scotchman, and a garrison of eightymen, of whom some were Spaniards. The arrival of O'Don- nell obliged Clifford to retreat to Sligo, abandoning three pieces of ordnance and a quantity of stores, and losing several men in fording the Erne at Assaroe. O'Donnell commanded the cavalry in O'Neill's defeat of Marshal Bagnall, at the Yellow Ford, on 14th August 1598. In the autumn he purchased the castle of Ballymote, and made it his principal resi- dence. The following spring he invaded Thomond in force, and swept the country of its cattle. The Four Masters- tell us that when he saw "the surrounding hills covered and darkened with the herds and numerous cattle of the territories through which his troops had passed, he proceeded on his way homewards, over the chain of rugged-topped mountains of Burren." On 15th August 1599, O'Don- nell defeated an English force under Sir Conyers Clifford at Ballaghboy, on the side of the Curlew Mountains in Sligo. According to Fynes Moryson, the English lost only 120 men ; whilst O'Sullivan Beare says their loss numbered 1,400. Sir Conyers Clifford was amongst the slain. The Irish annalists mourn his tragic end : — " He had never told them a falsehood." He was buried on Trinity Island, in Lough Key. The most important military operations of 1600 were in Munster. In the north, Niall Garv O'Donnell, Hugh's brother-in-law, with his brothers, went over to the English side. Hugh made several incursions into Thomond to harass the Queen's allies, and in May attempted to dislodge Sir Henry Docwra, who had landed 4,000 foot and 200 horse on the shores of Lough Foyle, and entrenched himself at CuLmore. O'Donnell spent Christmas of 1600 at Dunneill (Castle- quarter), in the County of Sligo ; and a few days afterwards proceeded with O'Neill to Killybegs, to divide the money and munitions of war landed from a Span- ish vessel. The war dragged on through the summer of 1601, and in September, Hugh attacked Niall Garv O'Donnell, who with some 500 English troops occu- pied the old monastery of Donegal. The building was quickly set on fire ; but Niall held out with indomitable bravery, and managed to make good his retreat in the night, leaving nothing but the charred walla of the buUding. Soon afterwards,
