The Battle of Julianstown was fought during the Irish Rebellion of 1641, at Julianstown near Drogheda in eastern Ireland, in November 1641.

The insurgents, led by Phelim O’Neill moved south from Ulster towards Dublin, hoping to take the capital. An untrained, hastily raised force of Government soldiers, largely composed of refugees from the fighting in the north, was sent against them. The two sides met at the bridge at Julianstown. What followed was a simple rout. The Irish rebels charged the soldiers, shouting their war cry. The soldiers attempted to hold them off by firing in volleys, but were unable to co-ordinate their actions and panicked when they saw the rebels bearing down on them. Many threw down their muskets and ran away, the remainder being either killed or captured. One source tell us that the rebels spared the Irishmen in the soldier’s ranks, but killed all the Englishmen and Scots.

The consequences of this skirmish were far disproportionate to its military significance. The rebel’s victory made them seem much more formidable than they actually were and helped to spread the rebellion to the rest of Ireland. This indirectly helped to trigger the English Civil War and Confederate Ireland – a short-lived independent Irish state.

See also

• Irish Rebellion of 1641
• Confederate Ireland
• Wars of the Three Kingdoms
• Irish battles