Battle of the Yellow Ford

Battle of the Yellow Ford
Part of the Nine Years' War
View along the Yellow Ford battlefield looking north-west
Date 14 August 1598 Location between Armagh and Blackwatertown, Ireland 54°24′04″N 6°41′10″W / 54.401°N 6.686°W / 54.401; -6.686 Result Irish victory
Belligerents
England Loyalists	Irish Alliance
Commanders and leaders
Henry Bagenal † Calisthenes Brooke Thomas Wingfield Maelmora O'Reilly †	Hugh O'Neill Hugh O'Donnell Hugh Maguire
Strength
~4,000	~5,000
Casualties and losses
~1,500 killed ~300 deserted	~Low

The Battle of the Yellow Ford was fought in County Armagh on 14 August 1598, during the Nine Years' War in Ireland. An English army of about 4,000, led by Henry Bagenal, was sent from the Pale to relieve the besieged Blackwater Fort. Marching from Armagh to the Blackwater, the column was routed by a Gaelic Irish army under Hugh O'Neill of Tyrone. O'Neill's forces divided the English column and a large earthwork stalled its advance. Bagenal was killed by an Irish musketeer, and scores of his men were killed and wounded when the English gunpowder wagon exploded. About 1,500 of the English army were killed and 300 deserted. After the battle, the Blackwater Fort surrendered to O'Neill. The battle marked an escalation in the war, as the English Crown greatly bolstered its military forces in Ireland, and many Irish lords who had been neutral joined O'Neill's alliance.