The Station; The Party Fight And Funeral; The Lough Derg Pilgrim: Traits And Stories Of The Irish Peasantry, The Works of; William Carleton, Volume ThreeCarleton, William
General
The Station; The Party Fight And Funeral; The Lough Derg Pilgrim: Traits And Stories Of The Irish Peasantry, The Works of; William Carleton, Volume Three
Carleton, William
Ireland -- Social life and customs -- Fiction
“Their advance to the first onset was far different from a faction
fight. There existed a silence here, that powerfully evinced the
inextinguishable animosity with which they encountered. For some time
they fought in two compact bodies, that remained unbroken so long as the
chances of victory were doubtful. Men went down, and were up, and went
down in all directions, with uncommon rapidity; and as the weighty
phalanx of Orangemen stood out against the nimble line of their mountain
adversaries, the intrepid spirit of the latter, and their surprising
skill and activity soon gave symptoms of a gradual superiority in the
conflict. In the course of about half an hour, the Orange party began to
give way in the northern end of the town; and as their opponents pressed
them warmly and with unsparing hand, the heavy mass formed by their
numbers began to break, and this decomposition ran up their line until
in a short time they were thrown into utter confusion. They now fought
in detached parties; but these subordinate conflicts, though shorter in
duration than the shock of the general battle, were much more inhuman
and destructive; for whenever any particular gang succeeded in putting
their adversaries to flight, they usually ran to the assistance of their
friends in the nearest fight--by which means they often fought three to
one. In these instances the persons inferior in numbers suffered such
barbarities, as it would be painful to detail.
“There lived a short distance out of the town a man nicknamed Jemsy
Boccagh, on account of his lameness--he was also sometimes called
'Hop-an'-go-constant,' who fell the first victim to party spirit. He
had got arms on seeing his friends likely to be defeated, and had the
hardihood to follow, with charged bayonet, a few Ribbonmen, whom he
attempted to intercept, as they fled from a large number of their
enemies, who had got them separated from their comrades. Boccagh ran
across a field, in order to get before them in the road, and was in the
act of climbing a ditch, when one of them, who carried a spade-shaft,
struck him a blow on the head, which put an end to his existence.*
* Fact. The person who killed him escaped to America
where he got himself naturalized, and when the British
government claimed him, he pleaded his privilege of
being an American citizen, and he was consequently not
given up. Boccagh was a very violent Orangeman, and a
very offensive one.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account