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 The 1798 RisingThey found a remarkable leader in Father John Murphy of Boolavogue, who quickly assembled an army of Catholic peasants equipped with muskets and pikes. The few troops were outnumbered and poorly led, and the rebels soon commanded most of the county. The government was slow to react, but the rebels' attempts to spread the rising to neighbouring counties were halted by defeats at Arklow and New Ross. On 21 June, General Lake stormed the rebel headquarters at Vinegar Hill, near Enniscorthy, and resistance soon ended. Murphy was later captured and executed.In Ulster, where the rebels were mainly Presbyterians, the rising began later and was soon over. On 7 June, some 3,000 men attacked the garrison in Antrim town. An informer had revealed their plans, however, and reinforcements soon arrived to scatter the rebels, who fled to their homes. Their leader, Henry Joy McCracken, was captured and hanged. In County Down the rising came to an end on 13 June, when the United Irishmen were defeated at Ballynahinch. Their leader, Henry Monroe, was also hanged.
Meanwhile, Wolfe Tone had persuaded the French government to send another expedition to Ireland, but it sailed from La Rochelle long after the rising had been defeated. On 23 August, 1,000 French troops under General Humbert landed at Killala Bay in Connacht. Local peasants swarmed to his banner; however, after an early victory at Castlebar, he surrendered on 8 September to the superior army of the Marquis Cornwallis, who had been appointed lord lieutenant and commander-in-chief in anticipation of a rising. Tone himself was captured in October aboard a French ship in Lough Swilly. Court-martialled in Dublin, he pleaded for a soldier's death before a firing squad, but was sentenced to be hanged. He committed suicide in prison on 19 November 1798.
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