SNIPPET: Parliamentary forces had already landed in Ireland in 1647, but it was the arrival on August 15, 1649, of 20,000 troops under Oliver CROMWELL, Lord Lieutenant General of the Parliament of England, that inaugurated a full-scale repression of Ireland. His purpose was unambiguous: to avenge the alleged massacres of 1641, repress Catholicism, and fortify Ireland against possible foreign invasion. He believe his mission to "carry on the great work against the barbarous Irish" was ordained by God. It was this mind-set that justified the brutality that followed. In one instance, when the town of Drogheda (Louth) refused to surrender to CROMWELL in September 1649, CROMWELL's soldiers stormed the city and put more than 3,000 people, including civilian women and children, to the sword. Some weeks later, the town of Wexford did surrender but apparently not fast enough to suit CROMWELL, and his soldiers slaughtered 2,000 civilians. This campaign of terror had its desired effect, as most towns quickly surrendered to CROMWELL's forces. By the early 1650s, virtually all of Ireland had been conquered. The toll on human life was extraordinary, even by modern standards. Of Ireland's 1641 population of 1,448,000, some 616,000 had died by 1652. Of those the great majority (504,000) were native Irish, mostly Catholic. Settlers and troops constituted the remaining dead (112,000). Thousands of surviving Irish rebels were transported to a life of slavery in the West Indies. Irish agriculture and livestock were devastated. "I am persuaded," wrote CROMWELL, "that this is a righteous judgment of God upon these barbarous wretches." In addition to the death and destruction visited by CROMWELL and his lieutenants, Ireland under parliamentary rule experienced another massive transfer of property from the Catholic native Irish to Protestant English settler. Under the 1652 to 1653 Acts of Settlement, most of Ireland's major Catholic landowners in the east were forced to surrender their property (under penalty of death) and accept lesser holdings in the remote barren reaches of the province of Connacht. This policy, dubbed "To Hell or Connacht" by the Irish, led to a mass exodus of Irish Catholics to the lesser lands in the west of Ireland. Many never made it. Some 11 million acres of confiscated land was turned over to English "adventurers" (settlers) and soldiers. By 1660, Protestants would own 78 percent of that land in Ireland and the percentage was rising. CROMWELL died in 1658, and two years later CHARLES I's son CHARLES II, was restored to the throne. Many Catholics viewed this development with hope. CHARLES II had a Catholic wife and they hoped he would remember his loyalty the Irish showed his father during the struggles of the 1640s. Unfortunately, what CHARLES II did remember about the 1640s was that his father had been beheaded. He was unwilling to make any move that might appear too solicitous of the Irish, though some families were restored to their land and the murderous persecution of priests diminished. Irish Catholics found their man in CHARLES II's son, JAMES II, who took the throne in 1685. JAMES II was a Catholic and made it clear that he planned to restore Catholics in Ireland to the power and property they had once enjoyed -- in short, to remake Ireland as a Catholic kingdom. He dispatched Richard TALBOT, a Catholic born in Dublin, to serve as lieutenant general of the Irish army TALBOT quickly replaced Protestant army officers, sheriffs, judge, and magistrates with Catholics. These moves alarmed Protestants in England and Ireland and led to them to depose JAMES II in 1688. May 20, 1998: "New York Times" Columnist Maureen DOWD wrote: "When I first moved to New York, I called my mother to tell her I was going to stay in a residential hotel called the Oliver Cromwell. There was a long pause, then tearful anger. "He encouraged his soldiers to throw babies up in the air and impale them on their swords as they came down," she snapped. I found another hotel. In Irish time, 1651 and 1981 were only moments apart." -- Excerpts, "1001 Things Everyone Should Know About Irish American History," Edward. T. O'DONNELL (Broadway Books NY/2002). ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jean R." <jeanrice@cet.com> To: <IRISH-AMERICAN-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, September 29, 2008 2:49 PM Subject: [IRISH-AMER] Oliver CROMWELL's Letter Describing Attack on Drogheda (Louth) 1649 <snip>