Not
all who surrendered to Cromwells forces were killed;
"When
they submitted, their officers were knocked on the head; and every
tenth man of the soldiers killed; and the rest shipped for the
Barbadoes. The soldiers in the other Tower were all spared, as
to their lives only; and shipped likewise for the Barbadoes."
In
a letter commenting on the aftereffects of the Drogheda siege,
Ormonde wrote:
"It
is not to be imagined how great the terror is that these successes
and the power of the (English) have struck into this people."
He continued that his forces "are yet so stupefied that it
is with great difficulty I can persuade them to act anything like
men towards their own preservation."
It
was said that over 3,500 people, including women and children,
were slaughtered at Drogheda.
Cromwell
and his army encamped at the walls of Wexford on October 1, 1649.
It was through Wexford that the Catholic Confederates received
their arms and kept in touch with supporters in foreign countries
making its capture of high importance.
Ormonde
also realized the importance of Wexford and sent 1,000 infantry
and 300 cavalry to reinforce the garrison already there. The distrust
of Ormonde by the townspeople was so strong that they initially
refused entry to Ormonde's forces, doing so only after the Parliamentarians
arrived.
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