On
October 11, Captain James Stafford gave Cromwell entrance to the
town. The scenes that followed mirrored those at Drogheda. Many
Franciscans and other priests were killed. Three hundred women
were massacred while standing at the cross in the public square
hoping that being near the cross would soften the hearts of the
Christian soldiers. Instead it identified them as Catholics, and
they were put to death. An estimated 2,000 were killed at Wexford.
Several
similar battles ensued in Cromwell's conquest of Ireland including
Wexford, Kiltenan, Dundrum, Ballynakill and Kildare until he and
other Parliamentarians next converged on Kilkenny, headquarters
of the Confederacy. Upon payment of 2,000 pounds sterling, the
citizens of Kilkenny were protected from looting, and the officers
and soldiers were allowed to march out disarmed for two miles.
The clergymen also were allowed to march out.
Many
of the dispossessed joined the Tories in the woods and hills.
Although they were outlawed by the Government, some of them were
regarded as heroes by the Irish. They became a serious menace
to the new planters, raiding their land, attacking and killing
them. The Government offered large rewards for their capture so
that Tory hunting and Tory murder became common pursuits.
Government
agents were also employed to round up beggars, widows and orphans.
Executions were a daily occurrence and it is estimated that nearly
15,000, mostly children, were transported to the sugar plantations
of the West Indies as slaves and indentured servants.
The
Puritans not only persecuted the Catholics, but Ulster Presbyterians,
members of the Church of Ireland, and those of other minority
religions as well. Priests were hanged, exiled or transported
to the West Indies with Puritan preachers brought from England
to replace them.
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