18 July 1798: Lieut Col Gough of the Limerick City militia writes to Col Verecher in Rathangan on July 12th with news of the day's assault on the rebel encampment on Rynville Hill (Meath).
The Limericks, 207 7th Dragoon Guards and 10 Eden derry yeoman cavalry first approach Carbury Hill. On finding it abandoned by the rebels, they follow the trail of destruction through Johnstown to Rynville.
The military are fired upon as they deploy in the cornfields around the hill, suggesting to Gough that he must mount "a desperate attack" without delay.
The fatigued insurgents are surprised by the sudden appearance of the army and rendered more vulnerable in the absence of their mounted element. Many are wounded and some inebriated by drinking the looted contents of Lord Harberton's wine cellars.
Gough claims to have "moved in briskly and formed up when within one field of the main body, and fired as fast as we could advancing. In some minutes I saw they began to get in confusion. I then quickened my pace and fire, and they soon fled in every direction covering many large fields. Unfortunately the closeness of the country prevented the cavalry pursuing or the slaughter must have been immense.
"I took and brought here from their camp 161 fat bullocks and cows, 53 horses, 7,000 yards of new linen, besides numberless small things the men could carry . . . they had near 4,000 men."
Joseph Holt and west Wicklow's Capt Michael Dalton stage a weak rearguard and burn houses to create a protective smoke screen.
Most of the rebels follow the Boyne northwards but the threat of a rout remains acute in the exposed lowlands. Military forces converge from Navan, Slane, Drogheda and Tara Hill to join the relentless pursuit of their much depleted column.
Available troops include the experienced Highlanders of the Duke of York's and Northumberland regiments, backed by the devastating firepower of their battalion guns.
Yeomen from Balbriggan, Drumcondra, Fingal, Swords and Coolock supplement British fencible cavalrymen from Dumfries and Durham.
The mood in the capital is increasingly confident with positive accounts from Queen's County, Kildare, Carlow and Kilkenny.
Saunder's Newsletter reports on July 13th that while a "rumour of a designed attack upon this city by internal rebels" was "very generally circulated . . . no such attempt was made". Moreover, the rebel main force is presumed to be confined to the Wicklow highlands; "a rude and barren extent of heath, moor, bog and mountain . . . hitherto considered as scarcely penetrable by the most adventurous sportsmen".
The bulk of such men, are, actually harried by cavalry in Meath and brought to battle on July 14th north-west of Slane. Some 2,000 under Garret Byrne, of Ballymanus, and Anthony Perry, of Inch, take up positions in Knightstown Bog.
The official bulletin details how Maj Gen Wemys and Brig Gen Meyrick find them in "a strong position on the road to Ardee [Louth]" and await artillery support.
Cannon fire drives the rebels "into the bog, where a very considerable number were killed . . . Some of the rebels who escaped went on towards Ardee: the rest retreated over the Boyne towards Garretstown [sic], where they were again attacked by Col Gordon of the Dumfries light dragoons" at Ballyboghil, Co Dublin.
Maj Gen Wilford receives a delegation of rebel leaders at Sallins [Kildare] on July 18th, where Edward Fitzgerald of Newpark concludes an armistice on behalf of the men of Wexford, Wicklow and Kildare.
Yet Maj Gen Wilford's unapproved dealings with "rebels in arms" stuns the Viceroy who voids the agreement and orders the immediate capitulation of the signatories.