The Battle of Vinegar Hill was an engagement during the Irish Rebellion of 1798 on 21 June 1798 when over 15,000 British soldiers launched an attack on Vinegar Hill outside Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, the largest camp and headquarters of the Wexford United Irish rebels. It marked a turning point in the Irish Rebellion of 1798, as it was the last attempt by the rebels to hold and defend ground against the British military. The battle was actually fought in two locations: on Vinegar Hill itself and in the streets of nearby Enniscorthy.
Battle was joined. It lasted about two hours: the rebels were mercilessly shelled, and artillery carried the day. When it became clear that the bulk of the Irish were retreating from Vinegar Hill, the British cavalry were unleashed, quickly followed by the infantry. A massacre of hundreds of stragglers ensued, mainly women and children, from a combination of the cavalry and infantry attack but also from the field guns which were switched to grape shot to maximize casualties among the fleeing masses.

The mopping-up operations after Vinegar Hill resembled, to the fury of the newly-appointed Lord Lieutenant, Marquis Cornwallis, little other than universal rape, plunder and murder.

Read more about it in books from the KBIC Lending Library!