General Jean Joseph Amable Humbert landed with French troops at Killala in County Mayo in August 1798. Joined by Irish insurgents, the force marched across the west before being confronted by British troops near Ballinamuck.
On 8 September, the French surrendered after the battle. Irish fighters did not receive the same treatment as the French prisoners, and the defeat brought a harsh end to hopes that this expedition might turn the rebellion in the west.
The battle is remembered locally through the village, the surrounding fields and later memorials. As with many battlefields, exact movements and personal accounts need to be checked against contemporary records as well as commemorative histories.
A good way into the subject is to read a history of the wider 1798 Rising alongside Longford’s local accounts. The events at Ballinamuck make more sense when seen as the final stages of a campaign that began on the Atlantic coast.