The Castlebar Races

A song about one of the greatest victories in Irish history. The Battle of Catlebar in 1798. Six thousand British soldiers were poised on the hills around the small town expecting a rout against the town's small militia when out of the mist rose 2000 French and Irish soldiers. They caught the British with such surprise that the British retreated with haste as far as Athlone on the Shannon River. The Battle was aptly named after the speed at which they were retreating. It is also listed as one of the British top ten miliatary blunders.