In the great rebellion of 1641, Teige O'Driscoll of Collimere, and Dermogh O'Driscoll of Innisshirkin, at the head of two hundred men, of whom forty were armed with muskets, and had four rounds of ammunition a man, joined with the forces, under the command of Tom Coppinger, of Copplebeg; [1] and the entire body, consisting of upwards of three hundred men, inclusive of seventy musketeers, attacked the castle of Baltimore, three hours before day break, on the 15th of August, 1642.
The castle was full of people. Governor Bennett willingly afforded the shelter of its walls to those hapless creatures whom the rebels had forced from their homesteads, and when Coppinger and the O'Driscolls marched against it, it contained no less than two hundred and fifteen souls. The assault was unsuccessful. Indeed so disheartened were the insurgents at their complete failure, that they drew off before sunrise; and thus the garrison and the helpless inmates escaped without the loss of a life, or even a drop of blood.