Battle of Scarrifholis

On 21 June 1650, Charles Coote's outnumbered Commonwealth force broke Heber MacMahon's Ulster army near Letterkenny, securing the north for Cromwell. The collapse came within the hour: thousands of Confederate soldiers, officers, weapons and supplies were lost while Coote's veterans suffered barely a hundred casualties. Scarrifholis remains a sharp reminder that battle experience and cavalry can overturn raw numbers, even when the larger army believes itself secure.