Justin Macarthy (d. 1694), Lord Mountcashel, was appointed Muster-Master-General of Artillery in Ireland. He was the third son of the first Earl of Clancarty by Elizabeth Butler and was first cousin of the Hamiltons. In a postscript to a letter of May 12 Avaux wrote to Louvois: ‘Sa Maiesté Britannique a donné à M. de Makarty la charge de Grand Maistre de l'Artillerie d'Irlande que possedoit Mylord Monjoye, à la reserve que cette charge ne dependra plus du Grand Maistre de l'Artillerie d'Angleterre, comme elle faisoit auparavant; il m'a l'obligation de cette charge, mais je dois vous dire qu'avant qu'il l'acceptast il m'est venu demander si cela ne l'empescheroit point de pouvoir aller en France, parce que si cela estoit il n'y songeroit pas. Comme cela ne rendra pas sa presence plus necessaire en ce pays cy, je luy ay respondu que les marques d'estime et de distinction que luy donneroit le Roy son maistre n'empescheroient pas les veues que vous pouvez avoir pour luy.’ He was also Lord Lieutenant of the County of Cork, where he captured Castlemartyr and Bandon, and thus held the south for James (Clarke, ii. 327). In June, 1689, he was elevated to the peerage. At Newtown-Butler near Enniskillen he was severely wounded and his regiment was roughly handled. In May, 1690, he landed in France with the nucleus of the Irish Brigade. James did not like him. All the royal household was composed of Englishmen or Scotsmen—Dover, Howard, Melfort, and Powis—and his generals, Buchan, Dorington, Maxwell, Sheldon, Sutherland, and Wauchope, belonged to the same nationalities. Mountcashel, according to O'Kelly, ‘was a man of parts and courage, wanting no quality for a complete captain, if he were not somewhat short-sighted.’ Yet this short-sighted officer was appointed inspector of ordnance and arms (cf. Avaux to Louvois October 21).
More excuse for the loss of the battle of Newton-Butler can be made than Stevens allows. Mountcashel drew up his men on a hill with a bog covering their front. When the Williamite foot had silenced the cannon commanding the pass across the bog, the Enniskillen horse rode swiftly to meet the enemy on the right. Mountcashel therefore ordered the regiment on the left to move to the right. In the confusion of the fight his officer commanded the men not to face to the right, but to face right about and march. If we remember how a hasty ‘retire’ almost brought about a panic among soldiers at Alma, it is easy to imagine the ensuing confusion. When the Jacobite troops saw their comrades facing them, they concluded they were retreating. The panic-stricken Irish Dragoons fled in the direction of Wattlebridge and the cavalry soon followed them. Story, Impartial History, p. 5; History of the Most Material Occurrences in the Kingdom of Ireland during the Last Two Years: by an Eye-Witness (London, 1691); Light to the Blind, 624; Macariae Excidium, 315; Clarke, James II, ii. 368–9; Avaux to Louvois, August 14; Avaux to Louis, August 18.