Sigginstown’s Uneasy Cessation
The year opened with a notable Confederate success. On 20 January, Thomas Preston captured Birr Castle in King’s County, now County Offaly. Preston was a professional soldier with long experience in continental warfare, especially siegecraft, and his arrival had strengthened the Confederate cause in Leinster. Birr’s fall showed that the Catholic Confederation could take and hold significant positions, not merely raise local forces. Yet it also exposed a persistent problem: armies could seize places, but feeding, paying and coordinating them over long distances was much harder.