Life
?1604-1653; started the 1941 Ulster Rising with the seizure of Charlemont Fort, 22-3 Oct.; expelled from Irish Commons for concerting Ulster Rebellion, 1641; first commander of northern forces; represented Ulster on Confederates’ supreme council; fought at Benburb; attempted peace with Ormond; tried to prevent alliance of Owen Roe and Ormond, 1648; ... executed 1653. ODNB
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References
Ramsay Collis, History of Ulster, Vol. III [1640-1796] (London: Gresham Publishing MCMXIX [1919]), Coote defeated Phelim O’Neill at the siege of Charlemont Fort, treacherously taken earlier by O’Neill, 23rd Oct; young Lord Caulfeild - presumably the son of Toby Caulfeild - was shot in the back while a prisoner by kinsmen of O’Neill, who denied involvement and had the malefactors punished (though further evidence suggests that they were not); condemned to death and executed 16 Sept. 1653, Sir Phelim ended with the declaration, ‘I never had any commission from the King for levying or prosecuting the war’ [Collis, p.147]; he was hanged, drawn and quartered.
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