1st siege of Lismore Castle In 1643, Muskerry led the Confederate Munster Army in an offensive against
Murrough O'Brien, 6th Baron of Inchiquin in
County Waterford. Purcell unsuccessfully besieged
Lismore Castle, the seat of the
Earls of Cork. The offensive ended with the cease-fire, known as the Cessation, in September.
2nd siege and capture of Lismore Castle In the campaign of 1645,
James Tuchet, 3rd Earl of Castlehaven commanded the Confederate Munster army in its fight against Inchiquin, who had allied himself with the Parliamentarians. Purcell, now
Lieutenant-General, captured Lismore Castle, which was defended by Major Power, but Inchiquin doggedly defended the rest. , captured by
Lord Muskerry and Purcell
Siege of Bunratty In 1646 the Munster army, under
Edward Somerset, Earl of Glamorgan, who was favoured by
Giovanni Battista Rinuccini, the papal nuncio, was sent to besiege
Bunratty Castle near Limerick, into which the
Barnabas O'Brien, 6th Earl of Thomond, a Protestant, had admitted a Parliamentarian garrison in March. The Confederates lacked money to pay their army. After a setback on 1 April, in which the garrison drove the besiegers from their camp at
Sixmilebridge, the Supreme Council replaced Glamorgan with Muskerry at the end of May. Muskerry had Lieutenant-General Purcell, Major-General Stephenson, and Colonel Purcell under him with three Leinster regiments and all the Munster forces. The castle's defences had been modernised by surrounding the castle proper, essentially a big tower house, with modern earthworks and forts defended by cannons. These fortifications abutted on the sea and Bunratty was supported by a small squadron of the Parliamentarian Navy under Vice-Admiral William Penn. On 9 May, Lord Thomond left Bunratty for England by sea. At the end of June Rinuccini came and paid the soldiers £600 (equivalent of about £ in ), exhausting the last of his funds. Muskerry brought two heavy cannons from Limerick for the siege. When on 1 July a chance shot through a window killed McAdam, the Parliamentarian commander, Muskerry pressed on and the castle
capitulated on 14 July. The garrison was evacuated to Cork by the Parliamentarian Navy, but had to leave arms, munition, and provisions behind.
Mutiny of the Munster Army The Confederate Supreme Council had in 1647 confirmed Glamorgan as general of the Munster Army, but the Confederation lacked the funds to pay the soldiers. Glamorgan was unpopular with the troops and the Munster gentry because he was English. Several regiments mutinied demanding that Muskerry should be appointed general. Early in June 1647 the Supreme Council met at
Clonmel near the Munster Army's camp. On 12 June Muskerry, together with Lieutenant-General Purcell, rode over from the council meeting to the army's camp where the troops acclaimed him as their leader and turned Glamorgan out of his command. The Supreme Council ignored Muskerry's de facto take-over, upheld Glamorgan as the de jure commander who then passed the command officially to Muskerry. In early August Muskerry handed the command over to
Theobald Taaffe, another member of the peace party. Neither Glamorgan, not Muskerry, nor Taaffe stopped Inchiquin, who took
Cappoquin,
Dromana, and
Dungarvan in May and
sacked Cashel in September.
Battle of Knocknanuss On 13 November 1647 Taaffe with the Confederate Munster Army lost the
Battle of Knocknanuss against Inchiquin. Purcell commanded two regiments of horse on the right wing alongside
Alasdair Mac Colla and his redshanks. == Cromwellian conquest of Ireland ==