O'NEILL, HUGH

died c. 1660, , Spain? Irish general, nephew of the celebrated Owen Roe O'Neill. He was a major Irish commander against the forces of Oliver Cromwell. In 1646 O'Neill was made a major general of the forces commanded by Owen Roe; and after the death of the latter (1649) he successfully defended Clonmel in 1650 against Cromwell, on whom he inflicted the severest defeat in Ireland. In the following year he so stubbornly resisted Henry Ireton's attack on Limerick that he was excepted from the benefit of the capitulation and, after being condemned to death and reprieved, was sent as a prisoner to the Tower of London. Released in 1652 on the representation of the Spanish ambassador that O'Neill was a Spanish subject, he repaired to Spain, whence he wrote to Charles II in 1660 claiming the earldom of Tyrone. He probably died in Spain, but the date of his death is unknown.