The capture of Larne on 7 June 1798 was one of several coordinated strikes launched by the United Irishmen of County Antrim at the outset of their rebellion against British Crown authority in Ireland. The rising in Ulster had been prompted by the outbreak of the wider United Irish rebellion in Leinster on 23 May, and was led locally by Henry Joy McCracken, elected adjutant general by the grassroots membership after the Ulster leadership refused to act without French assistance. McCracken and James Hope formulated a plan to seize all government outposts across County Antrim before concentrating for a main assault on Antrim town itself.
Larne was the first town in Ulster to fall during the rising, taken at three in the morning of 7 June under the leadership of James O'Rourke. Alongside Larne, the towns of Ballymena, Portaferry and Randalstown were also seized as part of the same coordinated plan, and the bridge at Toome was damaged to prevent British forces rushing reinforcements into Antrim from west of the River Bann. The rebels then assembled at Donegore Hill in preparation for the march on Antrim town.
The broader rising of which the capture of Larne formed a part ultimately failed. Although almost ten thousand rebels assembled at Donegore Hill, many deserted or held back, and the main attack on Antrim town was repulsed when British reinforcements arrived from Belfast. In the aftermath, McCracken, Hope and their remaining supporters withdrew northwards, and the County Antrim phase of the rebellion collapsed entirely following news of the defeat at Ballynahinch.
The capture of Larne holds the distinction of being the first town in Ulster to fall to the United Irish rebels in 1798, seized at three in the morning of 7 June under James O'Rourke. This pre-dawn strike was part of a carefully timed plan devised by McCracken and James Hope to overwhelm Crown outposts across County Antrim simultaneously, striking before the authorities could concentrate their forces or call for reinforcement.
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