[1] The battle, the bloodiest of the 1798 rebellion, began at dawn[2] on 5 June 1798 when the Crown garrison was attacked by a force of approximately 3,000 rebels,[3] massed in three columns outside the town.

Bagenal Harvey, a United Irishmen commander who had recently been released from captivity following the capture of Wexford by a rebel force, attempted to negotiate the surrender of New Ross.

His death provoked a furious charge by an advance guard of 500 rebels led by John Kelly, who had instructions to seize the Three Bullet Gate and wait for reinforcements before pushing into the rest of the town.

The encouraged rebel army then swept past the Crown outposts and seized the Three Bullet Gate causing the garrison and populace to flee in panic.

Without pausing for reinforcement, the rebels broke into the town attacking simultaneously down the steeply sloping streets but met with strong resistance from well-prepared second lines of defence of the well-armed soldiers.

)[5] A loyalist eye-witness account stated; "The remaining part of the evening (of 5 June 1798) was spent in searching for and shooting the insurgents, whose loss in killed was estimated at two thousand, eight hundred and six men.