Following the outbreak of the rebellion signaled in Meath by the prearranged signal of the seizing of a mail coach near Turvey hill, road blocks were posted on the Navan road United Irishmen and rebels in Meath began to assemble at the hill of Tara.

Tara was chosen as it provided strategic control of road access to the capital Dublin and cultural significance as the former seat of the high kings of Ireland.

There were incidents of violent encounters throughout the countryside as rallying rebels made their way to Tara from the outbreak of the rebellion on the 23rd to the day of the battle on the 26th.

Disciplined volley fire and flanking cavalry action combined with withering grapeshot delivered from a 6-pounder cannon drove the rebels to within graveyard walls at the summit.

Witnesses to the burial recollect many more bodies of those rebels who died of their wounds during the night being collected from the surrounding countryside in carts.