The Battle of the Big Cross was a military engagement of the Irish Rebellion of 1798 between a force of United Irishmen rebels and a column of government troops.

It was fought on 19 June 1798 on a spot on the Shannonvale-Ballinascarty road known locally as the "Big Cross", approximately four miles east of Clonakilty in West Cork.

[citation needed] During the searches for weapons in Cork County in May, Moore issued orders for his men to "treat the people with as much harshness as possible, as far as words and manners went, and to supply themselves with whatever provisions were necessary to enable them to live well."

[citation needed] When the United Irishmen in Leinster, especially Wexford, rose in rebellion in late May and early June 1798, West Cork remained very quiet.

Much of what we know of the engagement comes from local folklore or from the pen of Sir Hugh O'Donovan who is said to have appealed to the mostly Irish troops and United Irishmen among the Westmeath militia's ranks to join his party.

Public notices were placed, written in both Irish and English, urging the local people to yield up to justice their leaders and instigators, surrender all their illegal weapons, return to their habitations and resume their industrious employments.