Opposing British forces were deployed across most of the country including the main towns such as Dublin, Belfast and Cork.

At the time of the Rebellion of 1798 a force of 1,000 French soldiers under General Jean Joseph Amable Humbert landed at Killala in County Mayo.

Our hearts are devoted to you; our glory is in your happiness.After the nascent Republic's victory at the Battle of Castlebar which took place on 27 August 1798, General Humbert, on 31 August 1798, issued the following decree, which inter alia appointed John Moore as the President of the Government of the Province of Connacht:[1] Liberty, Equality Head quarters at Castlebar, 14th Fructidor, sixth Year of the French Republic, One and Indivisible.

However, Wolfe Tone, the Protestant republican leader, scoffed at the suggestion and it was quashed, with an Irish Republic proclaimed.

Moore was captured by a detachment of government troops led by Lieutenant Colonel Crawford in Castlebar, dying in custody the following year.