Galloping Hogan

Who is Galloping Hogan?

Michael "Galloping" Hogan was born in the parish of Doon, at the foot of the Slieve Phelim hills in East Limerick.

Possibly previously a relatively wealthy landowner, he became a 'rapparee' or brigand following the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland.

Under his expert guidance in 1690, Patrick Sarsfield and 500 Jacobite troops blew up the Williamite siege train at Ballyneety, Co. Limerick. One eyewitness account says that Galloping Hogan was given the honour of lighting the fuse.

The Williamite war continued until the Treaty of Limerick was signed in October 1691. But Galloping Hogan refused to accept the Treaty and carried on the struggle for a further six months finally leaving Ireland with the last contingent of Wild Geese to sail from Cork in late Spring, 1692. Years later he ended his career as a senior officer in the Portuguese army. Galloping Hogan left Ireland for France where he became a General in the French Army. In 1706 he was forced to leave France because of killing a fellow officer in a duel in Flanders. He fled France for Portugal where he continued his military career.

In 1712, he led the Portuguese Army against the Spanish at the Battle of Campus Maior. He remained in Portugal until his death and reared a distinguished family whom descendants of which still live in Portugal to this day. The story of Galloping Hogan is just one of the 14,000 soldiers who left Ireland in 1691 and spread their wings as far a field as Cuba and South America. This Exodus is commonly known as the Flight of the Wild Geese.