Aftermath
The three months of fighting in Wexford were so bloody that it took several years for the county to return to stability. Many bands of rebels held out in the hills of Co. Wexford for years after the rebellion had ended. Violence against United Irishmen lasted until at least 1804. Many former rebel leaders, such as Bagenal Harvey and Matthew Keogh, were executed and punished.
A 1798 Rebel being Whipped
Courtesy of the National Library of Ireland.
Courtesy of the National Library of Ireland.
The immediate result of the 1798 Rebellion was the hurried passing of the Act of Union in 1800. This came into effect in January of 1801. It created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and Ireland was ruled solely through the British Parliament at Westminster.
In the 1890s, the nationalists of the day celebrated the centenary of the 1798 Rebellion. They wanted it remembered as a great movement by the people of Ireland to assert their independence from the United Kingdom. It is remembered by many in this way today. However, the ideals of the United Irishmen who planned the 1798 Rebellion were part of a larger movement throughout Europe and North America against monarchy, inherited privilege and social divisions, and toward democracy, egalitarianism and tolerance.