Dress it up all you want, but the fact of the matter is that the events at Drogheda (anybody else pay attention to the fact that this attack occurred on 9/11 1649) and Wexford included the massacre of large numbers of civilians. We know that Cromwell initial orders indicated that excessive violence was to be avoided then he did nothing to stop that same violence. We know that he and his troops burned St. Mary's church with all the civilians inside. All attempts to revise the history must end with the deaths of all these civilians. Even under the standards of 17th century warfare, this was a brutal campaign intended to set an example. Cromwell even alluded to this later, and suggested that it was Providence that this occurred.

To those that want to make the claim that this was retribution for the 1641 uprising should recognize the fundamental difference in the two events. One is the act of an oppressed people whose ancestral lands had been stolen, and whose rights had been taken away. The other was the act of an oppressor to subjugate through any means possible the citizenry of a country against its will. He was indiscriminate as to who was slaughtered. They need only be Irish and Catholic.