A British advance force of 400 was defeated at Tuberneering on 4 June. This rebel victory had punched a hole in the dragnet the military had attempted to throw around county Wexford and had also yielded them three artillery pieces. The town of Arklow had been evacuated in the ensuing panic but the rebels had contented themselves with taking the town of Gorey and stayed within the Wexford border. On the 5th June the rebels attempted to break out of county Wexford across the river Barrow and to spread the rebellion but were halted by a major British victory at the Battle of New Ross. When the rebels finally moved against Arklow, the town had been reoccupied by a force of 1,700 men sent from Dublin under Francis Needham, who quickly fortified the town with barricades and had artillery positio