Patrick Purcell of Croagh

On 26 March 1642 Purcell besieged Castletown, County Limerick,[8] south east of Limerick City, not far from Croagh, defended by Hardress Waller, the future Cromwellian general.[9][10] The castle fell in May due to a shortage of water.[11]

In May and June 1642 General Garret Barry with the Irish Catholic Munster Army and Purcell attacked Limerick. The town opened its gates willingly,[12] but the Protestants, led by George Courtenay, 1st Baronet, of Newcastle,[13] defended King John's Castle in the Siege of Limerick. The besiegers attacked the castle's eastern wall and the bastion on its south-east corner by digging mines.[14] The castle surrendered on 21 June.[15]

In July 1642, Purcell used artillery, captured at King John's Castle, to take Kilfinny Castle, defended by Elizabeth Dowdall,[16] Waller's mother-in-law.[17][18]

In July and August 1642 Purcell besieged Newcastle, the seat of George Courtenay, which fell on 6 August.[19]

On 14 August 1642 Askeaton Castle surrendered to Lieutenant-Colonel Purcell.[20]

In 1643, Muskerry led the Confederate Munster Army in an offensive against Murrough O'Brien, 6th Baron of Inchiquin in County Waterford.[21] Purcell unsuccessfully besieged Lismore Castle, the seat of the Earls of Cork.[22] The offensive ended with the cease-fire, known as the Cessation, in September.[23]

In the campaign of 1645, James Tuchet, 3rd Earl of Castlehaven commanded the Confederate Munster army in its fight against Inchiquin,[24] who had allied himself with the Parliamentarians. Purcell, now Lieutenant-General, captured Lismore Castle,[25] which was defended by Major Power,[26] but Inchiquin doggedly defended the rest.[27]

Bunratty Castle, captured by Lord Muskerry and Purcell

In 1646 the Munster army, under Edward Somerset, Earl of Glamorgan, who was favoured by Giovanni Battista Rinuccini, the papal nuncio, was sent to besiege Bunratty Castle near Limerick,[28] into which the Barnabas O'Brien, 6th Earl of Thomond, a Protestant, had admitted a Parliamentarian garrison in March.[29][30] The Confederates lacked money to pay their army.[31] After a setback on 1 April, in which the garrison drove the besiegers from their camp at Sixmilebridge,[32] the Supreme Council replaced Glamorgan with Muskerry at the end of May.[33][34] Muskerry had Lieutenant-General Purcell, Major-General Stephenson, and Colonel Purcell under him[35] with three Leinster regiments and all the Munster forces.[36] The castle's defences had been modernised by surrounding the castle proper, essentially a big tower house, with modern earthworks and forts defended by cannons.[37] These fortifications abutted on the sea and Bunratty was supported by a small squadron of the Parliamentarian Navy under Vice-Admiral William Penn. On 9 May, Lord Thomond left Bunratty for England by sea.[38] At the end of June Rinuccini came and paid the soldiers £600 (equivalent of about £104,000 in 2021[39]),[40] exhausting the last of his funds.[41] Muskerry brought two heavy cannons from Limerick for the siege.[42] When on 1 July a chance shot through a window killed McAdam, the Parliamentarian commander,[43] Muskerry pressed on[44] and the castle capitulated on 14 July.[45] The garrison was evacuated to Cork by the Parliamentarian Navy, but had to leave arms, munition, and provisions behind.[46][47]

The Confederate Supreme Council had in 1647 confirmed Glamorgan[lower-alpha 1] as general of the Munster Army,[48] but the Confederation lacked the funds to pay the soldiers.[49] Glamorgan was unpopular with the troops[50] and the Munster gentry[51] because he was English. Several regiments mutinied demanding that Muskerry should be appointed general.[52]

Early in June 1647 the Supreme Council met at Clonmel near the Munster Army's camp.[53] On 12 June Muskerry, together with Lieutenant-General Purcell, rode over from the council meeting to the army's camp[54] where the troops acclaimed him as their leader and turned Glamorgan out of his command.[55] The Supreme Council ignored Muskerry's de facto take-over, upheld Glamorgan as the de jure commander who then passed the command officially to Muskerry.[56][57] In early August Muskerry handed the command over to Theobald Taaffe, another member of the peace party.[58][59][60] Neither Glamorgan, not Muskerry, nor Taaffe stopped Inchiquin, who took Cappoquin, Dromana, and Dungarvan in May[61] and sacked Cashel in September.[62]

On 13 November 1647 Taaffe with the Confederate Munster Army lost the Battle of Knocknanuss against Inchiquin.[63] Purcell commanded two regiments of horse on the right wing alongside Alasdair Mac Colla and his redshanks.[64]

In January 1649, the Second Ormond Peace was signed.[65] The Irish Catholic Confederation was dissolved,[66] and replaced with the Royalist Alliance (also called Royalist Coalition) led by James Butler, 1st Marquess of Ormond as lord lieutenant of Ireland. Ormond decided to besiege Dublin, which was held by Michael Jones for the Parliamentarians. Ormond had Thomas Dillon, 4th Viscount Dillon and Purcell under him.

Ormond asked Purcell to occupy Baggotrath.[67] On 2 August Jones sallied and defeated Purcell and Ormond at the Battle of Rathmines.[68]

Purcell helped to defend the town during the Siege of Limerick. At the surrender on 27 October 1651[69] he was one of the 22 exempted by name from pardon.[70] He hid in the pest house and was arrested there together with the Terence O'Brien, bishop of Emly.[71] At the court-marshal Purcell fell on his knees and begged for his life. At his hanging he was held up by two of Ireton's musqueteers.[72] His head was affixed on St John's Gate, the southern gate of Limerick's Irishtown.[73][2]