The way to Dublin was north by Wicklow, where the English commander Henry Harrington had been heavily defeated at the Battle of Deputy's Pass near Wicklow on 29 May by the rebel Phelim MacFeagh O'Byrne. Essex marched over the river Slaney with 1,200 fighting men and a host of churls and horseboys, choosing to approach by the coast rather than risk the foothills. Along the way his men torched villages and houses, until confronted by O'Byrne with 1,000 troops four miles south of Arklow on the Clonnough river. The Earl of Southampton crossed in deep water with the horse, and the Earl of Ormond led the army over a ford near the sea. The rebels skirmished on the left flank but would not close until they saw the baggage train was vulnerable: they swept into a hard fight and routed the English, killing almost the entire force: "Though the English horse twice drove the Irish back - enabling one of the cavalry captains to rescue the infantry's drums and colours - the small army's morale was beyond help, and it broke and fled in all directions once open country was reached. Many were killed, and the fate of many survivors was little better". Essex marched on to Dublin, arriving on 2 July.