 The ferocity of Desmond's actions were repaid in kind by the Crown forces early in the following year.Thomas Butler, 3rd Earl of Ormonde, Sir William Pelham and Sir George Carew were sent to Munster to subdue the rebels and proceeded to systematically destroy the Desmond lands in County Limerick, County Cork and north County Kerry and to kill the civilians who lived there at random.These tactics were intended to cause so much economic and human damage to the Desmonds' followers that they would be forced to leave the rebellion.