Digitized by the Internet i Archive in 2013 http://archive.org/details/historyofwilliannOOcane THE HISTORY OF THE WILLIAMITE AND JACOBITE WARS m IRELAE^D, FEOM THEIR OEIGIN TO THE CAPTURE OF ATHIONE. BY THE LATE ROBERT CANE, ESQ., M.T).,^ WITH CONTINUATION TO THE DEATH OF JAMES II. BY MAUniCE LENIHAN, Esq., J.R, M.RIA., MAYOR OF LIMERICK. ILLUSTRATED WITH PORTRAITS OF THE CELEBRATED STATESMEN AND GENERALS OF THE TIME, AND MAPS AND PLANS OF THE TOWNS AND BATTLES. DUBLIN: JAMES DUFFY & SONS, 15 Wellington Quay, 1 Paternoster Row, London. 1884. BOSTON C!OLi^li.^^, CHESTNUT U1L1>,.¥ASS. THE WILLIAMITE AND JACOBITE WARS. To understand the histoiy of the struggle made hy divided Ireland in the wars of William and James ; to comprehend why it was that one portion of the country sided with the foreign Protestant invader, and another with the Catholic legitimist ; or to appreciate what interest Iceland could have had in the battling for power between a Dutch usurper and an English tyrant ; one must look back beyond the period, and outside the locality of these contentions. It must be borne in mind, that, at the period of the Hevolution, Ireland was inhabited by two races,* be- * It mif^ht Hc.'orn, tlioroforo, ihni ihc Irisli lloman Catholic was in II situation which hin En^jjlish jind Scotch hrctlircn in the faith miglit well cjivy. In fact, hovvcv(!r, his condition was more pitiahk- and ii ritatiiig than theirs, for though not persecuted as a 2 THE WILLIAMITE AND tween whom blood and religion had built up broad barriers ; barriers which confiscation, evil deeds, and evil laws had made almost insurmountable, while the very memories of past struggles and bygone wrongs cemented more strongly the wall which severed the inhabitants of a common country.* Before the Kevolution of 1688, Ireland was nearly a subdued, if not a conquered, country. Its citadels, its arms, its trade, its broad and fertile lands, were in the hands of English and Scotch settlers : the descendants of Cromwell's soldiers and the proteges of the first James — men professing the religion of the Eeformation, and possessed of the wealth of the country. They made England's Irish garrison, and ruled over the natives — the Celtic Catholics — who still lingered on the soil, almost wild in the wilds, and but civilized where they held their heads and septs together, and, in defiance of English law, sheltered their persecuted priesthood ; or where they inhabited towns and villages, in despite of the oppressive surveillance of those masters, who forbade alike the teacher and the school, the priest and the monastery; and denied corporate rights, civic freedom, or military position to every Catholic Irishman. The two races hated each other ; each believed as thoroughly in the doomed spiritual destruction of the other, as he did in his own right to keep the lands he had won, or to repossess the lands he had lost. It was a virtual struggle for religion, property, and Roman Catholic, he was oppressed as an Irishman. In his country the same line of demarcation which separated religions, separated races." — T. B. Macaulaijs England, vol. ii. p. 128. The contest here is not about religion, but between English and Irish, and that is the truth." — Clarendon, i. 559. JACOBITE WARS. 3 liberty — those who possessed, that they might pre- serve ; those who had lost, that they might regain: the settler had got all, and the native had lost all. William and the Revolution promised stability to the one; James and a successful resistance promised to free the religion and regain the lands of the other. Hence it is that England's Revolution of 1688 was battled for and against in Ireland with such desperate tenacity, that the memories of that period pass down the stream of time, like evil spirits, to conjure up angry thoughts — still barring, to a large extent, social intercourse or political union between the descendants of the warriors who heroically defended Derry, and the children of those who as gallantly stood in the breach at Limerick. The plunder of Irish estates, under the names of confiscation and settlements, had been going on from the invasion of Strongbow; but within the century preceding the Revolution, its wholesale character may be gathered from a statement of some of the greatest estates, without a general detail of minor properties, the possessions of lesser chiefs. In the South, the confiscations of the estates of the great Earl of Desmond exceeded 570,000 acres ;* while in the North, upon the flight of Tyrone, and tlie Tyrconnel of that day, 800,000 acresf — or nearly the whole of the counties of Tyrone, Donegal, Coleraine, Fermanagh, Cavan, and Armagh — became the property of England's sovereign. But afew years after, and there were added to these 82,500 acres in Leinster:t and the setth?rs who possessed those estates, not content with having banislied the natives into the almost un- cultivated and western parts oF the isln.nd, sought to ^ Moore. I Ibid. j: Il.id. 4 THE WILLIAMITE AND perpetuate the degradation of the people whose estates they held, by depriving them of the clergy they loved, and the schools where they sought to educate their children ; and by excluding them from all civil and military employment, and from residence within their corporate and principal towns. In the reign of Charles 11. , and but seven years preceding James's , accession to the throne, we find the Duke of Ormonde issuing from Dublin Castle proclamations for this object, the spirit of which may be gathered from the final paragraph of one, bearing date October 16, 1678 : " And we do further, in his Majesty's name, straightly charge and command all and every the mayors, sovereigns, bailiffs, portrieves, and all other chief magistrates of the several and respective cities illibulcro, &c. 4. But if de dispense come from de Pope, Lillibulero, &c. We'll hang Magna Charta and dem in a I'ope, Lillibulero, &c. For do good Tnlboto is made a Lord, Lillibub.To, A^c. A)kI with brave lads is coming alioiird, Lillibulero, &c. (>. When all in France liave taken a »wnrc, LillibJiloro, &c. Dat day will have no Protesfnut heir, Liiiibulcro, &c. Arrah, but why does he stay behind ? Lillibulero, &c. Ho ! by my shoul 'tis a Protestant wind, Lillibulero, &c. 8. But see, de Tyrconnel is now come ashore, Lillibulero, &c. And wc shall have commissions galore, Lillibulero, &c. 9. And he that will not go to de mass, Lillibulero, &c. Shall he turn out and look like an ass, Lillibulero, &c. 10. How, now de heretics all go down, Lillibulero, &o. By C 1 and Sliaint Patrick the nation's our own, Lillibulero, &c. 11. Dare was an ould ijrojjiiccy Ajuiid ii) a bog, Lillibulero, &c. Ireland Hhall be ruled by an ass and a dog, Lillibulero, &c. 12. And now dis propheey is cotuc to i)nss, Lillibulero, fcr. For 'I'albote's de flog and .Iiniies is de n!*«, Lillibulero, &e. 82 THE WILLIAM! TE AND reports, which were industriously and artfully circu- lated, of the Irish having come over to massacre* ^ A most malicious rumour industriously spread abroad, that the Irish troops were in a desperate rage, killing, burning, and desti^oying all before them ; this report began in London, on Thursday, the 13th of December, about one or two o'clock in the morning. The cry ran so furiously through the town, that in a moment all people were up and in the greatest consternation imaginable, the streets illuminated, and even the militia assem- bled in many places. The rumour still went that in the next quarter of the town all was filled with blood and ruin, which struck such a terror, that many women with child miscarried, and some timorous and ancient people were said to die with appre- hension ; and as a mark that this was not purely accidental, the same was carried, in the space of two days, all over England and Scotland too ; every town had news that the next town to it was fired by the Irish, and that they must, in a few hours, expect the same fate, which struck such a consternation in many places, that people fled from their houses, secured their goods, assembled in great bodies to oppose them, and in many towns that stood upon rivers, were at the point of breaking down their bridges to stop the supposed torrent, while this handful of Irish who were thus imagined to be burning and destroying all over England at once, were disarmed and dispersed, not generally knowing where to get a meal's meat or a night's lodging, and liable themselves to be knocked on the head in every town they came to." — ClaMs Life of James II., page 258, vol. ii. The following extracts from a curious book, entitled Old Stories Revived," 4th edition, London, 1746, throws some light on the English panic:— ''Oct. 3, 1688.— It is reported that 10,000 Irish are coming into this nation to establish Popery, and that the Protestants will be massacred before a fortnight is at an end, or forced to truckle to the Church of Rome." — Page 11. '' December 13th, 1688. — The town now rings with the report of the post-boy, who alleges that three days ago he saw several Irishmen upon the roads, who robbed and cut the throats of men, women, and children. This report was raised in the dead time of the night, which alarmed the whole city, and made them all stand upon theu' guard, some, to heighten the fear, affirming that JACOBITE WARS. 83 Englishmen, and burn and destroy their towns and cities ; the result of which was, that the unfortunate Irish soldiery were reduced to the utmost want and distress. Yet one of their officers was subsequently released from being a prisoner, and sent back to Ire- land, being known to be the personal friend of the six thousand of tlieni were at Hyde Park corner. The four com- panies of the train bands, which were upon the guard, were drawn out to engage them. The cannons from White Hall, and a com- pany of horse v/ere planted in the way to meet them and hinder their approach to the city. At last the formidable enemy came up, and proved to be nothing else but 600, instead of 6000 poor disbanded, unarmed fellows, who had scarce a knife to cut their victuals, and were begging their way into their own country. This alarm was spread all over England at the same time." — p. 41. Two years before Samuel Johnson published a letter to the Pro- testants in the English army, for which he stood in the pillory, and was whipped. Amongst other strong passages it contained the following : — What service can be done your country by being under the command of Erench and Irish Papists, and by bringing the nation imder a foreign yoke ? Will you help them to make forcible entry into the homes of your countrymen, under the name of quartering, dircctl}^ contrary to Magna Charta, and the petition of right ? ^ ^- therefore, be not unequally yoked with idolatrous and bloody Papists. Be valiant for the truth, and show your- selves men." Yide " Collection of Papers relating to present Juncture of Affairs." London. 1688. These extracts are given because they show the acrimony of the spirit of England in that day against Irish Catholics ; and while they explain the panic, they also throw light upon the deep antipathies, the bitterness of the national feeling in England against the Irish nation. John Oldmixon, in his Histoiy of the Stuarts, page 761, tells us the invention was attributed to Sclioniberg, and other historians name other parties ; but it clearly liad its origin in the ignorance and prejudices of the whole nati(;n, and arose as the cojisequence of a genuine fright upon the occasion ol' bringing over Irish Catholic troops. 84 THE WILLIAM ITE AND Lord Deputy, to corrupt him to forswear his duty to King James. If Hamilton really pledged himself to the performance of so disgraceful an office, he was as dishonourable in undertaking such a mission as he was in breaking his pledge and parole. But the king and the ministers who offered him liberty upon such terms, must be regarded as participating in his guilt to an extent which did not leave them free to reproach a man with breach of faith in another direction, after having seduced him to an act of direct corruption if he performed it. A seducer cannot expect virtue in his victim ; and, moreover, their guilt is equal. It is certain that, whatever was Hamilton's mission, upon arriving in Ireland, he either at once, and of his own accord, sided with Tyrconnel ; or else he yielded to his representations, and accepted once more a command in the army of James. He was created a lieutenant- general, and led the first Jacobite army into the north ; whither Tyrconnel sent him early in March, and where, whatever be the stain which hangs upon his veracity, he proved himself an able general and a good soldier — possessed of a stout heart and a strong reliance upon his own resources, or he never would have moved di- rect to the North, and faced, with so small an army, an entire province almost unanimous in its organized resistance. Hamilton had a long march^ before him, and most of it directly through the country of his enemies. The Council of Union had notice of his approach, and were preparing to give him battle. Their numbers were greatly superior to those under his command, The distance from Drogheda to Deny is about 120 miles. JACOBITE WAKS. 85 but they had no general of Hamilton's ability to form their forces and lead them to the field. The soldiery of both were raw and inexperienced, and the numerical strength of the one was counter- balanced by the leadership of the other. CHAPTER IV. HOW THE JACOBITE AND WILLIAMITE ARMIES MET IN THE NORTH, Upon the eiglitli of March, 1689, Lieutenant-General Eichard Hamilton, in compliance with the orders of Tyrconnel, departed from the town of Drogheda on his march northward to give battle to the Williamites. He had under his command an army of two thousand five hundred men,^^ all that Tyrconnel could spare to him, and nearly all that had arms or were in a fit condition to encounter an enemy But if the army was raw, the general's ability and fitness for the undertaking did credit to the Lord Deputy's judg- ment in confiding to him so serious an affair, and placing such reliance upon his devotion and capacity. Hamilton's destination was to meet and fight the Lord Mount Alexander, then at the head of an army of eight thousand Williamites, the advance guard of v^hich, under Sir Arthur Eawdon, lay at Lough- brickland, about thirty-six miles North of Drogheda ; while about ten miles further north lay the town 1 give the number upon the authority of Clarke's Memoir of James, vol. ii. -page 327 ; and it is remarkable how the state- ments of different authorities are at variance on the subject. Macgeoghegan makes it two thousand. Story, in his Impartial History, page 4, says, ''About one thousand of the standing army and nigh twice as many Eapparees in a distinct body." But the same author, in his ''Continuation of the Wars," page 3, makes it "two thousand of the Irish standing army, and nigh as many Eapparees." JACOBITE WARS. 87 of Hillsborough, then the head-qoarters of the Con- sult, or Council, who regulated the movements of the Williamites. Hamilton marched rapidly through Dun- dalk and Newry, and was approaching the frontier towns, where the enemy, aware of his coming, had been preparing to meet him. Eawdon having no force sufficient to meet him at Loughbrickland, aban- doned that place, and with his army and the entire population, retreated to Dromore. Hamilton having entered Loughbrickland, sent Cornet Butler of Kilcop* on to reconnoitre the enemy ; who brought him word that the Williamites, mustering eight thou- sand men, were at Dromore Iveagh, within three miles of him. Hamilton promptly advanced to give them battle, and the two armies saw each other for the first time upon the 14th of March, just six days after Hamilton's departure from Drogheda. Ill-provided with arms or ammunition, ill-officered and untrained, the Williamite army at Dromore made a shew of resist- ance, and then turned and fled towards Hillsborough ; their cavalry making a feeble attempt to cover their retreat, but so ineffective that the Jacobite army scattered and slaughteredt them in a manner still Abbe Mac Geoghegan, page 500. f They retired gradually to Dromore ; here they were over- taken by the enemy ; they fled before their superior numbers and were pursued with slaughter. They gained Hillsborough, but quickly abandoned this town ; resigned the castle, and continued their flight; they seemed entirely broken." — Leland, vol. iii. page 519. " The precipitant motion of the Irish army struck such a terror into the people, wlio were })ut ill-armed, that few would stay at Hillsborough, so that they were forced to leave it to the Irish, who seized the provisions and the little ammunition laid up there, beside the papers of the Consult. ^Fost of tlie forces also at Lisburn shrunk and stole awny." — Mackenzie, page 13. 88 THE WILLIAMITE AND remembered in the North, where that first engage- ment is described as the " Break of Dromore."^ Hamilton, flushed with victory, followed close upon their flight, and pursued them up to Hillsborough, whence Lord Mount Alexander, with some cavalry, was coming out as aid to Dromore. Mount Alex- ander sought to rally the flying masses and to await the return of Eawdon, who had gone to Lisburn for four thousand troops there ; but the rapid and spi- rited advance of the Jacobites struck such terror into the retreating army that his efibrts were unavailing, and he had to desert Hillsborough in such haste, that not only the whole provisions of the Williamite army, stored up there, but even the very papers of the Con- sult, fell into the hands of the victorious Hamilton. And such was the influence of this first victory, such the terror the flying army communicated to all their allies, that even the four thousand men of Lisburn shrunk from the contest and " stole away," while the bulk of the Northern army, that remained together, waited not to look back upon their enemy until they reached Coleraine, upon the extreme coast of Ulster, and about sixty miles north of Dromore. Such is ever the result of a first decisive blow, especially when the victors, though even small in number, are yet somewhat disciplined, ably generalled, and move as a compact, steady body. Ill-disciplined masses, once routed, will rarely rally before such an army, even though those masses number tenfold that of their victors. * This was called afterwards the Ereak of Dromore, a word common amongst the Irish Scots for a rout." — Story, page 4. JACOBITE WARS. 89 Hamilton energetically pursued the flying army through Belfast, and on to the walls of Coleraine, where they took refuge, and where he was unable to attack them, not having either the necessary artillery or ammunition, and Coleraine being then a place of some strength. While Hamilton was routing the Northern army, and pursuing them in their rapid flight, James had landed in Ireland and was in possession of its metro- polis, advising with the Lord Deputy upon measures, civil and military, for the future management of the country and the war.* Upon his arrival at the Castle, the first news w^hich awaited him was a communica- tion from General Hamilton, describing his rout of the Williamites at Dromore, and his pursuit of them to the banks of the River Ban and the walls of Cole- raine, where their numbers and strong entrenchments deterred him from attacking them until he should have further aid. The Council decided on sending the Duke of Ber- wick and the Marquis de Pusignan to support Hamilton, with a detachment of five regiments of foot, — the regiments of Bellew, Gormanstown, Louth, Nugent, and Moore, — together with the Duke of Tyr- connel's regiment of horse, and Captain Burke's troop of horse. A further detachment was also directed for the North, under the command of Briga- dier Lord Galmoy, consisting of one hundred and sixty-five horse, one hundred dragoons, and five hun- dred and sixty foot, which forces, added to those already in the North, would make a total force of * Clarke, vol. iii. pngo 830. H 90 THE WILLUMITE AND thirteen thousand fonr hundred and sixty-three men,* divisible into eleven thousand nine hundred and seventy-eight foot, seven hundred and thirty-five horse, and seven hundred and fifty dragoons. This would have been an effective army had they been pro- perly supplied with arms, and, especially, with a full train of battering artillery, so necessary under cir- cumstances where the great bulk of the enemy had left the field and secured themselves within fortified and garrison towns. De Pusignan, who had chief command of the troops going to Hamilton, declined to go until cannon would be mounted to accompany him, but he was given to understand he would find them at Charlemont, where, on his arrival, he found only two batards fit for service, and those two un- mounted — a circumstance which goes to explain the inefiiciency of their siege attempts in the North. This want of arms, clothing, and money induced James to decline the services of the great numbers of Irishmen enrolled and ready to fight for him . These amounted to one hundred thousand men, one half of whom he directed to be disbanded because he had neither arms, clothing, food, nor money for such an army ; and if he had the means of holding them on with proper arms in their hands, the result had, no doubt, been far different.t This huge mass of fifty thousand men, let loose upon the country, became the wild mountain soldiery, whose deeds as rapparees, during the war, ^' Macpherson's State Papers, vol. i. page 179. f ''The Duke of Tyrconnel, at his return from visiting the troops, acquainted his Majesty that he found amongst the infantry so man}^ good men that he could not think of disbanding them." — Macpherson, page 192. JACOBITE WARS. 91 were remarkable at all times for wild daring, too often for savage outrages, and not unfrequently for gallant deeds of arms, such as indicated at once their fitness for more regular military warfare, and the loss James sustained in not being able to hold them on as regular soldiery. Upon the eighth of April James went after his army into the North, and upon the tenth Tyrconnel left Dublin to inspect and organise the new raised regi- ments of Leinster and Munster, where, impressed with the importance of a large army, and trusting for its maintenance to Providence rather than finance, he overstepped James's wishes somewhat, and enrolled more soldiers than had been agreed upon, calculating that even with rough arms, and relying for clothing on their ofiicers, and for pay and food upon their wits and hands, they were yet indispensable to enable him to face the difficulties gathering around him. Meantime, Hamilton lay in the neighbourhood of Coleraine, awaiting the required assistance, and, occasionally, encountering sallies from its gates ; but Lundy, to whom all the leaders looked as a military man, directed that it should be evacuated so soon as it was attacked, and refused it assistance, as he could not spare any ammunition out of Derry. Subsequently, Colonel Gustavus Hamilton, an earnest Williamite, concurred in this opinion, thus supporting Lundy's judgment ; and, after some paltry fighting, it was accordingly evacuated, and allowed to fall into the hands of the Jacobites upon the arrival of reinforce- ments to Hamilton. Upon the thirteenth of April, a manifesto was 92 THE WILLI A MITE AND issued at Derry from a general council of war,* calling, in energetic language, upon the Northerns to as- semble upon the fifteenth near Claddyford to give battle to the Jacobite army, and Lundy was chosen as commander-in-chief to head the Williamites upon the occasion. The only passage over the river at that spot was a bridge. t For a week beforej the Wil- liamites had been at work, preparing to dispute the passage there, and for that purpose had broken down some arches of the bridge, and erected a breast-work Londonderry^ April 1689. ^' At a general council of war, resolved unanimously that on Monday next, by ten of the clock, all oificers and soldiers, horse, dragoons, and foot, and all other armed men whatsoever of our forces and friends, enlisted or not enlisted, that can and will fight for their country and religion against Popery, shall appear on the fittest ground near Cladyford, Lifford, and Long- Causey, as shall be nearest to their several respective quarters, there to draw up in battalions, to be ready to fight the enemy, and to preserve our lives and all that is dear to us from them. And all officers and soldiers of horse, foot, dragoons, and others that are armed are required to be then there, in order to the purpose aforesaid, and to bring a week's proArision, at least, with them for men, and as much forage as they can for horses. ROBEET LuNDY. Jo. BaEEY. "William Stuaet. Hugh M'Gill. Ja. Hamilton. Jo. Hill. Fean. Hamilton. Jo. Hamilton. Nigh. Atchison. Jo. Eoewaed. Hugh Momtgomeey. Kilnee Eeaziee. Geo. Hamilton. "Waltee Dawson. Ja. Tubman. Pawlett Philips.'* Mackenzie, p. 22. ^' There was no ford." — Berwick, vol. i. p. 44. \ Mackenzie, p. 23. JACOBITE WARS. 93 upon the end of it ; and here, in obedience to the call of their chief, they mustered by the appointed time in great force, numbering ten thousand men.* They stood upon the banks of the Finwater to defend its bridges and passes, and were so confident of success that they had burned the forage and corn on all the surrounding roads. The force with which Ha- milton and the Duke of Berwick resolved to cross the river and fight this numerous but undisciplined mass, consisted of rather less than one thousand men, being three hundred and fifty foot, and six hundred horse. Upon their arrival at the water side, Hamil- ton so placed his infantry that their fire bore heavily upon the Williamite entrenchments upon the other side, so that the soldiers there had to retire further from the water side and desert their ditches. Ha- milton promptly seizing upon the disorder thus produced, commanded his cavalry to dash into the river and to swim to the opposite! bank; the order was promptly obeyed. Headed by Berwick, six hundred horsemen plunged their spurs into their horses' sides, and rushed for the opposite bank ; the dash into the water, the soldiers' shout, the bold daring of so unex- pected a manoeuvre, startled and stupified the defen- ders upon the river's edge, who seem to have lost their presence of mind, for in that hazardous crossing of the river, not one Jacobite soldier was shot down. An officer and two men alone perished, but it was by drowning. While the cavalry performed this spirited * Vide Walker, Mackenzie, Berwick, and Clarke : the latter says, there were twenty thousand men in the neip;hbourh()r)d. f Vide Berwick, "Walker, and Mackenzie. 94: THE WILLIAMITE AND feat, tlie infantry having silenced the firing from the entrenchments, cast planks across the arches of the broken bridge, and passed over with a speed equal to that of the cavalry ; and before the Wiiliamites could recover from their amazement, the cavalry, emerging from the water, were dashing into and breaking their ranks, while the Jacobite infantry were firing on them from behind their own entrench- ments. The result was the decisive defeat of the whole Williamite forces, who, with Lundy^ at their head, fled to Derry. The Jacobites pursued, but although they were unable to come up with their cavalry, they killed four hundred of their infantry ; the rest passing through bogs and morasses, impassable to cavalry, escaped. The conduct of Hamilton upon this occasion was characteristic of an able general ; his decision and spirit won the battle ; while that of Lundy, who is charged with ordering a division to retreat, and he at its head, without ordering the whole army, and who appears to have neglected having a proper supply of ammunition for his men, is inex- cusable. The Williamites were certainly badly gene- railed, if not betrayed, as some of their historians broadly assert. Had Hamilton's cavalry been spirit- edly encountered as they came out of the water, they might have been defeated, for the water ran so high that their powder was all wet by the time they got to the opposite bank."^' Lundy appears to have reached Derry in great trepidation, for as soon as he got in with his own troops, he closed the gates and shut out the remainder of the forces, who that night lay outside Mackenzie; page 24. JACOBITE WARS. 95 the town Avails. Amongst those so denied entrance was the Kev. George Walker, Avho next day forced admission into the town, and having pressed Lnndy to again take the field, the latter refused, and gave as his reason, his dissatisfaction* with the conduct of the Williamite army on the day before. While Hamilton and Berwick were passing the river at Claddy, General Eosen had performed a similar feat in the neighbourhood of Lifford and Strabane, swimming his cavalry over and dispersing lesser forces. The Williamite army, now totally routed in the field, took refuge, principally, in Derry, and in some other walled towns. Upon the day of the defeat at Claddyford, Colonels Cunningham and Richards arrived with ships in the River Foyle, bring- ing two regiments to assist Derry. They wa^ote to apprise Lundy of their arrival, and advising him to do no more than defend the passes of Finwater until he had their regiments with him ; but he received this communication after his return from the lost field of Claddy. The confused tone of his replyt would imply rather intense apprehension of * "Walker's Account, p. 122. - f TO COLONEL CUNNINGHAM. Sir, — I am come back miich sooner than I expected when I went forth ; for having numbers placed on Tin- water as I went to a pass, where a few might oppose ii gi-ciitci' number than came to tlie place, I found them on the run befoie the enemy, who pursued with great vigour, and I fear marcli on witli their forces | 80 that I wish your men Avould march all niglit in good order, least they be surprised ; here they shall have all the accommoda- tion the place will afford. In this hurry pardon mc for this brevity ; the n.'st the b(;arer will inform you. 1 remain, Sir, your ffiithful So'vant, " Londonderry, April 15, lOH'J." " Romkkt Li'nuv. 96 THE WILLIAMITE AND the approaching Jacobite army and inability to resist them, than downright treason. He required the two regiments to come at once (adding in a postscript that if they did not arrive by next morning, they would come too late), while he instructed Major Tiffin to say the men had better not come, as there was not enough of provision for three thousand men for ten days ; but he required the two Colonels and their officers to come to the town, and talk the matter over with their Council. Next day the officers came, and Lundy assembled for them a Council, from which most of the active men of Londonderry were omitted. The result of his explanation was that the officers concurred in the impracticability of defending Derry, with the resources then available, against an army of Jacobites consisting of twenty-five thousand men, as was then thought. Lundy declared at this Council, that he would himself quit the town. The Council adopted a resolution,*'' declaring that " If the men be not landed^ let 'em land and march imme- diately." ^' Sm, — Since the witing of this, Major Tiffin is come here, and I have given him my opinion fully, which I believe, when you hear and see the place, you will both join with me that without an immediate supply of money and provisions, this place must fall very soon into the enemy's hands. If you do not send your men here some time to-morrow, it will not be in your power to bring them at all. " Till we discourse the matter, I remain, dear Sir, your most faithful Servant, " Robert Ltjndy." Mackenzie, p. 24. " Upon inquiry, it appears that there is not provision in the garrison of Londonderry for the present garrison and the two regiments on board for a week or ten days at most, and it JACOBITE WARS. 97 the place was untenable, and recommending the principal officers to withdraw, and the citizens to capitulate, after which the officers retired to their ships, and went back to England.* Meantime James had been inspecting some garrison towns in the North, and was much disappointed at the ill-con- dition in which he found the soldiery as to arms and war necessaries. The Jacobites were now concentrating and moving appearing that the place is not tenable against a well appointed army ; therefore it is concluded upon and resolved, that it is not convenient for his Majesty's service, but the contrary, to laud the two regiments under Colonel Cunningham and Colonel Eich- ards, their command now on board in the river of Loughfoyle ; that considering the present circumstance of affairs, and the likelihood the enemy will soon possess themselves of this place, it is thought most convenient that the principal officers shall pri- vately withdraw themselves, as well for their own preservation as in hopes that the present inhabitants, by a timely capitula- tion, may make terms with the enemy ; and that this we judge most convenient for his Majesty's service, as the present state of affaii^s now is." — Walker, page 123. To judge the foregoing resolution fairly, it must be remembered, first, that they were nearly all military men who thus pro- nounced the town untenable ; secondly, that they over-estimated the appointments of the army coming against Deny ; and they were the most likely to do so, after the recent defeat at Claddy ; thirdly, that there were great numbers of people in Derry, for, four days later, they enrolled out of it seven thousand three hun- dred and sixty- one soldiers, so that the numbers may have been near thirty thousand when the resolution was passed; and, finally, that in despite of all efforts afterwards made, provisions did fail and famine ensued, so that there were really urgent grounds for caution. ''On the 13th of April, Colonel R-ichnrds and ('un. ningham were sent to their relief with two regiments, who came into the lough, but returned without doing anything, and were broke for their pains." — Slonj, p. 4. 98 THE WILLIAMITE AND in the direction of Deny, conceiving that being dis- heartened by the recent defeat, it would at once surren- der."^ James's army assembled at Johnstown, five miles from Derry. The king intending to go to Dub- lin with Monsieur Rosen and Lery, to look after affairs in that quarter, the chief command was left with Monsieur Momont, being senior, and Hamilton junior lieutenant-general ; the Duke of Berwick and Monsieur Pusignan, major-generals ; Dominick Shel- don and Lord Galmoy, brigadiers of horse; and Eamsay, brigadier of foot. Communications were made between the Jacobite camp and the Council of Derry, touching a surrender upon honourable terms. The Council were desirous for such arrangements, but the people w^re opposed to it ; and, therefore, the communications were made under serious difficulties. Ambassadors sent from the Council to treat Avith James were refused admission back into Derry upon their return, and the men even fired upon their own of&cerst who were suspected of a design to leave the town. While these negociations were pending, it had been understood that the Jacobite army was not to come nearer to the town ; but by a blunder on their part, James and a portion of the army came with flying colours to the strand at the south end of Derry hill, and there awaited an answer from the town. The Council issued an order that there should be no firing from the walls, but the soldiers on the bastions would It was the general opinion, that in the consternation in which the enemies were, since the forcing of the passages of the river, the town would surrender without any difficulty." — Macpherson, vol. i. page 185. f Mackenzie, page 27. JACOBITE WARS. 99 not understand why the Jacobite army should come so near, contrary to express arrangement. The Council order was disobeyed, and a gunner who had a ready hand and a quick eye fired upon them with so suspicious an aim, that he killed an officer at James's side — his ball falling little short of a mark, which, if hit, had at once ended the war. James and his army retired back after receiving this admonition of the impropriety of his advance, and warning of his danger. The Council became alarmed, and sent Archdeacon Hamilton and Captain White to apologise to James ; but here they got into further trouble, for Mr. Mogridge, their clerk, told publicly of their secret doings and intentions, so that the governor and themselves were threatened by the in- censed soldiery. While James had been before the walls. Captain Murray, a bold Williamite soldier, had come towards the city, in the direction of Shipkey gate, having a body of horse with him and fifteen hundred foot in his rere — aid for Derry which he brought from the direc- tion of Culmore Fort. His approach gave confidence to the soldiery, and emboldened them^- to the act of disobeying the Council and firing on James. The Council ordered Murray to retire, but he refused, and claimed admittance. At last they con- sented to take him up by a rope to the walls, but he repudiated such a mode of entry, aTid succeeded in getting the guards to open a gate and admit him and his troo{)S. His arrival poured a rujw ardour into the movenKiiit party, and embarrassed a nd con founded the Council. * M,'u;kc]i/ic. 100 THE WILLIAMITE AND While the Council in their chambers were proceeding to a surrender, and unanimously signing a document to that effect, Murray and the citizens and soldiers were holding their councils in the streets and upon the walls, and counter-resolving "no surrender." Murray became the hero of the hour. He embodied and enunciated the public voice and the common senti- ment ; and as those identified with his opinions — and they were the most of Derry's citizens- — wore white badges on their left arms, it was soon apparent that only a small minority sustained the Council. In alarm they sent for Murray, who went boldly amongst them, argued that Derry should not surrender, that if it did, he could not hold Culmore, and that the Williamite cause was lost in the North. He appealed to Lundy to take the field; rebuked him for the affair of Claddy, and his desertion of the men there, as well as for his neglect in not forwarding ammunition, and properly defending the passes at Strabane and Fin- w^ater ; while he indignantly defended the army at Claddy from the imputation of cowardice cast on them by Lundy; and when the latter asked him to sign the paper for surrender, he refused and left the Council. The Council proceeded with their arrangements for surrender, and resolved to send twenty men to James for that purpose. Murray, however, heads the soldiers and rules the town, and the Council are virtual pri- soners within its walls. Yet, in the midst of all this excitement, the numbers favourable to surrender* * I must in justice add, that thougli the body of those that joined with him were called the rabble, yet, they were generally men eminent for their great probity and for their courage." — Mackenzie, p. 80, JACOBITE WARS. 101 increase ; the wealthier and upper orders concurring with the Council, but the humbler citizens^ unani- mously siding with Murray. There were now two governments within the walls of Derry. Murray's followers offered him the command of the city, but he refused it, desiring to be a soldier rather than a civil ruler. They then chose Major Baker as the governor, with the Eev. George Walkert as assistant and super- intendent of stores. The Council met again, and for the last time, on the 19th of April ; but Lundy kept his chamber and did not attend it, though he sent to urge the surrender of the city. They selected the twenty men who were to be the bearers of the message to James ; but when these were ready to depart for the Jacobite camp, they were driven back by Murray's party, who threatened to treat them as traitors if they dared to leave the city. The Council, seeing they were powerless before Murray and his resolute adherents, did not venture to meet again. Lundy put on a disguise, and habited as a labourer with a bundle on his back, and aided by a soldier whom he had bribed, stole out of the city dur- ing the following night. That day, Lord Strabane came to the walls and sought to treat with Murray, but in vain; Murray was for war; the man for treaties had fled. The history of Derry's struggle with the Council who sought to treat with the Jacobite army, is almost as remarkable as its siege. *Maf;konzio, p. .30. f There is an unimportant dispute as to whether Walker wnn a joint-governor in all matters, or only for the stores. 102 THE WILLIAMITE AND When Mountjoy made Lieutenant-Colonel Lundy governor of Derry, and subsequently Tvlien the Northern Protestant Union offered him the command of their entire forces, it is evident they must have had the fullest reliance on his integrity, courage, and ability; but it is equally evident, from a careful perusal of all the memoirs of this period, that his conduct displayed a vacillation of purpose, and a want of energy and spirit, which unfitted him for such a leadership. He may have doubted the fitness of the Northerns for resistance to the army sent against them from Dublin by Tyrconnel, when he saw the results of the field of Dromore and battle of Claddy- ford ; but even after making all careful allowance for the disheartening effects of these two defeats, his caution, his timidity to resist, his anxiety to treat, while thousands of men, with arms in their hands, were ready to die at his command, and England's strength was coming to his aid, implies a weakness allied to cowardice. It is barely possible to suppose that he miscalculated the resources around him, and overrated the strength coming against him ; but the charge of treason, with which his memory still lies branded, is opposed by two circumstances of much weight : he was attainted by the Jacobite parliament, convened at Dublin, on the 7th of May, 1689* as a traitor to James ; and neither James's Memoirs, nor the Macpherson or other documents since pub- lished, mention him as friendly to the interests of that sovereign. ^ See his name in list furnished in Appendix to King's State of the Protestants of Ireland " — p. 262, 4to ; and in Harris's Life of William, p. 47, Appendix, folio edition. JACOBITE WARS. 103 At all events, whether Lundy were knave and trai- tor, weak coward, or over-cautious soldier, Murray's arrival and the spirit of the community of Derry defeated him, and in defeating him defeated James, and saved Ireland for William. The Jacobites now resolved upon the siege of Derry. They gathered round it, first to blockade it, and when they should receive suitable cannon from Dublin, to besiege, and, as they hoped, to take it. CHAPTEE Y. THE SIEGE OF DERHY. Upon the 21st of April, 1689, the first Jacobite gun was discharged against the town of Derry. It was a single demi-culvern placed at a distance of one hun- dred and eighty feet from the town, to the N.E., and upon the opposite side of the water. After the King and de Eosen went to Dublin, for the twofold purpose of preparing for the siege, and arranging an armj to be ready to meet the one said to be preparing in England to aid the Irish Williamites, the Jacobite army were drawn closer around Derry, and were thus disposed.* Moment, Hamilton, Pu- signan, and Berwick, with four hundred foot, Tyr- connel's regiment of cavalry, and Dungan's dragoons, making seven hundred horse — eleven hundred men in all — were quartered on the banks of the Foyle near Culmore Fort, which surrendered to them imme- diately they appeared before it. Three battalions and four squadrons remained at Johnstown; four more battalions were quartered at the same side and within two miles of Derry, under the command of Brigadier Eamsay. Brigadier Wauchop was on the other side of the river, directly opposite to the town, and had under his command two battalions, some cavalry, and some small field-pieces. Thus Berwick's Memoir, vol. i. p. 48. JACOBITE WARS. 105 Derrj was surrounded by a regular military cordon on the Donegal side, which, extending inward from the Eiver Foyle at Culmore Fort, passed round the town on to the water's edge above it, while that portion of the town bounded by the Foyle was com- manded by the troops and batteiy upon the opposite, or County Derry side, of the river. For a blockade, the line was complete as far as land could be made available ; but the approach by water was not so well guarded, because the Jacobites had no ships of war to complete the line there, and had to substitute a boom across the river at Charles's Fort, protecting the boom by forts at each side. This point consti- tuted the weakness of the work, while for a siege they were not supplied with the necessary battering cannon. So that the circumvallation was defective either for blockade or siege purposes. Counting the soldiery by the names of their of&cers, and commencing above the town, the line* was formed in this order : — Above the town, at the north-west side of the Foyle, and nearest to it, was Sir M. Creagh, Lord Mayor of Dublin, with his regiment, the 33rd Foot ; behind him, and farther out from the Foyle, lay Lord Galmoy and his regiment of horse ; thence, in a nearly continuous semicircular line, going round the city, and approach- ing the river again, near Pcnnyburn Mill, where Colonel Cavenagh's regiment was encamped, lay the regiments of Dorrington, Butler, 'Eainsay, O'Neill, Lord Slane, Lieutenant-General Hamilton, Nugent, Lord Gormanstown, and Sir Maurjce Eustace. Further * nJe map of sirgo. I 106 THE WILLIAMITE AND down, in the locality of Charles's Fort, was Colonel Beattie ; between him and Culmore Fort were Lord Clancarty, Sir L. Bagwell, and Sir J. Fitzgerald ; and at the opposite side of the Foyle were the dragoons of Sir Neill O'Neill, and higher up the troops of Wauchop. The line was drawn with a view to a blockade, to be kept up until suitable artillery could be procured ; but the Derry men were watchful for an opportunity of measuring strength with some of the besieging force, and soon found it. On the 21st of April, Eamsay had been ordered to send two hundred infantry to take possession of Pennyburn, about a mile from the town, in the direction of Culmore. The troops were sent under the command of Colonel Hamilton, who of necessity had to take his men round, and in view of the town, to reach his quarters. The townsmen seeing this small force temptingly within their reach resolved upon a sally. The sallying party was led by the gallant Murray, and consisted of three hundred horse and about fifteen hundred foot. Colonel Murray charged at the head of the cavalry, while Colonel Hamilton, placing his men behind ditches and in the houses of Pennyburn, sent an express for assistance in the direction of Culmore. Momont and Berwick, with about eighty horse, galloped to Hamilton's aid, and charged so fiercely that Murray's cavalry were broken, and had to take refuge in the town, to the gates of which the Jacobite cavalry pursued them, while the Williamite infantry fell behind the ditches, and poured an effective fire upon their pursuers. Wauchop's forces, on the opposite side of the river, JACOBITE WARS. 107 witnessing the figlit, brought a gun down to the strand and fired across the water at the Williamites, but without effect ; and the gun was speedily silenced by a skilful shot from one of the bastions of the town, which killed the Jacobite gunner. In this action the Williamites lost a lieutenant, a cornet, and eight men, besides several wounded, but they took a standard* and a considerably booty in horses, arms, clothing, and money, to an extent which induced many an after sally.t The Jacobites suffered much more severely. The number killed was about the same, but every man of the detachment was either wounded himself + or had his horse killed or wounded ; and they sustained the serious loss of their commander-in-chief, Lieutenant- General Moment, who fell in a personal encounter with Colonel Murray, against whose cavalry he was spiritedly impelling§ his little squadron. Major Taafe was also killed in this action ; so that although it was a repulsed sally, yet the Jacobites were the losers. * Walker says three pair of colours. Mackenzie says ''one standard." The former also says they killed two hundred of the Jacobites, while Mackenzie says the number was unknown, but reputed to be two hundred. Walker also admits but five "Williamites killed, while Mackenzie admits there were ten. f *' This prey did not a little quicken the appetites and animate the resolution of the soldiers in thcii' sallies afterwards." — Mac- kenzie, page 32. X '* Moment was killed, and Major Taafe, and about six or seven horse or dragoons, but tlierc was not one amongst us that cither was not wounded himself or had not his liorse wounded." — Berwick, page 50, vol. i. § "He that commanded the fust party led tliem on witli great bravery." — Mackenzie, page 31. 108 THE WILLIAMITE AND After this action the detachment at Pennyburn Mill was increased to five hundred infantrj, which the Williamites again attacked in great force on the morning of the 25th of April. They sallied from the city at nine o'clock in the morning, and continued fighting until seven in the evening. They drove the Jacobites from ditch to ditch and into the houses of the village ; and had them nearly defeated when Eamsay came down from his quarters, and attacking the Williamite rere, forced them to retire within the walls. The number of killed in this action, on both sides, was inconsiderable; but the Jacobites lost De Pusignan,^ who died of the wounds that day received. Wauchop's men now placed some cannon and mortars at a place called Strong's Orchard, on the opposite bank of the river, with which they threw ten pound iron ball and some smaU bombs into the city, breaking the roofs of some houses and killing some few people, but making no effective breach or serious damage. The besieged duly returned the fire, and killed several officers and men, and two clergy- menf of the Jacobite party. * "Walker describes General de Pusignan as one of the killed in the action of the 21st of April, but Berwick, his fellow-officer, narrates his death as arising from the wounds of the 25th. Walker is also inaccurate in describing the action of the 25th as occuning on the 28th. Mackenzie and Berwick agree as to its taking place on the 25th. t Mackenzie says, Lieutenant Fitzpatrick and Con. O'l^eill, two sergeants, some soldiers, and, as was reported, two lusty- friars." — Page 32. Walker sneeringly describes it: ''Two friars in their habits, to the great grief of the enemy, that the blood of these holy men should be spilt by such an heretical JACOBITE WARS. 109 Sallies and consequent skirmishes were now of daily occurrence. Every movement of the Jacobites was watched, and parties of Williamites, sometimes officered, sometimes unofficered, poured out of the gates upon them. Early in May, the Jacobites being in expectation of receiving from Dublin a supply of cannon suitable for the siege, resolved on taking one of the eminences over the town, and at a short distance from it. It was known as the Windmill, and was a suitable position for a battery, while a piece of low ground behind it was equally well adapted for an encampment. Briga- dier Eamsay, on the fifth of May, in the dead of the night, stole upon the guards posted there for its pro- tection, and beat them in; and when morning broke, rabble, as they called the besieged." — Page 130. Walker, himself a clergyman, ought to have described it less jestingly. If those clergymen were acting in any military capacity, they earned their fate; if engaged purely on religious duties, their persons ought to have been respected ; and if killed by accidental or unaimed firing, it would have been more creditable to Derry's marksmen to have made such an explanation : and it is not a little remarkable, that the writer who so described their death should have had his ow^ft death commented upon by his earthly master in an equally merciless spirit. "Walker, whose gallantry and bravery as a soldier Avere greater than his charity as a Christian minister, was killed at tlie battle of the Eoyne, and Wynne, in his History of Ireland, tolls us, ''AYalkcr, the clergy- man who had defended Derry, and who, not content with a handsome reward from his master, and a promise of future pre- ferment, with a spirit more b(,'Comiug a soldier than an ecclesiastic, had attended the battle of the Jioyne, where he was shot in the belly, and died in a few minutes, a victim to his own unsatiable thirst for war. When William heard of his death, he very pertinently exclaimed : ' Fool that he was, what had he to do there?' "—Vol. iii. j^w^o, ir,0. 110 THE WILLIAMITE AiND the townsmen saw bim and his troops in possession of it, and with a line of ditches already thrown up, extending from the bog down to the water's edge. The Williamites sallied out in great numbers, and firing upon the Jacobites, who were entrenched behind their ditches, drove them from their clay breastworks to the field ditches, and then from ditch to ditch, until the retreating movement became a flight, and Ramsay himself gallantly fell in the unsuccessful attempt to rally his scattered forces. The Williamites returned to the town by twelve o'clock, after about eight hours of hard fighting, in which — according to the Rev. George Walker, who was engaged on the occasion — they killed over six hundred men and several ofiicers,* and succeeded in completely regaining possession of the disputed ground, which they defended so well that all the after efforts of the Jacobites to retake it were ineffectual. Wauchop, upon the death of Ramsay, headed his men, and thought to force the position, but in vain. He failed, after a loss of several ofiicers and another hundred men. Thenceforward the towns- men so strengthened their entrenchments there, and placed such guards upon them, asr to keep possession of them during the rest of the siege. The excellence of the townsmen's shooting on this occasion was dis- played upon the bodies of the fallen Jacobites, a large proportion of whom were shot in the head or chest, as, defending their ditches, these parts of the body only * " The officers killed were General Ramsay, Captains Fleming, Fox, and Barnwell, Lieutenants Welch and Kelly, and Ensigns Eadel and Barnwell. The prisoners. Sir George Aylmer, Lieu- tenant Colonel Talbot, and Lieutenants ISTewcomen and E^etervel." — Walker, page 170. JACOBITE WARS. Ill were exposed. The besieged took a large booty in arms, ammunition, colours, drums, and engineering implements, beside the plunder of the dead.* They appear to have had a comparatively small loss in the engagement; and their bravery was so conspicuous on the occasion that the Jacobites began to concentrate their forces, and made three principal camps, one at Ballougry, another at Fennyburn Mill, and the third at the Orchard, beyond the water. The latter about this time received six large cannon from Dublin, and the siege went on. Sallies were made; the besiegers skirmished up to the walls of the beleaguered town, and various encounters took place between the oppos- ing forces during the remainder of May; notwithstand- ing which the Williamites permitted several parleys, and allowed surgeons and supplies of provisions to be sent to the prisoners within the town — a generous and humane indulgence, highly creditable to their party. A desperate attempt to scale and enter the town was made on the 4th of June. The attack was made upon the Windmill quarter of the Williamite walls, and consisted of foot and horse attacking the entrenchments from the water's edge along to the bog near the mill. The attacking party came on with a loud huzza, bearing bushes or fagots before them. They consisted of three detachments of horse, and two of foot, one of the former being led by Captain Butler, son of Lord Mountgarret, whose divi- sion was said to consist entirely of gentlemen who had sworn to top the line, or perish in the attempt. It being low water at the time, Butler's party rode along the water's edge towards the line, the other divisions * Walker, pjigf; \?>2. 112 THE WILLIAMITE AND of horse being behind them; while one division of foot attacked the centre of the line, and the other went against that portion of it towards the bog. The Williamites received them steadily, keeping within the line of entrenchments and ditches, and standing in three lines, so that as each fired it retired to the rear to reload and permit another to advance. This steady firing proved effective all along the line of defence, save at the water's edge, where Butler's party advanced so fast in despite of it, that the Williamites there rushed forward from their trenches, and met them on the shore with their muskets, pikes, and scythes, encountering them so fiercely that few escaped. But the gallant Butler, true to his pledge, mounted the entrenchment, and was there made a prisoner. The fighting was desperate along the whole line; the Jaco- bite infantry rushing on so determinately, though re- pulsed by the steady Williamite fire, that several of them coming close up to the entrenchments, and unable to mount them, were dragged over by the hair of the head. In the neighbourhood of the bog, where the Jacobite grenadiers formed the attacking party, and behaved with great spirit, the Williamites were equally successful. Here they had the aid of the resolute women of Derry,* who busied themselves at first in carrying refreshments to their men, but, impelled by the enthu- siasm of the hour, sent a shower of stones at the heads of such Jacobites as ventured close enough for that practice. ■ic- <( Our women also did good service, carrying ammunition, match bread, and drink, to our men, and assisted to very good purpose at the bog side, in beating otF the grenadiers with stones, who came so close to our lines." — Mackenzie, page 36. JACOBITE AVAKS. 113 The Derrymen, noticing that few of Butler's party fell under their fire, discovered that they wore ar- mour, and then directing their line of firing against their horses, they brought them to the ground and so mastered them. In their retreat the Jacobites car- ried off several of their wounded companions on their backs.* The Jacobite loss in this engagement has "We wondered the foot did not, according to custom, run faster, till we took notice that in their retreat they took the dead on their backs, and so preserved their own bodies from the re- mainder of our shot." — JValker, page 135. ''When they retreated, they carried away, on their backs, many of their dead and mortally wounded with them (as was supposed) to shelter themselves the better from the storm of our shot." — Mackenzie, page 36. The difference between the two statements is, that Mackenzie only ventures as a conjecture, that the motive attri- buted by Walker was the true one, while he adds what Walker omitted, that the wounded were so carried off as well as the dead. It is much more probable that they were all wounded who were so carried off, and that there was an understanding amongst the soldiers to that effect, and so to save them from being made pri- soners of and subjected to plunder. Besides, there are many reasons against supposing that the dead body could be or was used as armour on the back of a retreating soldier. First. It would not be a protection, as every soldier ought to know the bullet which pierced the dead body would penetrate the living one in front of it also. Secondly. A dead body is a great and embarrassing weight hold on the back, and the man so encum- bered could not run, but should walk ; while if he wei'e a wounded but conscious man who was so carried, he would adjust himself, and embarrass his bearer less. Thirdly. That, whatever the burden was, whether a dead or living man, it was not a protection, but, on the contrary, greatly iiuToascd the risk of the bearer, inasmuch as it retarded his flight and kept him at least twice as long as ho need be, if not so loaded, within range of the enemy's fire. It is much more likely that a generous enprit de corpn, to rescue a wounded comrade, evi;n at hazard of life, WHS the tnu; motive. 114 THE WILLUMITE AND been estimated as high as four hundred men,* while the Williamites were reported to have lost but one captain and six men. These proportions do not look probable in so severe a struggle, though there must be always a great disproportion in the losses of those who attack and those who fire from behind entrench- ments. And there is no doubt that, both in musket and cannon practice, the Derrymen weret superior to their antagonists. The Jacobites were not only driven back with great loss, but they were deprived of a considerable number of gallant officers,^ some of whom lay dead on the field, while the rest were carried prisoners into Derry. After the engagement the besiegers began to use their heavy cannon and mortars, throwing huge shells into the town, breaking down several houses and doing other serious damage, and creating such terror amongst the inhabitants, that numbers slept on and £ven outside the walls at night, afraid to rest in their own houses. But though the shells thrown by day did more mischief, because their course through the air was less appreciable, and they were less easily "Walker says four hundred men. Mackenzie says, in general terms, the enemy lost a great number of men." I The encounters hitherto had between the besiegers clearly illustrate this. And James himself writes, — " The (his) gun- ners were none of the best." — Macpherson, page 201. Hamilton called the Derrymen " all good firemen." — Ibid, page 215. J The Jacobite officers killed were Lieutenant- Colonel Farrell, Captain Graham, and two French Captains, Adjutant Lahey, Quarter-Master Kelly, Lieutenant Burke, and Ensigns Norris and Arthur. The prisoners were Captains Butler, Macdonnell, Macdonogh, and Watson, a French Lieutenant, and Lieutenant Eustace. JACOBITE WARS. 115 evaded than those cast at night, the latter were eventually productive of the greater danger to the besieged ; for the practice of sleeping out at night, to which the fear of them gave rise, begot ill-health and disease amongst the townspeople, who soon began to suffer from fever and dysentery. About this time the Rev. George Walker had seve- ral serious* accusations made against him by some officers and townsmen of Derry, to the effect that he embezzled the stores, was insolent, guilty of serious personal vices, and was concerned in a conspiracy to hand over the town to James in consideration of a sum of money. But the more serious affairs of the siege caused the proceedings to be abandoned then, and they do not appear to have been ever brought forward afterwards. A few days later a popular tumultf was raised in Derry against him, in con- sequence of his proposing to take a ransom for a Jacobite officer, and so fickle is popular favour, and so easily are the suspicions of the mass aroused against their best friends, that his chambers were outraged, and his person threatened, as though he were the vilest of traitors, t * Mackenzie, page 37. f "Viding informed that Mr. Walker was in the Bishop's house they pursued him, some threatening to shoot him, others to put him in go.ol." — MacJcenzie, page 38. :J: It is a curious fact iUustrative of how people are home away by suspicions under such circumstances, tliat the King, whom tho Derrymen believed to have corrupted Walker, has left us in his memoir the following passage, showing how little lie lioped from or relied on Walker : — " Wiwit made the town in such different mind was the arrival of one Walker, a minister, who had put himself at the In ad of llie r(;b(;ls at Dungainion, and then aban- 116 THE WILLIAMITE AND Undoubtedly the persevering defence of Derry was largely owing to Walker, who infused into the people that religious zeal,* which makes each soldier who feels it a hero, and enabled his followers to endure those privations, sickness, and suffering, which made the struggle of its citizens remarkable, not more for their soldierly conduct and personal bravery, than for doning of it, at the king's approach, returned to Londonderry ; before his arrival, Lundy, the governor, thought the place unte- nable, and resolved to leave the townsmen at liberty to make such conditions as they thought best ; but this fierce minister of the gospel, bing of the true Cromwellian, or Cameronian stamp, inspired them with boulder resolutions, and though Colonel Cun- ningham and Eichards, who had brought from England two regi- ments, ammunition, provisions, &c., were forced to return with- out geting that relief into the town, nevertheless, they resolved to bid defiance to the king and their allegiance, and choosing this minister and one Eaker to be colleagues in the government of the place, gave the first check to his majesty's progress." — Vide Clarke, vol. ii. page 334. During the siege there were twenty-six clergymen in the town of Derry ; eighteen of those belonged to the Church of Eng- land, and the rest were non-conformists. The Cathedral church was used by each persuasion in turn during the time. The meetings for prayer and religious purposes were very constant, and there is little doubt that the continual preaching of those clergymen was a powerful p-id in holding up the hopes and energies of the inha- bitants, who appear to have been imbued v/ith such religious enthusiasm, that the Eev. J. Graham writes, According to a creditable tradition still preserved in the city, the besieged were fully assured that at the hour of twelve o'clock every night, an angel, mounted on a snow-white horse, and brandishing a sword of a bright colour, was seen to compass the city by land and water." — Graham^ s Derry, page 202. Men whose mental vision can embody and give form to the imaginings of extreme religious enthusiasm, can be made, under such circumstances, capable of an endurance of toil, and a display of physical power, constituting a heroism ensuring success. JACOBITE WARS. 117 their calm endurance of hunger and plague which so break the human spirit, and in despite of which the men of Derry held on, hoping against hope, and battling against a determined enemy outside the walls, and the disheartening influences of famine, and death, and sickness within. Upon the 7th of June the Derrymen rejoiced to find three ships attacking Culmore ; but their joy was short-lived, as one of the three was soon disabled, and got off with difficulty, in company with the rest. Six days after, on the loth of June, Major-General Kirke came into the lough, below Culmore, with a fleet of thirty sail. The men of Deny knew he was come to the relief of their beleaguered city, and their hearts swelled at the sight ; for scarcity of food had begun to write famine in their anxious faces, and famine's constant companions, disease and death, were devastating their miserable homes. But though re- lief floated upon the waters, within view of their eager eyes, it was a Tantalus draught not yet for the lips, and so long withheld that it might seem question- able, during the interval of its delay, if it was not a mirage. For forty-six days that tempting sight was destined daily to fill the eyes of the besieged, ere it reached their walls in tangible relief And these were long days and weary nights, during which resolute and strong men saw death by fire, and sword, and plague around them, while each almost felt the fiend famine stealing between body and soul, and working for the grave. The approfich of the fleet stirred the besiegers into redoubled efforts. Their largest balls and heaviest shells were now poured almost continually upon the 118 THE WILLIAMITE AND town, while they gathered a large number of their out detachments down to the water's edge, lining the banks of the river on both sides in the neighbourhood of Charles's Fort, between the town and the fleet. Here they placed their cannon, and threw a heavy and massive boom* across the water. Having thus succeeded in shutting up the channel, they put them- selves in readiness to contend with the first vessel that should venture to relieve the besieged. The small and diminished army of James was thus placed in a critical position, and had to look at two enemies, each in a contrary direction, while, to do so, it had to weaken the force which directly commanded the town. Attempts were now made to throw up entrenchments nearer to the town, so as to approach the walls, and mine under them, but the besieged met them with counter-lines. The town had been, during the previous part of the siege, under the command of Governors Baker and Walker; but at this time, owing to the illness of the former, Mitchelburn took his place, and acted con- jointly with the latter. Up to this time, the armed force under their com- mand amounted to between seven and eight thousand ^ The boom is thus described by Walker (page 136): — ''Here they contrived to place a boom, joined by iron chains, and fortified by a cable of twelve inches thick twisted round it ; they made this boom first of oak, but this would not float, and was soon broke by the force of the water ; then they made one of fir beams, which answered their purpose better. It was fastened at one end through the arch of a bridge, at the other by a piece of timber forced into the ground, and fortified with a piece of stone work." JACOBITE WARS. 119 men.* The fleet, which was now riding at anchor in the Lough, contained over two thousand seven hundred men;t so that had there been any concert between Derry and the fleet, it would have been easy work for these two armies to have shut up between them, and in fact cut to pieces, the Jacobite army, then under the command of Conrad de Eosen, and numbering but about five thousand men, of whom a large number were disabled and sick. But there was no concert between the fleet and the town, and they lost the opportunity in which— if the townsmen had sallied upon the Jacobites, while the troops of the fleet attacked them in the rear when so engaged — their total rout and destruction had been inevitable. The Jacobites drew their lines closer round the town, and kept up a constant fire upon it from the 20th of June to the 21st of July, but without making any adequate impression on its walls, or on the courage of its men. But they were aided by a powerful ally, who was now within the walls. Famine had begun to thin the ranks of the Williamites; and it made far deadlier havoc than the iron or shell of the besiegers. The firing upon the city ceased after the 21st of July; but the blockade continued for ten days longer. Upon the arrival of Eosen, the close siege commenced — the * Walker, page 127. f O'Callaghan's estimate in Kotes to " Macarice Excidium," page 321. X Berwick, vol. i. page 52, Bays of the army outside Derry: *'"We had in all not more than from five to six thousand men;" and Hamilton, writing to King James, says that ''When the trench was opened, they h;id fourteen battalions, consisting, at most, of six thousand men," — Macpherson^s Papers, vol. i. page 215. 120 THE WILLTAMITE AND only measure for which the army outside Derry was in a fit position,'^ and which would have succeeded, in consequence of the distress within the town, had not the fleet arrived at the opportune moment, to give new heart to the citizens, who now made desperate efforts, both by signals and messengers, to communicate with the shipping, and to get the assistance of the men and the provisions, which they calculated had been sent for their relief, and now lay in those ships, which had At a Council of War, held on the 20th July, the General Officers did unanimously conclude that it was impossible to take the town but by famine." Individually they wote their opinions thus: — " The place cannot be taken by force with so small a number of troops and cannon as are before it. " (Signed) Chaeles Caeney." Since our army is reduced by sickness, and fatigue, and de- sertion, not to the number of three-thousand men fit for service, I judge that number not in a condition to force the town in a certain time. " (Signed) Jonx AYatjchop." ''By what I have' observed since the trenches were opened, I am of opinion it will be impossible for us, in the condition we are in, to force the town this way. '' (Signed) Doii Sheldon." "My opinion is that we cannot force the town speedily, by reason of the want of cannon. (Signed) Thomas Bijchan." "It is my opinion that it is impossible to take the town of Derry by storm, with the little number of foot that is here, or without a considerable number of battering guns, much less to guess when it shall be taken, and I do certainly believe that unless they want provisions they will never surrender. " (Signed) Beewick." And Hamilton informed the king in one of his letters, that "Pvosen would neither meddle with the blockade, or raising the siege ; saying, he always declared against the besieging of the town, and his advice had been slighted." — Macpherson, vol. i. pages 215 to 218. JACOBITE WARS. 121 anchored far out in their lough ; while within the city they hungered for food, and daily opened new graves for the strong men struck down by long-continued privation, or by the pestilence whose death gripe, coward-like, is ever on the throat of the weak and famishing victims of hunger. Now it was that Derry's courage was sorely tried, and her truth severely tested, by an ordeal worse than fire — that ordeal in which man's physical wants struggle with his intellectual and his spiritual nature ; when the sensual appetite for food and the necessities of w^orn and wasting man- hood tempt the very soul to forget the greatness of its destiny, and yield to the cravings of an animal propensity which is great and powerful, because it is the preservative impuJse of all living things. Derry's food had been fiiiling ; meat and corn had nearly disappeared, and men were glad to eat of starch and tallow, and the foul grease of chandlers' lofts, and vermin from the sewers, and the flesh of dogs that had fattened on the bodies of the dead Jaco- bites outside their walls ;* and even these revolting diets were only to be had by those who had means to purchase the unclean things which famine appreciated as luxuries. The bulk of Derry's citizens endured these terrific privations with an unl)ending manhood, such as is in itself an evidence of that resolute greatness whicli "Walker ^ivcs a list of prices which were paid for articles of famine diet during the last days of the siege, of whicli tlie following are some : — A dog's head, 2s. Gd. ; a cat, 4s. Gd. ; a r;it, Is.; ;i mouse, Gd. ; a pound of salted hides, Is.; a fpiaitcr of a dog fattened by eating the bodies of the slain Irish, r>s. Gd. — Vide page H8. K 122 THE WILLIAMITE AND elevates men even in the eyes of their enemies, and stamps with indisputable authenticity their real devotion to, and thorough faith in, the principles or opinions for which they stand together. War and disease had been for three months diminishing* the garrison, so that of seven thousand three hundred and sixty-one effective men, mustered upon the 20th of April, there were in Derry upon the 8th of July but five thousand five hundred and twenty men, of which latter number one thousand and sixty-four perished within nineteen days, the interval from the 8th to the 27th of July. Eosen had from the beginning of the siege despaired of taking Derry by storm. A close blockade and scarcity of food within the town were the only means which he considered could possibly succeed. Never- theless, in the commencement of the month, he availed himself of such projectile weapons as had been sent to him from Dublin, and for days he kept up a constant fire upon the roofs of the houses and upon their open streets, throwing ball and shell continually into the town ; while he held strict watch to prevent messengers passing from the town to the ships, and showed such front to the fleet as, for some time, to deter them from venturing up with food. The town was so closely surrounded that Kirke found difficulty in conveying the slightest information to the besieged. ^ ''In the meantime the besieged were reduced to the last ex- tremity ; the garrison diminished near two thousand men, and the famine so great that horse flesh, cats, dogs, and even rats and mice, were sold at great prices, so that it was expected every hour that the town would submit ; but it seems Providence ordered it otherwise." — Cla/rhe^s Life of James, vol. ii., page 307. JACOBITE WARS. 123 But bold men, who loved danger and sought after it as men pursue a pleasure, risked their lives to com- municate between the besieged and the fleet, and some of them succeeded. Eoche, who first conveyed the particulars of Kirke's supplies of men and provisions, then in the lough, reached the town after a circuitous journey to the opposite side of the river, from whence he swam over, and having made fruitless attempts to return to the fleet, was forced to remain in the town. His fellow-messenger was taken by the Jacobites, who ordered him to make a false report to the town, but without avail, for the Derry men disbelieved him. Messages from the fleet were twice conveyed by a little boy, who carried his letters concealed, first in a button, and then in a garter, and took back replies, once, stitched into a portion of his dress, and upon a subsequent occasion, still more singularly concealed* in his person. A townsman, named MacGimpsy, volunteered to swim down the river to the fleet, car- rying a letter, enclosed with bullets in a bladder attached to his person, so that he could sink it if pur- sued, for it contained a piteous statement of their suflerings, and an urgent appeal for relief ; but he failed, and next morning his carcase swinging from a gibbet announced his fate to the distressed town. The last attempt to storm the town took place upon the 30th of June. It was made under cover of a dark night, and was headed by Colonel Skelton and the Earl of Clancarty,t and conducted witli such cau- tious silence that tlie Jacobites had taken tlie Wil- * Walker, page \o7, who drscnbea itzd SKppositorhm.'" f They had a proplior-y amonp: tlicm that " a ('lancarty sliould knock at tho gain of Dcrry." — ifft/hr, pap^c ] \\. 124 THE AYILLIAMITE AND liamite lines, and their miners liad entered a cellar under one of the bastions, when the accident of a shell, fired from the camp npon the town, falling short of the wall and exploding amid the advancing troops, revealed them to the besieged, who, sallying out in numbers, under the command of Captains Noble and Dunbar, encountered them at the moment when an officer of the Jacobites, riding against their gate, had called for fire to burn it. Steadilj advancing, the Williamites reserved their fire until sure of their enemy, and then opening a discharge of small arms at the same instant that the cannon of the bastions j)oured their larger shot in the same direction, the attacking party was forced to fly, leaving a large number of men* dead at the very gate they had won but for that ill-directed shot. Pressed by famine, and despairing of holding out at a time when the ball of the town were all expended, and they Avere firing bricks from their cannon, and when the Governor found it necessary to forbid all proposals for surrender under the penalty of death, many men deserted the besieged and carried a state- ment of their condition to the camp of the besiegers. Eelying upon the influence of their distress in break- ing down their spirits, Hamilton offered them terms of surrender; and, lest those conditions should be concealed from the soldiery of the town, copies of them were thrown in over the walls, shut up in dead or powderless shells. In those terras protec- tion was offered to all, including the men of Ennis- Walker says one hundred men ; Mackenzie makes the number but thirty. JACOBITE WARS. 125 killen; employment in James's army was ready for the soldiery, liberty of property and religion, food and military protection for those who wished to return home, and the restitution of goods and property to such as had lost them. But the town refused to sur- render or accept these conditions. Then it was that the Mareschal, Conrad de Eosen, made an attempt to force them to submission by an act of cruel and unwarrantable oppression, such as scarcely finds a parallel* in the wars of Christian or civilized nations. He sent a message into the tov/n, requiring its sur- render within two days, and declaring that, if not surrendered within that time, the Williamite inhabit- ants of the surrounding country should be gathered in and driven beneath the walls of Derry, there to perish of famine, unless the townsmen took pity upon them, and admitted them to a share of their food and shelter ; and that, moreover, when the town was taken, he would annihilate its people, sparing neither age nor sex.f These were the alternatives, unless There is a passage in history which suggests itself as illus- trative of a cruel siege, and yet it does not supply a parallel. At the siege of Calais, when Edward the Third sat down before it, resolved to so strictly blockade it that famine should enforce its submission; and when the town drove its useless mouths outside its gates, because it was unable to feed them, Edward generously permitted them to pass through his lines in safety, giving them food and money on their way. lie dealt thus nobly with seven- teen hundred Frenchmen, the number first sent out ; but when a second body of five hundred more were expelled from the famine- stricken town, his patience being worn, or his temper changed, he drove them back to the walls, wliere, being refused admission, they perished miserably of hunger in siglit of tlie besieged mikI the besiegers. f The pith of his address to tlie town may he gathered IVom two passages: — "He will I'orthwith issue out liis orders fVoni 126 THE WILLIAMITE AND its gates were opened and submission made ; but if they did submit within the prescribed time, forgive- ness and protection should be their reward. The threat failed of its object. Governors Walker and Michelburne replied to Hamilton's proposals for sur- render, and in their reply alluded to Rosen's inten- tions, declaring they expected neither favour,* mercy, nor good faith from him ; upon receipt of which answer the Mareschal proceeded to enforce his resolve by issuing to the officers and soldiers under his command a peremptory ordert for the arresting and the barony of Innishowen, and the sea coasts round about as far as Charlemont, for the gathering together of their faction, ■whether jjrotected or not, and cause them immediately to be brought to the walls of Londonderry, where it shall be lawful for those in the same (in case they have any pity on them) to open the gates and receive them within the city ; otherwise they will be forced to see their friends and nearest relatives all starved for want of food, he having resolved not to leave any of them at home, nor anything to maintain them They shall not, after that time, be admitted to any treaty what- ever, and the army, which shall continue the siege, and will, with the assistance of God, soon reduce it, shall have orders to give no quarter, or spare either age or sex, in case it be taken by force." — Mackenzie, p. 42. There is a remarkably argumentative coolness in part of their reply: — . . So that our relations, country people, men, women, and children, must starve, though protected, with other cruel threatenings in the said paper held forth ; which paper of the said Mareschal we had openly read in our families. It gave great offence to the people here, and caused many of them to believe that no articles or capitulation that should be made with us should ever be performed or kept." — From Walker's Reply, Macpherson Papers, vol. i. p. 206. I This order is dated — Camp hefore Londonderry, July \, 1689. ^' The rebels of Londonderry, augmenting every day in their obstinacy, which can no longer be endured, I have resolved JACOBITE WARS. 127 conveying to the walls of Derry all men, women, and children presumed to belong to or to be favourably inclined towards the besieged. The prisoners so taken were to be fed until their arrival at their destination, after which they were to receive no sub- sistence, and to be so closely guarded that none should escape. This cruel order was issued to all the Irish commanders of the North ; and Eosen, as if conscious of its enormity, and aware that James would not sanction it — for, in addition to its sa- vage cruelty, it insolently contemned his protections, and made them of no avail as security for those who held them— wrote to James, apprising him of what he to gather togetlier all the rebels of this county, and to conduct them to camp, and afterwards drive them under the walls of the town, that they may starve. You are to give them no more sub- sistence than will be barely necessary to support them this length from the place where they shall be taken. And as I have certain information that a considerable number of the rebels of London- derry and of this district, especially their wives and children, have retired to Belfast and the neighbouring places ; and as the hardiness of their husbands deserves the severest chastisements, I write this letter to acquaint you that you are instantly to make an exact research in Belfast after such subjects as are rebellious to the will of the King, whether men, women, boys, or girls, without exception, and whether they are protected or unpro- tected, and to arrest them and collect them together, that they may be conducted by a detachment to this camp, and driven under the walls of Derry, where tliey shall be allowed to starve in sight of the rebels within the town, unless they choose to open their gates to them." — Vide llacphemori, vol. i. p. 205. Ho issued this order to the Commanders of his Majesty's Forces at Coleruine, Antrim, Carrickfergus, Belfast, Duiigannon, Charlemont, Bclturbet, and Sligo, and also to Colonel Sarsficld, commanding a flying army before Bellyshanny, Colonel Suther- land, anotlier near Enniskillen, and the Diila; of Berwick, another on the Firnvatcr." — Vide Mackenzie, p. 41. 128 THE WILLIAMITE AND was doing, and requiring to be recalled if the King disapproved of it ; but not giving the King sufficient time to avert the execution of his measiires — for his letter to the King was dated the last day of June,*' and his order was issued the foUov/ing morning. Two days later James replied from Dublin, forbidding Eosen to adopt so harsh a measure, and directing the generals under him not to obey or execute such orders. But before his reply could reach the Jacobite camp, numbers of those miserable people had been driven around the v/alls and close to the gates of the besieged town. They were those living within a circuit of about ten miles from Derry; for Eosen's orders into districts beyond that distance had not time to be put in execution when the arrival of James's countermand, and other causes, combined to prevent, the completion of his intentions. These miserable human beings, forced along at the sword's point of the Jacobite soldiery, consisted of both sexes and included tender youth as well as feeble old age, trembling girlhood and matrons holding infants on their bosoms, and some not yet mothers but displaying that evidence of coming maternity which claims sym- pathy and protection from even the roughest natures. Onward they pressed, driven forward by the soldiery in the rere, and amid such wild tumult that the Williamites on the walls, believing the rushing mass to be enemies about to force their works, levelled * See ]VEac2:)her3on, where the correspondence is given in full, and where James writes, the order was given " entirely without our knowledge, and positively contrary to our inclinations." — Vol. i. p. 280. JACOBITE WARS. 129 their guns and fired amid the sufferers.* Then it was that the loud chimour and lamentations of these poor people reached their brethren in Derry, whose hearts palpitated at once with sorrow for their friends and fierce wrath against their enemies, aggravated by the discovery that their guns had been directed to the breasts of their own kindred. But the experi- ment failed of its anticipated eifect. The men of Derry refused compliance, and the poor sufferers at their gates besought tbem not to comply. The Governors now resolved to retaliate ; and a gallows having been erected on the bastion facing the camp, the Jacobite prisoners within the city were ordered to prepare for death unless this mass of people were permitted to retire to their homes. The prisoners were allowed to write to Hamilton, describ- ing their condition and threatened execution in the event of Eosen's perseverance ; but a cold refusal! to Walker and Mackenzie both mention that the balls wounded Jacobites only, and attribute their doing so to Providence. f The following is the correspondence, as given in Walker and Mackenzie's books : — My Loed, — Upon the hard dealing the protected (as well as other) Protestants have met withal, in being sent under the walls, you have so incensed the Governor and others of this gar- rison, that we are all condemned by a Court Martial to dye to- morrow, unless those poor people be withdrawn. We have made application to Marshal-General de Posen ; but, having received no answer, we make it our request to you (as knowing you are a person that does not delight in shedding innocent blood), tliat you will represent our condition to the ^larshal-General. The lives of twenty persons lie at stake, and therefore require your dili- gence and care. We are all willing to die (with our swords in our hands) tor his Miijcsty, but to Hulfer like malefactors is hard ; nor can we lay oui- blood to the charge of the garrison, the 130 THE WILLIAMITE AND withdraw the Williamite prisoners was the reply. Whether Hamilton really concurred in this measure, or y\^as compelled to appear as concurring, must now be but matter for conjecture ; but, in either case, his letter identifies him with it, and tarnishes him as a soldier and a man, while it contrasts with the better feelings of the rough Jacobite soldiery, who grieved while they obeyed, whose sight was horror-struck at what they beheld, and whose ears rang in after-days with the memories of the sad bewailings and bitter cries they then heard.* For two days and a night the Williamite prisoners were kept beneath the walls of Derry. They were then permitted to return to their homes, the experiment not having achieved any good for the besiegers, and having done some for the town ; for, when the mass were retiring from the walls, the Derry men dexterously took in those fit for soldiers' Governor and tlie rest having used us with all civility imagin- able. We remain your most dutiful and dying friends, Neteevill. Macdonnell. E. BUTLEE. DaRCY, &C. G. Aylmeb. In the name of all the rest." " Gentlemen, — In answer to yours, what those poor people are like to suffer, they may thank themselves for, being their own fault, which they may prevent by accepting the conditions offered to them ; and if you suffer in this it cannot be helped, but shall be revenged on many thousands of these people (as well innocent as others) within or without that city. Yours, " Kic. Hamilton." " The very Papist officers, who executed the thing, confest that it was the most dismal sight they had ever seen, and that the cries of the poor people seemed to be still in their ears." — King's State of the Protestants, page 174. JACOBITE WARS. 131 work, and in their place sent out several of their useless and sickly people. But some of these were discovered by their cadaverous aspects and wasted forms, and sent back into the city by the Jacobites, who readily detected them. The Jacobite prisoners were now removed from the bastion where their gallows had been erected, and were permitted once more to return to their prison quarters. Kosen^s measures had been frustrated, either by the arrival of James's countermand, or by the hazard of risking the lives of such men as Netterville and Butler ; and the date of the withdrawal of the measure would imply the latter, for it followed speedily upon their appli- cation, and almost before James's order could have reached the camp. The remaining incidents of the siege display little of military interest. The month was spent by the besieged amid the sufferings of diminished food, and in guarding against the shell and shot which, from time to time, the besiegers fired into the town. It was varied by an occasional sally of the townsmen, when parties of the Jacobites were near enough to tempt them ; but no important result awaited the efforts of either party, nor was there any engagement of consequence. Upon the 11th of July the Jacobites sounded a parley, to which the besieged listened, for they no longer saw the shipping, and feared they had gone, and left them to their fate ; besides, to treat was to gain time, and there might be advantage in the long game. Commissioners were appointed at both sides, to arrange terms, who met on the 13th, but disagreed as to coriditif)ns. Tlu; Jacol)ites wanted the surrender of the town to ha nindc on tlie I5tli, 132 THE WILIJAMITE AND while the Williamites asked until the 25th, or ten days longer, because they had a private message from Major-General Kirke, announcing that he had landed a party of men at Inch. The Commissioners conse- quently separated without any final arrangement. During this time the Williamites, pressed by hunger, went out armed to seize the Jacobite cattle grazing round the town, but failed in getting them. They then had recourse to a savage experiment of bringing a solitary cow of 'their own outside one of the gates, and within view of the Jacobite cattle, where they tied her and set fire to her, in the expectation of her cries bringing over some of those belonging to the camp. But the expedient failed, and left them to hunger on. The Jacobite guns now no longer fired upon the town, but were brought down to the water's edge, and turned to protect the boom and resist the ships, if any should venture up. The town was still surrounded, but a deadly silence hung over it ; limited food, sickness and death, and disappointed hopes of succour, all pressed heavily upon the hearts of the Williamites within that beleaguered city ; and the stillness and inactivity v/hich now supplanted fighting and active excitement, damped men's courage as the coming hand of death. The evening of the 28th of July was closing into night, when hopeless gazers from her walls heard the report of cannon in the distance, and witnessed the red flashes which, pouring out of Culmore Fort, displayed three ships attempting to pass up the Lough, and who returned the fire of the fort. Onward for the town, with spread sail and favouring wind, sailed those ships, defiant of the small and great shot which, from JACOBITE AVARS. 133 fort and trencli at both sides of the river, poured in upon them. Derry's people were mustered upon her walls, and, with straining eyes and hearts palpitating with joy, watched the advance of those vessels. Then, again, was felt a sudden and fearful depression of spirit, as they beheld the ships halt when they came near the boom. One of them had run aground ; the sails of all hung loosely on the masts, as the wind failed and sank into a dead calm ; while the Jacobites, gathering to the shore, manned their boats, and with loud huzzas prepared to board the embarrassed ves- sels. Instantly the cloud of smoke, poured from musket and cannon, enveloped the ships, and hid them for a moment from view ; but a broadside from the foremost one released her from her difficulty ; the vessel rebounded as the cannon recoiled ; the boom was broken ; and, as the smoke rolled away, the ships were seen riding on gallantly for the town, and the loud shouts of the Williamites on Derry's bastions announced they were saved. The Jacobites turned disheartened from the siege ; all hope of taking Derry was gone ; and, on the morning of the 31st of July, the Derry men looked from their walls, and saw the surrounding country free. The Jacobite camp was broken up. The Jacobites, in departing, had burned and ravaged tlie surrounding country ; but they were gone ; the siege was raised, and the pale and wasted men of Derry opened their gates, and walked out rejoicingly into the green fields of their native county. CHAPTEE VL WHAT THE ENNISKILLEN MEN DID. Within the one hundred and five days that the Jaco- bite army lay around Derry, other events had been occurring in Irehmd which need to be recorded. James had summoned a Parliament at Dublin, and invited to it the wealth and strength of the country, as far as he considered them to be favourable to his cause. The consideration of that Parliament and its acts will require special consideration elsewhere. By a singular coincidence the Irish Williamites had achieved a second triumph on the same day on which the Jacobite army retreated from their trenches and left Derry free. That triumph had been won by the men of Enniskillen. Both those towns had begun their resistance by refusing to receive Jacobite sol- diers, both had held on under the command of inde- pendent leaders ; and the Jacobite army was swept from the North by the strange and fortuitous cir- cumstance that, while the men of Derry were receiv- ing the Williamite ships and looking out upon the Jacobite army, in full retreat from the banks of the Foyle, the Enniskilleners were in the open field, slay- ing and scattering a second army which had been sent to reduce them. The men of Enniskillen, having driven back Colo- nel Newcomen's men in December, 1688, returned JACOBITE WARS. 135 to their water-bound residence, resolute for fight ; and between that event and the battle of Newtown-Butler they were frequently engaged in skirmishes and minor fightings with detachments of the Jacobite army, or with rapparees or creaghts — their objects being either to drive the Jacobites from their neighbourhood, or to seize preys of arms, corn, or cattle. In most of those encounters they displayed an amount of energy and spirit which entitles some of them to historic remembrance. But those who won distinction for the name of Enniskillen were not exclusively natives of that town, or even of the County Fermanagh ; they were con- stituted of the inhabitants of the surrounding coun- ties, who fled to it for succour, or who gathered into it with arms in their hands, resolved to make it their battle ground whenever the Jacobites approached ; and of its very soldiers, Cavan alone had supplied four troops of cavalry and four companies of infantry, who fled there because ordered by Lundy to retire from places of less strength. They came to Enniskillen in large masses, in the month of March, when the Lord Galmoy, marching into that county and threatening to lay it waste, had taken prisoners Cap- tain Dixy and some troopers, who were garrisoning the residence of the Dean of Kilmore. Upon which event the various little garrisons around were burned and deserted by their Williamite protectors, who fled without even waiting to be summoned,* or to ascer- tain what was the number or strength of the troops coming against them. * Ihiriiillon'H Actions, pn^o 13. 136 \'[:AAX:d[':V. AND Their flight gave confidence to Gahnoy, who was indeed but ill-provided with the means of active field or siege warfare, but who was urged on by a rash and daring spirit, which had exposed him to defeat and disappointment, making his want of military skill as apparent as the want of honour and the bar- barity which is recorded of him, during his command in Cavan. From Dean Dixy's garrison, Galmoy marched to Belturbet, from whence he sent a party of soldiery to besiege the Castle of Crom, in the County of Ferma- nagh, and upon the banks of Lough Erne. This castle was garrisoned by Colonel Creighton and a body of Williamites, who, from its proximity to Ennis- killen, looked to that town for support and relief in the event of danger. The castle was of some strength, but it had no outer works, and was commanded from high hills in its neighbourhood. From the boggy nature of the roads approaching Crom Castle it would have been difficult for heavy ordnance to approach it ; and yet such only was likely to be effective in subduing it. Galmoy thought to terrify the defenders of it by cheating them into a belief that he had such cannon for battering down their walls ; and he, accordingly, approached the castle with two pieces, each drawn by eight horses ;* but his cannon was made of tin corded over, and covered with buckram coloured like metal. He had even the hardihood to fire one of those mock guns, which was burst in the discharge. The Williamites within the castle, conscious of their own powers to Hamilton, page 14. JACOBITE WARS. 137 resist, and trusting for further assistance to Ennis- killen, refused to surrender, and accompanied their refusal by an eifective and deadly fire, directed against the Jacobites ; which they were able to do, first, be- cause they were expert marksmen, being familiar with the constant shooting of game upon the waters of Lough Erne ; and, in the next place, because they were supplied with long double-rested guns* suited for that purpose, and well adapted for firing from castellated defences. Galmoy continued to threaten the castle, and the better to show a bold front, he sent a peremptory summons for surrender to Enniskillen ; but the En- niskillen men refused to comply, and prepared both to resist at home and to relieve Crom also, the latter of which they effected upon the 23rd of March, on which day also a large number of the Cavan men left them,t stating that Lundy had ordered them to go on to Derry. The defenders of Enniskillen resolved not to remain within their earth and water defences, and drew up their full forces on a hill outside the town resolved to give battle there to Galmoy if he approached. But Galmoy thought it better not to encounter those resolute men, and continued to besiege Crom. When night came, the Enniskillen men sent two hundred men. as relief to Crom, a por- tion of whom marched by land, and the remainder went in boats along Lough Erne. This relief party did not reach Crom Castle until morning exposed them to the view of the Jacobites, * Jlarri.s's IM'o, of William, page 2lf). t " Tri obodionco, an they said, to CoIoih I Lnndy'K order." — Iff/tHj/fon, pn^e 15. L 138 THE WILLIAMITE AND wlio fired continuously upon the boats, but with little effect, for they were bad marksmen, and lacked the experience of hand and eye for gun practice, such as the marksmen defending the castle possessed. The relief got into the castle, and, making from thence a bold sally upon the besiegers, they drove them from behind their ditches, killed a considerable number of them, and captured their mock cannon. Galmoy retreated upon Belturbet. Here it was that he per- petrated one of those faithless acts of barbarism which stains his memory in Ireland. He applied to the commander of Crom for an exchange of prisoners, offering to give up Captain Dixy in exchange for Captain Mac Guire, then a prisoner in Crom Castle. Trusting to his honour, Mac Guire was released and sent to him to Belturbet ; but Galmoy did not restore Dixy, but brought him and a Cornet Charleton to trial, upon a charge of high treason, for levying troops against the King. Those two Williamite officers were accordingly tried, found guilty, and sentenced to die. They were offered life and liberty upon the con- dition of changing their political and religious opi- nions. They refused those terms, and were hung from a sign-post in Belturbet, where their heads were placed upon the market-house, after being first used as foot-balls by a brutalized soldiery. It is painful to record such deeds of savagery, but they teach a lesson apart from that aroused by the natural detestation of such crimes — the lesson of their impolicy ; because they make the enemy more resolute to resist, when he has to deal with those who are cruel and dishonour- able, and they ruin all hopes of effective discipline, by demoralizing the army, reducing it from a band of JACOBITE WARS. 139 trained men to a horde of savages. In the case of Gahnoy's inhuman breach of faith, Mac Guire sought to be restored a prisoner, to save Dixy, but was refused, and retired in disgust ;* while the Ennis- killen men, taught to feel they could not rely upon even an Earl's word, fought with the energy of men for whom there was no retreat, and retaliated with a desperate revenge. The month of April was spent in various forays into the surrounding country, putting to flight small parties of Jacobites who were quartered in garrisoned houses around, and in seizing quantities of cattle t and provisions. On the fourth of May, the Ennisldllen men, going to the relief of Ballyshannon, encountered a body of Jacobite horse outside that town, at the village of Belleek, whom they put to flight, killing over one hundred, and taking sixty prisoners, besides two pieces of cannon, and some arms and horses. About this time an exchange of prisoners was made between the Governor of Ennisldllen and Colonel Sarsfield, in which the latter sent prisoners in exchange who had been protected previous to their arrest. In the latter end of the month the Jacobite garrisons of Redhill and Bally nacarrig yielded to the Enniskillen men, whose reputation as to numbers and power achieved the surrender of those places without a blow. Early in June, hearing sad accounts of the distress of Derry, they marclicd in considerable force, intend- ing to relieve it, but stopped at Omagh, where some * Ham's, page 215. f " They wore soi/cd in such iiumbcrfl, that milch cows sold at half-a-crown a head." — Vide Hamilton, page 2.5. 140 THE WILLIAMITE AND Jacobite soldiers had retired within a fort ; but while laying siege to it, a report reached them that Colonel Sarsfield, with a considerable force, was besieging Ballyshannon, and that Colonel Sutherland was come with another army to Belturbet. This news dis- tracted the movements of the Enniskillen men, who resolved, instead of moving on Derry, to abandon the siege of Omagh fort, and to return and protect Ennis- killen, where their families and friends remained, and which was now threatened by those two Jacobite armies. They therefore returned home, and from thence moved in the direction of Belturbet, resolved to meet the enemy rather than to await their com- ing at Enniskillen. Their entire strength, under the command of Colonel Loyd, arrived by the night of the 17th of June at Maguire's-bridge, and while resting there, Sutherland received information that their whole force was coming against him. Common re- pute had made their numbers six times their real amount, so that Sutherland did not think it advisable to await and give them battle, for he had under his command but two regiments of foot, one of dragoons, and some troops of horse ; but he was expecting some new levies from Dublin, and had in charge arms for two regiments, besides some cannon, and a large store of provisions destined to supply the troops about to muster and lay siege to Enniskillen. He therefore marched on with the body of his troops to Monaghan, leaving behind him in the church and church-yard, they being the only defensible part of the town, about two hundred infantry and eighty dragoons, under the command of Colonel Scot, hoping they would be able to hold out until he came to their relief. JACOBITE WARS. 141 The Enniskillen men advanced steadily upon Belturbet, driving in the dragoons who came out to face them as they entered the town, and who retired upon the church-yard after discharging their pieces, which, as as was customary with ill-trained soldiers,* inflicted no injury on the advancing foe. The Enniskillen men took possession of the neighbouring houses which commanded the church -yard, and after a couple of hours' firing the Jacobites offered to treat, and sub- mitted as prisoners on condition of their lives being saved, but surrendering their arms and clothing. The Enniskillen men thus made about three hundred prisoners, of whom they released about two hundred next morning, to escape feeding them, though they took, amongst other booty, one hundred and fifty barrels of wheat and flour, and fifty horseload of biscuit, besides eighty dragoon horses, seven hundred muskets, and the clothingt of about three hundred men. Early in July, Major-General Kirke sent them a supply of thirty barrels of powder, just when they were reduced to a store of three barrels. Subsequently they received a further supply from the same source, with a quantity of arms, and a number of experienced officers to command the regiments then enrolled and others to be raised. But while these were arriving, and before they reached the town, the Duke of Berwick had advanced into the neighbourhood from Derry, and had retaliated * Firing very fast jit um, ])ut with ihc same rucccss that is usual with them ; for they touched not a man of ours hut one." — JlamiUon, p. 37. f Hamilton mentions that the rcf^^ular c-lothin;; was red, hut tlie new levies wore grey cloth. 142 THE WILLIAMITE AND on some of those concerned in some recent plunder of cattle from the Jacobites. Berwick had formed a camp at Trellick, and while there the Williamites learned that he was about to march on Ennisldllen. They immediately sent forward two companies of infantry and two troops of cavalry, under Captain M'Cormack, to defend a pass near a mill outside the town, which was so situate as to be defensible by a small force ; but the men rashly advanced beyond it,* and allowed themselves to be surprised by Berwick in a hollow between two hills, where they were routed with great slaughter and with the loss of the entire of their arms, the foot being nearly all put to the sword,t while some of the cavalry escaped to Ennis- killen. Berwick returned to Trellick with his pri- soners, where he made an exchange with the Ennis- killen men, and from whence he was recalled by Eosen to the siege of Derry. The Enniskillen men were, during most of this time, kept in constant appre- hension of an attack from the Jacobites, and were even in greater danger of it than they were aware of, for had Mountcashel's southern army and Sarsfield's Connaught forces marched upon the town while Ber- wick was in the neighbourhood, it could scarcely have escaped. But there was no concert between these general officers, and so it did escape, at a time when its fall would have insured the fall of Derry itself, and have won the North. But James, who * ''The place where the encounter took place is called from a castle upon it ' Cornegrade.' " — Vide Karris, p. 221. f Eerwick, in his memoirs, describes nearly two hundred of the "Williamites as being put to the sword (see vol. i. p. 54, of his memoir), while Hamilton admits but twenty-five; vide^. 41. JACOBITE WARS. 143 headed the affairs of Ireland and the war at that time, had no great or comprehensive views, and was utterly unsuited to be a generalissimo, where so many points of a map had to be considered, numerous calculations to be made, and means and resources accurately estimated. He could decide upon that which was directly before him, and not always wisely even then, but massive details, and above all to adjust those details, were beyond his capacity and the grasp of his intellect. Tyrconnel, had he been properly aided in forming the army, might have given himself to such an undertaking; but his whole time was bestowed in levying troops and seeking to arm and maintain them. Hamilton, who had capacity, was thrown away upon the hopeless siege of Derry without adequate means. Eosen, as a stranger, could know but little of the country, its leaders, or its soldiers ; and so the northern Jacobite army pre- sented disjointed and unconnected actions, instead of a series of actions, connected and linked into one common direction for one united and common result. An able general would have promptly gathered in the scattered Jacobite armies that were spread over hun- dreds of miles of country, and with them have swept the land from north to south, instead of holding them broken up into unconnected masses, remote from each other, and so weakened by separation, as to be unequal to any one great undertaking. This condition of the army, an evil all over the country, was es- pecially an evil in the North, where the ])ulk of the people were the King's enemies ; and, there- fore, concentration of strength, and rapid movements, were the measures which would have insured, U4 THE WILLIAMITE AND not only victory, but a speedy success to the Jacob- ites. In the latter end of July, James ordered the Lord Mountcashel to collect an army and march against the Enniskillenners, with a view to their speedy subjugation. The army so collected, and with which Mountcashel promptly went in the direction of Enniskillen, consisted of three regiments of foot, two of dragoons, and some horse — being all that could be spared by the king — who, in ordering this force to the North,* left himself at Dublin but one battalion of guards, together with Colonel Grace's regiment of foot, a couple of troops of horse, mounted, and his own troop of guards, not all mounted. Lord Mountcashel as commander, with the cele- brated Anthony Hamilton as major-general, mustered this army at Belturbet on the 27th of July, when their numbers weret three thousand six hundred men, nearly all new levies and raw recruits, but well equipped. On the 29th, he arrived before Crom Castle, and erecting a battery in front of it, he began to batter it with cannon ; but his men, excited by a seeming success, ventured beyond the entrenchments, and were shot down in considerable numbers by the skilful marksmen who fired from the castle. An express was sent from Crom to Enniskillen, asking their aid to resist this large army, and assistance was accordingly promised to be at Crom within two days ; and while arrangements were making to fulfil this promise, a further express brought word that ^ Clarke's Life of James, vol ii., p. 369. f Macpherson Papers, vol. i., p. 219. JACOBITE WARS. 145 Mountcashel was coming towards Lisnakea, but ten miles from Enniskillen. It was deemed advisable to anticipate this movement, and to send forward a detachment either to make good Lisnakea and to garrison it against Mountcashel, or to destroy it altogether, as might be deemed most advisable. This detachment, consisting of ten troops of cavalry, and three companies of foot, was under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Berry, who, on arriving at Lis- nakea, found the place of so little importance, as not to be worth defending or destroying. He kept his men in the field that night, and next morning, the 31st of July, he went cautiously forward towards the enemy, vvho lay at a distance of about six miles from that place. Berry sent forward an advance guard as a party of observation, with orders not to engage an enemy, but to observe their numbers and condition, and to fall back upon his main body, and thus to decoy them on until they had them upon some advantageous ground,''' and perhaps at an hour and place in which he would have the support of Colonel Wolseley, who was to follow him with the entire of the force destined to relieve Crom. Mount- cashel having heard that the Enniskilleners, to the number of four thousand men,t were advancing to the relief of Crom, deemed it advisable to raise the siege, and retire two miles further back to Newtown- Butler, intending to give battle there. From thence he sent Major-Genera] Anthony Hamilton, with O'Brien's regiment of dragoons, to reconnoitre in the direction of Lisnakea. The advance guards of both * Hamilton, p. .V2. | N'ulc M .,( plio.-oii, ui Hupra. 146 THE WILLTAMITE AND armies were now approaching each other, with each a large army in the rere. Both were ably officered ; but the Williamite troops had seen battle and been victorious, while the Jacobite soldiery were ill-trained to field movement and to gun exercise, and lacked the self-reliance which engagement in even one battle gives to the soldier. The Williamite soldiers felt confidence in themselves, and did not fear an enemy they had already beaten ; the Jacobites had no ground for such confidence, and they regarded with serious consideration, if not with dread, an enemy that had made already a character for determined bravery, which had spread beyond their own county, and had magnified their deeds and their numbers as it went. Two miles beyond Lisnakea, at a place called Donough, the advanced guard of Colonel Berry saw the advancing Jacobites, and immediately fell back to the main body, who having ascertained that the approaching foe were more numerous than it would be discreet to meet in the open field, retreated to Lisnakea, the Jacobites advancing as they retired. Here Colonel Berry despatched a messenger to Ennis- killen, to advise the advance of Colonel Wolseley to his assistance. There were two roads between Lis- nakea and Enniskillen, an old road at some distance from the Lough, and a new one nearer to its banks, and which ran through such low and marshy grounds as to make it in some parts only passable with diffi- culty. Berry selected this road for his backward movement, hoping to decoy the Jacobites to some part of it, where he could take advantage of its boggy nature, and find a pass suitable to defend. At about JACOBITE WARS. 147 a mile from Lisnakea he arrived at a portion so situated that the passage was barely of sufficient width for two horsemen to advance abreast upon it. The length of this pass was about the distance of a musket shot, and at the far end of it there was a thicket of underwood well adapted to be used as a breastwork or entrenchment. Berry advanced in good order on to this point, and there faced round upon the Jacob- ites, having placed most of his men under the protec- tion of this natural cover. Here he resolved to stand and defend that narrow road in front of him, until Wolseley could arrive to his assistance. It was an admirably chosen spot ; it left him a full musket shot from his enemy, and the approach over that distance so narrow that but two men could advance in front ; so that their progress to more open ground must be slow, while, as they advanced, they were exposed to the fire of a numerous enemy posted behind entrench- ments, which effectually protected them from the fire of the assailants. Berry had his men all disposed of when the Jacob- ites arrived at the extreme end of the pass, which now separated the two forces. Anthony* Hamilton re- solved to face the difficulty, and not permit it to arrest his hot pursuit of the Williamites. Arrived * Anthony Hamilton, the brother of Lieutenant- General Ptiohard Ifamilton, is a name still figuring in the world of letters. The Hamiltons were of noble blood ; their father was a younger son of the Earl of Abercom in Scotland, and their mother was Lady Thurles, sister of James, first Duke of Ormond. Anthony was bom at Kosorca about the year 1043, so that he must have been about forty-seven years of age when he lost the battle of Lisnakea. He was a writer of great el(;ganf e, l)ut of his literary remains 148 THE WILLIAMITE AND at the commencement of the narrow road, with which he and his men were less familiar than were his Enniskillen foes, he threw himself from his horse, and calling upon his dragoons to dismount and follow him, he rushed forward to lead them against the Williamites, at whom he directed a brisk fire from the end of the pass, as he and his dismounted dragoons entered at a quick pace along it. His fire was answered by the Williamites, and answered with ten-fold the effect which his had — because the Williamites fired from behind entrenchments, but his men were all exposed. The result, as has been stated, was, that the Williamite fire came with deadly effect, while but few shots of the ad\rancing Jacobites told upon their enemies. The brave Anthony Hamilton, foremost amongst his men and urging them onward, was struck in the leg by a Williamite ball, which at once unfitted him to lead on foot. He, however, still resolved to fight, ordered another officer in his place to head his men, and retired to mount his horse, being no longer able to stand. The officer who took the command was shot dead as he came to the front ; and the Jacobite soldiers, pressed by a galling fire in front, seeing the commanding officer retiring to the rere, the officer who took his place dead, and no general officer to command them, halted, wavered, the book most known and most admired is his memoir of the ' Count de Gramont/ who married his sister Miss Hamilton. The book is a picture of the licentious doings of a licentious court, and whatever may be its faults it still lives, and will live, a specimen of light and graceful narrative which won the admi- ration of such men as Scott and Gibbon." — Vide Memoir of Hamil- ton, Preface to Bohn's Edition of the Count de Gramont. JACOBITE WARS. 149 and fell back. Berry seized the auspicious moment ; a cry of " they run" was raised ; he ordered his dra- goons and foot to rush along the bog at either side, while the horse galloped along the pass. Soon the Jacobite retreat became a flight — a wild rush for life, in which none looked back on the pursuing Williamite cavalry, who followed them through Lisnakea, and, during a chase of nearly two miles, slaughtered the unresisting mass, killing over two hundred of them. Nor did they sheathe their blood-dyed swords until Berry learned that Lord Mountcashel and the bulk of his army were advancing against them. Then, order- ing the bugles to recall his men, and sending thirty prisoners and a large quantity of arms as prize to Enniskillen, he fell back from the work of destruc- tion. This action took place about nine o'clock in the morning, and by eleven o'clock Colonel Berry got information that Colonel Wolseley was advancing from Enniskillen to his relief. The two officers and their forces met at the junction of the two roads, near Lisnakea ; and as the troops just arrived from Enniskillen had come without food, it became a debatable question, whether they should all return to Enniskillen for food and rest, content with their morning's victory, or press forward, and engage the army before them. The men unanimously declared for marching forward ; and Colonel Wolseley accord- ingly formed them in order, and led them on to the cry of "No Popery,"* a war-cry which, however it * " Colonel Wolseley and the other colonels drew up the men in hattallia, ami gave the word, * No Popery,' which was very acceptable to all our party." — JIamilton, page 56. 150 THE WILLIAMITE AND may have served to ensure success by stirring up the bitter animosities of men whose arms were nerved for fight by religious rancour, rather stains than honours the gallant and soldierly bearing of the victors of that day. The force* which Colonel Wolseley now led against the Jacobites consisted of sixteen troops of horse, three troops of dragoons, and twenty-one companies of foot, besides a body of men not under regular command. This army was divided by Colonel Wolse- ley into three divisions, and an advanced guard, which marched about half a mile in front of the first division. The first division was commanded by Colonel Tiffan, and consisted of foot in front and cavalry behind ; the second was led by Colonel Loyd ; ^' Hamilton says of the Enniskillen force: " So that, in the , whole party, we reckoned ourselves something more than two thousand," — vide page 57 ; but J. C. O'Callaghan, in a note to his History of the Irish Erigade," estimates it at 3,346 ; so that, when it is recollected that Mountcashel had lost O'Erien's regi- ment in the morning, out of his 3,600, it will appear the Ennis- killen forces were greater than his. O'Callaghan's estimate is made thus : — ENNISKILLElSr FOECES. " 30 companies of infantry, of which two were 100 men each, 10 were 72 men each, the remaining 18 most probably on the same scale, and the 30 consequently making 2,216 17 troops of horse, of which 2 were 100 men each ; the 15 remaining would, by Williamite army scale, be 50 each; and the 17 therefore . . . . 950 3 troops of dragoons, which, by same army scale, would be 60 men each . . . . . . 180 Total Vide "Irish Brigade," page 251. 3,346 JACOBITE WARS. 151 and the third, consisting of the great body of the infantry, was under Wolseiey's own command — the rere being covered by cavalry under the command of Colonel Berry and Major Stone. Thus formed, they marched from Lisnakea, in the direction of Newtown- Butler, where Mountcashel's army awaited them, and which was distant about four miles. Mountcashel had raised the siege of Crom, and held all his forces together at Newtown-Butler ; but his army had suffered a severe loss that morning, in the defeat of O'Brien's regiment, two hundred of whom had fallen, and all of whom had lost their arms. But worse than the loss of men or arms was the loss of confidence consequent upon the morning's defeat of Hamilton's detachment. The Williamite advanced guard encountered the advance guard of the Jacobites within about one mile and a-half of Newtown-Butler; the latter im- mediately wheeled and retreated to the main body. When the Williamite forces came another mile nearer to Newtown-Butler, they beheld the whole Jacobite army drawn out upon a hill in front of them ; but between the Williamites and the hill, the road nar- rowed and lay through a bog, and did not admit of more than two horsemen to advance along it side by side. The position was well taken by the Jacobites, but their Williamite antagonists were resolved to force it, and Colonel Wolseley directed their whole force to advance, sending the body of cavalry under Colonel Berry along the centre road, supported by the infantry, wlio wore oixlcn-d to take the bog on either side. In this order they went foi'ward to battle. The Jacobites received thcni with ;i steady but \)VV'- 152 THE WILLIAMITE AND mature fire, which fell short of the advancing columns. The fire being returned, the Jacobites slowly retired, in good order, upon Newtown-Butler, the Williamites still advancing upon them through the town, which the Jacobites had fired, so that they passed through its burning ruins. The retreat and pursuit were slow and steady ; a constant fire being kept up by the Jacobites, who at intervals faced round and discharged their muskets on their pursuers. This was continued until, at the distance of about a mile beyond the town, the Jacobites had arrived at nearly a similarly situated battle-field to that from which they had re- tired, but which was now taken advantage of for the use of cannon. The whole movement appeared to be to gain time to draw the Williamites into disadvan- tageous ground. Again a narrow road with bog on either side lay between them ; the Jacobites were once more posted upon a hill, but this time there was cannon so placed as to command the road. The same order of battle was again taken by the Williamites ; their cavalry were ordered to gallop along the narrow road, and the infantry and dragoons to face the enemy at either side, advancing as best they could through the bog. They pressed forward ; but the cannon raked the road with so desperate a fire that the cavalry were forced to forego their line of march. However, the foot and dragoons, who took the bog, rushed forward with such impetuosity, that the cannon, which appears not to have been protected by a sufii- cient force, were speedily seized and their gunners put to the sword. The Williamite cavalry had now a free and open road, and came up to support the infantry who had achieved it for them. The Jacobite JACOBITE WARS. 153 cavalry seeing the Williarnite cavalry sweeping in amongst them, while their cannon were silenced, turned and fled. Then it was that Mountcashel, ob- serving the Enniskillen men pressing severely upon his right, gave orders to have some of the forces on the left brought to relieve the right ; but the of&cer blundered either in receiving or giving the word of comm,and, and instead of ordering his men to " face to the right," he ordered them to " face to the right about." Soldiers in the rere seeing their front ranks turned round against them believed the battle over and retreat to be commanded, and being, moreover, disheartened by the early flight of their cavalry, turned in confusion, and casting their arms to the ground,* placed all hope of life in fleetness of limb, and fled like routed men. The battle was over; it was an ill-contested field; the Williamites had displayed the bravery of veteran troops, the Jacobites, the timidity and cowardicet of raw and undisciplined masses.t Storey, in his Impartial History, expresses his surprise that the Enniskillen men should have had so little loss in killiug near three thousand of the Irish, and says, " This story seemed to me, at first, very incredible, but I was told it partly happened by a fatal mistake in the word of command amongst the Irish ; for the Enniskillen men charged the right wing very smartly, which MacKarty (Mountcashel) perceiving, ordered some of his men to face to the right, and march to relieve their friends ; the officer that received the orders mistook, and commanded the men, instead of facing to the riglit, to face to the right about." — Vide page 5. \ "A council of war was held to judge of the officers' and others' behaviour in this engagement, and punish such as miscarried." — MarphfrHon, vol. i. page 221. \ O'Kclly, in the ^lacarirc Excidiiini," docs not nieniion Iho mistake in the word of command, bnt he alludes to a rei)ort that the general was killed, as influencing their flight. Tiiere is a M 154 THE WILLIAMITE AND The retreat was shameful, and the pursuit murderous, tarnishing the gallantry of the Enniskilleners with a ferocity and thirst for blood more in keeping with savage life than with a Christian people, and in the close of the seventeenth century. As the Jacobite cavalry fled along the narrow road, they were followed closely by the WiJliamite cavalry on as far as Wattle Bridge — a bridge stretching over a branch of Lough Erne — which being the only route from that boggy battle-field in rere of the Jacobites, was at once secured and guarded by the cavalry of Enniskillen, who had been thus drawn on to it as pursu- ers of the flying Jacobite horse, and now used it to cut difference in the description of it as given in Croker's and O'Callaghan's translations; both are therefore given in this note. " His men were raw and newly raised, so that the cavalry, headed by commander-in-chief, under Mountcashel, upon the enemie's first appearing, shameful!}^ ran away, without striking a blow ; and the foot, abandoned thus by the horse, and seeing that the general was killed, soon followed the example."—- Crolcer^s Translation, page 32. His men were raw and newty raised, so that the cavalrie, headed by Colonel Anthony Hamilton, upon the enemie's first appearing, shamefully ran away without striking a blow; and the foot, now abandoned by the horse, and being told that the general was killed, soon followed the example." — 0^ Callaghan'' s Translation, page 38. Colonel Kelly does not describe the action as if he knew more of it than by report, and from his memoir in O'Callaghan's elabo- rately noted translation, it would appear as though he were, at the time, with Sarsfield's army. Neither is it likely that An- thony Hamilton shared in the disgraceful liight of the cavalry, which perhaps had been averted had he been present. It will be remembered that he was wounded in the thigh at Lisuakea, in the morning, and was therefore most unlikely to have been late in the day on horseback at jSTewtown-Butler. JACOBITE WARS. 155 off all hopes of retreat for the Jacobite infantry, while they spread themselves along the entire road, back to the point where it began as a pass, and thus had full power over the wretched Jacobite foot, now fleeing in confusion, and without arms, through the bog on both sides. A large number fled over the bog into a wood, and there being closely pressed by their pursuers,* they plunged into the waters of Lough Erne, trusting to it rather than to so merciless a foe, and there perished to the number of about five hundred. They won at least an easier doom than those who still sought to fly or hide upon the land. The Williamite soldiery pursued them with a cruel spirit that knew no humanity. t " No Popery, no quarter, no mercy," Through a long and fearful night, a heartless soldiery hunted t their fellow-men through ditches and hiding-places, as men would pur- sue beasts in a hunt, slaughtering the unresisting and unarmed, as though to kill were a pastime; and the sun was mounting to its meridian next day before * Hamilton, page 61. f ^' The Enni skill en crs, in this battle, possibly carried their resentment beyond just bounds, being greatly provoked by the inhuman murder of two innocent young gentlemen, by the Lord Galmoy's orders, at Belturbet." — Harris's Life of William III., p. 225. X ''Our foot, in the meantime, followed theirs tlirough. the bog, into a wood, near Lough Erne, and gave quarter, that day, to few or none that they met with, unless officers." — Hamilton, p. fJl. ''All the night our foot wore healing llie ]>ushes for tliem, and nil that their officers could do could not bring them off from the pursuit, until next day, about ten o'clock, by which time scarce a man of them that took towards the lough side escaped, but was either kilh'fl, or tnken prisoner, or drowned." — I hid. 156 THE WILLIAMITE AND their officers could gather them in from the work of destruction. They returned then, for the work was ended; two thousand Jacobites had fallen, and they had made four hundred prisoners, chiefly officers and others of distinction. Mountcashel, who, from the position in which he w^as taken, must have been in the front of the battle at its commencement, turned into a wood near w^here his cannon had been placed in the morning, and there witnessed the total and disgraceful defeat of the army he had but a few hours before regarded with pleasure and with hope. Surrounded by some half dozen of his staff, he pondered over the condition of himself, his ruined army, his lost country, and defeated king ; and, with a wounded spirit and pride humbled to the earth, he sorrowed to live, and wished to die. Full of gloomy thoughts, he desired no longer to exist ; but religion forbade him to be himself the instrument that would annihilate his agony of mind, he therefore sought death wildly and passionately at the hands of his enemies ; and, rushing from the cover of the wood, he advanced upon the Williamites, who guarded the cannon they had taken just at that spot, and raising his useless pistol, he discharged it amongst them. The Williamites saw him advance, but never considered him an enemy, not believing there wxre Jacobites so near them ; but when he fired, several muskets were discharged at him in return, killing his horse, whose fall brought the gallant Mountcashel to the earth, bleeding from several wounds ; while one of the soldiers who had fired at him now advanced upon him, with musket reversed, to strike him on the head. Then it was that one of the Jacobites cried out, Spare him — JACOBITE WARS. 157 it is Mountcashel ;" and a Williamite officer advanced, and gave him quarter. The triumph of the Ennisldlleners was complete. The Jacobite army was annihilated, and its general was their prisoner. They marched back to Enniskillen, carrying with them the cannon, arms, and ammunition they had seized, together with their prisoners and plunder/* They found upon the person of Mountcashel a letter written by Sarsfield, and dated from his camp at Bundroose, arranging that Mountcashel and Berwick would concentrate their forces, and attack Enniskillen from their side, while he came against it from the Conn aught side ; and they congratulated themselves how they had anticipated such a junction of the Jacobite forces, and broken the army that would have made it, had it been tried, a success. But even had the battle of Newtown-Butler not taken place, such a junction was not likely ; because it has been already seen how Rosen had recalled Berwick to the siege of Derry. Mountcashel was acting under the king's order, and Sarsfield had no command beyond his own army, and there was no commander on the spot to control and direct all, which affords an explanation of why two Jacobite armies had been thus beaten in the north. The Williamites had now nearly swept their ene- mies from Ulster. There was no Jacobite army in the field, and no Jacobite force there, except those shut up in Charlemont and Carrickfergus Forts; and they had a('hi(n'(Ml this with the loss of bat two officers, twenty iiK'ii kilK^l, and about lilty wounded. They now began to look towards Sarsfield's ai'my, and rcsolvearon Mountcashel, intioduced.' " — Vide C. Croker^s Notes to Macarixe Excidium, ])age 118. f " The man who helped him to eneape — a Serjeant A( li(;s()u — was taken next day, and ^hoi for Ids (jfreru-c." — Harris, p:ige 22;3. X "Colonel Ilambleton, (iovernor of tlie town, was tried for it af- terwards by a coui t-martial; but producin/j; Major-(j!eiier;il Kiike's 162 THE WILLTAMITE AND The escape of Mountcashel gave extreme pleasure to the king and to the Jacobites throughout Ireland. He was received at Dublin with great demonstrations of joy, and it was arranged that he should have a command in the Irish army about to be sent into France,^^ in exchange for the French troops Louis was giving to James. Some aspersions having been cast upon Mountcashel's character for the manner in which he made his escape, his proud spirit was wound- ed, and immediately upon his arrival in France, he had himself brought to trial before a court-martial of officers of that nation,t who then held, as they have since main- tained, in all matters of military honour and etiquette, a character the highest that Europe knows. That court pronounced his conduct honourable, and restored him to his proud position as an unstained soldier, who had lost his country, his estates,! and titles, and was letter to him, wlierein he desired that some further conveniencies might be allowed Mackarty than formerly ; upon which it being done (with the duke's consent, who took Mackarty for a man of honour), the Governor was acquitted." — Story^s Continuation, page 11. ^ It would appear from the E-awdon Papers that the Irish showed great hesitation in leaving Ireland at that time; for in a letter signed Hugh M'Gill, and dated April 7th, 1690, it is stated that ''Lord Mountcashel, Colonel Melding (theBoe), and another Colonel, were near Cork, with 5 or 6000 foot, in order to be sent from thence (in the ships that brought the supplies) for Erance ; but that the Irish were very unwilling to leave their own country, and deserted daily." — Vide Bawdon Papers, page 317. I '' Lord Mountcashel, escaping into Trance, was tried there by a court of honour for breach of his parole; but making the circum- stances of his escape evident, was acquitted." — Harris, x)age 225. \ There is a touching story told by Crofton Croker, in his Researches in the South of Ireland," of a Macarthy in later days JACOBITE WARS. 163 to have henceforward but the bright memory of the past, and a soldier's sword, to cut his way in a foreign clime, and find himself a foreign grave. That name, well remembered in Ireland, is preserved too in France ; and when the soldier, returned to her vineyards, re- cords the tales of France's feats of arms in the olden time, the memory of the Irish Brigade is recalled, and with it comes the name of the highminded Mount- cashel,'^ making one of the many links which bind up Irish memories with the history of France's gallant empire. coming to visit his ancestral lands, and to behold them for the last time. A considerable part of the forfeited estates of that family in the County Cork was held by Mr. S about the middle of the last century. Walking one evening in his demesne, he ob- served a figure, apparently asleep, at the foot of an aged tree ; and, on approaching the spot, found an old man extended on the ground, Vv'hose audible sobs proclaimed the severest affliction. Mr. S. inquired the cause, and was answered : ' Forgive me, Sir ; my grief is idle ; but to mourn is a relief to the desolate heart and humbled spirit. I am a Macarthy, once tlie possessor of that castle, now in ruins, and of this ground. This tree was planted by my own hands, and I have returned to water its roots with my tears. To-morrow I sail for Spain, where I have long been an exile, and an outlaw since the revolution. I am an old man ; and to-night, probably for the last time, bid farewell to the place of my birth and the home of my forefathers.' " — Crokor\s Researches, page 3 0-5. O'Callaghan has published, from official correspondence in the State Paper Office, a letter of William's state secretary. Lord Shrewsbury', to Mnj or- General Kirke, which bears strong testimony to the character of Mountcashel. It is dated "Whitehall, 4th No- vember, 1G80. Shrewsbury expresses his regret that Ik; cannot address the General by liis Irish title of !Nrountcash(d: — " Siu, J received your letter of tlie 2'Jth of October, with one enclosed, M'hich, by its coiUents, T understood lo })f; from Just in ^fCJarty, though 1 find it subscribed by unotlif r iKimc, ;in\. i. page 222. 184 THE WILLTAMITE AND of pitiable suffering. An ill -chosen situation for their camp; moist and marshy ground; heavy rains, and inclement weather, combined with bad and deficient food, to undermine their health; and then with the pestilence came the moral plague, which ensues ever amono:st encamned masses, when want of active occu- pation and depressed spirits are permitted to pervade a mass of people, the victims of physical want and deadly disease ; the intellectual and spiritual mastery of manhood becomes as fallen as the physical frame- work it regulates, and the man loses his God-head stamp and dwindles into a deteriorated human shape, soulless, heartless, feelingless — an animal in sensation, a beast in appetite. This terrific malady, which wasted Schomberg's army, was said to have been brought amongst them by some soldiers who came out of Derry;* but it was evidently one of those pestilential diseases which from time to time have arisen in camps, where raw and unseasoned troops are exposed to hardships and priva- tions for the first time. For two weary months its influence swept the camp of the Williamites ; when first it began to show itself, huts were erected for the sick, and then, as it spread further, the camp was raised and moved to other ground, leaving the huts for the sick ; but the huts filled so fast, and the disease spread with such rapidity, that ships were ordered to be in readiness at Dundalk and Carlingford, to which the sick were removed. Kegiments were now paraded in compa- nies that did not muster a dozen men each; the living were busied in piling arms, and storing the military Storey, page 39. GENERAL SCHOMEERG. JACOBITE WARS. 185 goods of men never more to hear the bugle call ; offi- cers and soldiers alike fell beneath the poison of fever, which made no distinction; death accumulated so fast that it became expedient to forego the military cere- monial of firing over the dead, and soldiers were hurled, en masse^ into graves, without the ceremony of the muffled drum or the musquet roll. The living lost all sympathy with the sick, all respect for the dead. Men gathered shivering round their watch- fires, and dragged along the carcasses of their dead* comrades, as they would trunks of trees, for seats, and they murmured over the removal of their lifeless asso- ciatest because they missed the wretched carcass which sheltered them from the biting wind, or raised them up from the wet and muddy earth which floored their tents. Death now raked their ranks as never did Jacobite ball ; the sick were moved in cart loads to the ships ; and ever as the heavy machines jolted along, the dead and the dying fell, or were cast off upon the road side, and lay unnoticed where they fell, until the roads were strewn with lifeless sol- diers. Then the ships filled so fast, that they were ordered out into deep water, filled below and filled on deck, where their canvass tents were used as cover- ing and marked the phigue ships as they moved for Belfast. When the ships came to Belfast, some of them lay out at Carrickfergus, awaiting accommodation for the sick. There were; some ships whose crews had sickened on the passage, and the vessels drifted in the bay ; for * Storey, page .30. fFor they wcTf; iho li;inle«t licnrUd, oiu; ofore tlio battle of the Boyne, Dan Golbornc wrote to Sir Arthur Ilawdon : It is also reported that King James has drawn down all his forces towards the Boyne, upon which he makes his encampment, and fortifies all passes ; and on this river purposes to make his defence." — Rmodon Papers, page 325. May 31, 1090. \ James so states it himself in Clarke k Memoir^ vol. ii. pa;;e 200 THE WILLIAMITE AND sand of those were the troops sent over by the French king, half* of whom were French, and the rest made up of Danes, Swedes, Germans, and some English, 393. And there is such an air of truth in all his statements, as to make him authoritative in all questions of statistics relating to his own army at least. Storey, who estimated them on report, says, at page 98 : " Some of their own officers call them five and twenty and others seven and twenty thousand ;" and he tells that a deserter from the Jacobites, the day before, said they were 25,000 ; but he mentions at page 70, that upon the 23rd of June, a week before the battle, "William was informed by two ensigns, who deserted from James's camp, that their army, then marching from Dundalk to the Boyne, was about 20,000, which tallies with James's own statement, and being from officers, is more likely to be correct than mere rumour, or the report of a common soldier. It might be, too, that the garrison of Drogheda were estimated as part of the army, though not engaged in the fight. The Duke of Berwick, at page 63 of his memoir, says — ''The enemy had five and forty thousand and we were only twenty- three thousand." Now the garrison of Drogheda, if added to this number, would make the Jacobite army about twenty- five thousand men. 0' Kelly, in the MacaricB Excidium, does not give the exact numbers, but he says that James " advanced from Dublin with these few forces on the 16th day of the 4th month (old style) to meet an enemy who had double his number, and whose troops were in much better order and discipline," page 47of 0' Callaghan^s Translation. Storey, who estimated James's army at only 25,000, admits "William's army to have been 36,000 men; his words are : — "On the 27th we marched through Dundalk, and encamped about a mile beyond it, where the whole army joined, English, Dutch, Danes, Germans, and French, making in all not above 36,000, though the world called us a third part more. But the army was, in all respects, as well provided as any kingdom in the world ever had one for the number of men." — Impartial History, page 70. * " James says 6000 men," in Clarke's Memoir, vol. ii., page 387. M'Gill says, "that 5,500 landed at Cork from Prance about the 14th of March." They brought with them 2,000 casks of powder, 8,000 arms, about twenty field pieces, a million and a-half of crowns in copper money (coined at Brest, of King /'A/ /J/ K 7^r .rrrta// /^//r^r/ o/' /n^/sX-z/AyT^/rr wA/vr/}/:^ /tn/'/i /j /rtun/v/ 1) /Xr,Jr.r..w> //r^Ar,- ,uu/../^,/ 1. ASr,,//^r,r/or,/Arf1W,^ul/,///A//,,,,u >yf //fu^f., K 7/f/- A/ff/z^f^ //o/y.rr M yl Sor/ /-'or/ t/t //// ^//t/' j\/(r/ Ac/ f'o.r//y rf/ff/// yt/ y 7y//'Mf// Af'///o'/.rrf/A//ir//f/////i//ff/ iV YAr /}/s//r o/' /'/frr//ry/ tff/r /ir/i/- n AW/ rnrr.r //on.rt! Ci AAr. /■'/e/' .VrAoo/ S f ' Q Ft A/ 'fr/f/t/'Aw^r'f/t //^ffr/^///////,/.rA'/A//fr/-.t (4 fv r-f/rAra^^^ Ay /Afi./Af/A/ o//7f///'f/'A JACOBITE WARS. 201 Scotch, and Irish. The remainder of his forces were Irish, and nearly all newly raised regiments ; but they were ably officered ; James being surrounded by most of his best and bravest generals. But in return for the French contingent, he had sent into France five thousand of his veteran Irish soldiers, under the command of Mountcashel. James had applied to France for a larger force,* and had it been sent to him, and had Mountcashel's army remained in Ireland, the fortunes of the Boyne might have been made a success for James. But Louis needed soldiers at home, and. having a host of enemies to encounter, sent an insufficient force ; and the result was fatal to James's fortunes, and unfortunate for the character and greatness of the French king himself. William's army, in three divisions, approached the Boyne. Sir John Lanier headed a large body of cavalry, who formed the advance guard, and such was William's impatience to behold the enemy he was to fight, and the ground they had taken up, that by the time the advance guard was within view of the Jaco- Jamcs's stamp), and Mons. Lauzun is their commander." — Baw- don Papers, page 316. * James had applied, through his agent, Lord Dover, for ten thousand men, besides money, arms, and ammunition. His in- structions hear date as far back as the 16th of July, 1689 ; his written directions are : — * You must endeavour, with all speed, to procure to us 6000 foot of the old troops of our dearest brother, without whicli our affairs here will be in great danger. Eor though we have a great number of men, yet they arc, for the most part, new and undisciplined, as well tlie officers as the sol- diers, and consequcnlly will l)e une(jually matclied with the ohl troops designed ngainst us.' " — Macpher.wn Papers, ]);ige .'K)0, vol. i. P 202 THE WILLIAMITE AND bite camp, he was in front of them, having ridden forward from the head of his division. Then it was that he beheld a sight, which, yet unstirred by soldier shout or cannon shot, unstained by blood or death, might well gladden the heart of him who gazed, and warm, with its glorious beauties, even a colder nature than his. He stood upon a height, and beheld be- neath him and beyond him, with the clearness of a map, and the gorgeous beauty of a dream, a view as beautiful as eye can scan, and then doubly beau- tiful, because the colours of a golden harvest were blended with green fields and greener trees, and a sweet river flowing calmly on in winding beauty through a valley, whose banks rose up gently from its waters, inclining upwards until, in lofty hills, they touched the opposite horizon, bending and undulating into forms of beauty. Stretching along those green banks, in double lines, lay the white tents and waving banners of the Jacobite army, with masses of men stirring to-and-fro, and cavalry careering, and infantry forming into lines and columns, while suttlers were busy with their dealings, and engineers were active with pick and spade casting up entrenchments, and officers, on the look out for the expected enemy, were from the heights looking north to see if yet he came. Between him and that river the ground was broken by hill and vale, and rock and glen, down to the water's edge, where the calm river, moving to the sea, placed its tranquil waters between him and the sove- reign he pursued. Above that encampment, and to his right, lay rich meadow lands, and luxuriant fields, waving in a gentle summer breeze, while to his left, to the right of the Jacobite camp, the ancient town of JACOBITE WARS. 203 Drogheda rose between its hills, with its walled boun- daries and its garrisoned towers, whereon floated James's flag for yet a little time ; and then, out from Drogheda sloped the sea shore, over which rolled the blue waves, upon whose bosom William beheld his gallant fleet sailing in their strength. Calm, and beautiful, and picturesque, that scene might well touch a soldier's conscience, ere he would disturb the poetry of thought with which it spoke to the soul of coming happy harvest time ; of peace, and gentle musings through those glens and by that water side ; of nature, throwing out, in vain, from her bosom, the riches Avhich make men and nations blessed and prosperous, and which, in their Avorkings, evidence the designs of Providence, leading the mind from the contemplation of earthly enjoyments to thoughts of heaven and futurity. William regarded the scene with the coldness of the diplomatist, and the quickness of an experienced soldier. Its beauties passed unnoted, its riches may have suggested thoughts of confiscation ; its irregu- larities of surface were well observed, for they were military points to be turned to account — for camp to- night, for battle to-morrow ! When estimating the probable strength of the Jacobite camp, he was accompanied by Dukes Schom- berg and Ormond, Count Solmes, Lord Sidney, and Major General Scravcrmore, who called it " a small army,"* as he could only count about forty-six regi- ments as constituting the encampment. William now sent parties of horse towards Di'oo-licda, and along Storey, j)figo 72. 204 THE WILLIAMITE AND the road to Slane, and rode down himself to examine the ground and have a nearer view of James's camp and army. Breastworks had been cast up in front of James's right wing, the houses in the neighbourhood of Oldbridge were filled with soldiery, and every ditch and hedge was lined with musqueteers ; and as he passed along at the North side of the river, and ad- vanced opposite the left wing of the Irish army, the Dukes of Berwick and Tyrconnel, with Sarsfield, Parker, and Lauzun, rode along upon the opposite side, viewing his arrangements and regulating how he was to be met. And while those rival soldiers were watching each other in the direction of James's left wing, Jacobite soldiers had been trying their guns in the centre upon some of William's dragoons who went down to drink at the water's edge, and who returned the fire. During this time a party of about forty Jacobite cavalry was observed to ride slowly into a ploughed field, upon the height which commanded the spot where William was resting, partaking of some refreshment. The Jacobite cavalry, riding thus slowly, had concealed within their ranks two field pieces, which were carefully planted behind a ditch, and so as to command the Williamite party. The cavalry having remained there for some short time, retired slowly as they came. Presently, William rose from the ground and mounted his horse, and the party began to ride back towards Oldbridge ; and as they did, a discharge from one of the Jacobite guns killed two horses and a soldier about one hundred yards above where the king rode. A second ball, directed towards the same object, striking against the bank of the river, JACOBITE WARS. 205 sloped upwards, inflicting a slight flesh wound upon William's right shoulder, and the firing continued upon the party of cavalry, killing several soldiers and horses, until William ordered them to retire and avail themselves of the shelter of a rising ground lying between them and those two pieces. These cannon were so placed and used by order of James,* but the wounding of William appears to have been rather the result of an accidental secondary direction of the ball, than of a special direction against his person ;t but the Jacobites seemed to have some knowledge that he was wounded, for they shouted loudly upon the retiring of his party of cavalry, and a report, then originated, had been circulated even to the Continent, that William was killed. The William- ite cannon now came up, and were planted so as to pitch their ball and shell direct into the Jacobite camp, and amongst the officers standing around James's tentjt so that several tents had to be removed out of * Vide Clarke, Berwick, and Macphcrson. t The following anecdote of James's care for William's life is quite in character with many of his acts : — In 1765, at Sligo, I had seen John O'Erien who had served at the Battle of the Boyne. He was a fine old man, and told me many interesting and circum- stantial anecdotes relative to that day. One, that a gunner told King James, that at that very precise moment his gun was so pointed, he could, at a twinkle, end the dispute for the three crowns; but James forbade him; and the nephew and son-in-lfiw were thus saved." — ItccollcctionH of John (fKeefe, page 149, vol. i. X " One bullet, as we heard afterwards, fell very nigh a crowd of great officers that were at the late king's tent, and killed a horseman that stood sentinel." — Storey, page 77. Tin's ]);issngo '■Ic.iily shows that the siatenKOit is not true lh;il James r(;ni;iiiicd 206 THE WILLIAMITE AND their range, and theconncil meetings changed to another part of the field. William now made all his camp arrangements, fixed his batteries, and placed his army for the night around and at the back of the glen, now known as King William's glen — his outposts on the heights, and the main body of his army behind them, and sheltered by them from the Jacobite guns. At nine o'clock that night William held a council of war, and declared his resolution to pass the river next morning. Schomberg, ever cautious, at first opposed it, but finding the king resolved, advised that a party should proceed in the dead of the night by Slane, so as to get behind James's army to Duleek, and so cut off his retreat. But the advice was not followed, and if it had been taken, and carried out successfully, the Boyne would have ended the war in Ireland. It was finally arranged that Count Schom- berg, son to the Duke, with a body of horse, and General Douglass, with a body of foot, were to march by Slane next morning, and passing the ford to turn the left wing of James's army ; while the left wing of the Williamite horse were to pass the river, between James's right wing and Drogheda, and the rest of the at Donore during the battle. From Storey's statement it is obvious that his tent stood amongst the other tents, and that he was present at the battle is equally conclusive, from the account given of his movements during it. It is not unlikely that he slept in Donore church the night before the battle, but any one who will take the trouble of visiting Donore church, and walking round the hill, will at once perceive the impossibility of his being there during the engagement, for if he were there he could not from it see either the river, its fords, or the lower and most important part of the battle field. JACOBITE WARS. 207 infantry were to force the passage at Oldbridge, and break through James's centre. To Lord George Hambleton was confided the task of supplying guides from the Inniskillen officers who were conversant with the fords, and would direct the several divisions to the passable portions of the river. The soldiers were then ordered to be ready by the first morning light, and at a moment's warning, and as the Jacobite soldiers wore white paper in their hats, the William- ites were directed to put green boughs or sprigs in tlieirs, so that they might know each other in the thick of the fight. Green was to be, for that day, the Orange emblem. The council broke up, the soldiers retired to rest for the coming fight ; but one restless spirit did not rest, watchful care held him wakeful, and anxious that all should be right for the eventful morning, so big with fate to him ; at midnight he surveyed his whole camp, through which he rode, guided by torch- lights, and satisfying himself, by personal observation, that all was well. In James's camp there was anxious solicitude too ; brave men there had to arrange for fight with fearful odds against them ; they had to meet an army out- numbering their own by at least 12,000 men, all trained soldiers, well equipped, and with an artillery numbering some fifty pieces. The Jacobite soldiery were ill-armed and ill-disciplined; William's soldiers were veterans in fight, and William's leaders, with few exceptions, were men who, if they lost the ])attle, lost but a victory, while the majority of James's offi- cers must, in defeat, risk, in Jiddition to life and fame, 208 THE WILLIAMITE AND their estates and their homes. At James's council Hamilton advised that the great bulk of the cavalry should be sent towards Slane, to prevent the enemy passing there, and the remainder to a ford between the camp and Drogheda, while the foot remained at Oldbridge, for the centre of the fight ; but a regiment only of dragoons was sent to Slane, being that of Sir Neale O'Neale, with orders to defend the pass as long as he was able, the bulk of the army being still kept in the central ground they were encamped upon. It Avas decided, too, to remove the baggage,^ and six of the twelve pieces of cannon they had from the immediate encampment, and to be in readiness for moving to Dublin, a proceeding which risked the cou- rage of the whole army, by implying a fear of being beaten, and a preparation for flight. These arrange- ments being made, James is said to have taken up his quarters for the night in the little chapel on the top of Donore hill,t whose ruins still crown that little ^ James gives as a reason for this movement, that it was to clear the ground. — Vide ClarMs Life of James, vol. i. page 395. f The little church, of which not much more than the gable and some twelve inches in height of surrounding wall now remain, is picturesquely seated on the very top of the hill, while over it wave, wdth a mournful air, the outspread branches of some aged trees, making it an object of observation visible from all the surround- ing heights, in the midst of which it stands proudly isolated. The little churchyard around it is bounded by a high thorn ditch, and the centre of the ground is thickly planted with rural graves, and some ancient tombs ; one of those, a table tomb, fills up the end of the church close to the east window, and from the age inscribed upon it, it was there when James slept within its walls, and may have been his table or held his midnight lamp. The inscription upon it is in large raised letters, and it is impos- JACOBITE WARS. 209 eminence, and if he did rest there amid the tombs and the graves of the dead, his night must have been one of meditation, rather than of sleep. sible to stand or moye within the limited precincts of the chapel without reading it. It must have stared James with sad presages all that night, and helped to depress him for the coming light : — ''All ye mortals, who on this earth draw breath In health, prepare for the certain hour of death." CHAPTEE X. THE BATTLE OF THE BOYNE. A GLORIOUS J uly day, with its broad bright sun in the heavens ; and as its light streamed out from above the eastern hills, the Jacobites were aroused in their tents by the Williamite drums and bugles sounding the generale. Both camps were now stirring, and soon the Jacobites beheld the long line of cavalry and in- fantry that defiling from behind the opposite hills, and mustering ten thousand men, now marched along the Slane road, and in a direction to awake an apprehension that the weight of the fight would be made upon the left wing of the Jacobite army. The right wing of the Williamites was led on by Count Schomberg, who was general of horse, Lieutenant General Douglass, the Lords Portland and Overkierke and Brigadier Trilau- ney ; and had with them five* field pieces of cannon. This force crossed at Slane and at fords nearer to Oldbridge. Upon their reaching the Jacobite side of the water they were encountered by Sir Neale O'Neale at the head of his dragoons, about five hundred That Trilauney was witli this body of troops, and that they had five pieces of caiinon with them, is not mentioned by the usual writers, Storey, Clarke, &c., but it is given in the life of James II., by D. Joseph Xerico, published at Madrid in 1746, and wherein young Schomberg is designated Count Menard, son of Marshall Schomberg. Those are the cannon which late in the day were used against the Irish at Duleek. '/ Po/torr //i//. J 0/f/ /irn/r- .... fi ffil/u/rns h/tr. o/'>/'fr/rny"'ff -/^"'^ 7 A m/f/// //'/frf/^^ U /f/rrr w/irrr Hi//'"^ ""'^'^^'^ h' / '/ rytr/l l/ '/f'".rAi//h'r, > ,/>/. r,^ /f i///ff//fr7/ //or. rr /S ,\/„/AuA ///rif/f-/ /.'» ]iArrr,7(/A/ir,„./l>/'7H//i' ?// Vif/avr /^I'/rrA re ( )!(ll)i iflge." — Vide Clarice s Memoirs, vol. ii. page .390. / 214 THE WILLIAMITE AND upon them, he saw half his plan achieved ; and now, when the news reached him about ten o'clock, that his right wing were not only passed, but were actually engaged with the extreme of James's left, his orders were promptly issued for throwing the whole weight of his army upon James's right and centre. His men, standing to their arms behind the hills opposite Old- bridge, now issued from the glen and from behind its hills, the drums beating a stirring march until they came to the water's edge, when the music ceased and the men plunged into the river. The Flemish foot-guards crossed first under the guidance of Duke Schomberg and Calimotte ;* lower down the Danes went over with the brigades of Hanmer and La Meloniere ; while, nearer still to Drogheda, the left wing of the cavalry, being Dutch and Danes, with Colonel Wolsley's horse, passed the river. t The Jacobites knew that an attempt would be made to pass at Oldbridge and the fords thereabouts, and had accordingly left troops posted there for their de- fence. Oldbridge was left in charge of the Duke of Berwick with the right wing of the cavalry, and Lieutenant-General Hamilton'i with eight battalions of infantry. The Duke of Tyrconnel's foot-guards, with others, occupied the farm-houses and ditches in that locality, while seven regiments of foot-soldiers were placed about one hundred and fifty yards from the river, under cover of some hills which sheltered them from William's cannon, which from the opposite heights commanded all the open fields within their range. Histoire de la Kevolution d'lrelande, page 128. t Storey, page 82. | Berwick, vol. i. page 64. JACOBITE \yAES. 215 Along with those infantry were posted four troops of Tyrconnel's* horse, four of Parker's, and some of the guards. Such were the arrangements adopted to resist the passage of the river, when the blue Dutch, ten abreast, rushed into its waters in so close and dense a mass„^ that speedily filling its bed, and stopping its flow, the water rose above their waists, so that they had to hold their weapons above their heads. A little lower down two French regiments, and that of Colonel St. John, passed in a similar manner. It was a moment of anxious suspense; the firing had ceased, and no noise came upon the ear but the sound of the breaking waters, and the voices of ofiicers and soldiers encouraging each other; and just as the wading troops had gained the centre of the river, a heavy Jacobite fire broke on them from the ditches and covers beyond them. Still they held their way, reserving their fire until they would be within range of a visible enemy, and as they reached the opposite bank, five battalions of Jacobite pikemen,t rushing from behind their en- trenchments, sought with their spears to prevent their landing. The Williamites, still struggling through the water, but close to the opposing foe, now levelled their musquets, and poured so deadly a fire amongst them that they rushed for shelter behind the nearest ditch, while the ground became covered with numerous soldiery, who, rushing from their ambus- Cfide, infantry with quick step, and cavaliy galloping, as if summoned by magic from the bosom of the * Storey, piigo 70. f Kovolution d' rrol;ni(i(!, ])aprp 12!). 216 THE .WILLIAMITE AND earth, they sought to beat back the Williamites, who, dripping with water, struggled steadily to the banks and gained the firm earth. It was just then that the gallant Hamilton sought to bring his ill-trained troops to the charge; cheering tbem on, he rushed at the head of a division of them into the very river,* meet- ing the Williamites there, and, at the same moment, giving orders to have Antrim's regiment to flank Hanmer's and Nassau's regiments, passing lower down ; but his men disobeyed, wavered and fled. As they turned, a squadron of Jacobite horse came down so determinately that they passed right through the regiment of Callimotte, breaking it and killing Calli- motte himself, who was speedily avenged, for as they turned to wheel back from the river bank, a heavy Dutch and Enniskillen fire left their horses to gallop riderless over the fields. The Williamite forces were now fast accumulating upon the Jacobite side of the river, repeated attempts to resist them were made at the heads of cavalry divisions, by Berwick, Tyrconnel,t and Hamilton; all that brave men could do they did, but superior numbers of better equipped and better disciplined troops overpowered and compelled them to a progressive and steady loss of ground. In one of these attacks a spirited cavalry charge, headed by Eichard Hamilton, drove a regiment of Danes with such haste back into the water, that they rested not until they stood once more upon the opposite banks J Storey, page 80. f The enemy's horse, of Tyrconnel, behaved themselves well, but our Dutch like angels," — See Bellingliam^ s 3Iamiscript, quoted in D'Alton's Drogheda, and Wilde's Boyne Water. \ Storey, page 81. ^ JACOBITE WARS. 217 which they had so recently marched from. It was at this period of the fight that Duke Schomberg was killed. He had gone over immediately in the rere of the regiment of La Mellionere, which was the first of the Dutch that crossed the river, and had reached the village of Oldbridge, having driven the Jacobites up the rising ground, and from the river. Just then a portion of Tyrconnel's regiment returned, and charged La Mellionere's regiment with such impetuosity that they passed right through all of them that had won the land, and came to the water s edge, in returning from which they made a detour in the direction of the village, and there encountered the duke, and as they passed him, he received two sabre wounds in the head, and finally a bullet in the neck, when he instantly expired without a sound. It is still a debatable point whether he was killed by the Tyrconnel guards or by one of La Mellionere's soldiers, who were firing after the Jacobites, and in the direction where Schomberg stood.* The following is the account given in the Eevolution d'lre- lande, which is evidently the work of a Dutch Williamite who had been at the battle of the Boyne: — ''It unfortunately happened that the Earl of Tyrconnel's guards, being seized with fury, and wishing to display the courage of despair, return suddenly to the charge, and with fearful impetuosity break and pierce the regiment of La Mellionere, pass quite through it, and precipitate themselves forward, to prevent the landing of those who were still in Uie water; but inasmuch as however great might have been their activity and bravery, the most of them were quickly killed, those who survived wishing to extricate themselves from a position ■ where the carnage was so great, made asliglit detour, and in their circuitous retreat passed close to the village where ^larslial Schomberg was. Unfortunately they met the marshal; they gave him two sabre cuts on the head, and after that (as report goes) 218 THE WILLI AMITE AND William and the Prince of Denmark had passed over with their left vv^ing of cavalry ; and just as he reached the bank, his horse got bogged, and he had to get another; but he was speedily at the head of his discharged a pistol shot at him. However it is certain, as all in the regiment of La Mellionere know, that as soon as the regiment saw Tyrconners guards pushing forward towards the village, the officers gave orders to fire in that direction, and everywhere near the village the cry was 'kill! kill!' {tue ! tue!)', so that in this juncture, as numbers fired upon the guards of Tyrconnel, and pursued them, a chance shot might have taken eff'ect, and hit the duke. At all events, this great man was killed on the occasion by a ball which pierced his neck, and while he was displaying such brilliant proofs of his courage and bravery. After he had received the ill-omened shot, he quietly expired, without being able to utter a single word, in the arms of some friends who happened to be near his person." — Vide page 130. Storey says : — " Some say that our own men, firing too hastily when the duke was before them, shot him themselves." — page 82. Schomberg had English blood in his veins. His father, Count Schomberg, who was killed at the battle of Prague in 1620, being married to a daughter of Lord Dudley. Schomberg was born in 1608, consequently was 82 years old when killed at the Boyne. He had served in Holland, Portugal, and Erance ; and, though a Protestant, had won a marshal's baton in the latter country, where he had earned a name next to that of Conde and Turenne. When his religion became an object of persecution in that country, he left it, and came to England ; but before coming over he had secured the confidence of William in Holland ; and being invited by the Elector of Brand enburgh to Berlin, he was made Governor of Prussia and Generalissimo of his armies. When the Prince of Orange w^as about to invade England, Schomberg got permission to accompany him, and William rejoiced in obtaining the services of so able a general — one before whom he had himself been obliged to retire from the siege of Maestreche. He was a very elegant- looking man, greatly respected for his wisdom, as well as for his valour. Callimotte, Avho had followed his fortunes, won death beside him." — Vide Harris's Life of IVilliam HI., page 270. JACOBITE WARS. 219 men. The Jacobites were now heavily pressed. Vv il- liam's centre and left were driving their right and centre up from the river and on to the heights, while the left of the Jacobites were retiring before Douglass's division higher up the battle field. Tyrconnel, Berwick, and Hamilton were using every effort to maintain their ground at Oldbridge, and ever as their troops were pressed back, they rallied and turned to charge again.* William's cavalry being now all over the river, he brought them to the support of the centre, and sent further detachments on to his right. The Jacobites, no longer able to stand at Oldbridge, fled up to Donore Hill, William, with the Dutch and Enniskilleners, in quick pursuit of them ; but just as they reached the hill, the Jacobites turned, and made a last desperate charge, pouring doAvn with such impetuosity that the William- ite cavalry, though headed by their king, turned, and fled. Then it was that William appealed to the Ennis- killeners, and asked them what they would do for him ; they responded to his call, and at their head he again advanced, and having received the fire of the Jacobites, he turned to the left, out of his men's way, to allow them to fire; but they blundered,! and instead of advancing, turned after hiui, and lost their position by about one hundred yards before they discovered their mistake ; meantime William headed an advancing party of Dutch, and the Enniskillen men fell in with him again. The Jacobites were forced beyond Donore. Tlie AVilliamites took possession of two of James's Wc charged and ro-cli:u;ij;fd ten times." — Jlmrivk, i. I-age 64. t Storey, pairc 8.*). 220 THE WILLIAMITE AND standards ; but the Jacobites had a loss of more con- sequence in the person of Eichard Hamilton, who^ wounded and unsupported, fell a prisoner into the hands of his enemies. While this fight with James's centre and right wing was taking place, from the banks of the Boyne at Oldbridge and on up the heights to Donore Hill, James was with Lauzun and the left wing higher up the river, encountering William's right, and endeavouring to so stretch their lines in a direction perpendicular to the river as to prevent the William- ites from outflanking them, James having brought up to Lauzun's assistance the reserve force consisting of Purcell's horse and Browne's foot, under the com- mand of Sir Charles Carny. Lauzun was within half cannon shot of the Yfilliamites; but the ground between them and him was terribly broken by bog, dyke, and ditch. James expected the weightiest portion of the battle there, and wished to defer a regular engagement at that point until he should be reinforced by his right and centre from Oldbridge so soon as they had beaten back the Williamites at that point. While he was occupied with this delusion, an aide-de-camp rode up, and gave him the sad news that his forces at Oldbridge and on the right were beaten. His chief hope was now to give battle to William's right, and he arranged with Lauzun to that effect;* but Sarsfield and Maxwell, who had ridden over to examine the ground between the two forces, now came up, and informed him it was impracticable for the cavalry to charge the Williamites, in consequence of a double ditch with a brook and high banks which lay between them, while the Williamites * Clarke's Life of James, page 397, vol. ii. JACOBITE WARS. 221 now altered their position, and began to move by their right in the direction of Duleek and the Dublin road. His last hope was to reach that point before them, and turning by his left, he commenced a rapid march in the same direction. And now his whole army were in full retreat, their backs turned to the Boyne and to the Williamites, all rushing for Duleek, the troops from Oldbridge inclining by their right, and his troops by their left to that point, which was distant from Donore Hill about four miles. But the battle had been decided before they left the line of hills parallel with Donore church, between which and the river the engagement took place, and where, at one time, the Williamites were so pressed that Ginckle had to keep at the rere of his division,* to prevent his men retreating. James lost in this battle some of his best officers : Hamilton was made a prisoner — and amongst some fifteen hundred soldiers slain, were Lord Dongan,t the Marquis de Hoquencour, Sir Charles Tate, Lord Car- * Storey, page 83. f Colonel Dongan, son to the Earl of Limerick, belonged to a family who had won a chivalrous name in the wars of France, Spain, and Portugal. O'Callaghan gives an interesting account of them in his History of the Irish Brigade, and it is there mentioned that the Jacobite army in their retreat from the Boyne to Dublin, having secured the body of Dongan, and carried it to one of his family mansions, they lialted to give a soldier's burial to the gal- lant colonel. I cannot find what Lord Dongan' s age might have been, but as his father, then living, was an aged man, it is pro- bable he was of adult years. There is mention made in a curious ohl History of Portugal, translated by Stevens, from the Spanish Of" Emanuel de Faria-y Sousa, London, 1G98, of a Ccdoncil Walter Dongan, who fought at Badajos, against French and Portuguese, in 1658; the passages are: " The Irish were commanded by Colonel Walter Dongan, who was afterwards Earl of Limerick," * * nnd 222 THE WILLIAMITE AND lingford, Monsieur d'Amarde, and officers in lesser command, as Arundel, Asliton, Fitzgerald, Powell, Yaudrey, Parker, Green, and Dodington. The retreat on to Duleek was conducted witli consummate skill ; had it been otherwise the slaughter had been vastly greater. The Lord Galmoy* was said to have regulated it, but it resulted from the combined actions of Lauzun, Tyrconnel, and Berwick, the two latter keeping at the head of the cavalry, and Lauzun at the head of the French foot, for to the Irish cavalry and the French foot the success of the retreat was mainly owing. The conduct of the Jaco- bite officers in that engagement was remarkable for its daring and its courage, their determined efforts to bring up their men, over and over again, to the fight, their resolute leading on and heading their almost hopeless charges, prolonged a fight which else had been decided within an hour, vfhile the number of them who fell and were wounded shows where their position had been during the hottest parts of the battle; it was only such desperate bravery that could have held out for a day against such odds as William mustered, in his veteran army, to fight the small and ill-disciplined mass opposing his passage, and opposing it with such inferior numbers as those, nearly all raw and unseasoned troops, ill-armed and without cannon. The Jacobites, now driven from the field of the Boyne, pushing along in a dense mass from Donore Colonel Dungan who commauded there (Fort St. Michael) defended it with extraordinary bravery, till it was no longer tenable, and then surrendered it upon ai ticles, when the besiegers had lost 1,800 men before it."— Pages 49G and 497. * Vido Storey. JACOBITE AVARS. 223 and its neighbouring heights, and fleeing to Duleek, beheld the waters of the Boyne and the green fields of Ulster for the last time, and as they turned to look upon the fierce and thirsting foe, who pressed with spear * and sword upon their rere, with the dread of death came all the saddening thoughts of lost home and country, and in their hearts and eyes may have arisen pictures of ruined chapels and deserted villages, preys to the invaders who were henceforth to possess their lands and homesteads. It was a joyous triumph to the Williamites, but the Jacobites, who lost it, had more than a defeat to sorrow over. James and his scattered troops fled with wild pre- cipitation on to Duleek, a race of four miles, in the heat of a July evening, whose hot sun shot down its ripening rays in vain upon the rich corn trodden into the earth beneath their feet, and at every turn dyed with their blood. For William's cavalry having now united with his right wing, followed with a deadly energy upon the heels of the flying mass, and as feeble stragglers halted at the ditch, or fell weakly, or shrunk timidlyt for shelter in the corn trenches, a Williamitc pike, sword, or bullet, drank their blood. Thus it is ever in great battles, those who flee are in most danger, and the bulk of slaughter is not so much in the fight as in the retreat, where the blow comes from above or from beliind, and is ever fatal. But the whole of the retreat was not a flight, the Jacobites * 'J'hc bayonet was not introduced into England until tlirec years after tlie i)attle of tlie Jjoync, and in the year 1G'.);5. t " Few or none of the men escaped tliat came into tlieir liands, for they shot them like hares amongst the corn, and in tlic liedgcn as they found them in their march." — Storey, page H.3. 224 THE WILLIAMITE AND contrived to bring off their five pieces of cannon, one being lost in a bog, and to protect them with both cavalry and infantry; while the pursuing Williamites had their artillery too, being the pieces which had been taken over at Slane in the morning. As the fleeing mass approached Duleek, the way became more difficult, and the pursuers of the routed, army had new obstacles to encounter ; there the high road passes over a small rivulet, which, in the rainy sea- son, was wont to enlarge into a river, and to overflow its banks, thereby rendering the surrounding low ground marshy in many places, constituting that soft and yielding earth called bog, over which no horses can travel, and where human feet must move with peculiar care and agile gentleness, else they sink and are lost. Having reached this point the Irish infan- try had the advantage of their foreign pursuers, they were familiar, by constant exercise over such grounds, with the mode of passing them.* And while they got through those grounds unpursued, the cavalry and artillery got over by the bridge, where the road per- mits but a file of six men to go abreast.t Having * ''The country is Ml of defiles and bogs, and the Irish, of all people in the world, are the best at walking and running." — Revolution d'Irelande, page 140. f "There are several boggy fields with ditches at Duleek, and in the midst of these a deep strait rivulet, very soft in the bottom, and high banks on each side ; there is only one place to get over, and there not above six can go abreast." — Storey ^ page 84. Duleek is now rapidly losing its boggy character ; the river still overflows and floods the village road at times, and there are yet traces of the marshy character impressed upon its fields, but they are wearing out. Vide Berwick, page 61, vol. i., and Clarke's Life of James, vol. ii. page 401. WALKER, GOVERNOR OF DERRY. JACOBITE WARS. 225 passed this bridge the Jacobites drew up beyond it, and turning their cannon round, discharged them in the face of their pursuers, who returned the fire from their artillery ; the Jacobites then turned, having had time to breathe and fall into military form, and from thence made their way four miles nearer to Dublin, the enemy still pursuing, at a distance, until they came to the pass of the Nawl, when night closing in upon the belligerents, the Williamite cavalry drew off, and retired to their infantry at Duleek, and there lay upon their arms all night. The Jacobites rested for a few • hours on the road, and then with the first dawn of miorning pursued their way to Dublin. William found the great bulk of the Jacobite baggage at Duleek, which had only been removed thus far, and made large spoils for his army.* William's army is reputed to have lost but about four hundred men and four officers of distinction, except Schomberg and the unfortunate George Walker, * "J^j the victory, the king's army gained immense spoils left behind by the enemy, consisting of chariots, baggage, equi- pages, tents, arms, and ammunition." — Revolution cVIrelande, page 141. This account, by a Williamite authority, of where the baggage was taken, goes far to refute the statement that James had resolved to retreat the night before, and had sent it on to Dublin. The baggage had time to have reached Dublin by a night march, had Buch been its destination, but its being left at Duleek clearly shows it was only sent on to that point of the road to make a clear field for the combatants. It explains a part of James's conduct, which has been hitherto a source for much blame, and rescues his memory from a charge of absurd folly. No doubt his moving the baggage at all on the eve of a battle was calcu- lated to create unpleasant surmises amongst his soldiers, but it is now obvious that it was not ordered on to Dublin. 226 THE WILLIAMITE AND who was killed down near the river, and shortly after Schomberg fell ; and if Schomberg, though a stranger, had friends around him in whose arms he expired, poor Walker does not seem to have had friend or acquaintance near him to save him from the hands of the camp plunderers, who, though countrymen and followers of his own,"^' stripped and plundered his mortal remains. Thus it too often happens in life that ingratitude rewards public devotion to a party, and injury and wrong are inflicted upon fallen men by the very class for whom life itself had been risked. By ten o'clock that night William had gathered in his army to Duleek. They had been sixteen hours under arms, and for the last twelve hours they had been fighting and marching in wet clothes ; he re- solved, therefore, to rest them where they were for the night, and next day to get up his baggage and look to Drogheda, over which still floated James's flag. William has been blamed for allowing James's army to escape to Dublin, but he was unable, owing to the nature of the ground at Duleek, to get on with sufiicient forces or in sufficient time to intercept him : his men were wet and wearied, and, moreover, the town of Drogheda, close beside the field he had w^on, still held out for James. Drogheda must be taken ^ ''Doctor Walker going, as some say, to look after the duke, was shot a little beyond the river and stript immediately, for the Scotch-Irish that followed our camp Avere got thi^ough already and took most of the plunder." — Storey, page 82. '' George Walker, an Irish clergyman, who distinguished him- self more in the camp than in the pulpit." — John Evelyn's Diary, note, vol. ii. page 388. JACOBITE WARS. 227 before he marched on Dublin ; accordingly, the next morning he brought his baggage up from the Louth side of the river, and La Mellionere was sent with one thousand cavalry, three hundred infantry, and eight pieces of cannon, to summon Drogheda to surrender. The governor hesitated, but being informed that if the artillery once played upon the town, no quarter would be afterwards given, surrendered upon condition to have the garrison march out without their arms, and under a guard, who were to convey them to the nearest Jacobite fort, wdiich was Athlone. Thirteen hundred soldiers marched out accordingly, and William got possession of the town, with a large store of provisions within it. So small a garrison could not have held out with such an army in its neighbourhood ; besides, it was ill fortified for such a siege, and the soldiers were disheartened by the total rout of the Jacobite army, which they had witnessed from their towers upon the previous day.* '^The governor excused himself by saying, ^'that the army being defeated in sight of the town so disheartened the garrison, that they showed little inclination towards a vigorous defence ; that their number was not above thirteen hundi'ed men to do duty, and not above seven hundred fire-arms amongst them all ; but seven pieces of iron cannon of four-pound ball, the walls old and low, not lined with ramparts, and no one part flanking another." — Clarice 8 Life of James, vol. ii. page 415. CHAPTEE XL HOW JAMES LEFT IRELAND, DOUGLAS WAS BEATEN AT ATHLONE, AND WILLIAM WENT TO THE SOUTH. As James turned his back upon the banks of tlie Boyne, De Lauzun continued to urge upon him the propriety of his immediately retiring to France, that for a time his cause was lost in Ireland, and that his very person was in danger if he at all tarried. James's broken spirit and ruined hopes fitted him for listening to this pusillanimous advice, and he accordingly lent to it a not unwilling ear, although he subsequently seemed to consider he was hurried out of the kingdom. James arrived at Dublin late in the night, and went direct to the Castle, where he was received by the Duchess of Tyrconnel. He now advised with the lead- ing statesmen and government officers as to the course he would take, and they were unanimous in advising him to leave the kingdom. The Duke of Tyrconnel sent him a message by the Hev. Mr. Taafe, who was the duke's chaplain, to the same effect, and requested him, before he departed, to send to him whatever troops were at Dublin. The duke and Lauzun having resolved not to go to Dublin at all, but to march in the direction of Limerick, remained for the present at Leixlip, where they awaited the arrival of those troops. His course of proceeding was accordingly decided by these advices, and he resolved to leave the country, considering his cause as lost in Ireland, yet JACOBITE WARS. 229 hoping to influence the French king to aid him in a descent on England. Before leaving Dublin he ad- dressed to the authorities there a speech,* remarkable for its moderation in regard to his enemies, but yet more remarka.ble for the spirit of ingratitude in which he reflected upon the military character of the nation, then risking life and every earthly blessing in his cause, and attributed to them that defeat which was the result of the inferior discipline and inferiority of numbers of the gallant little army whose misfortune it was to have been commanded by so weak a king * His Majesty's speecli to the Lord Mayor, &c., upon his quit- ting of Dublin soon after the action at the Eoyne, July 2nd, 1690 : " Gentlemen, I find all things run at present against me ; in England I had an army consisting of men, stout and brave enough, which would have fought, but they proved false and deserted me ; here I had an army which was loyal enough, but they wanted true courage to stand by me at the critical minute. Gentlemen, I am now a second time necessitated to provide for my own safety, and seeing I am no longer able to protect you and the rest of my good subjects, the inhabitants of this city, I advise 3^ou to make the best terms you can for yourselves ; and likewise for my menial servants, in regard that I shall now have no further occasion to keep such a court as I have done ; I desire you all to be kind to the Protestant inhabitants, and not to injure them, or the city, for though I at present quit it, yet I do not quit my interest in it." — Vide Royal Tracts, page 31. The foregoing is quoted from an interesting little book, appa- rently issued under James's own eye, and the materials of which must have been supplied by himself. It is printed in English at Paris, by Estienc Lucas, in 1693, being two years after the battle of the Boyne. It is divided into two parts ; the first containing several of James's speeches, letters, &c., and the second, which is styled, " Imafjo RerjiH,^^ in his sufferings," contains a nunil)cr of prayers and religious aspirations. It is printed in 16nio., and has a neat copperplate picture of tlie king, sad and meditatively reading a book, as frontispiece. 230 THE WILLIAMITE AND and so feeble a general.* It is most probable that Tyrconnel and those who advised him to return, felt convinced that his presence embarrassed, if it did not retard, the measures necessary for the defence of the country, and it is not a little remarkable, that of the Irishmen advising his retreat out of the kingdom, none set him the example ; but on the contrary, all re- mained in Ireland, and prepared to make further battle with the invader of their shores. Indeed, long before the retreat of the Boyne, Tyrconnel had felt James's presence an embarrassment, and had sot represented it to the King of France through those Irishmen resident in Paris, as the duke's representatives or agents in that country, blaming him for those measures in re- gard to the army, which had led to the disbanding of so many troops and consequent diminishing of that army, so necessary under the circumstances, and the want of which was felt at the Boyne. ^ It is traditionally handed down, as an observation of Sars- field's, made after tlie battle of the Boyne to some Williamites, and conveying his strong sense of James's incapacity and William's superior qualities as a soldier, Change kings with us, and we will fight it over again with you." f In the autumn of 1689, the Earl of Melfort had been sent to Prance to look after James's interest there. He writes back to James, dating his letter from St. Germains, October, 1689, and com- plains of calumnies used against James, at the Erench court, by an Irish partj^, as well as by Eosen and some Erench officers, and assisted by the imperfect accounts of Lord Dover. . . ''I found the calumnies to come from the ambassador, Eosen, and some of the Erench officers on the one hand, and from a knot of Irish on the other, who reside here at Paris. As for the Erench, all I • could do was to answer them. I did it fully. . . Put as for the Irish, I made it my business to find out the motive as well as the ways they took to execute it. I soon found that the founda- tion of this here was one Bishop Malone, who some time ago. JACOBITE WARS. 231 Most of the general officers, in their retreat from the Boyne, continued to hold their soldiery together, though the disheartening defeat they had just en- countered, added to the mismanagement of the com- missariat, the deficiency of clothing and pay, were but too well calculated to make a peasant soldiery desert the cause of a king who seemed but too ready to de- sert it himself. And it could not have been much matter of surprise if, under such circumstances, the entire army had melted away. The Duke of Berwick, who, in his march towards Dublin, had rallied about seven thousand of them, found this when he halted at Brasil ; a night's encampment scattered the great bulk of them, and in many instances their having so disbanded themselves appeared to have been done under the sanction, if not the advice,* of some of the being pressed to go to Ireland, had refused, and being put to it, declared that he was intrusted at the Court of France by Duke Tyrconnel, and for the clergy and nobility of Ireland, and con- sequently could not go . . . their accomplices here are as many almost as there are Irish . . . but there are two more guilty than the rest, O'Farrell a lawyer, and another lawyer besides the bishop .... and (letters) wherein the great things done in that kingdom, before your Majesty's coming there, are fully set out ; and how you had, by the advice of ill coun- cillors, reversed all the good order you found in it, and hindered Duke Tyrconnel' s designs." — Macj^her.mi Papers, vol. ii. page 318. * Now, Dc la Hoguctte, with Famsham, Chcmcraud, and Marode, all general officers or colonels, came to the King and told him they had been ordered by Monsieur de Lauzun to meet him and the Duke of Tyrconnel at Dunboyno ; thnt not finding them there, they had come to Dublin to look for them. When tlie King asked them what was become of their men, they answered — ''They were dispersed for hunger and weariness, and that it was to no purpose to keep them together, all their match being burned out." — Clarl(h Lifr of Jarnn, vol. ii. ]). ■102. 232 THE WILLIAMITE AiND French officers commanding them, who felt the diffi- culties of holding an army together under such a state of things, and who, moreover, resolving to leave the country, relieved themselves thus from a military command at a time when they must have viewed James's cause as lost. Before leaving Dublin, James sent to Leixlip, in compliance with Tyrconnel's request, the troops then remaining in Dublin, and under the command of Simon Lutterel, reserving only for his immediate guard two troops of his own dragoons as a body-guard. Having consulted with the authorities, James made haste to quit Dublin, and at five o'clock in the morning set out for the South, making his route on through the Wicklow mountains, and observing the precaution of leaving guards behind him at several bridges as he passed, with a view, by their temporary resistance, to secure his personal escape in case of pursuit. He reached Duncannon Fort, in the County Wexford, near the mouth of the River Suir, early next morning, after a forced march of twenty-four hours, and finding a suitable vessel lying at Passage, upon the Waterford side of the river, he had her brought down to the fort, and going on board of her, and sailing round to Kinsale, he there met some other French vessels, that made an escort, with which he sailed for France, bidding adieu for ever to the shores of that ill-fated country which did not even then abandon that cause which he deserted. He wrote to Tyrconnel before sailing, telling him he left Ireland, being advised to do so by him and others, entrusting the country to his care, and sending him all the money he had, which was fifty thousand JACOBITE WARS. 233 pistoles,* and promising to send him further assistance from France. While James was thus flying out of Ireland, Tyr- connel was arranging for that further resistance which he felt might still be made against William. He had issued his orders to the several generals and regiments as they approached Dublin, to turn into the country and march for Limerick, each colonelf being in- structed to conduct his regiment by whatever route he considered best, and the result of this order was, that the several regiments reached their destination without any serious embarrassments, and with far less mischief to the country through which they passed than if the whole army had been conducted together through the country. The leading ofScers of this march were — Tyrconnel, Berwick, Lauzun, and M. de Surlaube, the latter of whom brought up the rere. They prevented plundering in the various towns through which they passed, compelling the authoritiest and townsmen to pay a sum of money for the protec- tion thus afforded, and so were enabled, for a time, to pay their soldiery, while a stricter discipline was ob- served than could have been done if the men were * Berwick, vol. i. p. 66. f Clarke, vol. ii. p. 405. J Ledwich gives extracts from the account of John Archdeken, the Mayor of Kilkenny, of corporate expenditure upon the occasion of the Jacobite army passing through that city after the fight at the Boyne, amongst which are the following items : — Salt to the Dublin Militia, 3s. ; candles to Lord Tyrconnel and the French general, 8s. ; shoeing Colonel Sheldon's horse wliile protecting the city from plunder, 53. ; iron for shoeing Lord Tyrconnel' s horses, £1 14s. ; women carrying corn to the mill to be ground for them, 3s.; seven carcases of mutton for Tyrconnel's guards, £3 Os. Id." — Vide Antiquities, p. 470. R 234 THE WILLIAMTE AND permitted to prey upon the people, without regard to friend or enemy. Meantime William,having got possession of Drogheda^ secured its wine and other booty ; and, having placed a garrison in it, with strict rules to prevent the sol- diers from plundering, he marched about one mile south of his encampment at Duleek, and there pitched his camp for the night, where they had an alarm in con- sequence of three Jacobite regiments, who were coming from Munster to assist James, and appeared un- expectedly upon William's right flank, but got off- with the loss of only two men, who, acting as vi- dettes, came too near, and were taken by William's soldiers, and hanged. On the 3rd, Yfilliam having been informed that Dublin had been deserted by James and the Jacobites, sent on the Duke of Ormond, with one thousand horse, to take possession of it, and moved, with his whole army, as far as Ballybrighan. Two days after, he encamped at Finglas, two miles outside Dublin ; and on the following Sabbath he attended at St. Patrick's Cathedral, and found himself in undisturbed possession of the capital of Ireland; the Jacobites having retired in such haste as to have left £16,000 in brass money, and some French piecesj in the treasury. When William arrived at Dublin, Captain Farlow, who had been a prisoner with the Jacobites, but who had been released at their departure, was acting as governor of the city, where he and the Williamites received William and his army with sincere re- joicings. William having learned that the great body of the Jacobites had gone towards Limerick, immediately JACOBITE WARS. 235 decided upon sending a body of men to lay siege to Athlone ; and for this purpose he ordered Lieutenant General Douglass to march there, at the head of an army consisting of three regiments of horse, two of dragoons, and ten of infantry. The regiments of horse were those of Langston, Eussell, and Wolseley ; the dragoon regiments those of Sir Albert Cunning- ham and Gwin, and the foot regiments those of Sir Henry Bellasis, Sir John Hanmer, Colonel Babington, Lord Drogheda, Colonel Gustavus Hamilton, Colonels Michelburn, Tiffins, St. Johns, Lord George Hamilton, and Douglass's own regiments. Upon the 9th of July, William departed from Dublin on his march for Limerick, with the great body of his army, and Douglass led his division westward to lay siege to Athlone. Lieutenant-General Douglass, who led the army for the reduction of Athlone, does not appear to have been particularly careful as to its character or moral conduct. He seems, indeed, to have issued some orders against the soldiery oppressing the people or committing plunder along their line of march; but his orders were disobeyed, and he did not act as if he cared they should be enforced. His licentious army plundered the peasantry, wherever they met or could reach them ; neither the protections granted by William or Douglass being any security against their resolute determination to possess themselves of the goods of their enemies. And the soldiery who thus degraded tlieir cause wen; chiefly those very men from the north of Ireland,* whose bra\'ery had already * The Williamito hifitorian of the period, who, in the " Tmpnr- tiul History," has left u.s such graphic sketches of the events of 236 THE WILLIAMITE AND reflected such credit upon Ulster. The result of this disgraceful conduct upon the part of Douglass's divi- sion of the Williamite army was, that the peasantry fled from their line of march, and retired into their fastnesses, taking with them their cattle, goods, and provisions, while they lost all faith in the value of a Williamite protection, or the honesty of a Williamite soldiery ; and those who may have gone to Athlone carried with them there such tales of Douglass's army as made the governor all the more resolute in re- sisting an army of men, who despised alike, and in their conduct repudiated, the morals of the Christian and the honour of the soldier. Nor was this propen- sity to plunder exercised against the Jacobites alone ; for even the very William ites in the neighbourhood, liis time, was evidently shocked at the treatment bestowed upon the wretched peasantry, who were literally stripped of every- thing by Douglass's soldiery. The following extracts detail the rapacity of Douglass's army, as well as its horrible injustice : The soldiers went abroad, and took several things from the Irish, who had staid upon the king's declaration; and frequent complaints came already to the general ; but plundering went on still, especially amongst the northern men, who are very dex- terous at that sport We had not got thus far till we began to plunder, though the general gave strict orders to the contrary Several of the Irish came in for protec- tions, though when they had got them they were of little force to secure their goods or themselves At Mullingar about 500 creights came from the County of Longford, with their wives, children, cattle, and everything they could bring away. Their business was to procure the general's protection, which was granted them, and they moved homewards, as the army marched forwards, but were most of them plundered after- wards." — Storey, pages 99, 100. " The countrymen, of all persuasions, began to think us troublesome." — Ihid. page 103. JACOBITE WARS. 237 who were living in security because they had James's protection there, upon the rude banks of the Shannon, were in their turn victimised by the ruthless barba- rians of an army formed of the supporters of that cause to which they were devoted ; so friends and foes were treated alike by men who had all the vices without any of the virtues of party. Moreover, these poor Williamites who had been so residing upon pro- tections that were respected by the authorities and soldiers of the Athlone Jacobite army — but who, in their enthusiastic welcome of Douglass's army, and their assistance given to it, thenceforward risked their protections, and some of them being, in consequence, obliged to leave it when Douglass was retiring — were plundered* upon their way back. For them a Jaco- bite protection had been a security, but Williamite fraternity was no protection ; and they contrasted, with sad reflections, the conduct of Douglass's Wil- liamite army, "in which such things were denounced, but yet permitted, and that of the gallant old Colonel Grace, of the Athlone district, who enforced the se- curity of James's protections, when given to the Wil- liamites, by hangiiigt upon the walls of Athlone those of his soldiery who dared to violate them. All the poor rrotcstants thereabouts were now in a worse position than before, for they had enjoyed the benefit of the Irish protections till our coming thither, and then showinj^ themselves friends to us put them under a necessity of retreating with us, which a great many of them did, leaving all their harvest, ready at that time to be cut down, &c., and yet were hardly used by our own men." — Storej/, page 104. ■\ His conduct to tlu; rroteslant inbabitants of Iho district under his command is s;iid to b.-ivc; born so singiilai ly lunnano and just .'is to l>ring r-rnsiin; upon liim Ibr ;^i'aii1 iii;^ lliciii protec- 238 THE WILLIAMITE AND Upon the 17tli of July Douglass's army came before Athlonej encamping within about a quarter of a mile of its walls, from whence its cannon played upon them as they appeared within reach during their march. Douglass now sent a drummer to summon the town and offer terms ; but the old governor, whose grey hairs did not indicate the cooling down of life's passions, indignantly refused all treaty ; and, as illus- trative of the mode whereby he was willing to hold communication with Douglass's army, he discharged a pistol at the drummer, declaring such were the only terms upon which he would meet them. The general and the governor now understood each other, and their measures were accordingly taken. Athlone, built upon both sides of the Eiver Shannon, and connected by a bridge, was a fortress to defend the only fordable part of it within a distance of about eight miles. The strongest part of its defence was its Castle, upon the Eoscommon or Oonnaught and western part of the river, and the remainder of the tions too profusely, and administering justice too impartially. Hence it was that, till the arrival of General Douglass, this neighbourhood enjoyed a degree of tranquillity unknown else- where. The lifeless bodies of ten of his soldiers, executed together beyond the walls of the town, proclaimed his determination to repress military outrage." — Vide Shejfield Grace' 8 Memoirs, p. 33. In the Eawdon Papers there is a statement made, in a letter signed D. Campbell, and where it is said to be on the informa- tion of a despatch from Douglass to the Williamite camp at Carrick-on-Suir, that Grace had turned out all the Protestants, men and women, stark naked. The statement reads untrue and exaggerative; and had such an outrage been perpetrated, the minute historian Storey, who was present, would have given it. His silence is in itself a refutation ; but it was a period of fearful party exaggeration at both sides. JACOBITE WARS. 239 town upon the Westmeath or Leinster and eastern part of its banks. Upon the approach of the Wil- liamite army, Grace had burned down the town at the Leinster side of the Shannon, destroyed a portion of the bridge, and retired into the Castle on the Con- naught side, whose walls he had made ball proof with a lining of eighteen feet of earth work.^ Casting up breast-works along the banks of the river, and placing batteries of small cannon upon redoubts near the end of the bridge, he there sternly awaited his enemy, within a fortress which he had twice before defended under the like circumstances. He was well supplied with the materials of war,t and had the entire province of Connaught behind him, with provisions and allies for * Vide Storey's Impartial History, page 101 ; Continuation, page 31 ; and Eawdon Papers, page 327. f Among the mass of valuable records belonging to tbe Evi- dence Chamber, \Yhich holds the Ormonde papers in Kilkenny Castle, is one giving views of all the fortified towns in Ireland, as they were found upon inspection made by order of Govern- ment, in the year 1685, just five years before the siege. It is a book containing exquisite plans of the several towns and forts, and accompanied by a report upon their condition and fitness for defence. It sets out, upon its title, that it was made By direc- tion of his Majesty King Charles the Second unto ye Right Ilonble. George Lord Dartmouth, Mr-General of his Majestie's Ordnance in England, and performed by Thomas Philips, an, 1G85." The sketch of the Castle and Bridge of Athlone, pre- fixed to this chapter, is accurately copied from it. There is also a manuscript of a report made upon the condition of the Ordnance of the country ; it is entitled, " An Account of Ordnance, Amies, Ammunition, &c., remaining in the several Stores and Magazines in Ireland, on the 2.5th March, 1G84, and in charge withAVilliam Lord Viscount ^Mountjoy, Master of ye Ordnance there. — Wm. Robinson." This latter return shows the numbers and size of the ordnance then at Athlono, just six years before the siege. There 240 THE WILLIAMITE AND assistance, if he needed them. So that the position and circumstances'*' were all calculated to give confi- dence to a soldier who had grown old in the strategy of war; and who, from having previously defended Athlone. knew its weakness and its strength, and the resources he had to rely upon, and who thoroughly u.nderstood the country around him and the soldiers under his command, most of whom had been levied off his own estates and from amongst his own tenantry. Douglass spent the first two days in making en- trenchments, occupying in that work 150 men out of each regiment. And when his works were completed he began to fire upon the castle ; but his ordnance was not equal to the duty assigned to it ; the deep, clay linings of the wall defied his iron, which made but a slight breach in the upper part of the castle, while the firing from the castle was effective in killing some of his best gunners. He now sent a detachment to Lanesborough Pass, but it was found so well pro- tected by Grace's vigilance, that the detachment had to return without attempting to force their way. The firing continued without intermission from Dou- were twenty pieces of brass cannon, under the names of demi- culverings, sakers, falconets, slingpiece, and harquebus a crock, ranging from three feet to ten feet eight inches in length, and weighing from two hundred up to fifty- seven hundred weight, besides two mortars of thirteen inches diameter, and one thousand muskets, grenade shells for the mortars, powder, cannon and musket ball. ^' Storey estimates the forces under Grace at three regiments of foot, nine troops of dragoons, and two of horse ; and that Douglass had only two twelve-pounders, ten lesser cannon, and two field mortars before the town. JACOBITE WARS. 241 glass's batteries, and was replied to as steadily from the castle and town. Meantime, two circumstances occurred to damp Douglass's ardour ; bread for his troops began to fail, and he got information that Sarsfield was advancing with a large force, while the fortress hung out from its castle the deadly and determined resolution of its goyernor, as indicated by a blood-red flag. Douglass had been now a week before it ; his ball and powder ran waste against its walls, but he durst not venture to pass the fords and try the escalade, or storm, because of the resolute character of the defence,* and the brave determination of Colonel Grace. He therefore called a council of war, consisting of the colonels of his several regiments, and telling them of the condition of the army, and that he had no hope either of taking it or of inducing Grace to surrender, he resolved to raise the siege and abandon the attempt. Accordingly he sent off his baggage that night at twelve o'clock, and by break of day his army had deserted their entrenchments, and * The Government Eeport on the condition of A thlone in 1685, which is in Kilkenny Castle, speaks but indifferently of the pos- sibility of the town being well defended: — Athlone is represented to be the most proper place for a store or chief magazine, being in the centre of the kingdom, and the fittest to lodge a trainc of artillery in to the relief of all other places. It was esteemed as a great pass; but now that is out of doors, for there are several bridges built both above it and below it, so that it cannot be esteemed upon that account ; neither can it be made a place of strength, by reason of several hills that command it, and is not in the centre of the kingdom only upon the east and west line. ^ ^ The castle is not fit to lodge a train, by reason of its being so high. ^ .jf. It is humbly proi)osed that Athlone be only made conve- nient to receive a considerable number of horse and dragoons, which are the most proper force to defend this kingdom." 242 THE WILLIAMITE AND turned their back upon the fortifications which the venerable commander had so spiritedly and so well defended.* This was the first check given to the victorious army of the Boyne, and by it Grace gained time for the Jacobites, preserved Connaught from a Williamite army, and made the Shannon, for one year more, the boundary between the contending kings, and the bulwark beyond which his countrymen were again rallying. By that resolute and successful defence, Colonel Grace taught his soldiers to feel that, though often beaten, they could win, and might be victors yet. Had he been beaten there, Douglas's army would have marched through Connaught on to Colonel Grace, who conducted this defence, and who had been defending Athlone for years, finally fell before its walls, and so escaped seeing it in the hands of his enemies. In the ensuing campaign his body was found amongst the dead who in vain fell defending it. Colonel Eichard Grace was a younger son of one of the Barons of Courtstown. His life had been passed amid the struggles of war ; and in all the vicissitudes which marked the career of the unfortunate House of Stuart, from the death of the first Charles to the flight from Ireland of the second James, he had fought under their banners, followed them into exile, and given his blood and life, as well as large pecuniary sacrifices, in that cause, for which his family titles and estates were also sacri- ficed. He was a man of great energy of character, had fought upon the Continent as well as at home, and was mainly instrumental in inducing James to come to Ireland, and try his strength there. It is narrated of him that, " on one occasion, having left Athlone, he unexpectedly returned at the expiration of a few days with a reinforcement of 400 men, which he accompanied on foot from a remote part of the County of Kilkenny, distant above 70 miles, in a forced march of two days." At another time, he rode to Dublin from Athlone, and returned in 24 hours. — Tide Sheffield Grace' s Memoirs, page 33. JACOBITE WARS. 243 Limerick, and with their aid William would have taken it at that first and memorable siege, in which its defenders had gathered courage from Grace's spirited defence of Athlone. Douglass's army now made the best of their way towards the south, moving through the centre of the country, having the Shannon and the Jacobites upon their right, and the line of Yv^il- liam's march from Dublin upon their left. During this march he encountered some of the evils of per- mitting his soldiers to oppress the peasantry who had taken protection from William or his generals. These poor fellows, who had been taught that there was no safety in neutrality, took to the bogs and the moun- tains, and arming themselves with the rapparee wea- pon, they hung upon his march, returning the lesson that his army gave, plundering and slaying such small parties or stragglers as lay within their reach.* Dou- glass hearing that a party of Jacobites awaited him on his march at Banagher bridge, turned to a more easterly line by Eoscrea ; and as he passed from thence, beneath the picturesque mountain of the " Devil's Bit," he saw upon it, and the surrounding heights, troops of the rapparees, who coolly looked down from their fastnesses upon the moving mass of Williamites, too numerous and well armed to be faced by peasant troops, but yet an object of interest, whose motions were watched, whose videttes and rere guards might be surprised ; wliose baggage, clothing, or arms, negligently guarded, might be seized. In this * Several of the Irish that had taken protections, when tliey could not have the benefit of thorn, began to turn rapparees, strip- ping and sometimes killing our men that they found straggling." — Store I/, page 104. 244 THE WILLIAMITE AND march, Douglass had permitted such disorders amongst his men, that, for the sake of keeping them in line, he was forced to issue a command that no soldier should move from his place under pain of death ; but the temptation to plunder was too great for his loose discipline, and a party of five having been guilty of disobedience in his very presence, he im- mediately ordered that one of them should die, and set them to play at dice, instantly shooting the loser, who needed to be but a successful gambler in addition to his disobedience and robbery, to have lived and triumphed in his iniquity ; while, immediately after, the general himself handed over the unfortunate town of Thurles to be plundered by the entire army. Marching thence, he joined the king's army upon the 8th of August, within five miles of Limerick, at a place called Carrigalis. Thus a month had been spent by Douglass in his route from Dublin, through Athlone, to Limerick, William having arrived at the same place two days before him. The Williamite army had left Dublin upon the 9th of July, encamping at Cromlin, a little outside the town, where William remained two days giving out protections, and proclaiming down James's brass mo- ney. Upon the 11th he marched as far as Kilcullen, observing on his march the strictest vigilance to pre- vent plundering; an instance of which having fallen under his own observation, so roused his temper that he personally chastised one man on the spot, and ordered two of the Inniskillen dragoons and some others to be executed for the like offences. The route of the army was through Timmolin and Castledermot, from which latter town he sent Colonel Eppinger with JACOBITE WARS. 245 one thousand horse and dragoons, to take Wexford, from which the Irish garrison had retired. When he arrived at Carlow, he sent forward the Duke of Or- monde with a party of horse to secure Kilkenny; and on the 19th of July he dined with the Duke in his ancient castle, the property of which the Jacobites had respected, even to its cellars. While at Kilkenny his army was encamped at the village of Bennet's Bridge,* four miles to the east of the city, whence they marched upon the 20th for Carrick-on-Suir; Count Schomberg being sent to Clonmel, from which town the Jacobites retired upon his approach. From Carrick, Major-General Kirke was ordered to Water- ford on the 22nd, with his own and another regiment, besides some horse, and with other troops following him. Waterford was garrisoned by two Jacobite regi- ments, and when summoned to surrender, at first re- fused; but Kirke preparing to lay siege to the town, they surrendered, and marched out upon the 2oth with arms and baggage, under a convoy as far as Mallow. The fort of Duncannon, commanded by Captain Burke, surrendered upon the same conditions, being threatened both by a land force and from ship- ping in the river. William went in person to take charge of Waterford, preserving it from plunder. Upon the 27th he left the camp at Carrick, and went suddenly towards Dublin, intending to return to England, but he did not go beyond Chapelizod, having * His original order, with his autograph, upon a slicct of com- mon paper, is preserved amongst the archives of the Kilkenny- corporation, for the removal of the .Tacohite corporation, and mib- stituting tlic Williamito one in its place. It is dated, " From our Camp at Bonnet's JUridge." 246 THE WILLIAMITE WARS. received more satisfactory news from England, which induced him to decide upon remaining in Ireland. While at Dublin, he was principally occupied in hear- ing complaints having reference to the misconduct of Douglass's army, and to the violation of protections ; and remained three days inquiring into the charges made against the several offending parties, as also against Colonel Trelawney's regiment, then at Dublin. He ordered it and Hastings' foot, together with Count Schomberg's horse and Colonel Matthew's dragoons, to be shipped for England. He also issued proclama- tions ordering all Catholics to deliver up their arms, on pain of being considered as rebels, and as such left to the mercy of the soldiery; and offering pardon and free passes to their own country, to all such foreign- ers as, being then in arms against him, v^ould sub- mit; and he further commanded a general fast to be kept every Friday during the war. Having regulated these matters, he left Dublin, and hastened back to the army now approaching Limerick. Upon the 8tli of August they came within cannon shot of the town, within which the enemy retired as they approached, having first burned all the suburbs between the town and its besiegers. CHAPTER XII. WILLIAM BESIEGES LIMEKICK AND IS BEATEN. The Jacobites, beaten out of Ulster, abandoning Leinster and the heart of Munster, holding yet a feeble grasp of some few extreme points of the latter province, had crossed the Shannon and passed into Connaught, the main body of their army clinging to its banks, from Athlone to Limerick, and its peasant soldiery, the rapparees, sheltering in the bogs, or looking out from the mountains around, evading their Williamite pursuers, who hunted them as game, destroying them as mercilessly as they would wolves or foxes ; while the rapparees returned the merciless treatment bestowed upon their body with a spirit of kindred hatred, and the blood thus spilt formed a large amount of the whole of what was shed in the struggle between AVilliam and James, through the central parts of Ireland. , Lauzun and the French went to Galway, and there awaited ships from France, for which they had written, to take them home from a country, they were tired of, and from a cause, whose total ruin they now looked to as a thing inevitable. But the Irish, who had a deeper stake in the struggle, hoped on, or if hope grew weak, yet strug- gled on, and resolved, even though thus pushed, south and west, on to the sea coast, to contend to the last foot of ground left them to stand upon in the country they loved and for the religion they revered. 248 THE WTLLIAMITE AND A short year gone by and loyalty to James had been a third motive, but that had died out when he fled their country and insulted the manhood of a people, whose homes, happiness, and lives had been laid at his feet. To Limerick the great bulk of the routed army of the Boyne had gathered after that sad defeat ; they reached, by a comm.on understanding, that there might yet be made a rally of their army, and a successful resistance to their foes. One large body of the routed army of the Boyne went in order under Tyrconnel and Lauzun, with the Irish cavalry and the French infantry — the latter ultimately marching to Galway. But the great bulk of the Irish soldiery who separated at the Boyne, nearly all made their way tow^ards the city of the Shannon, where they arrived in scattered parties along the highways and over the hills, and across the plains, in many instances unofficered sol- diers;^ regiments without colonels, companies without captains, and solitary soldiers, each bringing his pike or musket, and with it a stern resolve to try another fight, displaying a pertinacity of resistance under constant and repeated defeats and disasters, which is in itself an evidence of bravery and manhood, becom- ing a people who were in arms for their firesides and their altars. It is the more remarkable that they should decide upon defending Limerick, because Lauzun * "It is a:lmirable how every individual person, both officer and soldier, came thither without any orders, and without the conduct of their chief commanders, as if they were guided to Limerick by some secret instinct of nature J'—O' Kelly's Macarice. Excidium, O'Callaghan's Translation, page 55, JACOBITE WARS. 249 had stated that the walls of the city could be taken with roasted ajDples ! Such was not the case. After five thousand of the flower of its army had been destroyed, after the king had abandoned the field and the cause, and fled, after everything had occurred to debilitate the ranks and destroy the energies of soldiers and leaders, Limerick became the rallying point of shattered forces, and in Lim- erick a desperate resistance was made by General Patrick Sarsfield and the Duke of Tyrconnel ; the walls could not be taken by all that William's General, De Giukel, could bring to bear to destroy them ; but on the Srd of October, 1691, the Irish generals, finding they had not men or resources equal to the valor by which they were animated, a surrender was made on terms the most honorable as regards the Irish army and their com- manders. The civil and military Articles were drawn up between the belligerents, which were ratified by William in the most solemn manner, who lost no time in breaking them perfidiously, and of afl'ording another proof of how little faith there can be reposed in English dealings with Ireland. *'This," Grattan said, was called a peace and a truce. It also proved to the Catholics of Ireland a sad servitude; and to the Trotcstants a drunken triumph.'' As a contemporary historian observes : That which was called in England the glorious revolution of 1G88, was recognised in Ireland as an infamous attack on its inhabitants, and he who was characterised by a faction as their redeemer, was considered as the destroyer of the Irish nation, and 250 THE WILLIAMITE AND an enemy to every species of honor." A legacy of heart-burning, ill-will, internecine animosity and strife, has been bequeathed to our country, which seems to increase the further we remove from the period of the disastrous overthrow of James 11. The Treaty of Limerick, on the faith of William, secured to the Irish nearly all the civil and religious freedoms they have been doing battle for ever since that Treaty was ignominiously and flagitiously violated. The spirit of the traitor, Lutterell, is said to move at times over the agitated waters of the Shannon. The spirit of William exercises its hateful sway to this hour in the divisions and disturbances which the Orange faction think it their privilege to perpetuate. Though King James was not possessed of firmness of character, or a true confidence in the nation which spared nothing for his crown, it is certain that our country enjoyed more substantial freedom and justice during his short reign, than have been experienced since his overthrow to the present hour. James was in favour of the develop- ment of Irish trade and manufactures. William and his successors have exerted their utmost to ruin and extirpate both. James gave liberty to every class and creed, and eff'ectually crushed the persecu- tions to which the Quakers in particular were sub- jected. William and those who came after sought the destruction of the Catholic faith, in view to which the Irish had ever adhered amid sunshine and storm. James was a devout and devoted Catholic, who, on his retirement to France, sought JACOBITE WARS. 251 in the solitude and holiness of the ancient Cistercian monastery of our Lady de la Trappe, in the Diocese of Sees, in Normandy, how to despise earthly gran- deur. In 17S2 Grattan and the Volunteers asserted Ireland's rights to Parliamentary Independence. In 1 798 the indescribable horrors excited by Castlereagh and enacted by his minions and myrmidons, through the instrumentality of a ferocious soldiery, many of them mere mercenaries, cleared the road to the fatal Act of Union in 1800. The wars of William, the overthrow and death of James, and their fatal con- sequences are felt to this hour. How long these dreadful eifects are to prevail, time alone can answer. riNis. BOSTON COLLEGE 24 23 3 9031 01360586 DOES NOT CmCULATB BOSTON COLLEGE LIBRARY UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS CHESTNUT HILL. MASS. Books may be kept for two weeks and may be renewed for the same period, unless reserved. Two cents a day is charged for each book kept overtime. If you cannot find what yon want, ask the Librarian who will be glad to help you. The borrower is responsible for books drawn on his card and for all fines accruing f)n the same.