Ninth, and Eighteenth Foot, Lisburn's Herefordshire regiment, the Blue Dutch, and a regiment of Brandenburgers. To the left of these was another body of infantry 371 composed of Cutts's regiment and the Danes. In rear of all was a strong show of cavalry.371 General Douglas commanded the whole. The day was one of those hot stifling days of August 371 when the very idea of exertion is repugnant. At half-past three in the afternoon,371 the hottest hour of all, the deliberate boom of three several guns gave the signal for the assault, and also put the enemy on the alert. The granadeers soon reached the counterscarp 371 and there showered granades and bullets upon the Irish, who replied with cannon and musquet. Captain Carlisle," who commanded the granadeer company of Drogheda's, had been twice wounded before he reached the top of the glacis, yet he was first into the ditch (which was a dry one); he was instantly shot, but Lieutenant Barton, his subaltern, was ready to take his place, and Drogheda's sturdy Welshmen required little urging, while the other granadeers were equally forward; 380 the covered way was quite in the hands of the besiegers, and the supporting regiments followed up the success. Unfortunately, while the granadeers had been permitted to launch themselves unrestrained against the enemy, the supporting battalions had received orders to halt 381 when once the covered way was in possession. The granadeers had all followed Carlisle and Barton 371 into the ditch, and then rushed on the breach with such impetuosity 382 that the Irish fled. But the supports deeming it their duty to clear the covered way first of all, instead of following to the breach,383 began to pursue those of the enemy that were retiring from the covered way by John's Gate. The crush of the Irish was not great, and the besiegers had the gates shut in their faces. 383 By this time the granadeers were well into the town,380 but the Irish, seeing their fewness 380 Story. Macarice Excidium. 381 Parker. Story. Mullenaux. 382 Story. Macarice Excidium. 383 Parker. Kane. and that they were unsupported, recovered their courage 371 and returned to the fight; the Brandenburgers were the first to attempt to support the granadeers, and they had actually taken 374 the Black Battery when, with a horrible explosion,371 the enemy's powder there blew up, killing numbers and scorching and wounding many more. The granadeers had to fall back and regain the covered way,380 The object of the English was now limited to retaining the covered way and effecting a lodgment there, and the object of the Irish was, of course, to drive them back to their own lines. And at this sort of work the Irish were excellent soldiers: give them a wall or a clod to get behind, and they would blaze away as energetically as might be desired. The Irish women, however, exhibited a courage far beyond that of their men,371 for they came boldly to the front of the breach and nearer to the enemy than to their own people; and, when they failed to obtain more deadly missiles, threw stones and broken bottles.371 For three hours did this sharp work continue.380 Cutts attempted to create a diversion by an attack 371 on the Spur at the southern angle of the wall: but he was without scaling-ladders,371 there was no breach on that side, and he could do little good; he himself was wounded and many of his men killed. At length when the ammunition was all spent, while the Irish fire increased with every moment, fresh regiments coming up to the walls,374 and every available gun being pointed on the attacking party, the troops were recalled from the covered way, and the FIRST SIEGE OF LIMERICK was closed. On the 29th 374 the rain began again in torrents and with every appearance of continuing. A council of war was held; 374 it was argued that disease was on the increase, that ammunition was scarce, that the transport train consisted mostly of oxen, and that, if the rains continued, it would become impossible to draw off the guns at all and they would have to be abandoned to the enemy; even as it was, it would be necessary to destroy all the remaining heavy ammunition. On Sunday the 31st the English army raised the siege,381 and with a rear-guard of five thousand men marched to Cahircoulish, 371 first blowing up all the shell, &c., that could not be conveyed away. The loss in the assault of the 27th was grievous. In three hours' fighting one thousand five hundred men had fallen on 384 Story. 384 the side of the besiegers alone, of whom five hundred were left dead on the spot. In the English regiments the vacancies caused in the commissioned ranks in so brief a fight were awful to contemplate, and spoke well for the gallantry, if little could be said for the skill, of our officers; the Third FootGuards 371 had seven officers killed and eleven wounded; the Ninth three killed and ten wounded; 385 the Eighteenth six killed and eight wounded; and Cutts's and Lisburn's between them appeared on the list for five killed and seventeen wounded; and all these were exclusive of the granadeers 371 who bore the brunt of the affair. Lord Meath, the colonel of the Eighteenth, Colonel Stuart of the Ninth, and Colonel Cutts were among the wounded. The British army now retired into winter quarters, the Danish and Dutch contingents being detached towards Cork 386 under the Duke of Wirtemberg and General Schravemoer to assist in the reduction of that place. At this time Birr castle in King's County was occupied by but one company 371 of the Twenty-Seventh Inniskillingers; and the Irish, deeming this a favourable moment for its capture, sent Sarsfield with eight thousand men to besiege it.387 But the Inniskillingers were not to be terrified by numbers: so long as the bricks and mortar would hold together, so long would they defend the place. News of their strait coming to head-quarters, General Kirke, with the Blues,371 the First and Sixth DragoonGuards, and Langston's Horse, the Third and part of the Sixth Dragoons, the Second, Eleventh, and Eighteenth Foot, as well as Cutts's, Lisburn's, Earle's, and Drogheda's regiments, was sent to relieve the hard-pressed little garrison. With a reinforcement that he received on the road Kirke's numbers 387 were still inferior to those of Sarsfield; but the latter nevertheless retired again beyond the Shannon, thereby losing much of his own prestige and considerably damping the too-easily elevated spirits of the Irish.387 During this expedition for the relief of Birr, much harm was again done by the licentiousness of the English soldiers, who levied contributions 371 on all sides with the utmost 385 Parker. Kane. Story says only two killed and four wounded, 386 Story. Parker. Kane. 387 Macarice Excidium. impartiality, disregarding nation, religion, political creed, and military safety-papers, equally. Story, the chaplain of Drogheda's regiment, tells us that some of the colonels not only winked at this disgraceful robbery, but even encouraged it, because they themselves had unclean hands; 388 there is, unfortunately, too much collateral testimony to admit of our doubting his statement. On the 21st of September, John Churchill, now become Earl of Marlborough, arrived off Cork with the Fourth, Eighth, and Thirteenth Foot, his own regiment the Seventh Fusileers, Fitzpatrick's fusileers, Hales's and Collier's Foot, and Lord Torrington's and Lord Pembroke's marine regiments.389 A landing was effected from open boats 371 in the face of the enemy: on the 23rd, Wirtemberg and Schravenmoer having joined, the trenches were opened, and on the 28th 371 the place surrendered at discretion, to avoid the horrors of the assault which had actually commenced; the Duke of Grafton was mortally wounded on this occasion. Almost equally bald of incident because equally skilfully and quietly conducted, was the siege of Kinsale, which place surrendered on the 15th of October. The Reverend Mr. Story, the most reliable historian of this war, concludes his narrative of this campaign with an account of the clever cunning of the Rapparees in avoiding detection, and it tallies so closely with all that one hears, reads, and sees of the underhand doings of the Irish malcontents of to-day, that it is worth transcribing. Story narrates how, when they feared detection, the Rapparees would sink down into the long grass, the standing corn, or other convenient cover, how they would dismount the locks of their pieces and stow them away in some dry spot or about their clothes, how they would then stop the muzzles of their pieces with corks, and the touch-holes with small quills, and chuck away the piece confidently into a pond or other equally secure place; and then, says he, "You may see an hundred of them without arms who look like "the poorest, humblest slaves in the world, and you may search "till you are weary before you find one gun; and yet when they "have a mind to do mischief they can be all ready in an hour's "warning." 388 Various letters in the Clarke MSS. 389 Raised 1690 and armed with Dutch snaphans musquets, cartridge-boxes, and bayonets each regt. 15 Compies., 3 being granadeers, of 6 Sergts., 6 Corpls., 4 Drums and 120 Privates; Royal Warrts. 14 and 22 Apr., 1690; Ordnance Papers. : CHAPTER IX. THE WAR IN IRELAND. CAMPAIGN OF 1691, TO THE 1691, TO 5 JULY. Preparations for the campaign.-Winter operations.-Opening of the campaign.— March of the English Army.-Capture of Ballymore.-The second siege of Athlone.-Capture of the English Town. -The Assault on the Irish Town, and fall of Athlone. -The Irish retreat.-De Ginckell's pursuit. [For Illustrations, see Note on p. xiii.] THE campaign of 1691 was looked forward to by both sides as one that must prove decisive. It would be the third year of the war; the first year had resulted in a drawn game; in the second the English had decidedly had the best of it, but they had received such material checks on the Shannon that the Irish might still hope to turn the scale in their own favour. It was impossible that the state of things could remain as it was; either the English must force the frontier of the Shannon and thus put an end to the struggle, or the Irish must take the offensive and drive the English back into Ulster. Both armies were full of hope, and preparations were eagerly made for the approaching campaign. Count Solmes having left Ireland to accompany King William to the Continent,390 Lieutenant-General Ginckell took the command of the British army. Recruits and stores arrived daily from England; 390 large depôts of transport and supplies were formed at Mullingar and Belturbet; the troops were all furnished with new clothing; 390 and a train of Artillery was prepared at Dublin on a scale heretofore unknown in the British Isles.390 Count Schonberg, second son of the late Duke, was created Duke of Leinster; and other honours and promotions were conferred on those whose lives were hazarded more for honour than for gold. On the Irish side, Sarsfield was created Earl of Lucan 391 390 Story. |