The battle-fields of Ireland, from 1688 to 1691

by active 1867 John Boyle

The condition of affairs now brooked of no delay; the English Parliament was convened for an early day; William had expressed his intention of sending an expedition into Ireland, and only waited its assent: the suppression of the Ulster rebellion before such an event should take place, was a matter of vital importance to the Jacobite cause, and an active campaign was at once determined on. Accordingly, Major-General, the Duke of Berwick, was dispatched to the assistance of Hamilton, now lying before the fortified town of Coleraine, while de Pusignan, with a select body of horse and foot, and two pieces of artillery, was to march through Charlemont and Dungannon, and passing to the west of Lough Neagh, unite with Berwick and Hamilton, and proceed against Derry, the chief stronghold of the rebellion.[¹²]

CHAPTER V.
THE BATTLE OF CLADIFORD—THE INVESTMENT OF DERRY—PROCEEDINGS OF PARLIAMENT.

Lying impatiently before Coleraine since the affair of Dromore, Hamilton, on being joined by the Duke of Berwick, determined to renew hostilities, and immediately proceeded against that important position. Its garrison consisted of 3,000 effective men, who were expected to make a determined resistance; but on the approach of the royal troops they destroyed the bridge on their front, and, abandoning the fort, retreated in the direction of Derry. Hamilton soon occupied the place, and, leaving a regiment there under Colonel O'Morra, and being joined by de Pusignan, who had captured Moneymore, Magherafelt, Dawson's Bridge, and, in short, all the places on the left of the Bann, marched to Strabane, which he reached on the 15th of April, without meeting any opposition. Here he halted to rest his troops, and having ascertained that the enemy to the number of 12,000 men, from Enniskillen and Derry, under the command of General Lundy, were drawn up at Cladiford, behind the river Finn, determined to offer battle. On receipt of this intelligence, Hamilton and Berwick, leaving their main body at Strabane, took 600 horse and 350 foot, and advanced to reconnoitre; but on their appearance the town was evacuated, and the enemy, destroying the bridge, drew up in a fortified camp on the western side of the river.

Neither their force nor the strength of their position had been exaggerated: the river, which was of considerable volume, was found to be unfordable, while their right and left, beyond it, were protected by morasses impassable to cavalry; a strong breastwork had been thrown up in front of the bridge, behind which, in advance of their main body, 2,000 men were arrayed in order of battle. Hamilton, however, determined to attack them, without apprising De Pusignan, and setting a party to work on the bridge under cover of his infantry, he marched the cavalry along the river, determined to cross at the opportune moment. The infantry approached the bridge and opened a fire which dislodged the enemy from the trenches, and the planks being laid, they dashed over, and making a lodgment in the abandoned works, drove them back in confusion to the camp. Taking advantage of this diversion, the horse swam the river on their right, and forming on the opposite side, charged the entire body of the rebels, now drawn up on the high grounds to receive them. But the bold front assumed by Hamilton disconcerted them, and observing, at the same time, a squadron of dragoons, which had just arrived under De Rosen, crossing the river to their left, their whole force became panic-stricken, and fled in confusion. Their cavalry was followed up and driven furiously through Raphoe, a distance of five miles; "As for their infantry," says Berwick, "we killed about four hundred of them on the spot, but the rest, being favored by the morasses, found means to escape." The loss of the royal troops in this affair was one officer and two men, drowned in crossing the river.

Hamilton found abundance of provisions and some war materials at Raphoe, where, waiting to rest his troops, he was joined by Lord Galmoy with eight hundred men, and determined to advance on Derry, when his progress was arrested by the arrival of a deputation that came to treat for its surrender. The party were well received, and a conference being arranged to take place within two days, on condition that he should approach no nearer than St. Johnstown, they departed highly satisfied with their reception. Hamilton proceeded to the appointed place, and being impressed with the importance of Derry to the Jacobite cause, offered them the most liberal terms:—"Life, liberty, property, and protection, on condition that the town would be surrendered at twelve o'clock next day. The terms were accepted, and awaited but ratification on both sides."

In the mean time, the king had left Dublin on the 8th of April, to take a view of the country. Hearing of the victory at Cladiford, he directed his course to that place, and arrived at the camp on the 18th, on the very hour that Hamilton was in conference with the delegates from Derry. De Rosen, perhaps, jealous of Hamilton's success, or wishing to gain credit with the king, represented to him that his presence before Derry would cause its gates to be at once thrown open, and prevent unnecessary delay, so he prevailed on him to make the experiment. Avoiding the place of conference, he took a circuitous route, and appearing before the town, summoned it to surrender. The "defenders," taking this sudden appearance of the king at such a time as an act of treachery on the part of Hamilton, answered the demand by a cannon-shot, which killed an officer by his side, and caused him to retire in shame and confusion. The consequence is easily foreseen. The treaty about to be ratified was broken off; the alarm was sounded throughout the rebel ranks; the "defenders" determined on more stern resistance; a siege was ordered by the king, and under escort of De Rosen, he returned to Dublin to meet his Parliament, which had been convoked for the 7th of May.

The consequences of this ill-advised interference on the part of the king are generally attributed to the Count de Rosen, whose appointment to the command of the army was one of the many unwise proceedings attributed to this very weak or very imprudent monarch. Speaking of the affair just narrated, the Duke of Berwick says: "M. de Rosen was the more to blame in persuading the king to the step I have just mentioned with regard to Derry, as he knew and had approved the agreement of M. Hamilton." But, with due respect for established authority, there is ground for a deduction different to that drawn by the Duke and other learned contemporaries. From the beginning of this revolution the "defenders" had practised the art of duplicity to a very considerable extent. In the winter of 1688, they sent delegations to Dublin and London at the same time with very different objects:—that to Dublin was meant to delay any action on the part of the deputy, while the other went to expedite an invasion by the Prince of Orange. Notwithstanding the short time that had elapsed from their defeat at Cladiford until the conference with Hamilton, they had received a large supply of arms and ammunition from England, and had gathered their scattered forces into the town; and there is reason to surmise, that while the king was outraged before their walls, Hamilton was outwitted by their delegation.

But however this may have been, we think that if Hamilton, with his characteristic promptitude, had marched boldly on Derry from Cladiford, he could have dictated his terms within its walls. Most of the "regimented men" spoken of by M. Walker in his history of the siege that succeeded, were still outlying in the "far north;" the fugitives from the late defeat would have been cut off from any hope of entering the place; and the supplies received during the interval would have been intercepted. There was not then within the town, a force capable of offering any protracted resistance, and a surrender would be the probable, nay, the almost certain consequence. Fewer lives, also, would have been sacrificed on each side, and the whole country would have been reduced to the arms of the king before the arrival of the Duke of Schomberg. But, then, the army was under the command of De Rosen, and whether this delay was occasioned by that general or not, it is now hard to determine.

The success of the royal arms in Monaghan, Leitrim, and Fermanagh, kept pace with the progress of Hamilton and Berwick. The insurgents were everywhere driven from the open country, and compelled to take refuge in Crom and Enniskillen. The garrison of Sligo, consisting of 3,000 foot and 1,000 horse, under Lord Kingston, withdrew to Ballyshannon, which commands the entrance to Lough-Erne; and towards the beginning of May, there remained no place of any significance in their possession but the fortified towns of Enniskillen and Derry. But the defenders of the latter place had made good use of the temporary cessation of hostilities after the battle of Cladiford. Their outlying posts were immediately abandoned, and troops came in daily from all quarters. Culmore, a strong post which guarded the entrance of the Foyle, and which they had held through the winter, was evacuated on the approach of the Jacobite army, and its garrison of 1,500 men, under Captain Murray, after a hazardous march through the mountainous country to the west of the river, succeeded in getting safely within its walls. The accession of these forces gave a new impulse to the flagging spirit of the defenders. Governor Lundy, being suspected of Jacobite tendencies, was at once deposed, and a military council was constituted, of which Murray, the Reverend George Walker, and Colonel Baker, were the ruling spirits.

The town of Derry stands on the western bank of the river Foyle, about five miles above its expansion into a lough of the same name. It is situated on an oval-shaped hill; the houses, rising tier over tier, look very picturesque to one approaching it from an eastern direction; but to the west it is overlooked by an irregular line of hills, stretching far back into the County of Donegal. Since the time of the Revolution, it has been greatly extended in all directions, but was then confined to the hill already mentioned, and was encompassed by a wall of immense strength, and about a mile in circuit. It was founded by King James I., in 1607, as a refuge to the settlers, whom he sent from England and Scotland, to the exclusion of the native race; and, by a sort of retributive justice, it helped to complete the ruin of his house, in the person of his grandson, but eighty years later. After the departure of the king for Dublin, the Irish generals proceeded to invest this important position, and, by the 20th of April, had made the following disposition of their forces: The fort of Culmore, which stands about five miles below the town, was occupied by a small garrison after its evacuation by Captain Murray, and the river was obstructed by a boom a little higher up. Hamilton, with about one thousand horse and foot, established his camp some two miles from the walls of the garrison; General Ramsay, with four battalions, took up a position at Hollywell Hill, nearly the same distance to the west; Brigadier Wauchop, with two battalions, a squadron of horse and two field-pieces—their only artillery—made a lodgment on the eastern bank of the river, at a place known as the "Waterside;" while a reserve of three battalions of infantry and nine squadron of cavalry was stationed at Johnstown, about six miles farther up the river, in the direction of Strabane.