The battle-fields of Ireland, from 1688 to 1691

by active 1867 John Boyle

The disbanded soldiers were next called into service, and on the 15th of May, the Duke of Tyrconnell issued a proclamation ordering the Rapparees to retire behind the Shannon and hold themselves subject to another levy. They obeyed with promptitude, and the required number being selected, the rest scattered or returned to their former haunts. But they were no longer able to perform any considerable exploit, and their after-fate was tragical in the extreme: prices were set on their heads; the trade became exciting and profitable: they died on the mountains and by the wayside, prowling like wolves, and fighting like tigers to the last.

While preparations went forward day by day within the Irish lines, it is necessary to revert to the other side, and note the progress of Ginckle's affairs since the suspension of active hostilities; and perhaps the fairest exposition that can be given, is the following extract from Story's Impartial History, about the beginning of February, 1691: "The king did as much as possible in the time, as any who have seen the country may know; for if Ireland were as well-peopled as the soil itself will bear, it may defy all the world besides. You cannot see a town but where there is either a bog or a river, or both," &c. Here follows a dissertation on the natural difficulties the English army had to contend with, and the wiles and wickedness of the Rapparees, that retarded their movements "the whole winter long," concluding with the following consolatory reflections: "As to our own army, our numbers are the same as last year (except two regiments that were broke); they are also much healthfuller, and better acquainted with the country and their arms; and to encourage us the more, the Parliament has granted his Majesty a considerable fund to carry on the war, and also to equip his fleet. Besides, we have now at least 12,000 of the militia in good order, either to defend the garrisons behind us or to assist our army upon occasion ... and more than all, we shall have a great many Protestant Rapparees from the North and other places, for the northern people are mostly armed ... so that we shall have no want of men."

Such was the numerical status of Ginckle's army at that period, and from that until the summer; recruits, ordnance stores, and clothing were poured in daily to every port in his possession. From the 30th of April until the 6th of June, "all hands" were at work in Mullingar fitting up every thing for the coming campaign: for instance—

April 30th. A large body of recruits sent into the County Kildare.—Same day, all hands at work making cartridges, &c., "though it was her Majesty's birthday."—Same day, several ships arrived at Kinsale from England, and the Charles galley and Assurance frigate landed at Waterford with four other ships under convoy, all loaded with cannonball, bombs, powder, and several other materials.—May 8th, five ships loaded with arms arrived at Dublin.—May 18th, Dragon and Advice land four hundred marines at Baltimore.—Same day, six English ships come to Cork with recruits and provisions, under convoy of the Smyrna frigate; and so on to the 6th of June.

Towards the end of May the different divisions of the British army were put in motion towards Mullingar. On the 27th, General Douglas marched from the North with a force of about 10,000 men, and encamped at Ardagh. At the same time Wurtemburg put his troops in motion from Thurles, taking the detached garrisons on his route, and replacing them with the organized militia. On the 28th, Major-Generals Mackey and Ruvigney arrived with their divisions and encamped outside the town. About the same time General Talmash and Sir Martin Beckman, the Chief Engineer, landed at Dublin with troops and a corps of sappers and miners, and set the great train of artillery—"such as had never been seen before in that kingdom"—on its way, and immediately started for the camp. And "to give them the more comfort," Ginckle received advice from Opdam, who regulated the cartel at Breda, that the Irish soldiers released in lieu of the Dutch prisoners, were not to be returned to Ireland, but sent into the French service, and that the Irish officers would not be exchanged according to the rank they laid claim to.[⁶⁰] Proclamations again became the order of the day, all tending to the same object—the "comfort" of the English troops, and inviting desertions from their enemy. On the 31st of May, Ginckle appeared in person at Mullingar. All his outposts were immediately called in, notwithstanding strong protests from the Lords-Justices to the contrary; for he had determined to put forth all his strength, as the arrival of St. Ruth filled him with apprehension, and he only yielded to their appeals so far as to give them some officers from the army to command the private companies which all the country gentlemen now enrolled for their own protection.

Ginckle immediately contracted the defences of Mullingar, drew out his troops, and sent orders to Wurtemburg to encamp opposite to Banagher and Meelick, being resolved to force the river at one or both of those places, and afterwards to invest Athlone on the east and west. But finding a portion of the Irish army well advanced towards Frankfort, he abandoned that design, the order was countermanded, and Wurtemburg was directed to take a more circuitous route to the eastward, and join him on his way to Athlone.

Ginckle drew out his army from Mullingar on the 6th of June, and halted at Rathcondrath, where he was joined the same day by General Douglas. Here he encamped for the night, and sent out a party to reconnoitre the fort of Ballymore, then held as an outpost of the Irish army. After a brisk skirmish with the pickets of the fort, this party returned, bringing in a wounded prisoner, from whom he learned the force and disposition of the garrison, and appeared before it at noon on the following day. The town of Ballymore lay on the direct road from Mullingar to Athlone, and a little to the right of it stood the fort on a peninsula, isolated from the mainland except at one pass which led up towards the town, and which was commanded by a ruined castle that stood at its outer entrance. The place had been in the possession of the English during the preceding autumn, but the country around it becoming too poor to subsist a garrison, it was abandoned, when the Rapparees took possession of it, and held it through the winter, as a rendezvous in their raids against Mullingar and the surrounding posts of the enemy. The place was of much strategic importance, being well adapted for either offensive or defensive warfare; but having been utterly neglected by the different parties occupying it through the last year, it was now in a dilapidated condition. The fort was of mud, mounting two pieces of "Turkish cannon on cart-wheels," with a garrison consisting of eight hundred soldiers, two hundred and sixty Rapparees,—four hundred women and children who had fled to it as a refuge,—and was commanded by Colonel Ulick Burke, who had orders to hold it to the last extremity, in order to gain time for the Irish army to anticipate Ginckle before Athlone.

Ginckle, impatient of delay, and not wishing to lose time in storming the castle, into which Burke had thrown a sergeant and fifteen men, deployed to the northward, and, erecting his batteries, directed a heavy fire against the fort. But as the great body of the lake intervened, no impression could be made from that direction, and it was found necessary to reduce the castle, which commanded the narrowest part of the lake, and also the pass leading into the fort. It was accordingly stormed, carried after an obstinate defence of two hours, and the gallant sergeant hanged in sight of the fort, for an "obstinate defence of an untenable position." This obstacle being removed, eighteen guns and four mortars were brought to bear against the fort, until eight o'clock in the morning, when the firing ceased, and Ginckle demanded a surrender, the summons being accompanied by a threat, that if it were not vacated within two hours, the garrison would share the fate of the sergeant, which they had just witnessed. Colonel Burke denied its authenticity, asserting that Ginckle would not set his signature to such an atrocious order, and demanded the summons in writing. The form was soon complied with, the threat was repeated over Ginckle's signature, but leave was granted for the women and children to depart or share the fate of the garrison. Burke next stipulated for permission to withdraw the garrison, as the non-combatants were determined to share their fate; but this being refused, the firing was resumed on both sides, and continued without intermission until noon, when the Irish gunner being killed, and the sand-walls of the fort completely beaten down, Burke displayed a flag of truce to the assailants. Ginckle, greatly incensed by the obstinacy of the defence, refused to notice the signal, and the cannonade was continued until seven o'clock in the evening, when a storming party and boats being ready to cross the lake, Burke again displayed his flag, surrendered unconditionally, and Colonel Earl, at the head of eight hundred troops, took possession of the fort. The booty of the captors was considerable, consisting of four hundred and thirty sheep, forty cows, fifty horses, a quantity of oatmeal, the arms of the garrison, two pieces of artillery, "but no powder." The loss of life was inconsiderable on either side; the threat of the English general was not put in execution;—the men of the garrison became prisoners of war, and the women and children were sent beyond the Irish lines, in conformity with the usage of the times.

Ginckle made a pause of several days at Ballymore, awaiting his heavy artillery, and the reinforcements expected from the south. While here, he sent Lord Lisburn with 2,000 foot and five hundred horse, to attempt the river at Lanesborough, and another body to reconnoitre the defences of Athlone, and report the condition of the enemy. The former suffering a severe repulse, returned after a few days, and pronounced the place impracticable, and the latter reported that the Irish army must have arrived at Athlone, as they saw some troops of horse drawn up on the hills on the western side of the river. While here, also, General Douglas departed to join the army of William in Flanders, and part of his regiment were left under the command of Colonel Toby Purcell, to occupy Ballymore, which had undergone a thorough reconstruction, consisting of bastions, hornworks, a platform for a battery of eight guns, and a floor of mortars. At length, on the 18th, Ginckle's train having arrived, he moved forward to Ballyburn Pass, where he was joined by Wurtemburg and Count Nassau, with a force of 8,000 men, and the next day resumed his march for Athlone.

Though Ginckle's preparations had extended farther into the season than he at first intended, he had still taken the field considerably in advance of his enemy, and Ballymore had been reduced, and his march resumed, before St. Ruth had moved out of Limerick. Nor did the knowledge of this disturb the equanimity of the latter, nor disconcert his arrangements. Hearing that Ginckle's army had left Mullingar, he dispatched a regiment of horse for the defence of Athlone, with orders to its governor, Colonel Fitzgerald, to strengthen his defences and hold both sections of the town until his arrival; then sending a force under Brigadier Maxwell to move along on the east, and waste the country as he went along, he drew out his army, turned his steps towards Athlone, and moved by easy marches along the western side of the river. Maxwell performed this duty with characteristic promptitude:—he soon rendered the country, for several miles beyond the river, destitute of provender; drove immense herds of cattle within the Irish lines; and then making that skilful display of his force at Ballyboy and Frankfort, which diverted Ginckle's attention from the lower fords, he recrossed the river at Banagher, and moved towards Ballinasloe, where he anticipated the arrival of St. Ruth.