[CHAPTER LII]
LONDONDERRY AND ENNISKILLEN, 1689
The siege of Londonderry.
Difficulties of the besiegers.
It was the remark of a brilliant writer that trying to describe the siege of Londonderry after Macaulay was like trying to describe the siege of Troy after Homer. No elaborate copy need be attempted here. The heroism of the defenders it is scarcely possible to exaggerate, but the weakness of the attack was largely responsible for their success. Hamilton had never seen a siege, and Rosen, though an experienced soldier, was wanting in initiative. There was the worst feeling between French and Irish, the latter complaining that the foreigners got all the good appointments, and the former that they were exposed without support. At first Avaux thought the town could not hold out long, but very soon he changed his opinion. On the same day that he wrote to Louis of his hopes, he confided his fears to Louvois. A week later he was in despair. Maumont and Pusignan were killed, with several other French officers. Pointis, who commanded the artillery, was badly wounded. The besieging army was then under 3000 men, and not one musket in ten was serviceable, so that they had to entrench themselves against the attacks of the garrison. Even at the end of May most of the soldiers had no swords. Some carried iron-tipped sticks, and others pike-staffs without heads. In the long June days, the Enniskilleners extended their raids to within forty miles of Dublin, and James sent Rosen to check them. At Trim, where he had been promised four battalions of infantry, a regiment of dragoons, and nearly two regiments of cavalry, he found two battalions, one very badly and the other very indifferently armed. The dragoons did not appear at all, and of cavalry there were but five ill-mounted troops, the men without pistols or carbines, and most of the horses without saddles or bridles. There were some guns, but the shot did not fit, so that only one in six could be fired. Then it was reported that Kirke’s fleet had been seen in Lough Foyle, and Rosen was sent to Londonderry, where he found that there were only thirty pickaxes, and no available cannon, and that the unpaid soldiers were deserting in great numbers. The battering train was throughout inadequate. By the middle of July only five out of thirty-six French gunners were fit for service, and Massé, the chief engineer, was killed while laying a gun, since no artillery officer was to be had. Avaux says Lord Melfort was not sorry for the French officer, who had complained that he was abandoned, and given none of the promised requisites for a siege.[222]
Character of the town.
Baker and Walker governors.
The Londonderry of the siege, standing entirely on the left bank of the Foyle, was nearly oblong in shape, extending about half a mile from north to south, and something less from east to west. It was surrounded by a strong wall without any ditch, having a small bastion at each angle. There were four gates, and in front of the southern, or Bishop’s gate, a slight ravelin had been thrown up by Lundy as his sole contribution to the defence. The besieged had twenty guns, none of them as large as a twelve pounder, and many much smaller. The men bearing arms at the beginning of the siege were over 7000, divided into eight regiments, the total number of people within the walls being thirty thousand. There were about 300 cavalry under Adam Murray’s command. Major Baker and George Walker were chosen joint-governors, both of them being colonels of regiments. According to the accounts hostile to Walker, he was only an assistant in charge of the stores, and no doubt that was his most important duty, but he was commonly called Governor, and always signed first, which can hardly have been without the general consent of those chiefly concerned. Many, perhaps most, of the defenders were Scots Presbyterians, or inclined that way, but sectarian differences were got over while the siege lasted. The Episcopalians had the cathedral in the morning, and the Presbyterians in the afternoon, and sermons did much to keep up the spirit of the garrison. Walker was afterwards accused of preaching in a discouraging tone, but his extant sermons do not sustain this. By the wise connivance of both Baker and Walker, Lundy was allowed to escape in disguise. On April 21 the Jacobites opened fire with one light gun from the right bank of the river, doing little damage, and on the same day the garrison made a sally towards Pennyburn Mill lower down the water, on their own side. The fighting was indecisive, but Maumont fell, perhaps by Murray’s own hand. Two days later Culmore surrendered, thus giving the besiegers the means of preventing relief from the sea. On the 25th, there was another sally in the same direction, and Pusignan received a wound from which he died for want of a surgeon. On May 6 there was a sally towards Windmill Hill, on the south side of the town, to prevent an attack there, and the besiegers suffered severely, Brigadier-General Ramsay, a distinguished Scotch officer, being among the slain. The guns used by the Jacobite army were never of calibre sufficient to damage the wall seriously, and nothing like a breach was made at any time. Three mortars appear to have been used, which killed a few men and did much damage to the houses, but none to the defences. Two hundred and sixty-one shells were thrown in, each weighing 272 pounds, without the charge, and 326 of 34 pounds.[223]
Fight at the windmill.
The fiercest fight during the siege was on June 4. The garrison had dug a ditch, and thrown up a bank across the Windmill Hill, which protected St. Columb’s Wells. These were very important, for the wells inside the walls were made turbid by the constant firing. The windmill itself, which still stands, had been strengthened by earthworks, and two or three small guns were mounted on it. Hamilton ordered nearly all his available infantry and some cavalry to advance against the bank, which for the most part was about twelve feet high. No attempt was made to loosen the newly made work, there were no ladders, and the foot-soldiers were quite unable to surmount the obstacle. They fell fast under the fire of the besieged, whose fowling pieces carried farther than their muskets. Only one-third of the defenders fired at a time, and thus a continuous hail of bullets was kept up. The assailants’ right wing of cavalry was commanded by Colonel Edmund Butler, Lord Mountgarret’s eldest son. He was exceptionally well mounted, and galloped to the top of the bank, which at the waterside did not exceed seven feet. On descending within the enclosure he was at once made prisoner. About thirty men tried to follow, but only two officers jumped successfully, one of whom was killed, the other escaping after his horse had been shot under him. Of the Irish, at least 200 were killed, besides many officers, the besieged only losing one officer and six men.[224]