Several skirmishes occurred during the winter; and in the spring of 1690 the Royal Dragoons were before Charlemont, which place was blockaded by the King's forces. Charlemont was defended by a garrison of 500 men, commanded by Sir Teague O'Regan, a humorist, who returned the following laconic answer to the summons to surrender:—"Tell the General, from Teague O'Regan, that he's an old knave; and, by St. Patrick, he shall not have the town at all." He, however, surrendered on the 14th of May, and a detachment of the Royal Dragoons escorted the garrison towards Armagh.[29] Soon after the surrender of Charlemont Lieut.-Colonel Edward Matthews, from Leveson's (now third) dragoons, was appointed colonel of the regiment. In June it was encamped near Loughbritland, where it was joined by a remount from England. On the 22nd of June King William arrived at the camp, and "His Majesty was no sooner come than he was in amongst the throng of the troops, and observed every regiment very critically. This pleased the soldiers mightily, and every one was ready to give what demonstrations it was possible both of his courage and duty."[30]
The French and Irish, commanded by King James, took post on the banks of the Boyne, to dispute the passage of that river. King William marched to the opposite bank on the 30th of June, and, on the morning of the 1st of July, the army forded the river and drove the enemy from his position with great slaughter. The Royal Dragoons and other British troops engaged in forcing the passage of the Boyne are reported to have "acquitted themselves well." King James fled from the field and proceeded to France; and the British army advanced on Dublin. A few days after the battle King William reviewed the Royal Dragoons at Finglass, on which occasion they brought 406 private troopers into the field.
On the 21st of July Major-General Kirke proceeded with the Royal Dragoons and Queen Dowager's and Colonel Cambron's regiments of foot to Waterford, and summoned the place, and on the 25th the governor capitulated.
At the moment when success attended the operations of the army in Ireland, the English and Dutch fleets, commanded by Lord Torrington and Admiral Evertsen, were defeated by the French fleet under the Count de Tourville, and the enemy afterwards menaced the descent of a formidable force on the British coast. King William commanded a troop of life guards, with Count Schomberg's horse (now seventh dragoon guards), the Royal Dragoons, and Trelawny's and Hastings' (fourth and thirteenth) foot to be immediately embarked for England.
The Royal Dragoons landed at Highlake, in Cheshire, in the early part of August. The alarm of invasion, however, soon subsided; and they were ordered to return to Ireland, in which country they again landed on the 20th of October, and proceeded into extended cantonments in the county of Cork. Many thousands of the Roman Catholic peasantry of Ireland were, at this period, in arms in behalf of King James: they were called rapparees, and being formed into bands they made frequent incursions into the cantonments of the English regiments. Several men of the Royal Dragoons were murdered in their quarters by these rapparees; and detachments of the regiment were frequently sent out to scour the country and chase these bands of marauders from the English cantonments.
1691
Towards the end of December a detachment of the Royal Dragoons proceeded, with some other troops, on an expedition commanded by Major-General Tattea, and on the 1st of January, 1691, attacked an Irish fort near Scronclaird, which was taken in two hours, although the enemy had employed five hundred men during two months to build it.[31]
In the spring, when the army took the field, the Royal Dragoons were ordered to remain in the county of Cork to restrain the incursions of the rapparees, and to prevent the several forts and small garrisons from being attacked. In the early part of June Major Culliford, with a detachment of the Royal Dragoons and some militia, penetrated that part of the country from whence the enemy received their supplies, defeated the Irish troops, and captured several droves of cattle. At length General St. Ruth, who commanded the French and Irish forces, detached two thousand horse and foot to cover this part of the country. Major Culliford, however, continued to make inroads, and having advanced with one hundred and twenty men of the Royal Dragoons, and fifty militia foot, he encountered two troops of Irish cavalry. The English dragoons advanced boldly to the charge, defeated their opponents, killed twenty men upon the spot, and pursued the remainder to Newmarket, where the Irish, being reinforced, made another stand. The Royal Dragoons, however, attacked them again with great bravery, and having sabred fifteen, the remainder fled in disorder, leaving a quantity of provision and some cattle behind. Major Culliford despatched eleven dragoons and twenty-four of the militia to the rear with the booty, and then pursued the fugitives four miles farther, when he encountered five hundred of the enemy's horse commanded by Sir James Cotter. Notwithstanding their disparity of numbers, the Royal Dragoons boldly confronted their opponents, and made a gallant resistance, but were eventually overpowered; and forty men having fallen, Major Culliford made good his retreat with the remainder. In retiring, the dragoons,—chafed in spirit and burning with revenge,—often turned round upon their pursuers; and at length Captain Bower and twenty men boldly faced about and killed about twenty of the Irish horsemen, whose eagerness in the chase had caused them to advance in front of their main body. In the meantime the eleven dragoons and twenty-four of the militia, with the captured cattle and stores, arrived at Drumaugh, where they were attacked by a detachment of the enemy, but defended themselves with success until relieved by a body of troops under Colonels Hastings and Ogleby.
At the time the Royal Dragoons were making these diversions, the main army, commanded by Lieutenant-General De Ginkell, gained a decisive victory over the French and Irish at Aghrim; and on the 1st of August the regiment joined the army at Banagher-bridge. The enemy collected the remains of their defeated regiments at Limerick; and towards the end of August Lieutenant-General De Ginkell besieged that city, commencing his work on the right bank of the Shannon: the Irish army lay encamped at the same time on the opposite side of the river.