The city of Londonderry, so called in consequence of a number of Londoners having settled there in the reign of James I., was garrisoned by Lord Montjoy's regiment, which had many Protestants in it: this corps was ordered to march towards Dublin, and the Earl of Antrim's newly-raised corps, all Catholics, was expected to be ready to take charge of the garrison; but some delay occurring, a town guard was organised; and when the Earl of Antrim's regiment approached, it was refused admittance: the gates of the city were closed on the 7th of December, and the most determined resistance evinced by the inhabitants, who were encouraged by David Cairnes, Esq., of Knockmany, and other zealous gentlemen.
About the same period the inhabitants of Inniskilling refused to allow two companies of Sir Thomas Newcomen's regiment to enter their town. Thus two important places were preserved from the power of the adherents of King James, and a military force was organised for their protection. Gustavus Hamilton, Esq., was elected governor of Inniskilling, and colonel of the troops of horse and companies of foot formed there, and Thomas Lloyd, Esq., lieutenant-colonel. Colonel Lundy was governor of Londonderry, situate about fifty-five English miles from Inniskilling. The Protestant inhabitants of the north of Ireland enrolled themselves for their mutual defence; but those who fell into the power of the adherents of King James were deprived of their arms and property, and treated with great severity.
1689
The early part of the year 1689 was spent in active preparations for defence: a corps of horse, another of dragoons, and eight battalions of foot were formed, and applications were forwarded to England for military stores.
In February, the Prince and Princess of Orange were elevated to the throne, by the title of King William and Queen Mary, and their accession was proclaimed at Inniskilling on the 11th of March. On the following day King James landed at Kinsale from France; he was accompanied by five thousand French troops, and made his public entry into Dublin on the 24th of March, three days after the accession of William and Mary had been proclaimed at Londonderry.
In the mean time several encounters had taken place between the forces of King James and the newly-raised Protestant corps in the north of Ireland, in which many of the latter were overpowered; but the Inniskilling men were conspicuous for personal bravery, which they evinced on several occasions, and by their valour they preserved themselves from many of the calamities which befel others. On the approach of Lord Galmoy with a detachment of King James's army, the country people, fearing a general massacre, fled with their cattle and effects to Inniskilling. King James's troops besieged Crom Castle; but were driven from before the place with loss; and a party of his dragoons was seized at Armagh; a most gallant action was performed by two troops of horse and three companies of foot, under Mr. Matthew Anketill, by which Monaghan Castle was preserved; and on the 12th of March Lord Blayney defeated a body of the Irish at Ardtray bridge. The success was, however, not always on one side: Captain Henry Hunter and a band of armed Protestants were surprised and destroyed, near Comber; and a party of Inniskilling men were slaughtered on the banks of the Aughaclane.
The army of King James advanced against Londonderry, to which city the Protestants of that part of the country fled as to their last refuge, and they defended the place with heroic gallantry against the numerous army by which it was besieged.
Colonels Thomas Cunningham and Solomon Richards arrived at Lough Foyle in the middle of April, with their regiments, the ninth and seventeenth foot, for the support of Derry; but in consequence of the misrepresentations of the governor, Colonel Lundy, who stated that there was not provision in the town for more than ten days, and that an army of 25,000 men was near the gates, they returned to England. The governor and town-council were desirous of surrendering; but when King James approached the town with his army, the garrison broke through all restraint—fired on the besieging force, killed several men, threatened to hang the governor and council for tampering with the enemy, and declared their resolution to defend the place to the last extremity. The governor escaped in disguise; a new council was chosen; and the Reverend George Walker and Major Thomas Baker were nominated joint-governors during the siege.
The attack made by the army of King James having been repulsed, the town was invested on the 20th of April. The garrison of Londonderry consisted of seven thousand untrained countrymen, without engineers; the town was not well fortified; twenty guns only were on the walls, and not one of them well mounted; yet the city was successfully defended, for more than three months, against a formidable army, which proves how much depends on bravery and resolution. The garrison made several gallant sorties, and inflicted severe loss on the besieging troops.
Meanwhile the Inniskilling men under Gustavus Hamilton were not inactive. Lieutenant-Colonel Lloyd made a successful incursion into the enemy's quarters, took and burnt the fortifications of Augher, and returned to Inniskilling with an immense number of cattle. The same officer routed a body of King James's troops at Belleek, killing a hundred soldiers, taking thirty prisoners, and capturing two guns; and he threw a relief into Ballyshannon on the 8th of May, without the loss of a man, which proved a brilliant commencement of aggressive warfare: he also captured the enemy's garrison at Redhill, and the castle of Ballynecarreg, in the county of Cavan; and Captains Francis Gore and Arnold Crosbie brought off two hundred troop horses from a pasture at Omagh, which mounted three troops of Inniskilling men.