The garrison of Londonderry becoming distressed for want of provisions, the Inniskilling men advanced to its relief; but the approach of a body of troops, under Major-General Sarsfield, to besiege Ballyshannon, and of another, under Colonel Sutherland, to Belturbet, with the view of besieging the town of Inniskilling, obliged them to return and defend their own quarters. The gallant Lieutenant-Colonel Lloyd was detached against Belturbet, from whence Colonel Sutherland fled, on the 15th of June, leaving a detachment of dragoons to defend the church, who surrendered, and the Inniskilling men gained possession of a supply of ammunition and provisions, eighty troop horses with accoutrements, and seven hundred muskets, which enabled them to equip themselves better than before, and to add several new companies to their levies.
Meanwhile the garrison of Londonderry continued to defend that fortress with sanguinary perseverance, and few days passed without King James's army sustaining severe loss from the sallies of the resolute defenders of the place. The want of provisions occasioned the loss of many men from dysentery; and Governor Baker dying on the 30th of June, Colonel Mitchelburne was elected joint-governor with the Reverend Mr. Walker. The cruelties exercised on the inhabitants of the neighbouring towns and villages, to induce the garrison to surrender, stimulated the men to resistance. Major-General Kirke arrived on the 30th of June with two regiments of foot (the second and eleventh), and a supply of arms, ammunition and provisions, but was prevented from approaching the town by forts on the banks, and a boom across the river. After waiting a few days, he landed on the island of Inch, where he threw up entrenchments, and being joined by a number of countrymen, he formed the design of assembling a sufficient force for relieving the town by land. On the 12th of July he was visited on board his vessel by the Reverend Andrew Hamilton, and Mr. John Rider, who represented to him the state of affairs at Inniskilling, and obtained a supply of arms, ammunition, and eight field-pieces; also commissions for a regiment of horse to be commanded by Colonel William Wolseley,—a regiment of dragoons of twelve troops, commanded by Colonel James Wynne (afterwards the fifth, or Royal Irish dragoons), and three regiments of foot, commanded by Colonels Zachariah Tiffin (now twenty-seventh), Gustavus Hamilton, and Thomas Lloyd, with a troop of cavalry to be attached to each battalion of infantry.
Before these corps were embodied, King James's generals, designing to crush the intrepid Inniskilling bands at once, sent three bodies of troops against them. Lieutenant-Colonel Lloyd, by a forced march of twenty miles, surprised one division, under Major-General Sarsfield, in their camp by night, and although his opponents were five times more numerous than his own party he routed them with a dreadful slaughter. The Duke of Berwick, advancing with the second body of King James's army, destroyed two companies of Inniskilling foot sent forward to secure a pass, but when he came to the defences made to cover the approach to the town, he did not venture to attack them, but withdrew, and was soon afterwards ordered to join the army before Londonderry: he subsequently skirmished with a body of men which Major-General Kirke had landed at Rathmetan, but failed to dislodge them.
The third division of King James's army advancing against Inniskilling was commanded by Major-General Justin M'Carthy, who had been created Viscount Mountcashel, and it was more formidable than the other two; but the Inniskilling men had become emboldened by success, and they fearlessly advanced to meet their more numerous antagonists. Their leading column encountered and routed the Viscount Mountcashel's advance-guard, between Linaskea and Inniskilling on the 30th of July, slew two hundred men, and took thirty prisoners. In the afternoon of the same day, the Inniskilling forces, amounting to about two thousand men, under Colonel Wolseley, attacked the opposing army, of very superior numbers, in a formidable position at Newton Butler. By forcing their way over numerous difficulties, and traversing a dangerous bog, the Inniskilling men were enabled to assail the front of the adverse host, and their attack was made with so much audacity and heroic ardour, that the opposing ranks were panic-stricken, and fled in dismay. The gallant Inniskilling men pursued at speed, and overtaking their adversaries among the bogs and loughs, slaughtered two thousand fugitives; about five hundred were drowned in attempting to escape across the deep waters, and nearly five hundred more were taken prisoners, including Viscount Mountcashel, and Colonel Anthony Hamilton. This surprising victory was gained with the loss of twenty men killed, and fifty wounded. Among the trophies of the day were one iron and seven brass guns, a number of standards and colours, a quantity of military stores, and the whole of the enemy's baggage.
Many of the Inniskilling men, who had evinced great personal bravery, had not been regimented, and Sir Albert Cunningham, a gentleman highly esteemed in the county, and who had been deprived of the appointment of Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance in Ireland, by King James, for his adherence to the reformed religion, was authorized to embody six hundred men, into a regiment of dragoons of twelve troops, of which he was appointed colonel; and the corps, thus formed of the distinguished champions for the institutions of their country, having been retained in the service of the Crown to the present period, now bears the title of the Sixth, or the Inniskilling, Regiment of Dragoons.
While the most signal success attended the gallant Inniskilling men, the garrison of Londonderry was distressed for want of provisions, and on the day that the battle of Newton Butler was fought, the ships Montjoy of Londonderry, and Phœnix of Coleraine, convoyed by the Dartmouth frigate, forced the boom under a heavy fire from the banks of the river, and, after encountering many difficulties, anchored at the ship-quay, to the great joy and relief of the brave defenders of the town. King James's generals were so dispirited by this success, and the loss at Newton Butler, that on the night of the 31st of July they raised the siege, which had occupied one hundred and five days, and retired, having lost from eight to nine thousand men, and many officers, in their fruitless attempt to reduce the city.
Thus terminated the siege of Londonderry, which from the circumstances of its commencement, the sufferings endured during its progress, and the determined conduct of its brave defenders, ranks among the glorious achievements recorded in the annals of war. Governor Walker proceeded to England with an address, on the occasion, to King William and Queen Mary, and was received at Court with all the honour due to his distinguished services.
In the mean time an army was raising in England to aid in rescuing Ireland from the power of King James, and was placed under the orders of the veteran Marshal Frederick Duke Schomberg, who arrived in Ireland in August, with ten thousand men, and besieged Carrickfergus, which surrendered before the end of the month.
Twelve troops of Wolseley's horse, six troops of Wynne's (late fifth Royal Irish), and six of Cunningham's (now Sixth) dragoons, Tiffin's (now twenty-seventh) Inniskilling foot, and Mitchelburne's Londonderry regiment (afterwards disbanded), joined the army commanded by the Duke Schomberg, and were employed in the operations of the campaign. The Inniskilling troopers had made their name a terror to their opponents, and were highly esteemed in the English army. Story, the historian of these wars, states, 'I went three miles beyond the camp, where I met the Inniskilling horse and dragoons, whom the Duke had ordered to be an advance-guard to his army. I wondered much to see their horses and equipage, hearing before what feats had been done by them. They were three regiments in all, and most of the troopers and dragoons had their waiting-men mounted upon garrons (small horses); some of them had holsters, and others their pistols hung at their sword-belts.'