Ireland's Military Story

Tag: 1689

  • The Siege of Derry 1689; The Williamite Wars In Ireland Part 2

    Figure 10- Colonel Henry Baker                                                                                

    Figure 11 Reverend George Walker

    With the stand off that started with the closing of the gates by the apprentice boys on the 7th December, having come to a close, the siege itself was underway. With the Jacobite threat ever present, those within the walls of Londonderry were required to muster a force of their own to repeal and thwart any advances made against their city. As such, both pre-existing and recently established regiments mustered companies of around sixty men who in turn would select a Captain, who would then designate a Colonel for the regiment. The regiments, with a total of some 117 companies are recorded as follows;[1] 

                                                                                                                                                               No.companies

    Colonel Walker (Rev George) to Sir A. Rawdon’s regiment (former dragoon regiment)                15

    Major Baker to be Colonel of Lord Charlemont’s Regiment                                                               25

    Major Crofton to be Colonel of Canning’s Regiment                                                                            12

    Major Mitchelburne to be Colonel of Hamilton’s Regiment                                                                17

    Lieutenant- Colonel Whitney to be Colonel of Hamilton’s Regiment                                                13

    Major Parker to Command the Coleraine regiment                                                                             13

    Captain Hamill to be Colonel of a regiment                                                                                          14

    Captain A. Murray to be Colonel of horse                                                                                               8

    Walker records a rough estimate of the population of the city at the outbreak of the siege;

    This was our complement after having form’d our selves, as above mentioned ; but the Number of Men, Women and Children in the Town, was about Thirty thousand. Upon a Declaration of the Enemy to Receive and Protect all that would desert us, and return to their dwellings. Ten Thousand left us.[2]

    Developments were taking place outside of the city too. The first Duke of Berwick, James FitzJames (illegitimate son of King James)[3] writes of James’ departure and the Jacobite capture of the nearby fort at Culmore;

    When leaving, the King left Momont and Hamilton in command of the armies, bringing Mr de Rosen with him. After the King’s departure, we resolved to approach Londonderry, to block it, while waiting for that which was necessary for the siege. Momont, Hamilton, Pusignan and I went forward with four hundred infantrymen, the Tirconel Cavalry, and that of the Dungan Dragoon, bringing our sum to around seven hundred cavalrymen. We made our quarters near the Cullmore fort below Derry (Londonderry) on the same river; the captain of the fort surrendered first, although we had nothing with which to conquer it.[4]

    With the rather lacklustre result of his appearance before the walls, James departed Londonderry for Dublin, leaving his two French Generals; de Maumont and de Pusignan with the task of taking the city. Maumont would act quickly, establishing a gun post on the east bank of the Foyle, at Stronges Orchard. Lord Louth would command 3,000 men along this eastbank, opposite Ship Quay gate, with a considerably strong detachment of men occupying Pennyburn Hill and cutting off communication between the city and Culmore Fort.[5] The Jacobites, however, were issued with the most inadequate of weaponry for siege warfare, particularly besieging such a place as Londonderry with its thick, low walls and angle bastions.[6] Whilst their mortars proved effective in destroying the morale of those behind the walls, their light cannon did little in the way to damage the walls.

    With it becoming more clear to the Jacobites that the city would indeed not surrender, bombardment commenced the 21st April;

    The Enemy placed a Demi- culverin, 180 Perches distant from the Town, E. B. N. on the other side the water : they play’d at the houses in the Town, but did little or no mischief only to the Market- house[7]

    Figure 12- Gun crews firing and loading– indicative of what would have been used at Siege of Londonderry

    Furthermore, on the same day as the Jacobite bombardment, the Williamites made a series of decisive strikes of their own. Accounts record that a sally lead by Colonel Adam Murray of both foot and horse made for Pennyburn village, a mile or so north of Londonderry, repealing a Jacobite attempt to take the village. This would prove to be a most significant of events for the Williamites, with both of James’ French Generals killed during the engagement. Major General Puisgan would expire this day along with Lieutenant- General Maumont who was struck down by Murray’s blade;

    Colonel Murray charged through that brigade, and had that day three personal encounters with their commander, in the last of which he killed him on the spot, whom the enemy themselves confessed to be Lieutenant- General Maumont[8]

    Murray, of all, he did excel,

    Before, behind him, numbers fell;

    His tempered steel he boldly drew,

    With which the brave Maumont he slew,

    And forced the rest to cry “Morbleu”![9]

    Figure 13- A New Map of the / CITY of LONDONDERRY / with its Confines; / As it was beseiged by the IRISH ARMY in the Year 1689

    Two days later, on the 23rd April, the Jacobites placed “two cannon” in the lower end of Strong’s Orchard, of the east bank of the Foyle, near “80 perches from the town”, opposite Ship Quay gate. The bombardment was constant, injuring many within the city, and causing significant damage to “Walls and Garrets”. Not all was to go in favour of the Williamites. With Culmore Fort (four miles north of Londonderry) cut off from communicating with the city, it was easy prey for the Jacobites, who took the fort with little opposition. It would have been a most futile endeavour for a garrison of only three hundred men to attempt any defence. The fortress was surrendered to the Duke of Berwick.

    Over the next number of days, the Jacobites continued their relentless bombardment of the city. Walker records on the 25th April;                                                                                               

    They placed their mortar pieces in the said orchard, and from thence played a few small bombs, which did little hurt to the town… they threw many large bombs, the first of which fell into a house while several officers were at dinner; it fell upon the bed of the room they were in but did not touch any of them.[10]

    The intense Jacobite bombardment continued onto the 27th with ammunition being stored within St Columbs’ Cathedral for safe keeping. Ash recounts the relentless bombardment;

    The bombs played hotly all night; eighteen were shot into the city, one fell on Mr Long’s house and killed a gentlewoman of eighty years old, a Mrs. Susannah Holding, and hurt many others.[11]

    Figure 14- Jacobite gunner

    The Jacobites, who had entrenched themselves at Windmill Hill, 500 yards or so from Bishop’s Gate, “begin a battery; from that they endeavour to annoy our walls”[12]. Governor Baker ordered the detaching of ten of every company to attack the besiegers. Mackenzie records the impatience of some of the defenders,“ the men were impatient, and ran out of their own accord, some at Bishop’s Gate, other at Ferryquay Gate”.[13] They pursued the Jacobites “so close, that they came to club-musket with it”. Ultimately, Windmill Hill would be another important victory for the Williamiates, killing the Jacobite Brigadier General Ramsay, and taking “four or five colours, several drums, fire-arms, some ammunition and good store of spades, shovels, and pick- axes”. It was only with the victory at Windmill Hill did Williamites learn Culmore Fort had fallen. Mackenzie writes;

    Captain Noble and others found several letters in the pockets of the slain, giving them some intelligence, particularly about the surrender of Culmore.

    Baker, acting on advice from his officers, resolves to better defend Windmill Hill from future attacks. He agrees to drawing a line across the hill from the bog to the water, setting men to securing the hill with redoubts to better defend from enemy cannon fire.

    Further Williamite sallies continued. One of particular note saw further heroics from Adam Murray, who upon witnessing a party of 200 men under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Blair being cut off from the city by a large body of Jacobites, “rides along Bog-street, and through a party of the enemy behind a ditch fired incessantly at him, he went on to the place to warn them of the danger”.[14]

                                      Figure 15- map of the siege showing position of mortars

    The Jacobites, with their failures to take Pennyburn Village, and Windmill Hill, move their camps to Pennyburn Mill, Stronges Orchard and Ballyoughry. These camps, whilst allowing for a significant degree of fire into the city, also have the added benefit of reducing intelligence falling into enemy hands. Londonderry was completely surrounded by Jacobite positions come the 15th May. Their guns were brought to Ballyoughry, “with a design to strike the greater terror into the hearts of the besigied”.[15] About this time, several Williamite Captains; Noble, Cunningham and Archibald with 100 men capture the Jacobite held fort at Creggan. However, on their return to the city, they are set upon by enemy cavalry. Captain Cunningham and sixteen men are taken prisoner and killed on the orders of Colonel Piers Butler, Lord Galmoy.

    For much of the siege, the Jacobites were issued with inappropriate means of besieging such a settlement as Londonderry with its thick, low walls and angle bastions.  Fortunes would change for the Jacobites with the arrival of heavy siege guns and mortars on the 30th May. Matthew Plunkett, the 7th Baron Louth, and Lieutenant-General Bernard Desjean, Baron de Pointis are charged with bombarding the city with the newly arrived artillery pieces across the right bank of the Foyle. Even still, matters were not straightforward, with de Pontis’ inspection of the pieces revealing that the fuses for the bombs did not fit, some were too large, others too small.[16] Furthermore, de Pontis expected somewhere in the region of 500 shells for the siege, but only received 120.[17] However, with the matter solved, bombardment commenced proper. The mortars alone would fire close to 600 rounds into the city throughout the siege.

    Figure 16- canon on gun platform

    With time ever pressing on, and the increasing likelihood of a relief force from England, the Jacobites made steps to curtail any Williamite attempt to break the siege. De Pontis, a renowned military engineer, built a boom across the Foyle at the narrowest point of the river at brookhall, made of fir beams. Additionally, gun ports were constructed either side of the boom. Walker writes; “they draw their guns to Charles-Fort, a place of some strength upon the narrow part of the river, where ships were to pass; here they contrived to place a boom”.[18]

                                                      

    Figure 17- Marshall de Pontis                                                     

    Figure 18- shows the boom on the Foyle along with Jacobite dragoon and Clancarty’s camps.

    Bombs were thrown into the city both day and night. Between the 24th of April and the 22nd of July, they cast into the city 587 bombs, of which 326 were small and 261 were large. Of the larger, some weighed as much as 273 pounds.[19] After seven hellish weeks of almost continuous bombardment, starvation and disease, hope was literally within sight. On the 7th June, three advance ships from the fleet; HMS Greyhound, HMS Kingfisher and Edward and James, were spotted at Culmore Fort, with the aim of gathering intelligence on the condition of Londonderry and the Jacobite defences. However, the ship of Captain Gulliam, the Greyhound, in an attempt to survey the boom ran into difficulty after a failed attempt to smash the boom, is then fired upon buy the gun forts and became stuck on the sandbanks of the Foyle. “But one of them unfortunately run aground, and lay some time at the mercy of the enemies shot”.[20] The Jacobites taunted the Williamites; “The enemy called to us from their lines, to send down carpenters to mend her”.[21] The Greyhound was badly damaged after this exchange, and whilst her crew was able to set sail once again, the morale of the both the besieged and relief fleet took a mass blow.

    With time once again against the Jacobites, Richard Hamilton issued orders to retake Windmill Hill. On the 4th June, roughly ten in the morning, the Jacobites attacked with both horse and foot. “The enemy approach to our works at the Windmill with a great body of foot and horse; our men ordered themselves so, that in each redoubt there were four, and in some five reliefs, so that they were in a posture of firing continually. The Irish divided their horse in three parties, and their foot in two”.[22] The horse attack at the lowest point of the river crossing, with the foot attacking the rest of the Williamite lines, with “the foot “who had also fagots of wood carried before them) attack the line betwixt the Windmill and the water”.[23] The following day, on the 4th, Mackenzie records the further Jacobite shelling of the city, with “great ones of 273lbs”.[24]

    On 13th June, the rest of Kirke’s fleet was spotted on the Foyle, which “gave us at the present the joyful prospect, not only of the siege being soon raised, but of being furnished with provisions”. However, hopes were soon dashed for the besieged. Kirke’s fleet weighed anchor, and idled within the lough. “But when we saw them lie in the Lough, without any attempt to come up, it cast a cold damp on our too confident hopes, and sunk us as low as we were raised at the first sight of them”.[25]

    Somehow, a messenger made his way from Kirke’s fleet, bypassing the Jacobite lines before arriving in Londonderry. A man by the name of Roche carried a letter from Kirke addressed to the Governors. He gave an account of the circumstances on the lough, such as the number of ships within the fleet, men, provisions and plans for the relief of the city. Walker would instruct Roche to return to the fleet, with a message describing the dire conditions within the city. However, such was his luck, or lack thereof, Roche was wounded by enemy fire and returned to the city. A second messenger, a man named McGimpsey reported to Murray, volunteering to deliver Walker’s message to Kirke. The letter, Mackenzie writes, was “tied in a little bladder, in which were put two musket bullets, that if the enemy should take him, he might break the little string wherewith it was tied about his neck, and so let it sink in the water”. [26] Unfortunately for the garrison, McGimspey never made it to the fleet. Whether he drowned, hit the boom or was struck by enemy fire, it is not known but a couple of days later, “they hung up a man on a gallows in the view of the city, and called over to us to acquaint us it was our messenger”.[27]                                                                

    Figure 19- Marshal General de Rosen

    Sometime between the 17th-24th June (accounts vary), the Marshal General of King James’ forces in Ireland, Conrad de Rosen returned to Londonderry. Rosen was not best pleased with the little progress made by the Jacobites. He ordered three mortar pieces and several pieces of ordnance to be placed on the Windmill hill side of the city, with two culverins opposite Butcher’s Gate.[28] Additionally, he orders his troops to dig a trench towards the half-bastion at the gate. On the 28th Lieutenant-Colonel Skelton, along with the recently arrived regiment of Lord Clancarty take the outworks of the city. Captains Noble and Dunbar, upon observing this, sally for Bishop’s Gate, where they proceed along the wall, allowing them to flank the Jacobites and “then thundered upon them”[29] before forcing the enemy to retreat once more from the outworks of the city. Governor Baker after suffering from illness, passed away on 30th June. Before his death, Baker called a council where it was decided that Mitchelburne, who was Deputy Governor during Baker’s bout of sickness, would succeed him as joint Governor with Walker. Baker’s death was a further blow to the already disparaged moral of the besieged who’s demise was “justly lamented by the garrison”.  About this time, we are told that amongst the bombs fired upon the city, “there was one dead shell, in which a letter declaring to the soldiers the proposals made by Lieutenant General”. Included amongst this letter where Hamilton’s offer of surrender and Rosen’s threats towards unprotected Protestants outside the safety of the walls, to the effect of;

    “that if we did not deliver the town to him by six the clock according to Lieutenant Gen. Hamilton’s proposals, he would dispatch his orders as far as Balishanny, Charlimont, Belfast and the barony of Inishowen, and rob and protect all protected as well as unproctected Protestants, and that they should be driven under the walls of Derry, where they should perish”.[30]

    [31]

             

    Shell that contained Hamilton’s proposals within- on display at St Columb’s Cathedral

    Rosen was not bluffing. On the 2nd July, “the enemy drive the poor Protestants, according to their threatening, under our walls, protected and unprotected, men, women and children, and under great disease. There were some thousands of them, and they did move great compassion in us, but warmed us with new rage and fury against the enemy. Begging of us on their knees, not to take them into the town, but chose rather to perish under our walls.[32]  Rather than guilt the garrison into submission, Rosen’s actions reinvigorated a down and out populous. When King James heard of Rosen’s plans for forcing Londonderry to surrender, he was reportedly horrified, stating;

    none but a barbarous Muscovite could have thought of so cruel a contrivance[33]

    With each day that passed, hunger became an ever more perilous issue. Walker’s “food list price” has become a most infamous document of the siege outlining what was on offer with its corresponding price. Walker also writes of a rather unfortunate overweight man who garnered the suspicions of the garrison, “we were under so great necessity, that we had nothing left unless we could prey upon another: a certain fat gentleman conceived himself in great danger, fancying several of the garrison lookt on him with a greedy eye, thought fit to hid himself for three days”. [34]

      [35]

    With tensions and hunger growing in equal measure, the idea of surrendering the city to the Jacobites was seriously considered by the “council of fourteen”. On the 11th July, the Williamites were offered terms for a parley. With the ships having set sail from Lough Foyle and with no indication of return, the garrison agreed to the offered parley, as Mackenzie writes, “We considered most of the ships were gone, we knew not whither; provisions grew extremely scarce, and therefor to gain time, it was thought advisable to agree to it”.[36] Further news arrived from Kirke’s fleet. Ash records that a small boy from the fleet arrived with a letter from Lieutenant David Mitchell for Governor Walker with the message that, “12,000 men are landed at Lough Swilly, and that 2,000 horse are gone round to land there also”.[37] However, it would later be revealed that this was a fabrication on Walker’s part, who “transcribed it, with some additions of his own”. The reality was that Kirke had sent “some to encamp at Inch”, rather than the thousands Walker claimed.

    On the 13th July, the proposed parley commenced with representatives from the city arriving in the Jacobite camp. The most important takeaway from this meeting concerned the time of surrendering, with the Jacobites who “would grant no longer time till Monday, the 15th, at twelve o’clock”. [38]

    Upon hearing of the terms offered, the council decided to agree to the terms of surrender if “the enemy would give us time till the 25th July”, dearly holding out for hope of the relief fleet’s arrival. On the 14th the two sides meet once more. However, a date could not be reached, and so bombardment of the city once again resumed. Further Jacobite attacks were to follow. 16th July saw a small party attack Butcher’s Gate, and “two regiments of the enemy marched down from their camp towards Windmill-hill”.

    With the continued Jacobite bombardment and sallies to the gates, hope was all but lost for the Williamites. “But the hour of our extremity was the fit season for Divine Providence to interpose and render itself the more observable in our deliverance”. On the evening of the 28th (Walker records the 30th).  July, Walker preached at St Columb’s Cathedral, reassuring his congregation that “God would at last deliver them from their difficulties they were under”.  At roughly seven o’clock, the relief fleet was spotted on the Foyle, anchoring at Culmore point. Ash writes triumphally of this day as “a day to be remembered with thanksgiving by the besieged in Derry as long as they live”.[39]  It appeared that the prayers of the city were answered. However, the prayers did not seem to operate at full capacity, as the wind slackened, meaning the floodtide could only carry the lead ship, The Mountjoy to the boom, where it was meet with considerable Jacobite resistance from the gun forts on either side of the Foyle. Men from the Mountjoy returned fire, as “the smoke of the shot both from the land and the ships, clouded her from our sight”. It appeared to the Williamites that The Mountjoy had run aground, with shouts of “huzza” from along the shore line. However, the Mountjoy firing from her broadside, along with an increasing tide was able to break from the shore. Thus, the Mountjoy made for the boom, breaking it. The rest of the fleet, along with the Phoenix of Coleraine and the Dartmouth arrived shortly thereafter. Walker writes that, “the ships got to us, to the unexpressible joy and transport of our distressed garrison, for we only reckoned upon two days’ life”.[40]

    The following morning, the Williamites observed the Jacobites abandon their positions around Londonderry, and setting for march to Strabane. They were swiftly pursued by the Williamites, and upon learning of the defeat of the Jacobites at Enniskilling, “thought fit to make haste to get further off”. After a period of 105 days, and close to 10,000 dead within the city, the siege was over. With the successful defence of the Protestant citadel garrisons of Londonderry and Enniskillen, and with the further Williamite victories at Newtownbutler, the Boyne, Aughrim and Limerick, Jacobite Ireland was finished.

    The defence of Londonderry was a tremendous strategic victory for the Williamites, ultimately ending James’ ambitions of regaining his three thrones. The success of the siege gave the Williamites the much needed confidence boost and propaganda victory for their cause to restore Protestantism to crown of Ireland. The siege of Londonderry’s impact was vast, setting the course for the future of the monarchy in England, Scotland, and Ireland, but also contributed to the outcome of the greater European conflict raging between the armies of the Grand Alliance and the Sun King.

        

           “AND THEIR CRY WAS NO SURRENDER!”

    Bibliography

    Primary Sources

    Aicken, Joseph, Londerrias, Londonderry: John Hempton, Diamond

    Ash, T., 1861. The Siege and history of Londonderry.. Londonderry: John Hempton, Diamond.

    Berwick, J., 1779. Memoirs of the Marshal Duke of Berwick. Written by himself. With a summary continuation from the year 1716, to his death in 1734. In two volumes. To this work is prefixed a sketch of an historical panegyric of the Marshal, by the President Montesquieu; … notes, and … letters relative to the campaign in Flanders, in 1708, are subjoined. Translated from the French. London: printed for T. Cadell.

    MacKenzie, J. and Killen, W., n.d. Mackenzie’s Memorials of the Siege of Derry.

    Walker, G., 1907. Reprint of Walker’s Diary of the siege of Derry, in 1688-89. Londonderry: Printed by J. Hempton & Co.

    Secondary Sources

    Childs, J., 2008. The Williamite wars in Ireland, 1688-91. London: Hambledon Continuum.

    Doherty, R., 2016. The Siege of Derry 1689 The Military History. Chicago: The History Press.

    Macpherson, J., 1776. Original papers containing the secret history of Great Britain. London: W. Strahan and T. Cadell.

    Scott, B., 2008. The great guns like thunder. Derry: Guildhall Press.

    Scott, B., 2015. THE DEPLOYMENT OF MORTARS IN IRELAND UP TO THE 1689 SIEGE OF LONDONDERRY. , Ulster Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 73(Third Series).

    Simpson, R., 1987. , The Annals of Derry: Showing the Rise and Progress of the Town from the Earliest Accounts On Record to the Plantation Under King James I. 1613, and … the City of Londonderry to the Present Time. Limavady: North-West Books.

    Young, W.R, Fighters of Derry; Their Deeds and Descendants being a chronicle of events in Ireland during the revolutionary period, 1688-1691. London, Eyre and Spottiswoode

    Wills, J., n.d. A history of Ireland in the lives of Irishmen. London: Fullarton.

    Witherow, T., 1913. Derry and Enniskillen in the year 1689. Belfast: W. Mullan & Son.

    Figures

    Figure 1- The Relief of Derry, George Frederick Folingsby (1830–1891) Derry City and Strabane District Council

    Figure2- King William III, Peter Lely, 1677, oil on canvas, National Portrait Gallery, London

    Figure 3- King James II, Godfrey Kneller, 1684, oil on canvas, National Portrait Gallery, London

    Figure 4-, Richard Talbot, Earl of Tyrconnel, François de Troy, oil on canvas, 1690-1691, National Portrait Gallery

    Figure 5- Aunt Charlotte’s Stories of English History for the Little Ones” by Charlotte M Yonge. Published by Marcus Ward & Co, London & Belfast, in 1884

    Figures 6-9- The great guns like thunder. Derry: Guildhall Press.

    Figure 10- Portrait of Major Baker (courtesy of Chapter House Museum, St Columb’s Cathedral)

    Figure 11- George Walker, mezzotint, Ludolf Smids, published by Jacob Gale, 1690s, National Portrait Gallery

    Figure 12- Gun crews firing and loading

    Figure 13- A New Map of the / CITY of LONDONDERRY / with its Confines; / As it was beseiged by the IRISH ARMY in the Year 1689

    Figure 14- Jacobite gunner

    Figure 15- Map of Siege of Londonderry by Captain Archibald McCullough

    Figure 16- canon on gun platform

    Figure 17- Portrait (gravure) de Jean Bernard de Pointis (1645-1707), chef d’escadre de la Marine royale française

    Figure 18- boom on the Foyle

    Figure 19- Portrait, Hyacinthe Rigaud in 1705 ,Conrad von Rosen

    Figure 20- The relief of Derry, the Mountjoy breaking the boom, C. B., Illustrator

    [1] R. Simpson, The Annals of Derry: Showing the Rise and Progress of the Town from the Earliest Accounts On Record to the Plantation Under King James I. 1613, and … the City of Londonderry to the Present Time (Londonderry, 1847).

    [2] Walker,G Narrative of Siege of Londonderry p.30

    [3] Witherow, T, Derry and Enniskillen in the Year 1689, 1931 p.

    [4] Memoirs of the Marshal Duke of Berwick, Written by Himself,1779 English translation kindly provided by Eve Devlin

    [5] Witherow, T, Derry and Enniskillen in the Year 1689, 1931 p116

    [6]Scott,B, THE DEPLOYMENT OF MORTARS IN IRELAND UP TO THE 1689 SIEGE OF LONDONDERRY, Ulster Journal of Archaeology, Third Series, Vol. 73 (2015-16), pp. 204-218

    [7] Walker,G Narrative of Siege of Londonderry p.39

    [8] Mackenzie, J, A Narrative of the Siege of Londonderry (London,1690) , in W.D Killen, Mackenzie’s Memorials of the Siege of Derry, (London,1861) p.39

    [9] Mitchelburn, John, 54

    [10] Walker,G Narrative of Siege of Londonderry p.116

    [11] Ash, T, A Circumstantial Journal of the Siege of Londonderry,1792, p. 282

    [12] Walker,G Narrative of Siege of Londonderry p.116

    [13] Mackenzie, J, A Narrative of the Siege of Londonderry (London,1690) , in W.D Killen, Mackenzie’s Memorials of the Siege of Derry, (London,1861) p.226

    [14] Mackenzie, J, A Narrative of the Siege of Londonderry (London,1690) , in W.D Killen, Mackenzie’s Memorials of the Siege of Derry, (London,1861) p.227

    [15] IDIB

    [16] Macpherson,J Secret History of Great Britain from the Restoration to the Accession of the House of Hanover,1775

    [17] Scott,B, THE DEPLOYMENT OF MORTARS IN IRELAND UP TO THE 1689 SIEGE OF LONDONDERRY, Ulster Journal of Archaeology, Third Series, Vol. 73 (2015-16), pp. 204-218

    [18] Walker,G Narrative of Siege of Londonderry p.121                                                  

    [19] Witherow, T, Derry and Enniskillen in the Year 1689, 1931 p.138

    [20] Walker,G Narrative of Siege of Londonderry p.121

    [21] Mackenzie, J, A Narrative of the Siege of Londonderry (London,1690) , in W.D Killen, Mackenzie’s Memorials of the Siege of Derry, (London,1861) p.232

    [22] Mackenzie, J, A Narrative of the Siege of Londonderry (London,1690) , in W.D Killen, Mackenzie’s Memorials of the Siege of Derry, (London,1861) p.229

    [23] IDIB

    [24] Mackenzie, J, p.231

    [25] Mackenzie, J, p.233

    [26] Walker,G Narrative of Siege of Londonderry p.124

    [27] Mackenzie, J, p.239

    [28] Walker,G p.124

    [29] IDIB

    [30] Walker, P.126 & 127

    [31] Walker, P.87-89

    [32] Walker,G Narrative of Siege of Londonderry p.128 &129

    [33] Zeslie, p. 100 ; Avavx, p. 257 and 309.

    [34] Walker, G. p. 132

    [35] Walker, G. p.132

    [36] Mackenzie, J, p.244

    [37] Ash, T, A Circumstantial Journal of the Siege of Londonderry,1792, p.294                  Figure 20- The Mountjoy

    [38] Mackenzie, J. p.245

    [39] Ash, T, A Circumstantial Journal of the Siege of Londonderry,1792, p.301

    [40] Walker, G. p.133

  • The Siege of Derry 1689; The Williamite Wars in Ireland Part 1

    “Five generations have since passed away; and still the walls of Londonderry is to the Protestants of Ulster what the trophy of Marathon was to the Athenians”.[1]

    Figure 1- The Relief of Derry

    On the 7th December 1688, the gates of the city of Londonderry were forcibly closed shut, barring entry to the king’s soldiers seeking admittance, the citizenry openly rebelling against the King. The significance of such an action would have both immediate and long term effects on the future of the city. For the Siege of Londonderry not only represented a clash of armies and ideologies in Ireland, but was the vocal point of a much larger power struggle that encompassed the future of the British crown, and the balance of power in Europe. The idea that this small frontier city on the edge of Europe could somehow wield such consequence may at first appear ludicrous, but when one understands what was at stake, such an idea becomes more plausible. The events leading up to the Siege of Londonderry provide both an interesting backstory to those pivotal 105 days, and the crucial context needed to understand just why it was so important when considering the outcome of the Williamite Wars in Ireland, and the larger conflict raging in Europe against the French King, Louis XIV as part of the War of the Grand Alliance.

    The siege, as with any major event of the 17th century within Britain and Ireland, was inextricably tied to affairs of the Stuarts, more specifically, James II, a practicing Catholic. The idea of a Catholic King on the English throne was a most difficult proposition for many to accept, as is evidenced by the series of anti-Catholic propaganda policies, hysteria and exclusionist policies, such as the Popish Plot of 1678, The Test Acts and the Exclusion Crisis during the reign of James’ brother, King Charles II. However, nothing came of the campaign to prevent James’ accession, thus meaning England would have it’s first (and last) Catholic King in over a century. Most importantly, James reneged on the Test Acts, thus allowing Catholics serve in high ranking positions in civil and military life. James would actively pursue a policy of “Catholicization” of his realm, restoring Catholics to positions of influence within the Privy Council, Parliament, the army, and navy, traditionally held by Protestants.   This fundamentally turned a Protestant army into a largely Catholic one within a year of James’ reign. This would be very much echoed in Ireland. By 1686, the religious denomination of the army in Ireland was roughly 67% Catholic.  

    Thus, the Protestant establishment therefore tolerated their Catholic King given that his daughter, and apparent heir, Mary would succeed her father as a Protestant monarch. They were not, however, prepared to tolerate a male, Catholic heir. James’ Catholic wife, the Italian, Mary of Modena, gave birth to a boy on the 10th June 1688, giving arise to the “warming pan” myth. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Essentially, this meant that Mary was supplanted as heir to the throne, thus allowing for a dynasty of Catholic monarchs to rule the three kingdoms.

    Additionally, after putting down two anti- Catholic rebellions, (Monmouth and Argyll) James increased the size of the standing army considerably, causing much fear amongst the Protestant elite of a “Catholic takeover”. Come the end of 1685, the English army numbered in the region of 20,000 men.  Furthermore, James issued the Declaration of Indulgence of 1672, which proposed public worship for all denominations of the Christian faith. The seven Anglican Bishops who rejected this proposition were imprisoned, further adding to fears of the erosion of Protestantism within public life. It must be remembered that Protestantism, more specifically, Anglicanism, made up the social fabric of 17th century England. Any attempt to dismantle this dominion of power was unacceptable. James was seemingly unconcerned with alienating the established church that would ultimately lead to his downfall. With James unable to implement his policies of Catholic toleration through Parliament, he would do what his father had done four decades earlier; prorogue Parliament, and assume absolute power. For the second time in 17th century England, a Stuart monarch would come to blows with his Parliament.

    On the 10th July 1688 (old style) an invitation was sent to William, Prince of Orange by the “Immortal Seven”, a coalition of leading members of Parliament, and made up of both Whigs and Tories. Such was the mindset of these men that they would rather have a foreign born, Protestant King, than an English born, Catholic King. They asked William, who was married to James’ daughter, Mary, to assume the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland. With James’ disastrous response on the Salisbury Plains, later fleeing to France, the Convention Parliament declared James had abdicated his throne, and proclaimed William and Mary as joint monarchs, being crowned on the 21st April 1689 . Whilst William’s accession to the throne, and the Glorious Revolution by in large went by with little opposition, his control over the three realms was not entirely secure. The most pressing was Ireland, where James II was still technically king. On the 12th March 1689, under pressure from his cousin, the French King, Louis XIV, James would make for Ireland, arriving in Kinsale, Co. Cork.  Controlling Ireland was of utmost importance for James. For if he controlled Ireland, he could make a serious attempt to regain his throne by using Ireland as a steppingstone to reclaim Britain.  Upon his arrival, James would be greeted with a significant degree of support from Ireland’s majority Catholic population, in part due to historical context e.g Catholics sided with James’ father, King Charles I during the 1641 rebellion, and the Irish Confederate Wars 1642-1653. Furthermore, the actions of Richard Talbot, (also known as “lying dick Talbot”) Earl of Tyrconnel played a crucial role in drumming up support for James. Talbot had pursued a most swift strategy of purging Protestant soldiers and officers from the Irish army. Roughly in the region of some 4,000 Protestant were removed, to be replaced by Catholics on the grounds that were “Old Cromwellians”.

        Figure 2- King William III  
     Figure 3- King James II
    Figure 4- Richard Talbot, Earl of Tyrconnell

                                                                                

    If the rapid removal of Protestants within the army gave rise to the notion of persecution against the Protestants of Ireland, the discovery of the Comber Letter all but confirmed this in their minds. The letter was discovered in the small County Down town of Comber, addressed to Hugh Montgomery, Second Earl of Mountalexander. The letter warned of an imminent massacre of Protestants across Ireland;

    “I have written to you to let you know that all our Irishmen through Ireland is sworn; that on the ninth day of this month they are all to fall on to kill and murder man, wife, and child”.[2]

    Whilst almost assuredly a hoax, the letter spread like wildfire across Protestant Ireland, with the memories of the 1641 rebellion still fresh in the minds of Ulster Protestants. A diarist and clergyman present during the siege commented;

    The memory of the miseries of ’41 was fresh, and they were loath to trust themselves now in the same hands that seemed to have now more power and better pretence to act those barbarities over again[3]

    The letter would reach Londonderry on the 7th December, upon receival by Alderman John Tompkins, and the former Governor of Londonderry, Colonel George Phillips, then residing in Newton Limavady. Phillips sent two messengers to Londonderry warning of the arrival of the Earl of Antrim’s regiment to replace the recently departed and largely Protestant regiment of William Stewart, 1st Viscount Mountjoy, of which Tyrconnell had ordered to leave Londonderry for Dublin only a couple of weeks prior on the 23rd November 1688, deeming them to be too unreliable for such an important posting. They were to be replaced by the regiment of Alexander MacDonnell, Earl of Antrim, which comprised of “six to eight” companies of Irish Glensmen and Scottish Highlanders, known as the “Redshanks” and numbering somewhere in the region of 1,200 men. The Reverend George Walker in his diary of the siege would write;

    It pleased God so to infatuate the Councils of my Lord Tyrconnel, that when the three Thousand Men were sent to England to assist his Master against the Invasion of the Prince of Orange, he took par- ticular care to send away the whole Regiment Quartered in and about this City ; he soon saw his Error, and endeavoured to repair it, by Commanding my Lord Antrim to Quarter there with his Regiment, consisting of a numerous swarm of Irish and Highlanders[4]

    The Redshanks reached Newton Limavady on 6th December, 20km outside of Londonderry. Phillips’s message reached the city a day later on the 7th, with the courier stating he had passed Antrim’s regiment 3km from the River Foyle. Phillips’ second letter advised the walled city to shut its gates, assuming that the Redshanks were to be the perpetrators of the massacre mentioned in the Comber Letter[5]

    With the 9th December fast approaching, the inhabitants of Londonderry were faced with a stark decision. They could either admit the Redshanks into the city, risking the foretold massacre, or they could shut the gates as warned to by Colonel Phillips. However, such an action would be outright treason, as the Earl of Antrim’s regiment was acting upon the orders of Tyrconnel, the King’s Lord Deputy in Ireland. There was a tremendous level of fear that Antrim’s Regiment would replace the largely Protestant regiment that had been garrisoned within the city with a Catholic one. Mackenzie writes,

    The Lord Mountjoy’s Regiment of Foot (a well disciplined battalion) was then garrisoned in and about Londonderry and their colonel, several of the officers, and some of the soldiers being Protestants, the inhabitants of that city looked on their being there as a great security to them, and dreaded the thoughts of their removal.[6]

    The Bishop of the city, Dr Ezekiel Hopkins warned against denying entry to Antrim’s Regiment, citing such an action would be an affront to God and his divinely appointed King. The 7th December saw the arrival of three companies of Antrim’s Regiment, commanded by a lieutenant and an ensign, reach the Foyle’s east bank. Furthermore, they were ferried across and welcomed into the city by the Deputy Mayor, John Buchanan and Sheriff Kennedy.[7] A contemporary poem featured within Aicken’s Londerrias, offers an insight to Hopkins’s frame of mind;

    Dear friends, a war upon yourselves you’ll bring:

    Talbot’s deputed by a lawful king;

    They that resist his power do God withstand.

    You’ll draw a potent army to this land[8]

    Upon witnessing this event transpire, a group of young men, nine in number, later to be joined by an additional four to their group of apprentices, raised their swords and seized the keys to Ferry Gate, hauled up the drawbridge before finally slamming shut the gate. History would come to know these young men as the “Apprentice Boys”. Their names were as follows;

                                                                                                     

                                                                                   [9]

    The motives of The Apprentice Boys are uncertain, but we can assume they were inspired, or at least encouraged, by the outspoken Presbyterian Minister, Reverend James Gordon who had repeatedly called for the gates to be shut. As Mackenzie states;

    Mr Gordon, a Nonconformist minister, what was expedient to be done, who not only advised to the shutting of the gates, but wrote that day to several neighbouring parishes to put themselves into a posture assisting the city[10]

    Furthermore, Mackenzie records that a citizen by the name of James Morrison stood upon the walls of Ferry Gate, and proceeded to shout toward the Redshanks below;

    The Irish soldiers in the meantime, stood at the gate, fretting at their present disappointment, that they should be forced to wait like scoundrels, where they hoped to domineer as lords, till one, Mr. James Morrison, a citizen, having in vain warned them to be gone, called aloud, “Bring about a great gun here”, the very name whereof sent them packing in great haste and fight to their fellows on the other side the water[11]

    Regardless of the authenticity of such a statement, the Redshanks camped outside Ferry Gate crossed the east bank of the Foyle, and returned to their regiment. With one regiment seemingly fended off, another came to be regarded with great suspicion by the citizens of the city. The once lauded regiment of Mountjoy had returned to Londonderry from Dublin at the behest of Talbot;

    “to use our endeavours with the citizens of that place to receive us as a gareson”[12]

    Figure 5

    Additionally, Mountjoy’s regiment now consisted of a large number of Roman Catholics, further adding to the suspicions of the citizenry, combined with the unfavourable martial situation of the city. Mackenzie writes that whilst the city was “protected by a good guard” upon the walls;

    8th December, since they wanted both arms and ammunition, they broke open the magazine, and took out thence about 150 muskets, with some quantity of match, and one barrel of powder, and bullets proportionable. There was in the magazine at that time but eight or nine barrels of powder in all, and about two more in the town (two or three of those were not fit for use). There were but few arms fixed, and those designed for the Irish regiment, the rest, being about a thousand more, were much out of order.[13]

    The arrival of Mountjoy’s Regiment to the walled city introduced one of the siege’s most infamous of figures, Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Lundy. Lundy enters this great epoch of Irish history accompanying Lord Mountjoy, who along with 6 of his companies, rode to Londonderry, arriving on the morning of 21st December, upon which demanded entry via Bishop’s Gate. Talks between Mountjoy and the city elders were instigated, with an amicable arrangement being made between the two parties. To surmise, the agreement stated that companies of Lieutenant Colonel Robert Lundy and Captain William Stewart would comprise of solely Protestant soldiers, and would be permitted to quarter within the city.  Additionally, Lundy would take up the mantle of Governor of Londonderry. Lundy would enter the city on 22nd December with his two companies, with further agreement being made that no other companies should enter the city before 10th March. 

    Lundy’s main task after having been appointed Governor was to oversee the defences of the city. Action against the rebels in Londonderry was now certain, and responsibility fell upon the Governor to prepare for whatever eventual action may befall the city. Lundy was quick to highlight the inadequacies of the city’s defences.

    The instructions given to Lundy stressed the importance of preparing the city in the eventuality of a potential Jacobite attack. This included tasks such as; furnishing the garrison with provisions and ammunition needed for their defence, break down bridges leading to the city, cut dykes. Increased attention was given to the city gates, guns and their carriages, with additional works being made on the city walls and fortifications. Furthermore, Lundy was to erect palisades where necessary.  Lundy would also note that the walls were;

    misirably out of repair and surrounded with dunghills as High as themselves[14]

    Furthermore, Lundy formed six new companies, adding to the five already raised within the walls by David Cairns. Mackenzie in his account records the recently formed companies;

                                                                            [15]

    With Lundy preparing Londonderry for an inevitable assault, the Irish Jacobite forces, accompanied by their French allies, controlled much of Ireland, including large swathes of Ulster. Under the command of Lieutenant General Richard Hamilton, the Jacobites won a series of victories, most notably on the 14th March 1689 with “The Rout of Dromore” in the small County Down town of Dromore. Eastern Ulster would fall into Jacobite control, of particular importance, Lisburn, Hillsborough, Carrickfergus and Belfast. The Protestant forces under Sir Arthur Rawdon were vastly outnumbered by their Jacobite foes, who captured Hillsborough Castle.[16] The “Protestant Army of the North” was now confined to the walled cities of Enniskillen and Londonderry.

    With much of Ulster in dire straits, Lundy would make another significant contribution to the defence of Londonderry by ordering a mass retreat of Protestants from Dungannon, Cavan, Coleraine and Monaghan to the walled city. The roads leading to the Londonderry were filled with Protestant refugees, for it was only Londonderry and Enniskillen that provided any hope of resistance to King James’ army. Droves of Protestants crossed the topography of northwest Ulster, where they finally reached their haven of Londonderry. By the time the final streams of refugees made their way into the city, the defences had improved tenfold. Lundy’s efforts were of the utmost significance. His experience in siege warfare gained during his time in Tangier with the Royal Regiment of Foot was of invaluable importance to the defenders of the city. [17]  He recognised the sophistication of the French military engineers within the Jacobite ranks, thus how best to defend against such a foe. Lundy made a number of last-minute decisions to bolster the city’s defences further; levelling of the suburbs, completing the ravelin and bringing in additional provisions to the city. Furthermore, a large gun was brought to Londonderry from the nearby Culmore Fort by order of Colonel Lundy. Additionally, Captain Thomas Ash, in his journal of the siege, comments on Lundy’s efforts to further prepare the city’s defences, ordering the houses next to the Waterside to be burned to the ground. [18]

    The presence of Jacobite forays to the outskirts of the walled city become more frequent. On the 13th April, Ash records that; “A considerable party of King James’s army came near the Waterside of Derry, and fixed a cannon on the bastion next Ferrygate, but did no execution… The enemy again drew off and encamped at Ballyowen that night”.[19] With the alarming Jacobite vanguard sightings from the walls, it was decided by the Council of War that a more proactive approach was to be adopted. Mackenzie writes;

    all officers and soldiers, horse, dragoons and foot, that can or will fight for their country and religion against Popery, shall appear on the fittest ground near Cladyford, Linford, and Longcausey, as shall be nearest to their several and respective quarters, there to draw up in battalions to be ready to fight the enemy.[20]

    By the 14th April, James’ Generals, Richard Hamilton and Jean Camus, the Marquis de Pusignan, would reach Strabane, a mere 15 miles south of Londonderry. For the Jacobite forces to arrive at the walled city, they had to cross the west bank of the River Foyle, which included crossing the passes where the Foyle begins, with the two smaller rivers of the Finn and the Mourne. The first series of engagements of the siege would occur several miles from the city of Londonderry with the passes of these rivers manned by Williamites, who were ordered to bring with them a week’s worth of provisions. They made a considerable effort to secure the crossing at the River Finn, having repelled any Jacobite advances across the ford. The following day, Lundy would led the core force of his army out of the city, to further repel the Jacobites at Lifford and Claudy. The size of Lundy’s force varies in estimation anywhere from 5,000-10,000 men, the number being reinforced on its march to Lifford.  Jacobite General, Richard Hamilton estimated there were in the region of 10,000 rebels on the banks of the Finn, where he crossed with three squadrons of cavalry, two of dragoons and 1,000 strong infantry.

    So it was on the 15th April that two Jacobite cavalry vanguards, lead by Richard Hamilton and Rosen,  attacked the Williamite defences on the passes, with Hamilton attacking those of Castlefinn and Clady. Whilst the pass at Castlefinn was successfully defended by Colonel Clotworthy Skeffington’s regiment, commanded by Mitchelburne. Additionally, Colonel Adam Murray, commanding Stewart’s regiment of thirty dragoons, held back the Jacobites “until their ammunition was spent”.[21] However, Claudy was a disaster for the Williamite defenders. Those Williamites that made it to Claudy were a disorganised rabble to put it bluntly. The officers were confused in their objectives, the soldiers untrained, there was little in the way of ammunition and a mixture of antique muskets, pitch forks and scythes, made any attempt of a serious Williamite defence unlikely.[22]  Lundy’s men made a general retreat to the city, paving the way open to Londonderry for the Jacobites. It is with this failure that ultimately proved to be the downfall for Lundy. Ash would write,

    The enemy came over at Claudy-ford without much opposition, although there were five to one against them, which caused suspicion that Colonel Lundy was a traitor to our cause; for had he marched our army on Sunday the fourteenth, the enemy had not all probably so easily gotten over”.[23]

    Ash was not alone in his accusations against Lundy. David Cairns, who had just returned from a trip to London, where he successfully guaranteed supplies and means of support from King William for the city’s defence, was dismayed to find crowds of men and officers leaving they city in a panicked state, “Colonel Lundy had offered passes to the officers, and spoke so discouragingly to many of them, concerning the indefensibleness of the place, that they strongly suspected he had a design to give it up”[24],thus suggesting treachery on Lundy’s part to Cairns.[25] Furthermore, Mackenzie records how Cairns repeatedly warned Lundy for the need to be hasty in preparing the defences of the passes;

    The body of the enemy’s army marched up towards Strabane, part of them within view of the city, whereupon Mr Cairns went twice to Governor Lund, pressuring him to take some speedy effectual care for securing the passes of Fin Water, lest the enemy should get over before our men could meet. He replied in a carless manner that he had given orders already, but how little was actually done towards the prevention of it the next day gave us a sad demonstration. The same day several others sent word to Governor Lundy, that if he did not march the men that day, the enemy would certainly prevent their getting together in any orderly body. But their advice was not regarded.[26] 

    Events would take another turn with the arrival of King James before the walls. James, who had by now joined his Irish Jacobite army, made his way to Londonderry from Dublin, leaving on the 8th and making his way north via Armagh, Charlemont and Dungannon before finally reaching the walled city on the 18th April.[27] James, who, according to the Duke of Berwick had been reassured by Rosen that his presence alone would cause the defenders behind the walls to see the error of their ways, and immediately lay down their arms, would present himself before Bishop’s Gate. However, unbeknownst to James, an agreement had been made between the defenders of the city and Richard Hamilton that no Jacobites would come within “four miles of the city”.[28] To their great surprise, the King himself appeared before the walls. With confusion reigning, the Williamites fired upon James;

    But our men on the walls paid so little deference to either them or their orders, and so little regarded the secret treaties they were managing with the enemy, that when King James’ forces were advancing towards them on the strand, they presently fired their great guns at them, and, as was confidently reported, killed one Captain Troy, near the King*s person. This unexpected salutation not only struck a strange terror into the Irish camp, but put ;the King himself into some disorder, to find himself so roughly and unmannerly treated by those from whom he expected so dutiful a compliance.[29]

    Lundy’s time as governor of Londonderry came to a rather bitter end. With the failure to adequately defend the passes, the mood within the city turned sour, and prior suspicions of Lundy’s intentions of surrender became outright accusations of treachery. Colonel Adam Murray, who had been at Culmore Fort, received an express letter outlining Lundy’s plans to surrender the city to James, made great haste to Londonderry, before finally confronting Lundy. Mackenzie details this interaction between the two men as follows;

    This same council this day proceeded to conclude a surrender, and drew up a paper to that purpose, which most of them Signed, and as far as I could ever leam^ all of them

    But to return to Captain Murray, the multitude having eagerly desired and expected his coming, followed him through the streets with great expressions of their respect and affection. He assured them he would stand by them in defence of their lives and the Protestant interest, and assist them immediately to suppress Lundy and his council, to prevent their design of surrendering the city ; desiring all who would concur with him herein, to put a white cloth on their left arm, which they generally did, being also encouraged to it by Captain Bashford, Captain Noble, and others. This greatly alarmed and perplexed the Governor and his council They conclude to send for him, and try if they can prevail with him to sign the paper for surrendering the city.

    Captain Murray told him plainly his late actions had declared him either fool or knave : and to make this charge good he insisted on his gross neglect to secure the passes at Strabane, Lifford, and Clady, refusing ammunition when sent for, riding away from an army of ten or twelve thousand men, able and willing to have encountered the enemy, neglecting the advantageous passes of Longcausey and Carrigins, which a few men might have de- fended, &c. He urged him to take the field, and fight the enemy, assuring him of the readiness of the soldiers, whom he vindicated from those aspersions of cowardice which Colonel Lundy cast on them ; and when Colonel Lundy persuaded him to join with the gentlemen there present, who had signed a paper for surrendering the town, and offered several arguments to that purpose, drawn from their danger ; he absolutely re- fused it, unless it were agreed on in a general council of the officers, which he alleged that could not be, since there were as many absent as present[30]

    Lundy’s time was up, as Ash writes, “Colonel Lundy deserted our garrison, and went in disguise to Scotland, and by this proved the justness of our former suspicions”.[31] A new Governor was needed, and with the popular choice of Colonel Adam Murray refusing, “because he judged himself fitter for action and service in the field, than for conduct or government”.[32] The duty to see the city through the siege fell upon Colonel Henry Baker, and Reverend George Walker, who were elected as joint Governors on the 19th April. They divided the city into sectors and assigned a regiment to each sector. Two cannon are mounted on the tower of St Columb’s Cathedral, facing south towards the Jacobite lines with the remaining cannon placed along the walls.             

        Figures 6-9                                              

    [1] Macaulay, T.B The History of England from the Accession of James II (London,1953) p. 58

    [2] Mackenzie, J, A Narrative of the Siege of Londonderry (London,1690) , in W.D Killen, Mackenzie’s Memorials of the Siege of Derry, (London,1861) p.8

    [3] IDIB

    [4] Walker,G Narrative of Siege of Londonderry p.

    [5] Childs, J. 2017, The Williamite Wars in Ireland 1689-1691 p. 5

    [6] Mackenzie, J, A Narrative of the Siege of Londonderry (London,1690) , in W.D Killen, Mackenzie’s Memorials of the Siege of Derry, (London,1861) p.7

    [7] Childs, J. 2017, The Williamite Wars in Ireland 1689-1691 p.6

    [8] Londerrias, Joseph Aickin– pg 10

    [9]   Walker,G Narrative of Siege of Londonderry p.94

    [10]   Mackenzie, J, A Narrative of the Siege of Londonderry (London,1690) , in W.D Killen, Mackenzie’s Memorials of the Siege of Derry, (London,1861) p.9

    [11] IDIB, p.11

    [12] Dougherty, R. The Siege of Derry 1689 The Military History (Stroud, 2010) p.33

    [13] Mackenzie, J, A Narrative of the Siege of Londonderry (London,1690) , in W.D Killen, Mackenzie’s Memorials of the Siege of Derry, (London,1861) p.

    [14] NAS GD26/7/37

    [15] Mackenzie, J, A Narrative of the Siege of Londonderry (London,1690) , in W.D Killen, Mackenzie’s Memorials of the Siege of Derry, (London,1861) p13

    [16] Witherow, T, Derry and Enniskillen in the Year 1689, 1931

    [17]Dougherty, R. The Siege of Derry 1689 The Military History (Stroud, 2010) p57

    [18] Ash,T Circumstantial Journal of the Siege of Londonderry, p.280

    [19] Ash, T, A Circumstantial Journal of the Siege of Londonderry, 1792, p. 280 &281

    [20] Mackenzie, J, A Narrative of the Siege of Londonderry (London,1690) , in W.D Killen, Mackenzie’s Memorials of the Siege of Derry, (London,1861) p.29&30

    [21]   R. Simpson, The Annals of Derry: Showing the Rise and Progress of the Town from the Earliest Accounts On Record to the Plantation Under King James I. 1613, and … the City of Londonderry to the Present Time (Londonderry, 1847).

    [22]Childs, J. 2017, The Williamite Wars in Ireland 1689-1691 p.70

    [23] Ash, T, A Circumstantial Journal of the Siege of Londonderry,1792, p. 281

    [24] Mackenzie, J, A Narrative of the Siege of Londonderry (London,1690) , in W.D Killen, Mackenzie’s Memorials of the Siege of Derry, (London,1861) p

    [25] Cairns, D History of Ireland in the Lives of Irishmen

    [26] Mackenzie, J, A Narrative of the Siege of Londonderry (London,1690) , in W.D Killen, Mackenzie’s Memorials of the Siege of Derry, (London,1861) p.29&30

    [27]Witherow, T, Derry and Enniskillen in the Year 1689, 1931 p.101

    [28] Walker,G Narrative of Siege of Londonderry p.25

    [29] Mackenzie, J, A Narrative of the Siege of Londonderry (London,1690) , in W.D Killen, Mackenzie’s Memorials of the Siege of Derry, (London,1861) p.35

    [30] Mackenzie, J, A Narrative of the Siege of Londonderry (London,1690) , in W.D Killen, Mackenzie’s Memorials of the Siege of Derry, (London,1861) p.36

    [31] Ash, T, A Circumstantial Journal of the Siege of Londonderry,1792, p. 281

    [32] Mackenzie, J, A Narrative of the Siege of Londonderry (London,1690) , in W.D Killen, Mackenzie’s Memorials of the Siege of Derry, (London,1861) p38