THE WINTER OF 1690.
Before his departure from Ireland, the Prince of Orange deputed the
civil government of the country to two lords-justices--Porter and
Coningsby--who lost no time in entering on the duties of their office.
Scarcely were they installed in it, when a flood of proclamations was
issued against the "papists" who lived within their jurisdiction;
and all devised, with the most "diabolical ingenuity," to plunder
and exterminate. One of these assessed the Catholic inhabitants to
make good any losses sustained by their Protestant neighbors, whether
arising from accident or from causes incident to a state of warfare;
another proclaimed that no more than ten Catholics should assemble in a
body, and that the priest of any parish, where a larger assembly should
take place, incurred the penalty of transportation; a third declared
that the families of such as had been killed or taken prisoners in the
service of King James, should forthwith remove behind the Shannon, or
be treated as enemies and spies; and a fourth, that any family having
a member within the lines of the Irish army, should either procure his
recall, or remove thither by a certain day. The Protestant population
were also ordered within the English lines, and a general exodus
from both sides of the river immediately took place. The sufferings
consequent on this disruption, it is painful to contemplate. Thousands
of the young and infirm crossed the river never to return to their
homes, while the men were driven to swell the ranks of the Rapparees
and wring their subsistence from the country.
In the mean time seizures and confiscations kept pace with the
proclamations, until a million and a quarter of acres, valued at
four millions sterling, were appropriated in advance of all legal
proceedings. "The manner in which the lords-justices and the Castle
party did their work," says Taylor, "is an edifying example of the mode
by which the forms of law have been so often prostituted to sanction
injustice in Ireland. They indicted the Irish gentlemen who possessed
any estates, of high treason in the several counties over which they
had jurisdiction, and then removed them all, by _certiorari_, to the
Court of King's Bench in Dublin. By this ingenious contrivance, those
who were to be robbed lost all opportunity of making their defence;
indeed, in most cases they were ignorant of being accused, and the
Irish government was saved the trouble of showing how the Irish people
could be guilty of high treason for supporting the cause of their
rightful monarch against a foreign invader."
Commissions were also issued for raising large bodies of militia, to
be equipped and disciplined on the plan of the English army; and the
northern Protestants, who were considered as well adapted to predatory
warfare, were furnished with the arms of Schomberg's soldiers who had
died, or who had been killed in the preceding year, and sent forth,
under the name of Protestant Rapparees, against those of the same class
who followed the fortunes of the Jacobite army. This was all fair
enough in war, but it is worthy of remark that those who exclaimed
most loudly against the moderate taxation of King James, as ruinous
to the country, now voted away sums that would lead one to think they
believed the resources of the country inexhaustible. The militia of the
country in a short time became good soldiers, and did great service to
William by holding the garrisons in the rear of his regular army, and
recruiting it when necessary; but the "Protestant Rapparees" entirely
failed in the object proposed, for, unable to cope with their wily
enemies, they soon turned to plunder indiscriminately on their own
account, and, instead of increasing the forage or supplies of the
English army, they wasted wherever they passed, and caused a dearth
which afterwards greatly embarrassed its movements.
Still the affairs of William were of a serious and perplexing nature,
both in England and on the continent. Party strife ran high in the
British Parliament, and the Princess Anne, whether touched by remorse
or excited to revenge, was known to hint at the necessity of recalling
her father to the throne, while the continued success of Marshal
Luxemburg, since the battle of Fleurus, had reduced the "Allies" to
great extremities, and threatened the very existence of Holland as
a European power. Several times since his accession, William was
compelled to pass over to the continent to reassure his favorite
subjects, and to take counsel with the members of the coalition against
the increasing power of France. His visits on those occasions were
necessarily hurried and unsatisfactory; the successful termination
of the Irish war, alone, could grant him a respite from his manifold
cares, and accordingly Ginckle, who had succeeded the Count de Solmes
in command of the army, was ordered to continue afield through the
winter, and press it to an issue, either by treaty or by force of arms.
To put the result beyond peradventure, his force was strengthened by
accessions from every available quarter: the militia and northern
reserves were called into service; several regiments reached him from
Scotland; and the Dutch Guards, who had been recalled to England with
the Count of Solmes, were replaced by a body of British infantry, the
dragoons of Colonel Mathews, and the cavalry of the Count of Schomberg,
until a force of over 50,000 men were at his command, while abundance
of stores and ammunition arrived daily at every port from Cork to the
capital.
Nor did the complete reduction of the country, judging from the
relative numbers, the condition of both armies, and the territories
occupied by them, seem an end either distant or difficult to
accomplish. Three of the four provinces were virtually under the
sway of General Ginckle; the coast from Kinsale, eastward to Derry,
was under the control of his fleet; his army lay extended through
the centre of the island, within a day's march of the Shannon,
the possession of any pass on which would break the Irish line of
communication, and open up the remaining province to the progress of
his arms; and to this was his attention now directed as the speediest
manner of terminating the war, which had become so irksome to his
sovereign.
Warned by the reverse of the British arms before Athlone and Limerick,
that an assault in force at any one point of the Irish line, would be
attended with hazard and delay, he devised a simultaneous attack along
its whole extent, as the more speedy and efficacious. It would keep
the enemy, who were not half his number, divided among many garrisons,
weaken them at some point, and give him the advantage of selecting
that for his most determined assault, which should be found the least
capable of resistance. For this purpose, he established his bases of
operation at Cork, Roscrea, Mullingar, and Enniskillen; the first
threatening that part of the southern province still in arms for King
James, and each of the other three commanding one or more important
passes into the still unconquered territory. That part of his army at
Enniskillen was commanded by Kirke and Douglas; that at Mullingar, by
Brewer, Lanier, Earle, and others; that at Roscrea and its environs,
by Count Nassau and the Prince of Wurtemberg; and that at Cork, by
Tettau and Scravenmore,--none of them varying far from 10,000 men, with
strong detachments at several intermediate points, while he himself
established his headquarters at Kilkenny, holding a strong reserve in
hand, to be directed north or south as necessity should require. The
campaign was to be first inaugurated by Tettau on the south and Douglas
on the north. The former was to move against the interior of Cork and
Kerry, and, wasting the country on his way, to threaten Limerick, in
order to divert attention from the movements on the river above it.
The latter was to proceed against Sligo, and, having captured it, to
assail Lanesborough from the west, while Brewer, from his quarters at
Mullingar, was to threaten it on the east. The investment of the latter
place was to be the signal for a general movement along the whole line
from Kilaloe, northward, when, if any one point were carried, the whole
army was to concentrate round Athlone, which once reduced, Limerick
should be evacuated, or the whole country westward to Galway left
open to his march. The plan was well designed, the generals able and
experienced, the army in the finest condition; and nothing was wanting
to success but the time opportune for a general movement.
On the other hand, the fall of Cork and Kinsale were succeeded by a
period of great distress within the Irish lines. The exterminating
policy of the lords-justices had filled the province with a helpless
population, enhancing the price of provisions and lessening the
resources of the army. The brass coin of King James, in which the
soldiers received their pay, was greatly depreciated within their own
boundaries, while throughout the other three provinces it was decried,
and had become utterly worthless.[56] A derangement of trade with
France also intervened, and disasters followed each other in quick
succession. A few days after the fall of Kinsale, a vessel freighted
with salt and other necessaries, anchored under the guns of the fort,
and the captain, believing it still held by the Jacobite troops,
only discovered his mistake when she was actually in possession of
a boarding party from the enemy. Another, laden with ammunition and
clothing for the troops, struck on a rock coming up the Shannon, and
became a total wreck, and all on board perished. Almost coincident
with those events; one Long, an English captain, who had been for some
time a prisoner in Galway, aided by some disaffected inhabitants, made
his escape, and seizing a French frigate of twelve guns, doubled the
northern coast and reached Carrickfergus in safety with his prize. In
the mean time the expedition promised by the French Government was
unaccountably delayed, until hope seemed illusory, and the necessity of
an accommodation with the enemy was intimated in the civic councils of
the nation.
Through all these troubles Berwick and Sarsfield never faltered in
their duty. The camp and the council alike demanded their attention.
In both they seemed ubiquitous, and their exertions alone saved the
Jacobite cause from utter prostration at this critical period. At
length, after several weeks had elapsed, commerce began to revisit
the coast; the immediate necessities of the army were relieved; the
efforts of Tyrconnell were manifested in something more tangible than
promises; arms and ammunition, as a first instalment of his good faith,
arrived at Galway, coupled with assurances that the French king had at
last accorded that consideration which the importance of their cause
demanded, and appeals to their loyalty and patriotism to hold out until
his arrival. The effect was soon observable: the despondence of the
people gave way to hope; the discontent of the council was for a time
allayed; and the generals turned their undivided attention to military
affairs--Berwick to store the magazines, put the troops in order, and
guard the different posts; and Sarsfield, with a few thousand available
troops, to organize the Rapparees and direct their movements in
frustrating the designs of the enemy.
Through the preceding events of the war, the Rapparees had played no
insignificant part. The torch of the invader had rendered them homeless
and reckless, and, thrown on their own resources, they took up this
wild life, and wrung their subsistence from the enemy with a daring
hand. From the Shannon to the eastern coast, wherever a tribute could
be levied, or a British detachment ambushed, there were the stealthy
Rapparees wresting a reprisal or wreaking a revenge. Neither toil nor
privation seemed to affect them, nor could danger deter them from their
purpose. Death, swift and certain, was their doom when captured, and
that they dealt as swiftly and surely in their turn. Unable, through
want of regular arms and discipline, to meet large bodies of the enemy
in the field, they divided into small bands, and traversed the country
in all directions. All the by-ways of the land were known to them;
they came and went like shadows; and wherever they passed, there was
a hostage or a victim. No position of the enemy, however guarded, was
safe from them, and frequently in the dead of night, when his camp
seemed most secure, the skies would be suddenly lit up by the blaze
of his tents, and horses and other booty secured in the confusion,
and borne with a noble disinterestedness to the headquarters of the
Jacobite army. In fine, the Irish Rapparee was an Irish patriot, and
a devoted one,--as brave and devoted as the Chouan of La Vendée. He
fought without pay; suffered without murmur, and gave his life for a
country that scarce holds his name in grateful remembrance.
Such were the men that Sarsfield now called to his aid, and for this
purpose, he "let loose,"--says the English historian of the war,--"a
great part of the army to manage the best for themselves that time
and opportunity would allow them, giving them passes to signify what
regiments they belonged to, so that in case they were taken they might
not be dealt with as Rapparees, but _soldiers_.... Keeping a constant
correspondence with one another and also with the Irish army, who
furnished them with all necessaries, especially ammunition."
These soldiers now extended along the whole frontier, and in a short
time established communication between the Rapparees and the regular
army, while Sarsfield, with a small force, took the field, to profit by
every diversion they might create in his favor.
Each army having thus adopted its plan of action, a furious desultory
war soon raged along the whole lines, from north to south. The
Rapparees, under the guidance of the soldiers sent among them, formed
in two lines: one of these moved along between the English army and
the eastern coast, harassing the militia in its rear, and ravaging the
country up to the gates of Dublin; while the other hung around its
encampments, interrupting communication, disconcerting its movements,
destroying its forage, and driving large herds of cattle beyond the
Shannon. Their courage and hardihood were surprising. They now attacked
larger bodies of the enemy, and raids and skirmishes, terminating in
loss of life on both sides, were of daily--almost hourly, occurrence.
If the enemy lost less in men--as we are assured he did, on the
testimony of his own annalist--he paid the balance in booty, for to
this the attention of the Rapparees, even in the heat of battle, was
principally directed. An instance or two of their manner of proceeding
will better illustrate their service at this time than pages of
general detail.--As the English army extended northward, pursuant to
its design against the Irish quarters, the regiment of Lord Drogheda
occupied Kilcormack Castle, in the King's County, as an escort to the
supplies daily arriving and passing on northward. The forage growing
scarce around that station, the commander, Colonel Bristow, billeted
his men on Balliboy, a few miles distant, in a plentiful district, and
scoured the country in all directions. After a few days the town was
well stored with provisions for the winter, and the greatest vigilance
was exercised against a surprise from the Rapparees, who were reported
to be about in the neighborhood. From a steep hill behind the town,
which commanded a view of the country around, a constant lookout was
kept up through the day; and every evening, before retiring to rest,
the hedges and brushwood were searched, and the guards doubled through
the night. Notwithstanding all this vigilance, the Rapparees got within
the lines and concealed themselves in the hedges around the town; where
they remained three days without food, and exposed to the severity of
the weather. At length, on the third night, when the very quiet that
prevailed awakened suspicion, a lieutenant and twenty men were sent
out, who beat up all the hedges, and even those where the Rapparees
lay concealed, without detecting any sign of them; and retired for
the night free from apprehension. In half an hour more the town was
fired at both ends; this was a signal to the Rapparees at a distance,
who flocked in from all directions. The soldiers were driven to the
hill, where a fight raged all night between them and one body of the
Rapparees; while another, in their sight, rifled the town, brought
off a large booty of provisions and horses, and secured them before
morning. The next day they attacked Philipstown, but were repulsed and
driven through the country; when turning on their pursuers, they killed
one hundred and twenty of them, returned and laid the town in ashes,
and killed two hundred more, sent against them. No place was free from
their assaults:--Clonmel, Cashel, Mountmellick, and Mullingar, were
attacked by them in such quick succession, that the British soldiers
were kept marching and countermarching to meet assaults either feigned
or real, until the winter set fairly in, and the grand movement of
Ginckle seemed yet as remote as ever.
The soldiers sent into the interior of Cork and Kerry also performed
signal service to the Irish cause. Mounted upon the small surefooted
horses of those mountainous districts, they traversed the country
in all directions; organized the farmers and Rapparees; established
lines for running the produce of the country to the general depot
at Limerick; and then attached themselves to the forces of Colonels
McCarthy and O'Driscoll, who still held the country against the
incursions of the enemy. This Colonel O'Driscoll was a brave and
intrepid soldier. He commanded a regiment of his own tenantry at the
siege of Cork; but having no faith in English treaties, he refused to
accede to the terms of Marlborough, and, at the head of his regiment of
four hundred men, fought his way through the English lines, and reached
the open country to the north-west of the city. Here he learned that
his son, or kinsman(?), "young Colonel O'Driscoll," had been slain
in an attempt to retake Castlehaven, which had been captured by the
British; and that the country around was despoiled, and the people
flying in dismay to the mountains. Burning with revenge, he marched
rapidly along the line of the Bandon, passing through Ballineen and
Inniskeen; scattering several English settlements as he passed; and
turning westward, bore directly for Castlehaven, took it by storm, and
put the whole English garrison to the sword. Other places were retaken
in quick succession, his force increasing with each success; and being
joined by Colonel McCarthy, they attacked the forces of Tettau, under
Eppinger, Cox, and Coy, again drove them from the interior, and the
reduction of the country was, for that time, abandoned.
By these and other movements, too numerous to specify in detail,
the British general was kept in a state of alarm, and his object
frustrated, until the last days of December. The 29th of that month was
at last fixed by Ginckle for a simultaneous advance along his whole
line, every thing being considered in proper train, and the enemy's
apprehension being removed by the lateness of the season. Douglas,
from Enniskillen, directed his march on Sligo. The regiments of Kirke,
Lanier, Lisburn, Lord Geo. Hamilton, Brewer, "and several other
regiments, with tin-boats for crossing the river," marched under Kirke
and Brewer, from the north and east, against Lanesborough. A party of
the militia was also ordered from Dublin, "and those in the country
were ordered to be up on all hands." Drogheda's, Col. John Hamilton's,
and others, under Bristow, were ordered from Birr to Lanesborough;
and a strong force from Kilkenny and Roscrea were to attempt the
river at Portumna and Banagher. Tettau at the same time was to renew
his campaign in the south, by throwing a strong body against each of
the counties:--"And now," says Story, "if they had been all pushed
forward at one time, it had been a great advantage to our affairs
next campaign. All things seemed to favor the attempt, especially the
weather--better had never been seen for the season."[57]
On the 29th, Tettau was joined by Brigadier Churchill, Sir David
Collier, Colonels Cox, Coy, and Matthews, with their respective forces,
and on the 30th attacked and captured Scronolard. But the country for
several miles around having been burned, and its provisions carried
off, they were unable to penetrate farther, and retraced their steps
after a series of assaults, in which they lost many men, and the
campaign was pronounced impracticable for the winter.
The expedition against Sligo was not more fortunate. Douglas had
scarcely cleared his quarters at Enniskillen, when he was met by the
enemy, and after a succession of bewildering skirmishes for several
days, he concluded to go no farther:--"as the ground was too difficult,
and had been made more so." Then turning his steps towards Jamestown,
he was forced to retreat after a severe encounter, in which he suffered
greatly in men, and, harassed by the Rapparees, retraced his way to
the north, "_giving out_" that it was no use to take Jamestown, as the
country beyond it was too difficult to advance, even if the town were
in his possession.
Nor were Brewer and Kirke up to time at Lanesborough. They found the
"bogs" to the east all intersected by canals, which were fiercely
disputed by the enemy, and when they at last reached the town, they
found that the eastern half of it had been burned down, and the fort
on the other side rendered impregnable:--"and after a few ineffectual
attempts to cross the river, they also retired in despair."
The movements against Banagher and Portumna were also ineffectual;
and the regiments of Bristow, Caulfield, "and others,"--about 2,000
strong,--which had been ordered to Lanesborough, by way of Mullingar,
were attacked by 1,500 of the Rapparees and soldiers, and after a
fierce fight of over five hours, were routed with great slaughter, and
driven back on Mountmellick, leaving all their baggage and military
stores in the hands of the victors.
Ginckle now drew in his lines, and retiring to winter-quarters, began
to make extensive preparations for an early campaign in the spring.
But he had scarcely retired when he was apprised of a designed attack
on his whole line, and drew out his army to meet it. Nor were his
precautions unnecessary; for no sooner had he made his disposition,
than the Irish generals made a simultaneous advance against the
principal posts approaching the river. But finding their movements
anticipated on all hands, and some of their garrisons seriously
threatened in their rear, they retired after a series of engagements
that resulted in no advantage to either, and the British army also
retiring, a temporary quiet succeeded. As it was hoped that this
movement, which had been matured in secrecy by the Irish generals,
would have resulted in great advantage to their cause, its failure
filled them with indignation and alarm. They saw that they had been
contending not only against the enemy on their front, but against
treachery in their rear. A close inquiry revealed the fact that
the English general had been in communication with members of the
Irish Senate, and the treason being traced to Judge Daly and Lord
Riverstown, they were arrested and conveyed in irons to Galway. These
events ushered in the month of February: the _rôle_ of the last year
was repeated; active preparations along the English line, and great
expectations along the other: but the Rapparees increasing in numbers
and activity, continued their predatory warfare without cessation,
"watching all opportunities of advantage," says Story, "killing
our men by surprise in a great many places, but especially keeping
correspondence with the protected Irish in all parts of the country.
They stole away our horses, sometimes in the night, and often in the
noonday, when our men least expected it; by which means they recruited
their own horse considerably, and did us no small disservice; nor is it
probable, unless they had made use of some such ways, they could have
brought any body of horse into the field worth taking notice of in the
succeeding campaign."
So ended this ominous campaign of General Ginckle. He began it with
all the appliances of success:--a powerful army, a most superb
artillery, supplies at will, and those powerful auxiliaries in the road
of conquest--confiscation, extermination, and proscription, keeping
pace with his military movements. It was directed against an enemy
comparatively insignificant in number; wanting in every thing but
courage, hardihood, and "good-will," and a disrupted population without
arms or direct purpose. Yet day followed day, and month followed
month, and still his object seemed farther from accomplishment, while
his enemy grew bolder, more numerous, and more effective; until at
last, driven to the defensive, he abandoned his purpose in despair,
and retired with an army worn down by fatigue, and disheartened by
continual disaster. Had the Irish generals, at this period, one-half
the means at the disposal of Ginckle, there is scarce a doubt that
their cause would have been crowned with complete success. But there is
no use in idle speculation on what might have been; the events of the
past are irrevocable, and the contrary is the record.
Such was the conduct of Sarsfield during the fall and winter of 1690;
and it is to the admirable disposition of his force, and the capacity
he displayed in conducting both the civil and military affairs of the
nation at this trying period, rather than to the single affair of
blowing up the enemy's train at Ballineety, that we are to look for the
cause of his unbounded popularity, and the undying affection that his
name still holds in every Irish breast.
No ample and digested record of that trying campaign, conducted by
the Rapparees and soldiers, has ever been written, nor is it likely
that it ever will be. The Irish historians pass it over by a few hasty
allusions, and hurry from the Boyne to Limerick, and from Limerick to
Aughrim, as if unwilling to more than glance at the terrific struggle
for life and liberty that took place between them. What we do know of
it, has to be accepted at the hands of a hired scribe, who, on his own
acknowledgment, was obliged to alter and distort his notes which were
taken at the time, in order to please his royal patrons three years
later. But even from him, enough can be gleaned to show that there was
manhood sufficient in the country, if properly directed, to restore
the king his inheritance, and, that the only military mind capable of
uniting and directing it to that end, was General Sarsfield.