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THE BATTLE-FIELDS OF IRELAND,

FROM 1688 TO 1691:

INCLUDING

LIMERICK AND ATHLONE,

AUGHRIM

AND

THE BOYNE.

BEING AN OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND, AND THE CAUSES
WHICH LED TO IT.

   "And as they tread the ruined Isle,
   Where rest, at length, the lord and slave,
   They'll wondering ask, how hands so vile
   Could conquer hearts so brave?"      MOORE


  NEW YORK:
  ROBERT CODDINGTON, PUBLISHER,
  366 BOWERY.
  1867.




Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1867,

BY ROBERT CODDINGTON,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for
the Southern District of New York.




INTRODUCTION.


Most of the following chapters were written some time since, at the
request of the publisher, whose intention it was to present the readers
of Irish history with a portable volume, which, while removing the
necessity of wading through many tomes, would give an authentic account
of the two leading events of a very important period,--the battles of
the Boyne and Aughrim.

Having undertaken the task, and performed it to the extent of his
information, it appeared to the writer that, without some allusion to
antecedent causes and intermediate events, the book, though it should
be acceptable to some, would be quite unsatisfactory to others; and it
was concluded to make such interpolation as, without overburdening,
would render the offering more clear and comprehensive.

After collecting much matter bearing on the subject, and finding it
impossible to compress it methodically within the limits assigned, such
selections were made, from historians of every shade of opinion, as
would suffice, without distorting the parts already arranged, to give a
consecutive view of the Jacobite war in Ireland, from its inception to
its close.

As it was almost exclusively a war for religious ascendency on the
one side, and for complete civil and religious liberty on the other,
continually presenting a politico-religious aspect, it was chosen
to leave the ethological bearing to other mediums, and confine this
principally to the leading military events of the time. Hence, no
allusion whatever is made to the interior merits of either faith
dependent on the issue; nor to its exterior action, only so far as to
preserve the order of an unbroken narrative.

Having followed the war down to the battle of Aughrim, inclusive, and
reached the limit prescribed, the writer stops short of the final
event--the last siege of Limerick; and he does so as well from motive
as necessity, for he thinks that event could be more appropriately
connected with a history of "The Brigade." But whether the subject is
ever resumed by him or not, will greatly depend on the reception of
this little volume, which is now submitted to the public.

                                                          THE AUTHOR.




CONTENTS.

                                                                    PAGE

CHAPTER I.

  A Cursory View of England and Ireland anterior to the Accession of
  James II                                                             9


CHAPTER II.

  The Reign of James II. in England--The Invasion of William, Prince
  of Orange. From 1685 to 1688                                        26


CHAPTER III.

  Events preceding Hostilities in Ireland--The preparatory Measures
  of Tyrconnel                                                        41


CHAPTER IV.

  From the Commencement of Hostilities to the Landing of King James
  in Ireland                                                          58


CHAPTER V.

  The Battle of Cladiford--The Investment of Derry--Proceedings of
  Parliament                                                          74


CHAPTER VI.

  The Battle of Newtown Butler, and the Relief of Enniskillen
  and Derry                                                           90


CHAPTER VII.

  The Landing of Marshal Schomberg, and his Winter Campaign          108

CHAPTER VIII.

  Schomberg's Campaign continued--The Arrival of the Prince
  of Orange                                                          112


CHAPTER IX.

  The Battle of the Boyne                                            125


CHAPTER X.

  Final departure of King James--A Retrospect of his Character       152


CHAPTER XI.

  The Surrender of Drogheda and Dublin--The First Siege of Athlone   160


CHAPTER XII.

  The Siege of Limerick                                              174


CHAPTER XIII.

  The Arrival of the Duke of Marlborough--The Siege of Cork
  and Kinsale                                                        193


CHAPTER XIV.

  The Winter of 1690                                                 206


CHAPTER XV.

  Arrival of St. Ruth--Ginckle takes the field                       222


CHAPTER XVI.

  The Siege of Athlone                                               239


CHAPTER XVII.

  The Interval from July 1st to the 12th                             267


CHAPTER XVIII.

  The Battle of Aughrim                                              292




THE BATTLE-FIELDS OF IRELAND.

CHAPTER I.

A CURSORY VIEW OF ENGLAND AND IRELAND ANTERIOR TO THE ACCESSION OF
JAMES II.


Few monarchs ever ascended the English throne under more unfavorable
auspices than James II. Though he reached it in the order of legitimate
right, it was at a time when the monarchy of England was well-nigh
divested of its most vital prerogatives, and when the voice of the
sovereign had little more weight in the national councils than that
of any ordinarily dissentient member; and to this were superadded
rivalries, jealousies, and hatreds, which having their sources in
remoter times, gathered strength like the rivers, and grew deeper and
darker in their course.

As a representative of Scottish royalty, he inherited many a bitter
memory from Bannockburn to Flodden, and as a descendant of the
unfortunate Mary, he was an object of hatred to the old reform families
of England, with whom her persecutor, Elizabeth, was still a hallowed
memory; he was a grandson of James I., whom neither the acquisition
of a kingdom, nor the confiscation of Ireland,--so grateful to every
English adventurer,--could redeem from national contempt; a son of
Charles I., whom the revolutionary elements evoked in Church and
State by the pedantry of his father, had brought to the scaffold; and
brother to the second Charles, one of the most indolent and dissolute
monarchs that ever disgraced a throne. Through the last three reigns,
the name of Stuart had been a term of distrust or hatred, both to the
High Church party of England, and the fanatics of Scotland; but through
some unaccountable cause, it had one, and only one, abiding-place,--the
heart of Catholic Ireland,--whose people, through every phase of that
dynasty, had experienced nothing but treachery, confiscation, and
proscription.

Other circumstances, too, though of a domestic nature, tended to
establish the unpopularity of James, and to raise up difficulties in
his road to royalty. In 1671, his wife, the Duchess of York, though
nominally a Protestant, died in communion with the Catholic Church, and
from that time forward he himself made open profession of Catholicity.
Towards the beginning of 1673 he was married to Mary of Modena, a
Catholic, and the daughter of a royal house then in close alliance
with France. The Parliament, which met shortly after, expressed great
indignation at this event, and gave practical effect to its resentment.
A declaration of indulgence which had been issued by Charles in 1671,
granting to dissenters from the High Church the public observance
of their religion, and to Roman Catholics the right to hear Mass in
private houses, was censured, and repealed in its application to the
Catholics. In this session was also passed the "Test Act," which
continued in full legal force down to the reign of George IV., and
which, with some modifications, is virtually observed at the present
day. By the passage of this act, every Catholic official in the realm
was removed, and the Duke of York lost the command of the British navy,
in which he had won high distinction, and which he had brought to a
greater degree of efficiency than it had hitherto known. These and
similar marks of disapprobation were specially meant for James, who was
then heir-presumptive, and showed him the dangers that beset his way
to the throne. He, however, continued on unwavering in his principles,
while every exercise of conscience on his part was met by a check on
the king's prerogative, or a direct censure on