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The Battle of Aughrim12th July 1691By Martin J. Joyce, NT, BA (RIP) |
| After King James II lost his throne in
England to his nephew and son-in-law, William of Orange,
he fled to France. Greatly influenced by Richard Talbot.
Duke of Tyrconnell. James came to Ireland supported by
six thousand French troops who were replaced in France by
an equal number of Irish troops under Justin McCarthy.
Hoping to retain their lands and freedom of worship
catholic Ireland took the side of James and only the
North East opposed him. Having failed to capture Derry,
James tried to hold William's advance at the Boyne, but
there on 1st July 1690 he was defeated, but the Jacobite
army's losses were small. |
 Martin J. Joyce, RIP |
 Patrick Sarsfield |
James returned to France and the
Jacobite or Irish army fell back on the line of the
Shannon, the two strong points on which were Limerick and
Athlone. When the French soldiers saw the wretched state
of the walls of Limerick, they said they '"could be
taken away with rotten apples", and returned to
France. Thanks to the Limerick's garrison's heroic
defence and Sarsfield's action at Ballyneety and Colonel
Grace's at Athlone, the line of the Shannon was held and
the campaign ended with the coming winter 1690. In May of the following year Lieutenant General
St. Ruth arrived in Limerick and by June he had some
20,000 men encamped at Ballinasloe when they moved to
Athlone. On July 1st despite a heroic defence in which
Sergeant Custume and his comrades earned undying fame,
Athlone fell. |
| Sarsfield and Tyrconnell advised
sending back to Limerick and taking the cavalry into Leinster to
cut the Williamite supply lines with Dublin. St. Ruth however,
was anxious to gain lost prestige and decided to give battle at Aughrim. He showed considerable genius in his choice of position.
It covered roads to Galway and Limerick, both of which had ports
and were the last links with France. His centre was protected by
a morass and his flanks could only be approached through two
narrow passes. He utilised he hedges on the slopes of the
hillside as cover for his inexperienced infantry and gaps in the
same hedges could enable his cavalry to come to their assistance. Various estimates have been given of the strength of both armies, but as near as can be ascertained there were 20,000 on each side. The Jacobite or Irish army had lost most of their cannon at Athlone and had only nine or ten pieces left, three of which were set up at the site of the present Protestant Church to cover the road into Aughrim, three in the centre and three towards Tristane Bridge. The Williamite army was led by Baron Ginkell and comprised Dutch, Danish, Hugenot, Scotch, Ulster and English troops. They were markedly superior in artillery, equipment and experience, but St. Ruth's excellent choice of position helped to balance matters. The battle was fought on Sunday
and the Irish regimental chaplains at Mass that morning swore the
troops on the Consecrated Host to fight to secure the liberties
of an oppressed people. |
Nearer Aughrim Williamite fortunes
were little better. Four English battalions - Earls, Herberts,
Creightons and Brewers crossed the bog towards Foats town land
and were lured in excess of their orders up the slopes. From
field to field the Irish retreated until the enemy came near the
main Irish lines. Then through gaps in the hedges came the
dreaded Irish Cavalry. Fired into by the main Irish line,
attacked by Sheldons cavalry, and two of their leaders Earl and
Herbert taken prisoner the Williamite infantry broke and were
hustled back to the bog losing more than a third of their
strength. Indeed Gordon O'Niell's regiment reached and captured a
(Willamite) battery on the Urraghry side of the bog. |
 King James II |
At this stage St. Ruth was jubilant,
his vulnerable right had held and was still holding, his
cntre exceeded his expectations and it only needed his
strong left sife to hold and the day was his. On the other side, Hugh Mackney who was
commanding the attack on the Irish left saw that the
battle was lost, if something wasn't done to force the
Pass of Antrim. This was covered by the Castle, behind
which stood the cavalry of the Irish left, commanded by
Luttrel and Sheldon. The last sixty yards of the Pass was
a narrow causeway, so narrow that two horsemen could pass
with difficulty. Around the infantry and dragoons posted
in and around it. Mackney led the attack and St. Ruth,
nearly a mile away on the hill, remarked, that (they
Mackney's cavalry) "were brave fellows 'tis a pity
they should be so exposed". Then "They are all
beaten - let us beat them back to the gates of
Dublin". |
| He marshalled the Life Gaurds to lead a change and turned to
direct a battery when a cannon ball cut off his head. The Guards
gathered his body in a cloak and left the battlefield. After a
very feeble resistance Henry Luttrel, who commanded the front
line of the Irish cavalry of the left, rode off the field
followed by Sheldon leaving the Irish flank unprotected. Then
Williamite Cavalry got the Castle when tradition say, Col.
Burke's men had wrong ammunition, and started taking the Irish
infantry on the flank. The Williamite infantry who shortly before that were beaten across the bog, were strengthened by their last remaining fresh troops and were rallied. The Irish infantry were now attacked front and flank and with little cavalry support did not last long. Theyfought from hedge to hedge until they reached the top of the hill when they broke and fled westward towards Mona Rua where the pursuing cavalry could not reach them. The Irish defeat was complete. They last eleven standards of cavalry and dragoons, the colours of thirty two infantry battalions, nine field guns, and their ammunition, tents and camp equipment, and most of their small arms and about 4,000 men were killed. The Williamites too suffered, losing about 2,000. Thus ended Aughrim's great disaster, the last great decisive battle fought on Irish soil.
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| After the battle most of the bodies of the slaughtered Irish were stripped and left unburied on the battlefield, devoured by dogs and wolves which were still plentiful in the district. Among the lay that of an Irish Officer, as tradition has it, a Fitzgerald. This officer has taken his wolfhound to Aughrim and the following contempary account by Story, a Williamite Chaplain, who was at the battle bears testimony to a noble and faithful dog. "There is" observed the English Chaplain "a true and remarkable story of a grey-hound (wolfhound), belonging to an Irish Officer, the gentleman was killed and stripped in the battle, whose body the the remained by night and day and tho' he fed on other corpses with the rest of the dogs yet he would not allow them or anything else to touch his master". |  William of Orange |
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"When all the corpses were consumed the other dogs departed, but his dog used to go in the night to adjacent villages for food, and presently return again to the place where his master's bones were only then left, till January following, when of the Col. Foulkes soldiers being quartered nigh hand and going that way by chance, the dog fearing he came to disturb his master's bones flew upon the soldier who being suprised at the suddeness of the thing unslung his piece them upon his back and killed the poor dog". This incident envoked the fine ballad - The Dog of Aughrim In Aughrim (four miles out the Galway Rd, from Ballinasloe) There is now a Battle of Aughrim Interpretative Centre set up for tourists and visitors.
The Battle of the Boyne, 1st July 1690. Much the same
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