By now the garrison’s strength had reduced to 5,114 men but Murray seemed still determined to take the fight to the enemy and, taking twelve men with him, sallied out to make a flank attack on the Jacobite trenches before Butcher’s Gate. As with the earlier Jacobite attack in the same area, this had all the qualities of a suicide mission. If anything, Murray’s mission was more suicidal than that by the Jacobites. It led to a fierce firefight with the Williamites firing until their ammunition was exhausted. One of his men, James Murray – according to Ash, a cousin of Adam Murray – was killed while Adam Murray himself was wounded seriously. He was shot through both thighs and was fortunate not to have died. As it was, he was not recovered fully until November. Ash notes that Murray was shot as his group was withdrawing. Ash adds another Williamite fatality to the story of this encounter, that of Sergeant Lynn, one of the few NCOs or private soldiers to receive a mention in any of the accounts of the siege. Also in the raiding party had been the redoubtable Captain Noble.22
At midnight the mortarmen were at their business yet again, firing eight bombs into the city. One of these killed an elderly citizen, Henry Thompson, who was in his bed when the round came through his roof and fell upon him, smashing his body into pieces. The Jacobite artillery continued to pound at the town and the gate, presumably the Butcher’s Gate since Ash tells us that the breastwork of the bastion below the gate was broken, but then withdrew the guns under cover of night to redeploy them at Brookhall where they were added to the ordnance supporting the boom. This was a strange move as considerable damage had been done in the Butcher’s Gate area and the defenders were carrying out emergency repairs at night using barrels and sods of earth. One explanation for the move could be that the Jacobites were expecting Kirke’s fleet to make a run upriver for the city. Ash notes that the last firing at Butcher’s Gate took place on the 23rd but, bearing in mind the discrepancy in dates between Ash and other chroniclers, this may have been a day or two earlier than that. Before their move to Brookhall, the battering guns killed a number of people who ‘lay in garrets’ including two brothers in one such garret in Bishop’s Street.23
Irrespective of the redeployment of the artillery, the mortarmen continued their punishment of the city; Ash records twenty-two bombs on the 19th with a further twenty-eight two days later.24 It was around this time that James Cunningham, a merchant, found a way of supplementing the flour in the stores. His discovery was that starch, of which there was a good supply in the town, could be mixed with tallow to bake pancakes. These provided not only good food but also had a medicinal property, being ‘physic too to many of those whom weariness and ill diet had cast into a flux’. In other words, these pancakes alleviated the debilitating effects of dysentery. The starch supply provided sufficient ingredients to provide the garrison with these pancakes for six or seven days.25
The city’s dogs were still providing part of its citizens’ diet. One man had killed a dog and was preparing it for cooking when he received a visit from another to whom he owed some money. Eyeing the dead dog, the creditor insisted on having either his money or the dog there and then. The first man, having no money, was forced to part with his dog ‘with languishing eye and rueful stomach’. Ash notes the cost of some basic foodstuffs at this time: meal, which cost four pence per peck2 at the beginning of the siege, now commanded six shillings while milk cost threepence-halfpenny for a pint and butter was two shillings and sixpence for six ounces. For those with little or no financial means and with little to barter, the situation was now life-threatening.26 One way or another, the siege was entering its final phase.
And it was this critical situation that led to a sally from the city on 25 July, the day on which Walker noted that the garrison’s strength had been reduced to 4,892 men.27 This was a foraging expedition, subsequently dubbed the ‘battle of the cows’, inspired by the sight of cattle grazing just behind the Jacobites’ lines ‘between this place and Pennyburn’.28 Whether the Jacobites had intended this to be a piece of psychological warfare we do not know, but the prospect of seizing the cattle for food provided a great incentive to the garrison. A council of war was held on the 24th, at which a plan was made to raid the enemy lines and seize their cattle. The raid was to be launched at 3.00am with 200 men moving out through Bishop’s Gate, a similar number through Butcher’s Gate and another group of unspecified strength through Ship Quay Gate, while 1,100 men were held in reserve in the ravelin. Such numbers indicate a determination to bring home the desired prize.29
In the sleepy hour just before dawn the raiders achieved total surprise. Sir John Fitzgerald’s Regiment was shocked to find a mass of Williamites flooding into their trenches. Although the regiment regained its composure and formed up in good order, they remained at a great disadvantage. Fitzgerald’s men appear to have been armed only with matchlock muskets and, according to Walker, only three men had their match cord. Although it is more likely that these were three cords that were kept lit so that individuals might light their own from them, the effect was still the same. The Jacobites had no effective means of breaking the attack. Mackenzie tells us that the Jacobites were ‘made havoc of’ and driven from their trenches. Fitzgerald himself was killed, as was Captain Francis Walsh, while Captain Nugent, Ensign Early and two private soldiers were taken prisoner. According to Walker, some 300 Jacobites, officers and soldiers, were killed but, as ever with Walker, this estimate must be regarded as suspect, especially as it is not supported by either Mackenzie or Ash.30
It is from Ash that we have the best account of this incident (and he also agrees on the date with both Mackenzie and Walker), which is hardly surprising as he took part in the raid. He tells us that the raiding party totalled some 500 men drawn from several of the companies in the city – it is interesting to note that the garrison still saw itself as formed in companies rather than regiments – and that it drew up in Shipquay Street, close to the gate, before departing, as we have seen, by the three gates; the sally from Bishop’s Gate seems to have been intended to deter any Jacobite attack on the Windmill Hill positions, which would also account for the substantial reserve drawn up in the ravelin.
Captain Wilson, Lieutenant Moor and Sergeant Neely led the attackers who slipped out through Ship Quay Gate while those from the Butcher’s Gate were led by Captains Hamilton, Burly and Ash. Their orders were to ‘flank the ditches which run through the orchard at both ends’. Shock and surprise allowed these orders to be executed effectively as many enemy soldiers abandoned their trenches and took to their heels ‘with great celerity a decision that he confirms was taken because ‘most of their matches were out’. Part of the surprise gained by the attackers was due, in Ash’s view, to the fact that the Jacobites ‘could hardly suppose that a poor hungry starved people would come out upon them in that manner’. In this encounter, Ash puts the Jacobite dead at sixty, far short of the figure claimed by Walker. Even if the same death toll was inflicted by the other attacking party from Ship Quay Gate, the overall toll is still much lower than Walker’s figure.31
Walker claims that the execution might have been much higher but for the fact that the attackers were so ‘much weakened by hunger [that they] were not able to pursue them’. Some were so weak that they fell when they tried to strike blows at their foes. The party that had left by Bishop’s Gate had observed what was happening with Ash’s group and ‘as soon as we were in action came down and did good service’. This group was commanded by Captain Blair, Captain Dixon and Lieutenant Boyd. But the Jacobites on the hill had also been able to see what was happening since, by now, it was daylight and troops were sent forward to restore the situation. This counter-attack was not one that the Williamites could cope with. Exhausted by their efforts and ‘weak for want of sustenance’, they were forced to pull back and retreat to their own trenches at Bishop’s Gate.32
The sally had failed in its primary objective, to bring in the cattle grazing between the city and Pennyburn. As soon as the raiding parties left the city, the catt
le had been herded over the hill.33 However, there had been an opportunity to plunder the stores and personal equipment of Fitzgerald’s Regiment, and the attackers withdrew with a ‘good store of arms and knapsacks, with bannocks of oat-bread, mutton &c. &c. from their camp’. Also included in the booty from the expedition were tools including spades, shovels and pickaxes. The highest-ranking prisoner, Captain Nugent, claimed to have £26 in gold and silver on his person but, in spite of his being searched, only four louis d‘ors, French gold coins, and a guinea were found. These were shared between Captain Wilson, who had captured Nugent, and Mr Burrel, who brought him into the city. Nugent’s sword was given to an English sergeant of the garrison but his scarlet coat, with large plate buttons, was returned to Nugent.34
Williamite losses were light, with only three men killed, Lieutenant Fisher and two private soldiers.35 It was thought that another senior French officer in the Jacobite camp might have perished. This man had been busy organizing the counter-attack when he was struck and killed by a cannon ball from the city.36 But this was not confirmed and there is no record of a French general perishing at this stage, although a French engineer officer, Massé, had been killed by a cannon ball on 19 July while overseeing the emplacement of a gun in a battery that he had just completed.37 It is probable that the report of Massé’s death became confused within the city with the Jacobite reaction to the sally of 25 July.
The failure of the foraging sally may have been anticipated. A court martial, which had been sitting for several days, had ordered, on the 24th, that ‘all the black cattle in garrison, which have been kept in houses this month or six weeks’ should now be slaughtered to provide meat for the garrison. There is no indication of the number of cattle involved but it could not have been large since concerns about food persisted. That they had survived so long indicates that these were dairy cows kept to provide milk, butter and cheese for the garrison. Ash notes that, on this same day, a dog was offered for food at a price of six shillings and makes clear that this was not out of the ordinary by adding that dogs, horses and cats were being eaten frequently.38
Hunger was not the only problem within the walls although it might have been the root cause of others. There was a dispute in Adam Murray’s quarters which resulted in the death of Captain David Ross. It seems that Ross was told to search for saddles belonging to Sir Arthur Rawdon, who had long departed for England, and his search took him into Murray’s quarters. There he became involved in an argument about saddles with one of Murray’s troopers, Samuel Lindsay. This argument became so heated that Ross, who had been very rude to the soldier, drew his sword and struck Lindsay with it several times. So angered was Lindsay that he took a carbine and fired a round into Ross’s chest which killed him immediately. Since Lindsay was fit enough to go for a carbine, Ross must have been striking him with the flat of his sword rather than cutting at him with the edge.39
This incident, which occurred on the 23rd, was followed by an attempted mutiny in which ‘some turbulent persons’ planned to imprison the gunners, spike the artillery and then beat drums to signal to the garrison and the Jacobites that they were prepared to make terms to surrender the city. They believed that once the artillery had been secured they would be able to persuade enough people to support them in their plan to make terms. However, the plotters were overheard, or perhaps one of their number passed on information about the plan, and two of their leaders were incarcerated.40
Such problems must have given the court martial considerable business. This military court, effectively an imposition of martial law on the city by the garrison, included thirteen members3 whose role was ‘to rectify and set right all misdemeanours in garrison’. (Tautologies are not, it seems, a modern phenomenon.) The president of the court was Captain Robert White and the other members were Lieutenant-Colonel Miller, Major J Dobbin, Major Alexander Stuart, Captain J Cook, Captain W Godfrey, Captain David Ross, Captain A Downing, Captain Thomas Ash, Captain John Thompson, Captain J Cochran and Captain Dobbin as advocate. Following Captain Ross’s death in the altercation with Trooper Lindsay his place on the court was taken by Captain T Johnston. In addition to dealing with discipline within the garrison, the court martial also oversaw the stores and called the storekeeper to account as well as those ‘concerned with the excise and the city rent’. All money raised by the court was to be paid to the treasurer to cover the costs of repairing arms and meeting other liabilities arising from the defence of the city.41
The day of the foraging sally appears to have been a very busy one for the besieged. It will be recalled that there had been a fear of a Jacobite attack on Windmill Hill earlier in the day. Although no such attack materialized, some Jacobite soldiers approached the Windmill position and called on the defenders to come out to talk with them. Two men left the entrenchments but when they reached the Jacobites they were killed by them. The defenders had also lost a sergeant and two private soldiers the previous night; these men had deserted, taking their weapons with them. However, they must have been unwelcome additions to the Jacobite army who sent them back to Derry but minus their uniforms and shoes, which were said to be of good quality. Both incidents suggest that the Jacobites were still lacking many necessities, including clothing and footwear.42
Some time later that day there was an explosion in the guard house which resulted in injury to three members of the guard and three Jacobite prisoners who were being held there. These three had been captured earlier in the day and were allowed to smoke tobacco close to some powder. It was this carelessness that caused the explosion since a spark fell from one man’s pipe and landed on some powder grains on the floor. These ignited; but this would not have been a problem had the grains not formed a trail to a half barrel of powder. Inevitably the fire burned along the trail, the barrel exploded, the three prisoners were ‘much disfigured’ and the floor of the guard house was blown out. This might have led to even more casualties as this was where the court martial usually sat but it was not then in session. Even so, one of the injured guard members died the next day. The wounded Jacobites, Ensign Cartie and two soldiers, were released as they were considered incapable of ‘doing us much hurt this campaign’.43
Until now there had been a practice of appointing searchers to bring into the city store provisions from those who had a plentiful private supply. The rationale behind this practice was to ensure that those who had come into the city as refugees and had little food or money should not be in need. The court martial ordered an end to this practice on the 26th by demanding of everyone an oath that they would give a true account of what provisions they held. From their store they would be allowed to keep a week’s supply, according to their family needs, but the remainder would be requisitioned and taken to the storehouse. It seems strange that this measure had not been taken long before, as it is clear that the commanders were aware that such private stores existed and that some of those in the city were putting themselves before the greater good.44
A bizarre attempt was also made to procure food. According to Walker, this occurred after the failure of the foraging sally, but Ash states that it happened on the 26th while Mackenzie writes simply that it occurred ‘afterwards’. A cow, the one heifer left alive in the city, which belonged to a Mr Gravet, was taken outside the walls, tied to a stake, smeared with tar and set alight. This must have caused the beast horrendous pain and its cries would have been terrible to listen to. But it was that crying or roaring that the garrison wanted to hear since it was believed ‘the enemy’s cows which were grazing in the orchard would come to her’. Of course, the pain and panic in the animal’s roaring would have had exactly the opposite effect and the other cattle would have stampeded. Obviously, those responsible for this desperate and, to a twenty-first-century mind, exceptionally cruel, plan were town-dwellers with little idea of animal behaviour. Their tethered heifer was given added strength by her pain, broke the rope that held her and ran off in the direction of the orchard. The unfortunate beast was put out of her
pain and misery by musket fire from the walls.45
The other cattle in the city, plus the few surviving horses, were slaughtered for their meat. Ash notes that there were sixteen cows and twelve horses, which would not have provided much meat even for the garrison at its reduced strength of fewer than 5,000 men. An issue of a pound of meal mixed with Dutch flour, i.e., starch, was made to each soldier and, next morning, every man was given one and a half pounds of horse meat. Blood from the slaughtered animals was offered for sale at four pence per quart for cows’ blood and half that price for the horses’. By now there was not a dog to be seen in the city; all had been killed and eaten.46
On 27 July the garrison was reduced to 4,456 men and was, in Walker’s words, ‘under the greatest extremity for want of provision’. Ash agreed with this assessment, writing:
we never stood in so much need of a supply; for there is not now one week’s provisions in the garrison. Of necessity we must surrender the city, and make the best terms we can for ourselves. Next Wednesday is our last, if relief does not arrive before it.47
The Siege of Derry 1689 Page 26