IN THE 17th century, the Jacobites set out to restore the Stuart king to the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland.
The name is taken from the Latin name Jacobus, meaning James. At this time, England was ruled by King James II of England (also known as James VII of Scotland) who was deposed in 1688. He was replaced by his daughter, Mary II and her husband, William of Orange, who was also her first cousin.
William received a letter from a group of English noblemen – later named the Immortal Seven – who promised to support him should he land in England with a small army. The letter was received on 30 Jun€1688. So began the 1688 revolution, also known as the Glorious Revolution, which would lead to the overthrow and exile of James.
The Stuarts then went to live on the European mainland, and with the backing of France and Spain, a number of attempts were made to win back their thrones. Catholics hoped the Stuarts would end discriminatory laws against them.
Ireland and Scotland were the main Jacobite strongholds. The White Rose of York is the emblem of the Jacobites; White Rose Day falls on 10 June which is the birth date of James Francis Stuart, Prince of Wales, known as the Old Pretender, who was the son of James II.
There are many aspects of the Jacobite-Williamite groupings that are hard to understand. At that time, Irish Catholics (Jacobites) made up 75% of the population. The fact that James took the French side, as against the League of Augsburg, meant he was acting against the Papacy, whereas William had many Catholic states, including the Holy Roman Empire as his allies, with his elite Dutch Blue Guard carrying the papal banner.
Before his ousting, James had appointed Richard Talbot, a Catholic, as Lord Deputy of Ireland. Talbot re-admitted Catholics into all aspects of Irish life, such as the army, public office and the Irish Parliament. The Irish hoped James would also return their lands which were seized by Cromwell between 1649 and ’53.
Derry and Enniskillen were the only two garrisons not loyal to James, so Talbot ordered the Earl of Antrim, Alexander McDonnell, to replace them with a force which would show undisputed loyalty.
McDonnell hired a force of Scottish Catholic Redshanks (so-called, because they wore their kilts bare legged) who were nothing short of mercenaries, and supplemented them with Irish Catholics to make up contingent of 1,200 which marched on Derry.
As they approached, 13 Apprentice Boys seized the city keys and locked the gates. The city endured a siege, lasting 105 days (18 April to 28 July 1689) which, it is said, saw almost 8,000 of the population of 30,000 die of starvation and disease. Royal Navy ships broke barriers on the Foyle, then sailed up the river to end the siege.
On 12 July 1690, William’s forces defeated James’s at the Battle of the Boyne, which ended James’s hopes of regaining his crown.
Following this defeat, the Jacobites retreated across the Shannon into Connaught, with the river itself providing a formidable line of defence. Additional strongholds were set up in Athlone, Sligo and Limerick, guarding the routes into the province.
The hope was that assistance would arrive from France, through the ports, and they would be able to take back the rest of Ireland. Under the command of Dutch general Ginkell, the Williamites (who had earlier taken the fortress of Ballymore, capturing 1,000 men, and losing only eight of their own) marched on Athlone, where battle commenced on 19 June 1691.
The French general, Marquis De St Ruth, was slow to react, and by the time he had his own troops and a gathering of Raparees in place, it was too late – the town was stormed and taken on the 30th.
The retreating Irish took up defensive positions at Aughrim, with St Ruth in command of 18,000 Irish and French soldiers. Meanwhile, Ginkell marched through Ballinasloe with an army of 20,000 English, Scottish, Danish, Dutch and other nationalities.
The Battle of Aughrim began on 21 July 1691. The Jacobite position was strong, with the infantry placed on Killcommadan Hill, protected by the stone walls dividing landowners’ fields. The left side was a bog, with just one way through from the village of Aughrim. On the right open flank, St Ruth placed his cavalry and his best infantry under the command of Patrick Sarsfield.
Ginkel opened the battle with a combined infantry and cavalry attack on the flank defended by Sarsfield. The Williamites were driven back by counter-attacks and, to hold their position, drove stakes into the ground to repel the Jacobite cavalry. However, being on lower ground, their infantry were easy targets and sustained heavy casualties. To this day, this area of the battlefield is known as “Bloody Hollow.”
The Williamite infantry initiated a frontal assault on Killcommadan Hill, trying to take it trench by trench, each time finding the Irish had retreated and were firing at them from the next stone wall. Three attacks were attempted, the first making most ground.
Eventually, the third was driven back with heavy losses by the Jacobite cavalry. They were chased into the bog, where more were either killed or drowned. A battery of Williamite guns was captured and spiked during this attack.
Ginkel’s only remaining option was to attack down the narrow causeway through the bog. This would be suicidal, as they would be faced by Irish troops in the castle. However, at this stage, ammunition in the Irish positions was low. The first cavalry assault was divided between one group charging down the causeway, and another attacking from the south. This attack was repelled – and then disaster struck. The defenders discovered that their British reserve ammunition would not fit into the muzzles of their French rifles. The Williamites charged again, with a fresh regiment of Dutch-Anglo cavalry under the command of Henri de Massue. They faced only token fire as they raced across the causeway and reached Aughrim village.
A force of Jacobite cavalry had been held back to cover this eventuality, but their leader, Henry Luttrell, instead of counter-attacking, ordered his men to withdraw along a route now known as Luttrell’s Pass. It is believed Luttrell was on the Williamite payroll. He was assassinated in Dublin shortly after the war.
St Ruth, meanwhile, after repelling the Williamite attacks, believed the battle could be won, shouted “they are running”, and as he tried to organise his cavalry for an attack, he was decapitated by a cannon ball.
The death of their leader quickly demoralised his men, and they quickly fled the battle leaving the left flank open to the Williamite advance. The troops on the right, seeing the position was now hopeless, also began to drift away, with Sarsfield trying to organise a rearguard action.
This left Killcommadan Hill surrounded and exposed. The infantry there were slaughtered by the Williamite cavalry as they tried to run away, having discarded weapons in an effort to run faster. George Story, an eyewitness, said the bodies covering the hill looked like a flock of sheep.
It is generally agreed that some 4,000 Jacobites and 3,000 Williamites died in this, the bloodiest single battle in Irish history.
This was the last major battle of the war. Galway surrendered without a fight, and the remainder of the Jacobite army did likewise at Limerick after a brief siege, bringing the Jacobite, or Williamite War – whichever way you like to call it – to an end.