Battle of Aughrim
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The Battle of Aughrim (Template:Langx) was the decisive battle of the Williamite War in Ireland. It was fought between the largely Irish Jacobite army loyal to James II and the forces of William III on 12 July 1691 (old style, equivalent to 22 July new style), near the village of Aughrim, County Galway.
The battle was one of the bloodiest ever fought in the British Isles; 7,000 people were killed.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The Jacobite defeat at Aughrim meant the effective end of James's cause in Ireland, although the city of Limerick held out until the autumn of 1691.<ref name="A. Hayes McCoy p244">G.A. Hayes McCoy, p. 244</ref>
Background
By 1691, the Jacobites had adopted a defensive position.<ref>Histoire de l'Irlande ancienne et moderne: tirée des monumens les ..., Volume 3 Par Mac-Geoghegan (James, abbé) pp 743–747 tr. The History of Ireland, Ancient and Modern, Taken From the Most Authentic Records, and Dedicated to the Irish Brigade. by the Abbe Mac-Geoghegan. Tr. From the French by Patrick O'Kelly. Template:ISBN</ref> In the previous year they had retreated into Connacht behind the easily defensible line of the Shannon, with strongholds at Sligo, Athlone and Limerick guarding the routes into the province and the western ports. William besieged Limerick in late August 1690 but, suffering heavy casualties and losses to disease, he called off the siege and put his army into winter quarters. However, internal divisions, exacerbated by the departure of James for France after defeat at the Boyne, were increasingly undermining the Jacobite command.<ref name=hayton27>Hayton, David (2004) Ruling Ireland, 1685–1742: Politics, Politicians and Parties, Boydell, p. 27</ref>
The main split was between the "Peace Party", led by James's viceroy Tyrconnell, which proposed negotiating a settlement with William, and the "War Party" of army officers grouped around Patrick Sarsfield, who believed the war could still be won outright.<ref name=bradshaw221>Bradshaw, Brendan (2016) And so began the Irish Nation: Nationality, National Consciousness and Nationalism in Pre-modern Ireland, Routledge, p. 221</ref> Encouraged by William's failure to take Limerick and looking to break Tyrconnell's influence, Sarsfield's faction decided to appeal directly to Louis XIV of France requesting that Tyrconnell and army commander Berwick be removed from office and that Louis send military aid.<ref name=hayton28>Hayton, p. 28</ref>
The "Peace Party" obtained an offer of settlement from the Williamites in December, upon which Sarsfield demanded that Berwick have Riverston, Denis Daly and other "Peace Party" leaders arrested. Berwick complied, probably with the approval of Tyrconnell, who returned from France to try and preserve his influence by repositioning himself with Sarsfield's faction.<ref name=hayton28/>
Alarmed by the fracturing of the Irish command, James was persuaded to request further military support directly from Louis.<ref name=childs279>Childs, John (2007) The Williamite Wars in Ireland, Bloomsbury, p. 279</ref> Louis sent general Charles Chalmot de Saint-Ruhe to replace Berwick as senior Jacobite commander, with secret instructions to assess whether Louis should send further military aid.<ref name=childs279/> Saint-Ruhe, accompanied by lieutenant-generals de Tessé and d'Usson, arrived at Limerick on 9 May, bringing sufficient arms, corn and meal to sustain the army until the autumn, but not the troops or money the Jacobites desperately needed.<ref name=childs295>Childs, p. 295</ref>
By this stage William's forces were led by his subordinates, Dutch officer Godert de Ginkel and second-in-command Württemberg.Template:Sfn Ginkel was conscious of the poor military situation facing William in the Netherlands, and seeking a quick end to the war obtained William's permission to offer the Jacobites moderate terms of surrender.<ref name=childs293>Childs, p. 293</ref> By late spring 1691, however, Ginkel became concerned that a French convoy could land further reinforcements at Galway or Limerick, and began planning to enter the field as quickly as possible.<ref name=childs304>Childs, p. 304</ref> During May, both sides began assembling forces for a summer campaign, the Jacobites at Limerick and the Williamites at Mullingar.
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On 16 June, Ginkel's cavalry reconnoitred from Ballymore towards the Jacobite garrison at Athlone. Saint-Ruhe had been unsure where Ginkel would attempt to cross the Shannon, but by 19 June he realised Athlone was the target and began concentrating his troops west of the town.<ref name=childs316>Childs, p. 316</ref> Ginkel breached the Jacobite lines of defence and took Athlone on 30 June after a bloody siege; Saint-Ruhe was unable to relieve the town and fell back to the west. Athlone was seen as a significant victory and likely to provoke the collapse of the Jacobite army.<ref name=childs316/> The Lords Justice in Dublin issued a proclamation offering generous terms for Jacobites who surrendered, including a free pardon, restoration of forfeited estates, and the offer of similar or higher rank and pay if they wished to join William's army.<ref name=childs331>Childs, p. 331</ref>
Unaware of the location of Saint-Ruhe's main army and assuming he was outnumbered, on 10 July Ginkel continued a cautious advance through Ballinasloe down the main Limerick and Galway road.<ref name=childs332>Childs, p. 332</ref> Saint-Ruhe's and Tyrconnell's plan had been to fall back on Limerick and force the Williamites into another year of campaigning, but wishing to redeem his errors at Athlone Saint-Ruhe appears to have instead decided to force a decisive battle.<ref name=Doherty>Doherty, Richard. "The Battle of Aughrim", Early Modern History (1500–1700), Issue 3 (Autumn 1995), Vol. 3</ref> Ginkel found his way blocked by Saint-Ruhe's army at Aughrim on the early morning of 12 July 1691.
Deployments
At this point of the campaign, both armies were about 20,000 strong. The core of the Jacobite force was formed around James's old Irish Army, which had been reorganised by Tyrconnell from 1686 onwards by dismissing the majority of Protestant officers and men.<ref name=hayes4>Hayes-McCoy, "The Battle of Aughrim", Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society, Vol. 20, No. 1/2 (1942), p. 4</ref> It had been substantially expanded with newly recruited Irish Catholic regiments, organised in the English military tradition.<ref name="hayes5">Hayes-McCoy (1942), p. 6</ref>
While it is not now possible to establish with certainty which Jacobite infantry regiments fought at Aughrim, at least 30 have been identified as likely present, including the Foot Guards, Talbot's, Nugent's, Fitzgerald's, Boffin's, Cormack O'Neill's, Saxby's and Iveagh's.<ref name=hayes15>Hayes-McCoy (1942), pp. 15–17</ref> The Jacobites also retained around 4,000 cavalry and dragoons, mostly much better trained and equipped than their foot.
The composition of Ginkel's army is better documented than that of the Jacobites: in addition to English regiments, it included a large number of Anglo-Irish Protestants as well as Dutch, Danish and French Huguenot contingents.<ref name=hayes5>Hayes-McCoy (1942), p. 6</ref> Different contemporary sources give different dispositions for Ginkel's forces at Aughrim, but most agree that the right wing was composed of English, Anglo-Irish and Huguenot cavalry, with Danish and French cavalry on the left.<ref name=hayes20>Hayes-McCoy, p. 20</ref> Ginkel positioned the English infantry regiments on the right of his centre, with French, Danish and Dutch foot on their left.<ref name=hayes20/>
According to witnesses of the battle the Jacobite lines at Aughrim occupied a strong defensive position extending over two miles.<ref name=me440>O'Callaghan (ed.) Macariae Excidium, Dublin: Irish Archaeological Society, p. 440</ref> To protect his largely inexperienced infantry, Saint-Ruhe deployed most of it in two divisions under Major-Generals John Hamilton and William Dorrington along the crest of a ridge known as Kilcommadan Hill, their positions protected by small hillside enclosures and hedgerows. The centre was further screened by a large bog, impassable to cavalry, through which the Melehan River flowed. The left flank was also bounded by "a large Red Bogg, almost a mile over",<ref name=me440/> through which there was only one causeway, overlooked by the deserted village of Aughrim and a ruined castle: Saint-Ruhe deployed the bulk of his cavalry here under Parker, Luttrell and Purcell, under the overall command of Dominic Sheldon. On the right flank where the Tristaun stream ran through the "Pass" of Urraghry or Urachree, much the more open and weaker position, Saint-Ruhe placed his best infantry and the cavalry regiments of Abercorn, Tyrconnell and Edmund Prendergast, all under his second-in-command, the chevalier de Tessé.<ref name=Doherty/><ref name=hayes18>Hayes-McCoy, p. 18</ref> According to one participant's account Patrick Sarsfield had quarrelled with Saint-Ruhe and was posted with the cavalry reserve to the left rear, under strict instructions not to move without orders.<ref name=hayes18/>Template:Efn
Battle
After heavy mist all morning, Ginkel's forces moved into position by about two o'clock in the afternoon, and both sides cannonaded each other for the next few hours.<ref name=hayes21>Hayes-McCoy, 21</ref> Ginkel planned to avoid fully joining battle until the next day; he ordered a probing attack on the Jacobites' weaker right flank led by a captain and sixteen Danish troopers, followed by 200 of Cunningham's Eniskillen dragoons.<ref name=hayes21/>
The Jacobite response demonstrated the strength of their defence but also meant that the attackers were no longer able to break off the engagement as Ginkel had planned.<ref name=hayes21/> A conference was held at about 4 pm: Ginkel still favoured withdrawing, but the Williamite infantry general Hugh Mackay argued for an immediate full-scale attack.<ref name=hayes22>Hayes-McCoy, p. 22</ref>
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Battle was joined in earnest between five and six o'clock. In the centre, the largely English and Scots regiments under Mackay attempted a frontal assault on Dorrington's infantry on Kilcommadan Hill. The attackers had to contend with waist-deep water and a tenacious Irish defence of the reinforced hedge lines. They withdrew with heavy losses: the Jacobites pursued them downhill, capturing colonels Erle and Herbert.<ref name=hayes24>Hayes-McCoy, p. 24</ref>
On their left centre, the Williamites advanced across low ground exposed to Jacobite fire and took a great number of casualties. The Williamite assault in this area, led by St John's and Tiffin's regiments and the Huguenot foot, was driven back into the bog by the Irish foot fighting with clubbed (reversed) muskets; many of the attackers were killed or drowned.<ref name=hayes24>Hayes-McCoy, p. 24</ref> In the rout, the pursuing Jacobites managed to spike a battery of Williamite guns. The Jacobite regiments of the Guards and Gordon O'Neill were said to have fought particularly strongly.<ref name=hayes24/> The musketry was so intense that "the ridges seemed to be ablaze" according to Andreas Claudianus, a Norwegian fighting with the Danish infantry.Template:Citation needed
The Jacobite right and centre holding firm, Ginkel tried to force a way across the causeway on the Jacobite left, where any attack would have to pass along a narrow lane covered by Walter Burke's regiment from their positions in Aughrim castle.<ref name=childs336>Childs, p. 336</ref> Four battalions led by Brigadier Kirke secured positions near the castle, following which Compton's Royal Horse Guards got across the causeway at the third attempt.<ref name=childs336/> Dorrington having earlier withdrawn two battalions of infantry from this area to reinforce the Jacobite centre, they were faced only with weak opposition, reaching Aughrim village. While a force of Jacobite cavalry and dragoons under Luttrell had been tasked with covering this flank, their commander had ordered them to fall back, following a route now known locally as "Luttrell's Pass". Rumours later flew that he had been in the pay of William, although it seems most probable that Luttrell withdrew as he had little or no infantry support.<ref name=Doherty/> The cavalry regiments of Henri de Massue, Lanier, Langston and Byerley also crossed the causeway, attacking Dorrington's flank.<ref name=childs336/>
Most commentators, even those sympathetic to William, judged that the Irish foot had fought exceptionally well, and some accounts including James II's Memoirs claim that Saint-Ruhe was "in a transport of joy to see the foot [...] behave themselves so well".<ref name=me443>O'Callaghan (ed.) Macariae Excidium, Dublin: Irish Archaeological Society, p. 443</ref>
Appearing to believe that the battle could be won, he was heard to shout, "they are running, we will chase them back to the gates of Dublin", before riding across the battlefield to direct the defence against the Williamite cavalry on his left wing.<ref name=hayes26>Hayes-McCoy, p. 26</ref> However, as he rode over to rally his cavalry, Saint-Ruhe paused briefly to direct the fire of a battery, and was decapitated by a cannonball;<ref name=Doherty/> his death was said to have occurred around sunset, shortly after eight o'clock.<ref name=me453>O'Callaghan (ed.) Macariae Excidium, Dublin: Irish Archaeological Society, p. 453</ref>
After Saint-Ruhe's death the Jacobite left, devoid of a senior commander, collapsed very quickly: the regiment of Horse Guards left the field almost immediately, followed shortly by the cavalry and dragoon regiments of Luttrell, Sheldon and Galmoy.<ref name=hayes27>Hayes-McCoy, p. 27</ref>Template:Efn De Tessé attempted to head a cavalry counter-attack but was seriously wounded shortly afterwards.<ref name=childs336/> The Jacobite left flank was now exposed: Mackay and Tollemache also attacked again in the centre, pushing the Jacobites towards the hilltop.<ref name=hayes27/> Burke and his regiment, still holding the castle, were forced to surrender. Most of the infantry remained unaware of Saint-Ruhe's death, however,<ref name=me453/> and Hamilton's infantry on the Jacobite right continued to counter-attack, fighting the Huguenot foot to a standstill in an area still known locally as the "Bloody Hollow".<ref name=hayes27/><ref>Historic map of the site Template:Webarchive at Ordnance Survey of Ireland.]</ref> At around nine o'clock towards nightfall the Jacobite infantry were finally pushed to the top of Killcommadan hill and broke, fleeing towards a bog in the left rear of their position, while their cavalry retreated towards Loughrea.<ref name=hayes28>Hayes-McCoy, p. 28</ref>
Sarsfield and Galmoy briefly tried to organise a rearguard action but as in many battles of the period, most of the Jacobite casualties occurred in the pursuit, which was ended only by darkness and the onset of mist and rain.<ref name=hayes28/> The defeated infantry were cut down in their hundreds by the Williamite cavalry as they tried to get away, many of them having thrown away their weapons in order to run faster.Template:Citation needed
In addition to the rank and file the Jacobite casualties and prisoners included many of its most experienced infantry officers: the dead included brigadiers Barker, O'Neill and O'Connell, and colonels Moore, Talbot, O'Mahony, Nugent, Felix O'Neil and Ulick Burke, Lord Galway.<ref name=haverty664>Haverty (1867) The History of Ireland, J Duffy, p. 664</ref> The two major-generals commanding the Jacobite centre, Hamilton and Dorrington, were both taken prisoner, Hamilton dying of wounds shortly afterwards. Though the killing of prisoners to prevent rescue was a common practice at the time, Jacobite soldiers were accused of having "cut to pieces" colonel Herbert after his capture.<ref name=me457>O'Callaghan (ed.) Macariae Excidium, Dublin: Irish Archaeological Society, p. 457</ref> One contemporary Jacobite source (Leslie) alleged that about 2,000 Jacobites were killed "in cold blood" with many, including Lord Galway and colonel Charles Moore, killed after being promised quarter.<ref name=haverty664/>
An eyewitness with the Williamite army, George Story, wrote that "from the top of the Hill where [the Jacobite] Camp had been," the bodies "looked like a great Flock of Sheep, scattered up and down the Countrey for almost four Miles round."<ref name=me455>O'Callaghan (ed.) Macariae Excidium, Dublin: Irish Archaeological Society, p. 455</ref>
Aftermath
Estimates of the two armies' losses vary, but they were extremely heavy overall; it is generally agreed that 7,000 men were killed at Aughrim. Aughrim has been described as "quite possibly the bloodiest battle ever fought in the British Isles",<ref name=pittock44>Pittock, M. Poetry and Jacobite Politics in Eighteenth-Century Britain and Ireland, Cambridge UP, p. 44</ref> but earlier medieval battles, although poorly recorded, may rival this battle in casualty numbers. At the time, the Williamites claimed to have lost only 600 and to have killed some 7,000 Jacobites.<ref>Doherty, The Williamite War in Ireland, p. 181</ref> Some recent studies put the Williamite losses as high as 3,000,<ref>Wauchope, Patrick Sarsfield and the Williamite War, p. 232</ref> but they are more generally given as between 1-2,000, with 4,000 Jacobites killed.<ref>McCoy, p. 267 also gives the Jacobite losses as 4,000 killed, with 3,000 Williamite troops dead.</ref><ref>Padraig Lenihan in Consolidating Conquest, Ireland 1603–1727, p. 186, gives the losses as, "one fifth of the estimated 20,000-strong Irish army and at least 1,200 Allies killed in the opening attacks".</ref> Another 4,000 Jacobites had deserted, while Ginkel recorded 526 prisoners taken of all ranks.<ref name=boyle321>Boyle (1867) The Battle-fields of Ireland, from 1688 to 1691, Robert Coddington, p. 321</ref> While Ginkel had given word to Dorrington that the captives would be treated as prisoners of war, general officers were instead taken to the Tower of London as prisoners of state, while the majority of the rank and file were incarcerated on Lambay Island where many died of disease and starvation.<ref name=childs338>Childs (2007) The Williamite Wars in Ireland, A & C Black, p. 338</ref>
Aughrim was the decisive battle of the conflict: the Jacobites had lost many experienced officers, along with much of the army's equipment and supplies. The remnants of the Jacobite army retreated to the mountains before regrouping under Sarsfield's command at Limerick. Many of their infantry regiments were seriously depleted: on 22 July, Bellew's regiment was listed as having 240 soldiers, having lost all its senior officers and sergeants; Slane's regiment 140 soldiers, and Louth's just 28, although some stragglers arrived later.<ref name=murtagh11>Murtagh, "Louth Regiments in the Irish Jacobite Army", Journal of the County Louth Archaeological Society, v. 13, num. 1 (1953), p. 11</ref> The city of Galway surrendered without a fight after the battle, on advantageous terms, while Sarsfield and the Jacobites' main army surrendered shortly afterwards at Limerick after a short siege.Template:Citation needed
Cultural impact
According to Ó Ciardha, the battle "made a searing impression on the Irish consciousness".<ref name=ociardha82>Ó Ciardha (2002) Ireland and the Jacobite Cause – A Fatal Attachment, p. 82</ref> Irish tradition came to refer to the battle as "Eachdhroim an áir" – "Aughrim of the slaughter" – after a line in a poem by Irish-language poet Séamas Dall Mac Cuarta, the "Elegy for Sorley MacDonnell". While Ginkel ordered the burial of his own dead, the remaining Jacobites were left unburied, their bones remaining scattered on the battlefield for years afterwards:<ref name=childs338/>Template:Efn Mac Cuarta wrote "It is at Aughrim of the slaughter where they are to be found, their damp bones lying uncoffined".<ref name=ociardha82/>
John Dunton in his work, Teague Land, an account of his travels in Ireland written seven years after the battle, wrote that: "After the battle the English did not tarry to bury any of the dead but their own, and left those of the enemy exposed to the fowls of the air, for the country was then so uninhabited that there were not hands to inter them. Many dogs resorted to this aceldama [Potter's field] where for want of other food they fed on man's [sic] flesh, and thereby became so dangerous and fierce that a single person could not pass that way without manifest hazard". He ends the description with the story of a faithful greyhound belonging to a Jacobite killed in the battle who remained by his master's body defending it until shot by a passing soldier in January of the following year.Template:Citation needed
While Aughrim remained a powerful symbol of disaster for Irish Catholics, it was also the focus of Loyalist (particularly Orange Order) celebrations in Ireland on 12 July up until the early 19th century. Thereafter, it was superseded by the Battle of the Boyne in commemorations on "the Twelfth" due to the switch to the Gregorian calendar (in which 1 July OS became 11 July NS and 12 July OS became 22 July NS).
It has been suggested that the Boyne became emphasised because the Irish troops could be more easily presented as cowardly than at Aughrim, where they were generally agreed to have fought bravely.<ref>Padraig Lenihan, The Battle of the Boyne, pp. 258–259, "The 18th-century anniversaries of the Boyne and Aughrim served as the focus of more plebeian commemorations that included bonfires and parading. In this context, the 'twelfth' was the most symbolically important battle commemoration but it referred to Aughrim. Until Britain belatedly adopted the Gregorian Calendar in 1752, 1 July was the anniversary of the Boyne and 12 July the anniversary of Aughrim."
"Aughrim emphasises the valour and martial qualities of the Jacobites with a view to magnify the military achievement and bravery of the Williamites ... This depiction of Jacobites, favourable in many respects, may have been less suitable to Protestant communal rituals in the face of a post-1790s Catholic resurgence."</ref> The Loyalist song The Sash mentions Aughrim.
The battle was the subject of a 1728 tragic drama by Robert Ashton, The Battle of Aughrim or the Fall of Monsieur St Ruth, which after initial neglect became enormously popular from 1770 onwards into the 19th century. Though the play was intended to celebrate the Williamite victory and casts Saint-Ruhe firmly in the role of antagonist, it also portrays Sarsfield and his lieutenants as heroic figures and incorporates a "lament for Catholic patriotism", so that "both Catholics and Protestants were attracted to the play for generations".<ref name=wheatley54>Wheatley, "Heroic Palimpsest: Robert Ashton's "The Battle of Aughrim" in Eighteenth-Century Ireland / Iris an dá chultúr, v. 11 (1996), 54</ref> In 1804 it was noted of Ashton's play that "a more popular Production never appeared in Ireland; it is in the hands of every Peasant who can read English; and [...] is committed to memory and occasionally recited".<ref name=wheatley56>Wheatley (1996), 56</ref> In 1885, artist John Mulvany completed a painting of the battle; it was exhibited in Dublin in 2010.<ref>The Irish Times 2 Oct. 2010</ref> The Battle of Aughrim was also the subject of a long 1968 poem by Richard Murphy, who noted that he had ancestors fighting on both sides.
The Aughrim battlefield site became the subject of controversy in Ireland over plans to build the new M6 motorway through the former battlefield. Historians, environmentalists and members of the Orange Order objected to the plans; the motorway opened in 2009.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Aughrim Interpretative Centre
The Battle of Aughrim Interpretative Centre,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> in Aughrim village was opened in 1991. It is a collaboration between Aughrim Heritage Committee, Ireland West Tourism and Galway County Council. It houses artefacts found on the battlefield site, as well as three-dimensional displays and a documentary film that explains the course of the battle and its significance in the wider context of the history of Ireland.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
See also
Notes
References
Sources
- Boulger, Demetrius C., The Battle of the Boyne, Together with an Account Based on French & Other Unpublished Records of the War in Ireland 1688–1691 Martin Secker, London, 1911 (Available as pdf)
- Piers Wauchope, Patrick Sarsfield and the Williamite War, Dublin 1992.
- J. G. Simms, Jacobite Ireland, London 1969.
- G. A., Hayes-McCoy, Irish Battles, Belfast 1990.
- Eamonn O Ciardha, Ireland and the Jacobite cause – a Fatal Attachment, Dublin 2002.
- Padraig Lenihan, 1690, Battle of the Boyne, Tempus, 2003.
- Template:Cite book
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Further reading
External links
- Battle site on Mapviewer at Ordnance Survey of Ireland
- Interview with historian Padraig Lenihan on the battle.
- "The Battle of Aughrim" – traditional tune
Template:Museums and galleries in the Republic of Ireland by province Template:Jacobitism Template:Authority control