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Siege of Derry
After the landing of William of Orange in November 1688 King James II started to replace Protestant regiments with loyal Catholic regiments. The city of Derry attracted the attention of Richard Talbot, the alleged viceroy of King James II in Ireland. Talbot tried to secure all strategically important strongholds and being a walled city with a Protestant garrison Derry must have been his prime target.
The Apprentice Boys
The Comber Letter
To my Lord, this deliver with haste and care
Good my Lord
I have written to you, to let you know that all our Irishmen through Ireland is sworn, that on the ninth day of this month they are to fall on, to kill and murder, man, wife, and child;
and I desire your Lordship to take care of yourself, and all others that are judged by our men to be heads, for whosoever of them can kill any of you, they are to have a captain's place;
so my desire to your honour is to look to yourself, and give other noblemen warning, and go not out either night or day without a good guard with you, and let no Irishman come near you, whatsoever he be;
so that is all from him who was your father's friend, and is your friend, and will be, though I dare not be known, as yet, for fear of my life.
Source: The Comber Letter.
On 7 December 1688 an army of 1200 men led by Alexander MacDonnell, the third Earl of Antrim, appeared in sight of the walled city. Officially it was just an order to change the guard. MacDonnell's Redshanks, a name derived from the blood saturated shanks caused by walking through cold waters, simply would replace the garrison of the city.
This caused a dilemma for the officers in the city. After all James II was still their king. Stimulated by a anonymous letter found in Comber, County Down, in which was written that Irishmen were going to murder man, wife and child on 7 December 1688, thirteen youngsters took action when they saw the Redshanks crossing the River Foyle. These Apprentice Boys are said to have raised the bridge, grabbed the keys and closed the gates.
Nowadays the Apprentice Boys of Derry Association is a Loyalist organisation with approximately 10,000 members world-wide. Their main events, a march to commemorate the closing of the gates and a march to celebrate the relief of Derry, are the only allowed political-tinted events within the city walls of Derry.
The authenticity of the Comber Letter, which referred to the massacres near Portadown and at Tully Castle at the start of the Ulster Rebellion in 1641, is disputed. Some state the letter is authentic and therewith a justification for the actions of the Apprentice Boys, while others consider the letter a hoax.
With the city secured the small army had no other option than to pitch camp on the east banks of the River Foyle opposite the walled city and a small encampment in the Creggan area west off the city.
No Surrender
Mural Fountain Area, Derry
(authors collection)
On 18 April 1689 the besieging army was reinforced by King James' army. Apparently King James II expected an easy victory when he gave his terms. The response of the besieged city was No Surrender and it is said that King James II, after hearing this battle cry, sat motionless and groggy on his horse for hours.
The battle cry No Surrender and the symbolism of the Siege of Derry has survived the ages. No Surrender is nowadays a common expression used by Loyalists when they assume they are discriminated against.
With the combined armies of King James II and MacDonnell the city was completely sealed.
Being a garrison town Derry was initially well provided with arms and food. The city tried to solve the shortage of ammunition by using cannon balls made of bricks. The food-issue was however more gnawing as the population of the city had increased before the siege from 2000 to approximately 39,000, among which 30,000 refugees. The food supply was by far not sufficient for all these people and the situation rapidly deteriorated. If you have ever been in Derry and walked over the city walls you might understand that the city was over-crowded.
In May the situation got even more worse when the Jacobites deployed heavy cannons and an iron rain fell upon the city.
The Relief of Derry
The relief force, under command of General Kirke, arrived on 11 June 1689 in full sight of the desperate and starving city. To the utter amazement of the people the relief force made camp on Inch Island and stayed there for six weeks. A short and angry order from the Duke of Schomberg was needed to set the relief of Derry in motion.
Finally, in the evening of 28 July 1689 three vessels, the Phoenix, the Jerusalem and the Mountjoy, broke through the boom of logs and chains in the River Foyle. Helped by the high tide and partying, thus drunk, Jacobite cannoneers the vessels supplied the city with food and ammunition. Realising the siege was over the Jacobites withdraw and the Siege of Derry ended 105 days after it had began.
The story of the Siege of Derry is told in the song Derry's Walls.