Page 252 - Demo

252 Stephen Dunford: The Journey of The IrIsh cavalry) retired from the field, followed by the Irish.
It is also maintained that St.Ruth had not disclosed his battle plans to Sarsfield, or to any other who could succeed him, for that matter, consequentally, with no officer in a position to command the field, the French cavalry wavered, panicked, and in doing so communicated their panic to the rest of the army who quickly fell into confusion and slaughter. The battle of Aughrim was lost and won. Now while this was a heavy defeat, unlike the Boyne, there was a great loss of life at Aughrim, though very much more on the Jacobite side-estimates of the Irish dead were around 7,000-the Williamites suffered a total of 2,700 casualties, lost and wounded.
After the battle, since dubbed ‘Aughrim’s Dread Disaster,’ Galway soon yielded, to de Ginkle, ‘on good and generous terms’: now only Limerick alone held out. Towards the end of August, 1691, the victor of Aughrim marched on Limerick and soon appeared before the city gates. The city was now besieged for the second time, and again defended by Sarsfield. With the expectation of French help a reality, Sarsfield conducted the defence of Limerick with great skill, stoicism and courage. But the odds were against him. The city was so hotly bombarded that its defenders soon realized that submission was inevitable. After holding out for nearly four pounding weeks, Sarsfield and his lieutenants finally agreed to negotiate terms of surrender.
With winter coming on, de Ginkle was anxious to avoid the prospect of months of freez- ing, pestilent inactivity, and moreover, he wished to finish the war so that he could transfer his army to the Continent where William badly needed it for the defence of Holland. So, not only was de Ginkle willing to negotiate, but more importantly, to achieve his aims speedily, he was also willing to offer favourable terms.
Finally, towards the end of September terms of capitulation were agreed to, and on 3 October, 1691, the Treaty of Limerick was signed by de Ginkle and the Chief Justices on the one hand, and by Sarsfield and his cammanders on the other. A few days after the the surrender, the long looked-for French fleet arrived in the Shannon with an army of 3,000 soldiers, 12,000 stand of arms, and great quantities of ammunition and other supplies. “Too late,” said Sarsfield, according to Limerick lore, “The Treaty is signed. Ireland’s honour is pledged.”
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