3. The siege and relief of Derry in 1689
In April 1689 James and the Jacobite army under his command appeared before the city of Derry, which was largely Protestant and loyal to William and Mary. It was the second attempt to take the city by the Jacobites, the first had been thwarted by thirteen young apprentices who locked the city’s gates in the face of enemy troops the preceding December. James demanded that the city surrender to him, which was refused, and the Jacobite army began a siege of the town. James commanded an army of Irish and French troops which numbered about 7,200 men, the majority of them French. The defenders of the city withdrew behind its walls after destroying the buildings of the town which lay outside them, denying their use by the attackers. After arriving before the city James delivered multiple demands for surrender, which were met with defiance.
As the siege went on hunger and disease began to take its toll on the defenders and the civilian population. James turned over command of the army to the commander of his French troops, the Marquis de Maumont, and left for Dublin. When Maumont was killed during a raid on the siege lines, he was replaced by Richard Hamilton, and subsequently by Conrad de Rosen. A fleet of ships carrying additional Williamite troops and badly needed supplies arrived in June, but was unable to enter the port due to the Jacobite defenses. Not until late July was the fleet able to fight its way through and relieve the siege, which endured for over 100 days before the Jacobite army withdrew. Over half of the population, more than 4,000 men, women, and children, died as a result of the Jacobite bombardment, starvation, or disease during the siege of Derry, nearly all of them Protestants.