[The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.II. by Tobias Smollett]@TWC D-Link bookThe History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.II. CHAPTER II 10/89
On the thirteenth day of August he landed in the neighbourhood of Carrickfergus with about ten thousand foot and dragoons, and took possession of Belfast, from whence the enemy retired at his approach to Carrickfergus, where they resolved to make a stand.
The duke having refreshed his men, marched thither, and invested the place; the siege was carried on till the twenty-sixth clay of the month, when the breaches being practicable, the besieged capitulated, on condition of marching out with their arms, and as much baggage as they could carry on their backs; and of their being conducted to the next Irish garrison, which was at Newry.
During this siege the duke was joined by the rest of his army from England; but he had left orders for conveying the greater part of the artillery and stores from Chester directly to Carlingford. He now began his march through Lisburne and Hillsborough, and encamped at Drummore, where the protestants of the north had been lately routed by Hamilton; thence he proceeded to Loughbrillane, where he was joined by the horse and dragoons of Inniskilling.
Then the enemy abandoned Newry and Dundalk, in the neighbourhood of which Sehomberg encamped on a low damp ground, having the town and river on the south, and surrounded on every other part by hills, bogs, and mountains. THE INNISKILLINERS OBTAIN A VICTORY. His army, consisting chiefly of new-raised men little inured to hardship, began to flag under the fatigue of marching, the inclemency of the weather, and scarcity of provisions.
Here he was reinforced by the regiments of Kirke, Hanmer, and Stuart; and would have continued his march to Drogheda, where he understood Rosene lay with about twenty thousand men, had he not been obliged to wait for the artillery, which was not yet arrived at Carlingford.
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