French soldiers under General St. Ruth. St. Ruth was a man of cold,
disdainful temperament, but a good officer. He at once set to work at
the task of restoring order and getting the army into a condition to
take the field. Early in the spring Ginkel had collected his army in
Mullingar ready to march to the assault of Athlone, the ancient Norman
fortress, upon the bank of the Shannon, which was here spanned by a
single bridge. Upon Ginkel's advance this bridge was broken down, and
the besieged and besiegers were separated therefore by the breadth of
the river. After an unsuccessful attempt to repair the breach the Dutch
general resolved to ford the latter. As it happened the water was
unusually low, and although St. Ruth with a large force was at the time
only a mile away, he, unaccountably, made no attempt to defend the ford.
A party of Ginkel's men waded or swam across in the dark, caught the
broken end of the bridge, and held it till it was repaired. This done,
the whole English army poured across the river.

The struggle was now narrowing fast. Leaving Athlone Ginkel advanced to
Ballinasloe, so well-known now from its annual sheep fairs. The country
here is all but a dead flat, but the French general took advantage of
some rising ground on the slope of which stood the ruined castle of
Aughrim. Here the Irish were posted by him in force, one of those deep
brown bogs which cover so much of the surface of Galway lying at their
feet and surrounding them upon two sides.

The battle which broke at five o'clock the next morning was a desperate
one. Roused at last from his coldness St. Ruth appealed in the most
moving terms to the officers and men to fight for their religion, their
liberties, their honour. His appeal was gallantly responded to. A low
stone breast-work had been raised upon the hillside in front of the
Irish, and against this Ginkel's veterans again and again advanced to
the attack, and again and again were beaten back, broken and, in one
instance, chased down the hill on to the plain. St. Ruth broke into
vehement enthusiasm. "The day," he cried, waving his hat in the air, "is
ours, gentlemen!" A party of Huguenot cavalry, however, were presently
seen to be advancing across the bog so as to turn the flank of the Irish
army. It seemed to be impossible that they could get through, but the
ground was firmer than at first appeared, and some hurdles thrown down
in front of them formed a sort of rude causeway. St. R