ons. His arrangements
all succeeded.

Ormonde had garrisoned Drogheda with 3,000 of his choicest troops. They
were partly English, and were commanded by a brave loyalist, Sir Arthur
Aston. This was really the most important town in Ireland; and Cromwell,
whose skill as a military general cannot be disputed, at once determined
to lay siege to it. He encamped before the devoted city on the 2nd of
September, and in a few days had his siege guns posted on the hill shown
in the accompanying illustration, and still known as Cromwell's Fort.
Two breaches were made on the 10th, and he sent in his storming parties
about five o'clock in the evening. Earthworks had been thrown up inside
and the garrison resisted with undiminished bravery. The besieged at
last wavered; quarter[485] was promised to them, and they yielded; but
the promise came from men who knew neither how to keep faith or to show
mercy. The brave Governor, Sir Arthur Aston, retired with his staff to
an old mill on an eminence, but they were disarmed and slain in cold
blood. The officers and soldiers were first exterminated, and then men,
women, and children were put to the sword. The butchery occupied five
entire days; Cromwell has himself described the scene, and glories in
his cruelty. Another eyewitness, an officer in his army, has described
it also, but with some faint touch of remorse.

[Illustration: Massacre at Drogheda]

[Illustration: CROMWELL'S FORT, DROGHEDA].

A number of the townspeople fled for safety to St. Peter's Church, on
the north side of the city, but every one of them was murdered, all
defenceless and unarmed as they were; others took refuge in the church
steeple, but it was of wood, and Cromwell himself gave orders that it
should be set on fire, and those who attempted to escape the flames were
piked. The principal ladies of the city had sheltered themselves in the
crypts. It might have been supposed that this precaution should be
unnecessary, or, at least, that English officers would respect their
sex; but, alas for common humanity! it was not so. When the slaughter
had been accomplished above, it was continued below. Neither youth nor
beauty was spared. Thomas Wood, who was one of these officers, and
brother to Anthony Wood, the Oxford historian, says he found in these
vaults "the flower and choicest of the women and ladies belonging to the
town; amongst whom, a most handsome virgin, arrayed in costly and
gorgeous apparel, kneeled down t