A thousand drunken troops, and generals leading from behind are among the startling revelations in an eye-witness account of the battle of the Boyne for sale at Bonhams on June 8.
Captain John Stevens took part in the battle and later wrote of how a fatal mix up over drink rations led to some troops passing out before a shot was fired.
The Battle of the Boyne in 1690 was between the Protestant King of England and Scotland, William of Orange and the King he had deposed in the Glorious Revolution of 1688, his uncle the Catholic James II. In a bid to recover his throne, James and his Jacobite army had occupied much of Ireland during 1689 with the exception of Ulster which remained loyal to the Protestant cause. William landed in Ulster on June 1690 intent on expelling the invaders. The two armies, commanded by the monarchs in person, faced each other across the River Boyne 30 miles north of Dublin on 12 July.
This handwritten account by Jacobite solider and author Captain John Stevens is seen as one of the most important records of the battle. Parts of it, describing scenes of drunkenness, however, were deliberately omitted from historical accounts for many years. Stevens describes the lack of leadership on the Catholic side – “No General Officer above a Brigadier was seen among us” – and the chaos caused by the drunkenness of the troops at the crucial moments before battle was joined. King James had ordered brandy to be delivered to every regiment to provide courage on the eve of battle but it didn’t turn up until the next morning. Stevens describes what happened next, “the soldiers beat out the heads of the hogheads and dipped into them the kettles they had to boil their meat and drank so extravagantly that 1000 of them were rendered unfit for service and were left dead drunk scattered about the fields.”
Through a combination of poor leadership, ill equipped infantry and a loss of nerve at crucial moments, King James lost the battle and shortly afterwards abandoned Dublin to William’s forces and returned to France. Stevens account of the battle and other writings are for sale at £10,000 -15,000.
Ulysses First Edition also for sale
The sale also features a first English edition of Ulysses. It is number 75 of 100 specially bound copies signed by James Joyce from a overall print run of 1,000 with a cover designed by Eric Gill. Dated 1936 it too is estimated at £10,000 – 15,000.
For further sale information please go to www.bonhams.com/books
