In the mean time Ireland had become the seat of war, and King James was at the head of the Roman Catholics, and a French auxiliary force, in that kingdom, while the Duke of Schomberg commanded the Irish Protestants and English troops; and in the spring of 1690 the FIFTH FOOT was ordered thither. The regiment, accordingly, proceeded to Bristol, where it embarked; and having landed at Belfast on the 20th of April, marched to Lisburn, and encamped near the banks of the Lagan until the 9th June, when it proceeded to Armagh and erected its tents on the undulating grounds in that neighbourhood, where an encampment was formed of four regiments of English infantry, with three regiments of Danish horse and eight of foot. King William having arrived in Ireland, the regiment marched to Dundalk, where the army was assembled; and on the 1st of July the enemy was attacked in his position on the banks of the river _Boyne_. The FIFTH was in Brigadier-General Trelawny's brigade, and by its gallant conduct it contributed to the signal victory gained on this occasion. The enemy evacuated Dublin a few days after the battle, when the regiment was ordered to proceed thither, and it remained in garrison in that city during the remainder of the campaign. [Sidenote: 1691] The regiment left Dublin in the early part of 1691, and in April it was stationed at Mountmelick. The troops quartered in that neighbourhood were frequently disturbed by bands of armed Roman Catholic peasantry, called _Rapparees_, who concealed themselves in the day-time, and at night prowled about the country, committing every description of depredation: to check these proceedings, a detachment of 200 men of the FIFTH, commanded by Major Rider, with 100 men of Lord George Hamilton's regiment, and 50 troopers of Colonel Byerley's Horse,--now 6th Dragoon Guards,--the whole commanded by Major Wood,[14] marched out of Mountmelick at nine o'clock on the evening of the 4th of May, and, dividing themselves into several small parties, they traversed the woods and bogs for several miles, frequently encountering lurking parties of the enemy, whom they attacked, killing seventy men and capturing a quantity of cattle, which Major Wood sent to Mountmelick under a guard of thirty men. The remainder continued their search until about ten o'clock on the following day, when Major Wood, with one party of 34 horsemen, and 30 foot, discovered two battalions of the enemy's regular army of about 400 men each, marching silently between the wood and mountains, not far from _Castle-Cuff_; at the same time the enemy espied Major Wood and his little detachment. The English, with a noble bearing and audacity, formed up in a ploughed field to oppose this formidable host, and the Irish instantly sent forward their grenadiers to commence the attack, but perceiving the undaunted countenance of the detachment, they halted at a distance. A sharp firing was at this instant heard beyond the