A statue of Rev. Mr. Walker, whose courage, fortitude, and apostolic
influence saved the city, was long ago erected upon the bastion which
bore the heaviest fire during the siege. His noble figure stands upon
the top of a shaft ninety feet high in the attitude which he is said to
have assumed in the most terrible emergency, to revive and sustain the
faltering courage of his parishioners. In one hand he grasps a Bible;
the other is pointing down the river toward the approaching squadron of
deliverance in the distant bay. At another point upon the walls is a
Gothic castellated structure erected by public subscription as a
clubhouse for the boys and young men of Londonderry. It is known as
Apprentices' Hall, and was erected as a memorial to the courage and
foresight of a group of thirteen young apprentices who, during the
excitement caused by the approach of the king's army, had the presence
of mind to drop the heavy gate without instruction from their elders,
and thus made it possible to defend the city against the assault.
Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Lundy, who was in command of the garrison at
the time, was a coward, and insisted upon surrendering the city to the
king's army, but was prevented from doing so by Rev. Mr. Walker, rector
of the Episcopal church, and Adam Murray, an elder in the Presbyterian
church. Lundy persisted in his purpose, carried on secret negotiations
with the enemy, and was preparing to open the gates when his intentions
were discovered. He escaped in disguise by climbing down the branches of
a pear tree which grew against the wall on the east side.
Twice a year, on the 18th of December and the 12th of August, the dates
of the beginning and the end of the siege, the apprentice boys of the
city lead a procession of all the Protestant organizations to attend
divine service at the Episcopal Cathedral and then pass the rest of the
day as we celebrate the Fourth of July. At nightfall an effigy of
Colonel Lundy is always burned in a prominent place. These celebrations
are deplored by thoughtful people, as keeping alive religious
animosities, but of recent years the collisions which used to occur
between the Orange societies and the Roman Catholics have been avoided.
The population of Londonderry is very largely Protestant.
The cathedral is an ugly old building, but quite interesting because of
its historic associations and the relics it contains.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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