Defence of Enniskillen

It was in sixteen eighty-nine
Three rebel armies did combine
To quench the fire on Freedom's shrine
Which blazed in Enniskillen.

The Duke of Berwick led the North;
Mount Cashelled the Southerns forth;
And Sarsfield's best Came from the West
Twelve thousand men they all came on;
But they fled, like mists at the rising sun,
From the men of Enniskillen

Up rose a host of heroes then,
To combat Sarsfield's Connaught men ­
Like stag-hounds rushing up a glen,
Came on brave Enniskillen.

Five thousand Sarsfield led along
One thousand only we were strong:
But the fire of the just Laid them low in the dust
But they fell like grass at the sweep of the scythe,
While bigot slaves on the ground did writhe 
Beneath brave Enniskillen.

Then Berwick's gallant cavalry
Rode proudly up to Cornecrea;
But there a new Thermopyle,
Was that pass of Enniskillen;

For there a few brave sons of truth
The hardy sire and firey youth,
As firm as a rock, To the tempest shock,
They stood their ground 'gainst a thousand horse,
Till Berwick fled as he could not force
The pass of Enniskillen.

But, oh, the crowning fight of all,
At Newtown Butler did befall,
Whose death smoke like a funeral pall,
Wrapt the foes of Enniskillen;

Their pride and boast, bedeck'd in red
­Lord Clare's dragoons, all fell or fled.
But, oh, pell mell, How the sword did tell,
When scattered Munster strewed the plain,
And Lord Mount Cashel bore the chain 
Of gallant Enniskillen.

Thus Freedom's sons broke the control­
The papal chain - that would have stole.
Its fetters round the immortal soul 
Of valiant Enniskillen.

Oh may its bright example fire
The son to emulate the sire;
And now fill the glass,
This toast, let it pass -
"May victory bless the Orange brand,
When raised for faith, and fatherland"
­Like glorious Enniskillen.