Derry and Enniskillen in 1689

VISIT TO OMAGH.--Monday, 3rd June.

At Trillic, on the road to Omagh, two troops of Enniskillen horse, under Captain Francis Gore and Captain Arnold Crosbie, were quartered in a house belonging to Captain Mervin. On the 3rd of June, intelligence reached this little garrison that dragoon horses belonging to the Jacobite garrison of Omagh were usually sent out to graze on the waste lands adjoining the town, and were very slackly guarded. They resolved to act upon the information. Taking with them two foot companies, under Captain Henry Smith and Captain Robert Corry, which quartered at Newport, four miles off, they left Trillic at sunset, marched to Omagh, and brought away with them about 160 troop-horses and about as many cows. This they regarded as rather a lucky hit, as at one stroke they disabled three troops of the enemy, and mounted three troops of their own much better than before. The country Irish, as usual, sent forward news that the Eniskilleners were coming, so that the garrison had time to save the town, but not their horses, from being captured.[32]

[32] MacCarmick, p. 44. Hamilton, p. 22.