His
men were under strict rules of behavior. Two of his soldiers who
were caught stealing hens from some Irish women on the Dublin
Road were hanged. Aston had predicted that hunger and disease
would take a toll on his attackers. Perhaps because of the executions,
the locals did not seem to fear Cromwell's presence, and in fact
the inhabitants of the countryside surrounding Drogheda began
selling food to his camp.
On
the 10th of September Cromwell made his first call to Aston for
surrender:
"Having
brought the army belonging to the Parliament of England before
this place, to reduce it to obedience, to the end the effusion
of blood may be prevented, I thought it fit to summon you to deliver
the same into my hands to their use. If this be refused you will
have no cause to blame me."
The
rules of war at the time were quite clear and known throughout
Europe. Anston knew that if the attackers would breach the walls
during a siege, no quarter would be given the defenders.
The
harbor of the Boyne River was blocked by the Parliamentary fleet
under Sir George Ayscough and Aston knew that he would be without
reinforcement or support from Ormonde. Drogheda was not united
and many within the city walls favored the English Parliamentary
force. To make matters worse for Anston, his own grandmother,
Lady Wilmot, was discovered plotting with other ladies of the
town to betray the Royalists to the invading English.
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