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��THE GRANITE MONTHLY.
��dued all the other Protestant strong- holds, except Enniskillen, which alone, besides Londonderry, held out against him. Never has history recorded a more heroic action than the defence of Londonderry by its brave inhabit- ants in i68S and 1689. No siege is recorded in history in which the be- sieging army perpetrated deeds of greater barbarity and cruelty. When the brave defenders were reduced to the point of starvation and were driven to eat horses, dogs, rats, and cats, and even hides, when they could not have survived two days, even on this fare, they yet refused to surrender, knowing that their cause was the cause of Protestantism in Ireland. At this critical juncture, two ships appeared in the Foyle bringing provisions. With great difficulty they passed the forts, the obstructions in the river, and the enemy's fire, and landed their provisions. This was July 28, 1689. The next day, the cowardly Irish army, which had besieged the place more than a hundred days, ran away.
King William induced parliament to exempt from taxation all who had borne arms in this ever-memorable siege, so far as concerned the landed estates which were conferred upon them as bounties in any part of the British realm, and farms are still shown in our own New Hampshire London- derry settled by some of these same defenders which, down to the Revo- lution, were exempted from taxation, and known as the " exempted farms." Soon after the famous siege of Lon- donderry, James was defeated by Wil- liam, on the banks of the Boyne, both kings appearing in person in the bat- tle. This assured success to William
��and Mary and the Protestant cause ; but it was the cause of the English Established Church, and all non-con- formists were still persecuted in the way of heavy taxes and tithes in sup- port of the church. This led many of them to seek an asylum in Ameri- ca. In 1 7 18, a large number of these Scotch- Irish came to New England, landing in Boston, August 4, of that year. They settled in various places, but very many of them went to what is now called Londonderry, in New- Hampshire.
In subsequent years still more came over. They came from Londonderry and Tyrone, and many other places in the northern counties of Ireland. Never did a more noble stock emi- grate to these shores. They were hardy, brave, manly, inspired with the spirit of freedom and free institutions, and withal very devout and moral and conscientious. We are indebted to them for the inttoduction of the po- tatoe, which was comparatively, if not entirely, unknown in this country pre- viously. They introduced the culture of flax and the custom of weaving and manufacturing linen.
Of this hardy, intelligent, and in- dustrious race are descended the Wil- sons who are to form the subject of this sketch. We shall find the same heroism, the same undaunted courage, the same religious spirit, the same in- dustrious habits, and the same intel- lectual traits of character which dis- tinguished the heroic defenders of Londonderry and the other towns in northern Ireland conspicuously man- ifest in those of whom we are to write, coupled with the same patriotic love of country and devotion to duty.
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