In the summer of the following year, the Williamite army, having regrouped at Mullingar under the command of Dutch general Godart de Ginkel,[2] marched via Ballymore to make a second attempt on Athlone.

[4] This arrangement was intended to allow the Jacobites to fight a staggered, drawn-out defence, though the advantage was reduced by high ground on the Leinster bank of the Shannon and the fact that the river was running exceptionally low that year.

[5] Ginkel opened an assault on the eastern part of Athlone on 20 June, which caused the Jacobites to retreat to the west bank of the river, dismantling the bridge in the process.

[7] The Jacobite forces in the western half of Athlone, led by Major-General Thomas Maxwell, a Scottish Catholic, initially held off the Williamite assault; there was fierce fighting centred on the bridge over the Shannon.

One such Jacobite sortie, by a small group of volunteers from Maxwell's dragoon regiment led by a Sergeant Custume or Costy, all of whom were killed, later passed into Irish folklore as an example of bravery.

To test the crossing, on the morning of 29 June he ordered a Danish quartermaster and two privates, under sentence of death for cowardice, to ford the river while troops fired over their heads to give the impression they were deserting.

[11] They remained standing a day later, and a party of Ginkel's grenadiers hurried to occupy them and raise the drawbridge there, holding off counter-attacks from St Ruth's army until the main Williamite force could be brought up.