The Laggan Army At the outset of the Irish Rebellion of 1641, thousands of Protestant settlers were evicted from their lands. Their homes were burned and their possessions taken. The settlers became homeless refugees and were mercilessly hunted down and murdered by the Confederates. Thousands of the Protestant refugees sought safety and protection in Royalist strongholds or attempted to leave Ireland and return to England and Scotland. Wealthy Protestant landowners in northwest Ulster such as Sir William Stewart and his brother Sir Robert Stewart chose to defend their properties by organizing militias. The Stewarts were Scottish settlers who had served
King Charles I of England in the military. During the
colonization of Ulster King Charles awarded English and Scottish loyalists such as the Stewarts with large tracts of escheated land under the condition that improvements be made and tenant settlers be brought over from England or Scotland. The Stewarts were held in such high regard by the English Crown that immediately after the outbreak of the rebellion, King Charles authorized both of the Stewarts to establish a regiment of 1,000 foot and a troop of horse for the king’s service. The military force that the Stewarts created came to be known as the Laggan Army. Originally the unit was formed to protect the Laggan Valley in eastern Donegal along with the northwest portions of counties Tyrone and Derry. As the war progressed, the Laggan Army became the most dominant Royalist militia in Ulster, defending and relieving Protestant strongholds; escorting refugees to safe havens; conducting reprisal attacks on the Confederates; and supporting other Royalist militias in numerous conflicts. William Stewart served as the nominal leader of the Laggan Army in the beginning as he had greater seniority and landed interests than his brother. Fairly quickly, however, Robert Stewart was selected for overall command based upon his extensive experience in the Thirty Years' War on the European continent. Robert Stewart was resourceful and proved to be adept at recruiting men and training military units. His troops were better equipped than the Confederates they faced especially with respect to muskets. And perhaps most important of all, Stewart was both experienced and knowledgeable with regard to battlefield tactics.
Felim’s Confederate army In contrast to the Protestant militias, the Confederate military during the early stages of its existence was relatively undisciplined and poorly trained. This was partly due to Felim O'Neill's lack of military experience, but also the Irish soldiers' tendencies to attack British civilians and plunder their possessions rather than fight the enemy forces. In the late spring of 1642, Felim decided to invade Donegal. It’s not entirely clear why he chose to directly confront the Laggan Army at that time. Felim’s military record in the field was spotty with more defeats than victories. Support for the rebellion among the local Irish lords was weak in counties Donegal and Derry compared to the enthusiasm across the rest of Ulster. Felim may have believed that confronting the Laggan Army would gain him the support of the hesitant Irish lords. Alternatively, he may have believed that he could defeat the Laggan Army and then conquer northwest Ulster including the undefended Royalist stronghold and port city of Londonderry. Or perhaps Felim was caught in a trap and had no other alternative in that the eastern counties of Ulster were held by
Sir Robert Monro, commander of a Scottish expeditionary force, who was sent to protect Protestant civilians. Carrying through with his decision, Felim joined forces with the MacDonnells of Antrim in early June and marched west toward Donegal with an army estimated to be as large as 6,000 foot and several hundred horse. Also supporting Felim in the invasion of Donegal was
Alasdair Mac Colla, the Scottish military officer who defected to the side of the Irish Confederates in early 1642. ==The battle==