Battle of Clones

During the early stages of the eleven years of conflict much of the fighting occurred in the northern province of Ulster between Irish Catholic Confederates and Scottish forces.

After ten months of fighting with few victories, the Confederation placed Eoghan Ruadh Ó Néill, an Irish Catholic patriot and skilled military officer, in charge of their poorly trained Ulster Army hoping that he could reverse their fortunes.

Ó Néill attempted to train and strengthen his army over the autumn and winter of 1642–1643 in war torn Ulster, but ultimately determined that he needed to temporarily move his fledgling force to a safer place until they were fully ready to fight.

It was the belief and expectation of the Confederates that Ó Néill would be able to create a true army in Ulster as opposed to the corps of rabble that his predecessor Sir Felim O’Neill had taken to war with disastrous results.

Beginning in September 1642 and continuing into the spring of 1643, the Covenanters conducted four military campaigns attempting to conquest Charlemont and destroy Ó Néill's army.

[9][10][11] Because of the threat of these attacks on his untrained army and the lack of provisions in Ulster, Ó Néill made the decision to move his troops west to the interior counties of Ireland where the countryside was controlled 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.

[13] The Stewarts were Scottish settlers who had served the English Crown in the military and were rewarded with large tracts of escheated land in Ireland during the colonisation of Ulster.

Originally the unit was formed to protect The Laggan, a staunchly Protestant district in East Donegal, along with the northwest portions of Counties Tyrone and Londonderry.

Upon receipt of the intelligence, Stewart assembled his force, estimated to be as large as 3,000 men including both infantry and cavalry units, and made plans to intercept Ó Néill.

[8][22] With no time to construct defensive fortifications, Ó Néill positioned his men along a stone portion of the roadway where for the most part the passage was bordered by bogs.

[8][22] In the short battle, the Irish lost most of their materials and an estimated 150 men including many of the experienced officers who had returned with Ó Néill to Ireland from Flanders.

Stewart could not afford to leave his operations base in East Donegal unprotected and pursue Ó Néill any deeper into Ireland, so he simply confiscated the resources left behind by the Confederates and returned home.

Although Ó Néill was able to replace the lost men, his timetable was significantly impacted due to the loss of the experienced officers and soldiers that he had introduced into his army from the Irish Regiment.