Laggan Army

The settlers largely settled on land which was confiscated from Gaelic chiefs in Ulster, many of whom had fled from Ireland following the Irish defeat in the Nine Years' War.

This coup's purposes included putting an end to anti-Catholic discrimination, greater Irish self-governance, and to partially or fully reverse the plantations of Ireland.

Thousands of the Protestant refugees sought safety and protection in Royalist strongholds or attempted to leave Ireland and return to England and Scotland.

[6] Eventually, violence against civilians by both sides began to calm, mainly due to the arrival of Eoghan Ruadh O'Néill, an experienced Irish general who had served under the Spanish in Flanders in the Eighty Years' War.

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.

Originally the unit was formed to protect the Laggan Valley in eastern Donegal along with the northwest portions of counties Tyrone and Derry.

Fairly quickly, however, Robert Stewart was selected for overall command based upon his extensive experience in the Thirty Years' War on the European continent.

[11] On 16 June 1642, the Laggan Army confronted and defeated a large Confederate Irish force commanded by Phelim O'Neill at the battle of Glenmaquin, near Raphoe.

After the battle, the Laggan Army retreated back to Derry and Enniskillen to prepare for a potential attack when the Confederates travelled west to Clones.