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Manus O'Cahan's Regiment of Foot was an Irish regiment which served during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms in the mid-1640s.
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Manus O'Cahan's Regiment of Foot was an Irish regiment which served during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms in the mid-1640s.
Manus O'Cahan's Regiment of Foot was a body of soldiers, many of whom fought in Europe in the early years of the Thirty Years War. Historians such as C. V. Wedgwood refer to them as a 'Gallowglass' (i.e. mercenary) regiment. They were actually soldiers who sailed from Ireland to Scotland to fight for the Royalist cause there. Manus O'Cahan (Irish : Maghnus Ó Catháin) never set foot in England; all of his fighting took place in Ulster and Scotland. Their European combat experiences made them some of the most experienced soldiers serving in the Civil War.
Some of the men involved appear in a letter contained in the Ormond papers in the National Library of Ireland entitled "List of men gone unto the Isles. Sent by the Lord of Antrim to my Lord Ormonde, 15 Nov. 1644". The text reads:
A breefe note of Collonell O Cahan's regiment:
Collonnell Cahan's own company consisting of 100 men complete.
Officers Lieftennant Cnogher O Cahan
Ancient Dualtagh Mac Duffy
Sargeants of the company Owen O Cognoghor and Hugh Mac Cormacke
Lieftennant Collonnell Donnaghe O Cahan's company consisting of 100 men complete.
Officers Lieftennant Shane O Cahan
Ancient John Cooper
Sarjeants of the company Bryen Oge Mac Cormacke and William Oge Mac Cormacke
Sarjeant-Major Ledwitch his company consisting of 100 men complete.
Officers Lieftennant James Dease
Ancient Bartholomew Newgent
Sarjeants of the company Tohill Moddirrt Mac Illrey and John That.
Captain Art O Neale's company consisting of 100 men complete.
Officers Lieftennant Con O Neale
Ancient Bryen O Neale
Serjeants Hugh Oge Lavery and Hary O Muldowne
Captain John Mortimer's company consisting of 50 men complete.
Officers Patricke O Mallen, Lieftennant
Phelim O Donnelly,
Ancient Daniel Mac Duffy and James O Mulhollan, Sargeants.
Captain Rowry Duffe O Cahan's company consisting of 50 men complete.
Officers John Mac Guyer, Lieftenant
Donnagh O Cahan, Ancient
Edward Keltey and Terlagh Mac Cana, Serjeant .
In all, 500 besydes officers
[ citation needed ]
Macdonald territories in Scotland originally formed a relatively homogeneous unit with those held by their Irish cousins the MacDonnells in County Antrim. With the loss of the Lordship of the Isles in 1493, these links were severed, leading to nearly two centuries of conflict for their possession, primarily between the MacDonalds, the McLeans and the Campbells. The Hebridean isles of Islay and Colonsay had been held by the MacDonald leader Colkitto, whose mother was an O'Cahan but in 1614, the Scottish Crown transferred ownership to the Campbells in return for pacifying them. [1]
Religion was another cause of tension; the Protestant Reformation created a Calvinist Church of Scotland and by 1640, Catholicism was largely restricted to Gaelic-speaking areas held by the MacDonalds in the remote Highlands and Islands. Conflict between the Episcopalian Charles I and the Scots ended with the 1638-1639 Bishops' Wars and installed a largely autonomous Covenanter regime.
In Ireland, the post-1609 Plantation of Ulster dispossessed traditional Irish landholders like the MacDonnells in favour of Protestant settlers, many of whom were Scots. Political instability and a desire to reverse these losses resulted in the 1641 Irish Rebellion; the Covenanters originally remained neutral in the 1642-1651 Wars of the Three Kingdoms but sent troops to Ulster to support their co-religionists and the bitterness of this conflict radicalised views in both countries. [2]
The Royalists hesitated to use Irish troops outside Ireland but by 1644, the war in England was turning against them; Randal MacDonnell, Marquess of Antrim, raised an Irish Brigade, containing three regiments of foot, one of which was O'Cahan's. [3] Colkitto's son Alastair McColla was appointed to command the Brigade but his objective of regaining family lands in South-West Scotland would ultimately clash with those of the Royalist leader, James Graham. [4]
Montrose fought for the Covenanters in the Bishops Wars; unlike England, Covenanters and Scottish Royalists both agreed monarchy itself was divinely ordered but differed on who held primacy in religious affairs. This meant many Scots like Montrose fought on both sides at various times; both the Second and Third English Civil Wars were fought by the Covenanter governments to restore first Charles I, then his son back on the English throne. In June 1644, O'Cahan's Regiment was shipped to Scotland with the other parts of the Brigade.
In 1641, as McColla raised his army in Ulster, on behalf of Randal MacDonnell (Earl of Antrim), a strong Royalist sympathiser, the Irish Rebellion of 1641 erupted. Catholics turned on Protestant settlers who were pouring into the country by the thousand under a much despised plantation programme. McColla, and a cousin by marriage, Manus O'Cahan, were thrown together in a joint Catholic-Protestant Scots-Irish peace keeping force.
Finding themselves despised by the Protestants in the force, the Scot and the Irishman rebelled and went on a guerrilla warfare rampage throughout Northern Ireland. In the course of the conflict they developed a new battle technique known as the 'Irish Charge', which involved discarding heavy weapons such as pikes and muskets to rush the enemy to kill them at close quarter with dirks, daggers and swords or even with unarmed combat tactics. It proved to be highly effective, especially against musketeers who needed time to reload powder and shot between volleys. They perfected the art of running directly at cavalry to cut the horses in the bellies and fetlocks as they ran underneath them. This forced the agonised horses to throw their riders.
McColla made himself unpopular in Ireland by changing sides, to serve the Protestants, and then changing sides again to serve Antrim and the Irish Catholic Confederation of which Antrim was a leader. As the Scottish Covenant forces declared military support for the English Parliament in late 1643, Antrim hit on a plan to send Catholic troops to Scotland. The aim was for them to cause as much destruction as possible, to force the Scots to withdraw from Ireland, to deal with the increasing crisis back home. Antrim negotiated the plans through the Confederacy's Supreme Council, and with the full blessing of James Butler, Earl of Ormonde, a personal advisor to King Charles.
In one Ulster battle, McColla was badly wounded. O'Cahan personally dragged his giant [7-foot-tall (2.1 m)] friend to safety through heavy fire on a makeshift litter and got him medical attention. King Charles initially recalled his Parliament to raise an army to quell the Irish rebellion. When his Parliament refused to co-operate with him, his efforts to accuse them of treason against the crown led to the English portion of the Civil War.
As war erupted in England, Scottish Royalists, as planned by the Confederation, brought the conflict to the fore in Scotland too. On Antrim's orders, McColla and O'Cahan, with Thomas Lachnan and James MacDonnell, raised an army of 1,500 men and sailed for Scotland, intending to avenge the wrongs done to them by the Campbell clan, who were ardent Covenanters. The voyage, through waters patrolled by Parliament frigates, proved eventful. The Scots-Irish Brigade did not have all the vessels they had planned. Three passenger-carrying merchant ships provided by the Kilkenny merchant Patrick Archer were in the small fleet that did sail from Waterford; The Harp, The Christopher, the Angell Gabrielle (Flemish merchantmen) and they were protected by the Jacob of Ross (Irish Merchantman). Many men, and most weapons, had to be left behind. The small fleet captured a group of Covenant ministers sailing for Ulster and took them prisoner. One captive, John Weir, kept a diary of the events from which most histories of the events are drawn.
The Scots-Irish landed in Mull on 5 July 1644. They started causing trouble and securing the coast in hope of more men coming over from Ireland. On 7 July O'Cahan led the division that took Kinlochaline Castle, coming under intense cannon fire, but emerging victorious to rejoin the main body of MacColla's men in their own captured territory, Loch Sunart.
A group of Irish stayed behind to hold the fortress at Kinlochaline. Earthwork battery ramparts and trenches were dug to help secure the territories The ships were soon lost in acts of piracy against Covenant and Parliamentary vessels that patrolled the waters looking for invaders. Realising that their position was growing increasingly dangerous as, only 1,500 strong, they were hopelessly outnumbered, O'Cahan and McColla started to move inland, recruiting among local clansmen as they went. Many refused, and some proved to be hostile. However, help came from an unexpected source, James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose.
Montrose had planned on taking an army from England to serve his cause in Scotland, and made his way to an audience with Prince Rupert of The Rhine. Unfortunately, Montrose arrived just days after the English Royalist defeat at Marston Moor on 2 July 1644. Rupert promptly commandeered most of Montrose's men to replace his own fallen numbers. Montrose decided to go to Scotland incognito, with two allies, Sir William Rollo, and Sir James Sibbart. On the journey through his own country, Scotland, where he was now an outlaw, he learned of McColla's arrival, and raced to meet him.
McColla and O'Cahan united with Montrose on the Mull of Kintyre on 29 August 1644. The alliance proved to be formidable.
They achieved major victories and won many smaller skirmishes through the heart of Scotland in what became known as their 'Year of Glory' (1644–1645).
O'Cahan led a division on MacColla's behalf throughout the Montrose campaigns.
The first victory came at Tippermuir, on 1 September 1644. The next, at Aberdeen, on 13 September 1644, was more controversial in that the Royalists, including O'Cahan's men, were involved in the massacre of hundreds of unarmed civilians throughout the city.
Montrose wanted to expand his forces and march south, to England to help the King, who was by this time faring badly as Cromwell's New Model Army grew in strength. The bulk of the Scottish Covenant army was now fighting for Parliament in England. However, the successes of Montrose and McColla made the Covenanters withdraw men from England to fight for their home soil.
McColla, and the Scottish Highlanders who served with him alongside O'Cahan's Irishry had little interest in England, as they had their feud with the Campbells to address. The Highland warriors who came to their aid frequently left the battlefields to carry home their spoils of war, so they often vanished for months on end, though most did return. The Scottish soldiers who served Montrose constantly drew him back from his planned advances on the English border to have another charge against the forces of the Earl of Argyll, leader of the Campbell Clan.
McColla was more loyal to Montrose, but he often had to separate from him to help recruit more men as the army's numbers waned. While McColla was away, O'Cahan usually stayed with Montrose, with whom he became a powerful ally. O'Cahan briefly traveled to Ulster to try to recruit more fighters, but was unsuccessful. When McColla was away on a recruitment drive on 21 October 1644, Montrose and O'Cahan and their men found themselves pinned down at Fyvie Castle by Argyll's forces. O'Cahan led a daring night raid into the Campbell lines to break the siege. The Campbells fled and O'Cahan grabbed the powder supplies abandoned by the deserters. He jokingly told Montrose "We must at them again, for the rogues have forgot to leave the bullets with the powder." It is one of the few direct quotations that history record from him.
McColla returned soon after the battle at Fyvie with a battle plan that Montrose regarded as impossible. McColla had raised a formidable body of Scottish Highlanders, all of whom felt a desire to completely crush the Campbell Clan. They were predominantly Macdonald allies like the Clan Ranald. McColla proposed a raid through the heartland of Campbell-owned estates, in effect the complete destruction of Argyllshire. The assault was to culminate in a near suicidal march on Argyll's personal estate at Inverlochy, which was thought impossible to capture. The march on Inverlochy was made, despite Montrose's reservations, though he accompanied the force. Argyllshire was indeed razed. The hundreds of square miles covered were more remarkable for the season–during the winter blizzards of early 1645, when the sea off the coast froze. The culminating attack, and massacre of Campbells at Inverlochy on 2 February 1645 was made after a two-day march over the foothills of Ben Nevis. Argyll abandoned his men and sailed away on his personal galley to save himself.
Inverlochy was MacColla and O'Cahan's greatest moment. It is recorded that O'Cahan personally drew first blood. Few Campbell captives were allowed to live.
The year of glory was now past its peak. Montrose became increasingly overconfident and began to make tactical blunders. He wrote letters claiming that the victories were all his own doing, omitting the work of his Scots-Irish allies.
Montrose now had support from Royalist cavalry divisions supplied by the Gordon's Clan, and he barely spoke to the men who had served him all along. On 9 May 1645 came the debacle at Auldearn. Many early historians regard Auldearn as Montrose's supreme achievement and a carefully planned battle. In fact, it was a fiasco, where only luck and the bravery of the Scots–Irish forces saved the day.[ citation needed ]
Montrose had led his men after Covenanters who were seeking reinforcements in Inverness. Failing to catch up with them in time, Montrose camped at Auldearn, as he didn't expect the enemy to have time to launch an immediate counter-attack. In fact, the Covenanters marched all night to be able to attack the Royalists at first light at Auldearn. Covenant musketeers cleaning their guns by firing them created enough noise to warn MacColla's men. Montrose had spread his men over a wide area rather than grouping them. While McColla and O'Cahan held off the attack, Montrose desperately raced around trying to raise the rest of the camp.
The traditional story of Auldearn is that Montrose hid his main army in a hollow and set up McColla and O'Cahan as a false front and a decoy target before executing a brilliant pincer movement to trap the enemy. In fact, Montrose was caught completely off guard. MacColla's defence was much more desperate and heroic than has been claimed. Modern accounts[ citation needed ] have re-evaluated the battle, to Montrose's detriment. The Scots-Irish brigades fought ruthlessly. When a few of Clan Gordon' who had helped them started to panic, McColla personally killed them to prevent their panic causing the desertion of the rest of their clan. One of MacColla's men fought on despite taking a pike through his mouth from one cheek to the other.
Montrose arrived with reinforcements only when he had awakened and rounded up his scattered forces, saving the day. Montrose had not hidden his army in a hollow ready to affect a spectacular ambush.
Only two major Royalist victories came in the Year of Glory. The Royalists won a resounding victory on 2 July 1645 at Alford. They followed this up with a greater victory on 15 August 1645 at Kilsyth, in effect rendering the Covenant forces of the Earl of Argyll useless.
Montrose was now ready to head south through Lowland Scotland and into England, but many of his allies deserted him, as they had little interest in campaigning beyond Scotland. McColla is often accused of joining the deserters, but it is more likely that he left Montrose's side to go recruiting as he had done before. This time, he would be too late.
O'Cahan stayed with Montrose as he started to prepare for the advance to the Scottish-English border. Unfortunately, the increasing collapse of the Royalist forces in England meant that more Scots could now be sent back to resist Montrose and his allies. David Leslie, a leading soldier and Covenanter, attacked O'Cahan's men as they were waking up at an encampment in Philiphaugh on 13 September 1645. It was one year to the day after the Aberdeen massacre.
O'Cahan's forces and those of the other Irish divisions who had stayed with Montrose found themselves under surprise attack and hopelessly outnumbered. Within hours they were reduced to less than five hundred, but they fought on valiantly. Montrose, who had camped separately from the Irish, tried to fight his way to their aid, but he was forced back and eventually fled. Many were offended by this desertion, but he may have been advised to do so by his officers.
David Leslie offered O'Cahan terms of surrender. If his men laid down their arms and agreed to leave Scotland forever, they would be allowed to go free. O'Cahan agreed to this, but Leslie captured the now unarmed force, and O'Cahan witnessed the execution of virtually his entire army. The women and children who had followed his forces were also brutally executed, many by drowning in the rivers around Philipaugh. Colonels O'Cahan, and Thomas Laghtnan were taken to Edinburgh Castle and hanged from its South Wall without a trial.
McColla and Montrose fought on, independently of one another. They never met again. In his late seventies Colkitto retook the Isle of Islay, only but was captured on 1 July 1647. He was executed soon afterwards. McColla returned to Ireland where the rebellion continued. McColla fought and died on 13 November 1647 at the Battle of Knocknanuss. Montrose fought on in Scotland until the King was captured and ordered a general Royalist cease-fire. The victorious Covenanters now forced Montrose into exile. He moved through Europe, and later led an attack on the Covenanters on behalf of King Charles II, using an inexperienced army of Danish and Scandinavian mercenaries. He was defeated at Carbisdale, in Scotland on 27 April 1650. Captured a few days later, Montrose was tried and executed in Edinburgh on 30 April 1650.
James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose was a Scottish nobleman, poet, soldier and later viceroy and captain general of Scotland. Montrose initially joined the Covenanters in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, but subsequently supported King Charles I as the English Civil War developed. From 1644 to 1646, and again in 1650, he fought in the civil war in Scotland on behalf of the King. He is referred to as the Great Montrose.
The Battle of Philiphaugh was fought on 13 September 1645 during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms near Selkirk in the Scottish Borders. The Royalist army of the Marquis of Montrose was destroyed by the Covenanter army of Sir David Leslie, restoring the power of the Committee of Estates.
The Battle of Inverlochy occurred on 2 February 1645 during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms when a Royalist force of Highlanders and Confederate Irish troops under the overall command of James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, routed and largely destroyed the pursuing forces of Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll, who had been encamped under the walls of Inverlochy Castle.
The Battle of Tippermuir was the first battle James Graham, 1st Marquis of Montrose, fought for King Charles I in the Scottish theatre of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. During the battle, Montrose's Royalist forces routed an army of the Covenanter-dominated Scottish government under John Wemyss, Lord Elcho. The government side took heavy losses.
Between 1639 and 1652, Scotland was involved in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, a series of wars starting with the Bishops' Wars, the Irish Rebellion of 1641, the English Civil War, the Irish Confederate Wars, and finally the subjugation of Ireland and Scotland by the English Roundhead New Model Army.
Alasdair Mac Colla Chiotaich MacDhòmhnaill, also known by the English variant of his name Sir Alexander MacDonald, was a military officer best known for his participation in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, notably the Irish Confederate Wars and Montrose's Royalist campaign in Scotland during 1644–5. A member of the Gaelic gentry of the Clan MacDonald of Dunnyveg, a branch of the Clan Donald active in the Hebrides and Ireland, Mac Colla is particularly notable for the very large number of oral traditions and legends which his life inspired in the Highlands.
Sir John Urry, also known as Hurry, was a Scottish professional soldier who at various times during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms fought for Scots Covenanters, Engagers and Royalists, as well as both English Parliamentarians and Royalists. Captured at Carbisdale in April 1650, he was executed in Edinburgh on 29 May 1650.
The Battle of Aberdeen, also known as the Battle of Justice Mills and the Crabstane Rout, was an engagement in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms which took place outside the city of Aberdeen on 13 September 1644. During the battle, Royalist forces led by James Graham, Lord Montrose routed an army raised by the Covenanter-dominated Parliament of Scotland under Robert Balfour, 2nd Lord Balfour of Burleigh.
The Battle of Auldearn was an engagement of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It took place on 9 May 1645, in and around the village of Auldearn in Nairnshire. It resulted in a victory for the royalists, led by the Marquess of Montrose and Alasdair MacColla, over Sir John Urry and an army raised by the Covenanter-dominated Scottish government.
The Battle of Kilsyth, fought on 15 August 1645 near Kilsyth, was an engagement of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. The largest battle of the conflict in Scotland, it resulted in victory for the Royalist general Montrose over the forces of the Covenanter-dominated Scottish Parliament, and marked the end of General William Baillie's pursuit of the Royalists.
The Battle of Alford was an engagement of the Scottish Civil War. It took place near the village of Alford, Aberdeenshire, on 2 July 1645. During the battle, the Royalist general James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose defeated the forces of the Covenanter-dominated Scottish government, commanded by William Baillie.
Clan Graham is a Scottish clan who had territories in both the Scottish Highlands and Lowlands, with one main branch Montrose, and various cadet branches. The chief of the clan rose to become the Marquess and later Duke of Montrose.
Clan MacDonald of Dunnyveg, also known as Clan Donald South, Clan Iain Mor, Clan MacDonald of Islay and Kintyre, MacDonalds of the Glens (Antrim) and sometimes referred to as MacDonnells, is a Scottish clan and a branch of Clan Donald. The founder of the MacDonalds of Dunnyveg is Eòin Mòr Tànaiste Mac Dhòmhnaill, a son of Iain Mic Dhòmhnaill and Margaret Stewart of Scotland, daughter of King Robert II. Members of the clan actually pronounced and spelled their name M'Connall due to the Gaelic pronunciation of the name Mac Domhnuill thus giving rise to the surname McConnell and its variants. While historically recognised as a clan by the Court of the Lord Lyon, it is now an armigerous clan as it no longer has a chief. The last chief was Sir James MacDonald, 9th of the Clan MacDonald of Dunnyveg or Clan Donald South, who died in London in 1626.
The MacDonnells of Antrim, also known as the MacDonnells of the Glens, are a branch in Ireland of the Scottish-based Clan Donald. Initially part of Clan MacDonald of Dunnyveg, the MacDonnells of Antrim became their own branch in 1558 when Somhairle Buidhe MacDonnell obtained the lordship of the territory in Ireland from James MacDonald, 6th chief of the Clan MacDonald of Dunnyveg. The MacDonnells of Antrim were a sept of the Clan Donald of the royal Clann Somhairle, that the English crown had attempted to cultivate since the early 14th century in its efforts to influence the course of politics in Scotland. The MacDonnells established a growing presence in Ireland throughout the 15th and 16th centuries,and played a crucial role in the politics of 17th century Ireland. The MacDonnell's achieved much success in Ireland largely to cultural and familial connections to the Gaelic nobility of Ireland. Today the surname is predominantly spelled McDonnell in Ireland and abroad, although many McConnell's are also of the same family, as that is the Gaelic pronunciation of the Mac Domhnaill. Most of the leadership of the Clan wrote their name as a variant of McConnell up until the 17th Century, including Sorley Boy MacDonnell himself. Many of the present-day McDonnell's have a common descent from Sorley Boy MacDonnell.
Coll Ciotach Mac Domhnaill (1570–1647) was a Scottish adventurer and mercenary of the Clan MacDonald of Dunnyveg branch of Clan Donald, who became Laird of Colonsay in 1623, by treachery. His name, which means "Coll the left-handed" or "the crafty", was anglicised as Colkitto. However he only used the nickname Ciotach late in his life in 1629 when it appeared in a Latin translation of a Gaelic letter where Coll refers to himself as "Ego Collatius Kiotach Macdonnell".
Sir Lachlan Maclean, 1st Baronet of Morvern, the 17th Clan Chief of Clan Maclean. Lachlan was granted his Baronet title by Charles I and he became the Clan Chief on the death of his brother in 1626. He fought as a Royalist under James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms at the Battle of Inverlochy, Battle of Auldearn and Battle of Kilsyth. From 1628 to 1633 he sat in the Parliament of Scotland as shire commissioner for Tarbert. From his rule onward, all Maclean clan chiefs are successive Baronets of Movern.
The Battle of Lagganmore took place in 1646 at Lagganmore in Glen Euchar, west of Loch Scammadale. It was part of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, though in this case the battle, which was fought largely between Highland clansmen, incorporated a long running feud between Clan MacDonald and Clan Campbell.
The Irish expedition to Scotland took place during the British Civil Wars in 1644–1645. A group of 2,000 troops sailed from Ireland for Scotland in June 1644. Once in Scotland, they joined forces with the Royalist forces fighting Montrose's Highland campaign. The expedition was the result of an effort by King Charles I to enlist help from Irish Catholics in fighting Parliamentarian forces.
This is a timeline of events leading up to, culminating in, and resulting from the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.
And No Quarter is an historical novel written by Irish author Maurice Walsh, first published in 1937. The background is the 1644–1645 campaigns in Scotland, led by the Royalist general Montrose, which formed part of the wider 1639–1651 Wars of the Three Kingdoms.