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 [] 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