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. O'Cahan and 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