The Laggan Army was a militia formed by Protestant settlers in the Laggan district of County Donegal, Ulster during the Irish Rebellion of 1641. After Felim O'Neill's rebels inflicted atrocities against Protestant settlers and thousands of Protestant settlers were evicted from their lands, these settler refugees sought safety and protection in Royalist strongholds or attempted to leave for England and Scotland. Protestant landowners William Cole, William Stewart, and Robert Stewart chose to defend their properties by organizing militias, creating a regiment of 1,000 foot and a troop of horse for King Charles I of England's service. The Laggan Army became the most dominant Royalist militia in Ulster, defending and relieving Protestant strongholds, escorting refugees to safe havens, conducting reprisal attacks on the Irish rebels, and supporting other Royalist militias in numerous conflicts. On 16 June 1642, the Laggan Army routed Felim O'Neill's Irish Confederate army at the Battle of Glenmaquin, and the army defeated Owen Roe O'Neill at the Battle of Clones in June 1643 before capturing Sligo on 8 July 1645. In 1646, the Laggan Army joined forces with the Covenanters and English settler armies in attacking the Confederates in Ulster, but O'Neill defeated them at the Battle of Benburb, forcing the Laggan Army to retreat to Derry and Enniskillen. After the failed siege of Derry in 1649, the Laggan Army started to break apart, and factions defected to the Parliamentarians and fought against their compatriots at the Battle of Lisnagarvey, Battle of Scarrifholis, and the Siege of Charlemont. By the end of 1649, the Laggan Army had ceased to be effective as a fighting force due to internal ethnic divisions, and the force soon disbanded.
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