The Irish, disarmed, stripped, and hustled, clung for protection to the English officers and soldiers.
Schomberg with difficulty prevented a massacre by spurring, pistol in hand, through the throng of the enraged colonists, [437] From Carrickfergus Schomberg proceeded to Lisburn, and thence, through towns left without an inhabitant, and over plains on which not a cow, nor a sheep, nor a stack of corn was to be seen, to Loughbrickland.

Here he was joined by three regiments of Enniskilleners, whose dress, horses, and arms locked strange to eyes accustomed to the pomp of reviews, but who in natural courage were inferior to no troops in the world, and who had, during months of constant watching and skirmishing, acquired many of the essential qualities of soldiers.

[438] Schomberg continued to advance towards Dublin through a desert.

The few Irish troops which remained in the south of Ulster retreated before him, destroying as they retreated.

Newry, once a well built and thriving Protestant borough, he found a heap of smoking ashes.