*  Dep.  of  John  Blair.
3  Mr.  Hill,  in  his  McDonnells  of  Antrim,  makes  some  curious  mistakes
in  connection  with  all  these  movements.  He  describes  Alastair  McColl-
kittagh McDomiell  as  having  been  in  command  at  Portna  and  in  the  sub-
sequent operations  which  terminated  in  the  surrender  of  Oldstone.  The
real  commander  was  James  McCollkittagh,  Alastair's  brother.  This  is
made  quite  clear  by  the  deposition  of  Fergus  Fullerton.  This  initial
mistake  has  evidently  p\izzled  Mr.  Hill  as  to  the  identity  of  the  Jamea
McDonnell  who  wrote  the  letter  abovit  Oldstone  to  Stewart.  He  finally
tells  us  that  this  was  Sir  James  McDonnell,  the  son  of  Sir  Alexander  of  Kil-
conway.  This  is  another  mistake.  The  writer  was  James  McCollkittagh
McDonnell  as  indeed  is  made  evident  by  the  text  of  the  letter  itself.  "  Old-
stone was  rendered  unto  me,"  he  writes.  If  fvirther  proof  were  wanted  it
is  to  be  found  in  the  deposition  of  Donald  Gorm,  who  states  that  he  visited
James  McCollkittagh  McDonnell  at  Oldstone  Castle,  which  he  had  made
his  residence  "  after  it  had  been  surrendered  to  him."     (See  Hill,  p.  70.)

*  Hickson's  Ireland  in  the  Seventeenth  Century,  Appendix.
1642]  MASSACRE   AT   OLDSTONE  207

This  letter  makes  it  quite  clear  that  the  women  killed
in  the  courtyard  were  killed  by  camp-followers.  Roger
Pike,  in  his  "Narrative,"  tells  us  that  both  the  Irish  and
the  English  armies  were  invariably  followed  by  a  crowd  of
these  beasts  of  prey,  known  as  Pillagers,  "  who  cut  off  the
wounded  and  spared  neither  woman  nor  child,  either  of
the  British  or  of  their  own  race."  ^  The  aim  of  these
creatures  was  simply  the  clothes  and  other  accoutrements
of  those  they  murdered.
