Colours, Drums and Music

No one knows with any accuracy what flags – if any – were carried by O’Cahan’s during the campaigns of the ‘Annus Mirabilis’ of 1644-45. It is reasonable to suppose that at one time or another they carried the Scottish Royal Standard, which Montrose as the King’s Lieutenant was entitled to display, but this cannot be considered as being O’Cahan’s own regimental colour.

As to whether they actually had any colours of their own, we can safely assume – though not conclusively prove – that they did. O’Cahan’s were a regular body of some 500 soldiers, organised, trained and officered along European lines. More than likely many of them had spent nigh on three years with the army of the Irish Confederation by 1644, units of which certainly carried regimental and possibly company colours.

By this time flags had assumed an almost semi-sacred character. German mercenaries of the late medieval and early Renaissance period took a holy oath to defend their colours to the death, and this practice had spread to all armies by the late 16^th century. Colours were therefore of central importance to unit morale, and it is unthinkable that O’Cahan’s would have gone against normal European practice of the time.

In trying to reconstruct what forms these colours would have taken, it is perhaps best first of all to demolish a few myths and say what form O’Cahan’s colours would not have taken.

They were unlikely to have resembled the colours used by Montrose’s infantry in the abortive campaign of 1650, ie, a black flag bearing the severed head of Charles I. Unfortunate as his reign turned out to be for him, in 1644 Charles’ head was still firmly attached to his shoulders and such a design would have been in rather bad taste, to say the least!

As they were Irish troops they wouldn’t have carried a Saltire. Apart from the fact that it was synonymous with the Covenanting cause, O’Cahan’s were Irish troops with only a sprinkling of English and lowland Scots (of the 30 known names of O’Cahan’s officers and sergeants only five can be identified as non-Irish), and so the saltire of St Andrew would have been a foreign flag to them.

The red mailed gauntlet grasping the cross and set over a crown is the emblem of the Scottish Macdonalds, and although there were Macdonnells in the other two regiments of the Irish Brigade, not one is known to have belonged to O’Cahan’s.

Known Confederate colours appear to have one consistent feature – they emphasise their loyalty to the King. The obverse of all known designs carry “an Irish” cross within a red circle on a green field, under the cross, the epigraph, “Vivat Rex Carolus” (long live King Charles), and above it the letters CR and an imperial crown. In view of O’Cahan’s mission – to recover Scotland for the King, it would seem logical that the new colours would carry a similar profession of loyalty.

O’Cahan’s were Catholic, and the reverse of Confederate flags are notable for their use of very Catholic devices: crucifixion scenes; resurrections; the Virgin Mary crushing the serpent’s head – that sort of thing – very similar in fact to devices used by Spanish and Imperialist armies on the continent, where many of the Irish Brigade had probably seen service. Civil War flags after all were probably the most descriptively political of any period, as is well known from surviving English examples. In a period where political doctrine was inextricably part of religious belief it would seem more the normal thing to do. Therefore, just as the Parliamentarians sued strong Lutheran and Calvinist devices in their colours, I think that an Irish Catholic unit in the service of the King would use symbols and slogans directly reflecting their own strongly held beliefs.

What we are left with then is the suggestion that O’Cahan’s colours should reflect both allegiance to King Charles and their religious/political ideals. These are only some generally thoughts on the matter which have gone in to shaping the flags of today’s regiment.

As mentioned previously, no one knows for certain what colours were carried by the Irish Brigade, only that each company of each regiment had an ensign (‘Ancient’) and hence presumably a colour. Therefore we have had to draw on what existing sources there are for Irish troops of the period, and for the most part these concern the forces of the Irish Confederation, from whom O’Cahan’s were raised.

The flags described above are based very heavily on known Confederate designs, though it is not known whether these designs were ever actually made up into flags. But they are contemporary, and they certainly illustrate the two basic tenets of both the Irish Confederation and the Irish Brigade, i.e. loyalty to Ireland and also loyalty to their Catholic religion.

We do know the names of the ensigns of O’Cahan’s,and these are listed below:

Col. O’Cahan’s Company - Ancient Dualtagh MacDuffy

Lt. Col. Donnaghe O’Cahan’s Company — Ancient John Cooper

Sgt. Major Ledwitch’s Company - Ancient Bartholomew Newgent

Capt. Art O’Neale’s Company - Ancient Bryen O’Neale

Capt. John Mortimer’s Company - Ancient Phelim O’Donnelly

Capt. Rowry Duffe O’Cahan’s Company — Ancient Donnagh O’Gahan

Steve Langan (former CO of O'cahans)