Since Hart is your preferred source and Ryan is seemingly some untrustworthy person who makes up evidence, I decided to cite a source you could not question. I am not suggesting linking this group with any killings, but my point remains that with (bare minimum) accusations of membership of a combatant group, they should not be described as civilians. You failed to address my point that any reader seeing the phrase "Protestant men" would not think of anything else but civlians surely?