Battle of Lisnagarvey The Battle of Lisnagarvey took place near Lisburn , south of Carrickfergus , in south county Antrim , Ireland in December 1649 . It was fought between the Royalists army ( many of whom were Scots ) and the Parliamentarians during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms . Background . When the army of Oliver Cromwell landed in Dublin in August 1649 , the only large town in Ulster held by the Parliamentarians was Derry . Charles Coote ' s forces had managed to resist the Royalist / Confederate alliance in 1649 thanks to an alliance of convenience with Owen Roe O ' Neill and his Ulster Irish army . After Cromwell had conquered the Major town of Drogheda in September , he sent Colonel Robert Venables with a force of 5 , 000 men to conquer east Ulster while Cromwell himself headed south with the rest of the army . Within days Venables had occupied Dundalk , and shortly after he captured the Port of Carlingford and a number of nearby castles with the help of a Parliamentarian frigate . The next day the parliamentarian cavalry captured Newry . The only serious resistance encountered by Venable ' s force occurred on 27 September , when some of Felim O ' Neill ' s Ulster Irish launched a surprise attack on the Parliamentarian camp near Lisnagarvey . These however were beaten off . Shortly after , the Scottish garrison in Belfast also surrendered without a fight . A considerable quantity of arms and ammunition was obtained by the Parliamentarians in these actions . In the meantime , the force of Charles Coote became active once again . Coote ' s first target was Coleraine . Some of the Protestant townsmen opened a gate and let his forces in , Coote then proceeded to massacre the garrison . Most of the defenders were in fact Protestants of Scottish birth , but Coote was not one to show mercy to an enemy . Coote ' s forces than joined Venable ' s at Belfast , who was preparing an attack on Carrickfergus . The battle . In early December , Major General Monro ' s mostly Scottish army , 3 , 000 strong , joined forces with the Royalist Lord Clandeboye . The Royalists marched north in an attempt to stop the Parliamentarian army from taking Carrickfergus . After learning of their approach , the Parliamentarians moved to intercept the Royalists , and the two armies met near Lisnagarvey ( Lisburn ) on the Sixth of December . The advance guards of the two armies became engaged in a fight . Panic rapidly set in amongst the already demoralised Royalists . When the main Parliamentarian army came within sight , most of the Royalists were in flight . The Parliamentarians immediately attacked , and slaughtered 1 , 500 retreating Royalists . Most of the weapons and supplies of the Royalist army were lost . Clandeboyle surrendered shortly after the battle while Monro fled to Enniskillen . Consequences . The rout at Lisnagarvey ended resistance by the Scottish Ulster forces to the Parliamentarian army . Carrickfergus surrendered to Coote on 13 December . True to form Coote had the families of the Scottish garrison thrown out of the town and into the winter cold . Thereafter only a few strongholds in Ulster remained in Royalist hands . Early in 1650 Monro surrendered Enniskillen to Coote for 500 pounds and returned to Scotland . The Ulster Irish army was now all that was left in the way of a Parliamentarian conquest of Ulster .