The planters first heard of the rebellion when they seen an Irish Army marching in the direction of the Ford in Portnaw near Kilrea, in order to invade. The planters had no way to defend themselves or their families. Their landlord, the 2nd Earl of Antrim, R. MacDonnell didn’t show any interest in helping his tenants, luckily for the people in the area Archibald Steward came to the rescue and done what he could in bringing together an army which consisted of many of the planters. They successfully stopped the Irish from crossing the Bann, however, two of the groups within Stewart’s army along with their leaders betrayed the others and killed many of them as they slept. This made the plan of attack by the Irish much easier and enabled them to cross the Bann to join with their associates and started to seek revenge on the planters.

The Irish defeated the planters and it was the duty of General Munroe along with his Scottish army to restore peace and return them back to their farms. This increased the number of planters in the area and before long most of the planters were Scottish or from Scottish descend. This meant the fertility and suitability of the land was decreasing again and the area was also beginning to get more crowded.

The possibility of an attack still remained and the people of the area lived in fear of a second rebellion. Their faith played a large part in their lives and they used it to strengthen them through these tough times. Most of the planters were Presbyterian but some were from different backgrounds such as Quakers.