 The family probably fled before Phelim O'Neill burned the Castle of Strabane in 1641 during the Rebellion and took his aunt Jean, Claud's widow, prisoner.He was about 16 on 17 September 1646, when Owen Roe O'Neil, who had taken over from Phelim as leader of the Confederate Ulster army, captured Roscrea Castle where he lived.The confederates spared him, his siblings, and his mother but put everybody else to the sword.