Waterford was a majority Catholic city and like most other towns in Ireland's south-east had supported the Confederate Catholic cause since the Catholic Irish Rebellion of 1641. Late in 1641, Protestant refugees, displaced by the insurgents, began to arrive in the town, creating much tension among the Catholic townspeople. The city's mayor wanted to protect the refugees, but the recorder and several of the Aldermen on the city council wanted to strip them of their property and let in the rebels, who arrived outside the walls in early 1642. At first, the Mayor's faction was successful in refusing to admit rebel forces, but by March 1642, the faction in the municipal government sympathetic to the rebellion had prevailed. The Protestants in Waterford were expelled, in most cases put on ships