This article explores a series of contacts between the marquis of Ormond and the Ulster Protestant forces in 1645–6, using sources that include the Carte manuscripts, parliamentary papers, pamphlet material, and other political correspondence, both manuscript and printed. It is argued that Ormond's Ulster contacts were as least as important as the concurrent negotiations with the Catholic confederates, which up to now have been prioritized by historians, and that his Ulster strategy was designed to avoid further negotiations with the Catholic Irish by regaining Protestant Ireland's support for the royalist cause. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]