a military officer, who served as a Colonel (Oberst) in the Imperial Army under Albrecht von Wallenstein and was involved in Wallenstein's murder in 1634. When his family estates in Roscrea, County Tipperary were confiscated in 1616, Walter became a soldier of fortune. He entered the armed forces of the Habsburg emperor Ferdinand II and served with distinction as a Colonel in the Thirty Years’ War. In 1631 he and his Irish officers fought under General Tilly against MacKay's Swedish regiment laying siege to Frankfurt-an-der-Oder.
