Whiteboys

[ hwahyt-boiz, wahyt- ]

/ ˈʰwaɪtˌbɔɪz, ˈwaɪt- /

noun (used with a singular verb)

a secret agrarian peasant organization, active in Ireland during the early 1760s, whose members wore white shirts for recognition on their night raids to destroy crops, barns, and other property in redressing grievances against landlords and protesting the paying of tithes.

Origin of Whiteboys

white + boy + -s³

Examples from the Web for whiteboys

It would be best for us follow after the rest of the army of the Whiteboys.
The Unicorn from the Stars and Other Plays|William B. Yeats
From Armagh we marched to Naas, the country to the south having become much disturbed by the Whiteboys, as they termed themselves.
Twenty-Five Years in the Rifle Brigade|William Surtees
But why, Alick, are you surrounded by such a number of Whiteboys.
The Tithe-Proctor|William Carleton
And does he blacken his face as well as the other Whiteboys?
The Tithe-Proctor|William Carleton

Returning to Ireland, he found the peasantry engaged in the great agrarian struggle which produced the “Whiteboys.”
By the Barrow River|Edmund Leamy