won the day or lost it, they were certain to leave their
standard in great numbers, and held it their undoubted
right to do so ; insomuch, that a victory thinned their
ranks as much as to defeat is apt to do those of other
armies. It is true, that they could be gathered again
with equal celerity ; but this humour, of deserting at
their pleasure, was a principal reason why the brilliant
victories of Montrose were productive of few decided
results.

On reaching Aberdeen, Montrose hastened to take pos-
session of the Bridge of Dee, the -principal approach to
that town, and having made good this important point, he
found himself in front of an army commanded by Lord
Burleigh. He had the mortification also to find, that
part of a large body of horse in the Covenanting army
were Gordons, who had been compelled to take arms in
that cause by Lord Lewis Gordon, the second son of the
Marquis of Huntly, a wild and wilful young man, whose
politics differed from those of his father and family.

Finding himself greatly inferior in horse, of which he
had not fifty, Montrose intermingled with his cavalry
some of his musketeers, who, for breath and speed, could
keep up with the movements of such horse as he possess-
ed. The Gordons, not perhaps very favourable to the
side on which they ranked, made an ineffectual attack
upon the horse of Montrose, which was repelled. When
the mingled musketeers and cavalry advanced on them,
Lord Lewis's men fled, in spite of his own personal ex-
ertions ; and Montrose, we are informed, found it possi-
ble to move .his handful of cavalry to the other wing of
his army, and to encounter and defeat the horse of the
Covenanters on both flank? successively with the same
wearied party of riders. The terror struck into his op-



SACK OF ABERDEEN. 123

ponerils by the novelty of mixing musketeers with oaval-
rv, contributed not a little to this extraordinary success
While this was passing, the two bodies of infantry can-
nonaded each other, for Montrose had the guns which he
took at Tippennuir. The Covenanters had the superior-
ity in this part of the action, but it did not daunt the
Royalists. The gaiety of an Irishman, whose leg was
shot off, gave spirit to all around him " Go on," he
cried, " this bodes me promotion ; for now the General
will make me a trooper." Montrose left the courage of
his men no time to subside he led them daringly up to
the enemy's teeth, and succeeded in a desperate charge,
routing the Covenanters, and pursuing them into the
town and through the streets. Stormed as it was by such
a tumultuary army, Aberdeen and its inhabitants suffered
greatly. Many were killed in the streets ; and the cru-
elty of the Irish in particular was so great, that they com-
pelled the wretched citizens to strip themselves of their
clothes before they killed them, to prevent their being
spoiled with blood ! Montrose necessarily gave way to
acts of pillage and cruelty, which he could not prevent,
because he was unprovided with money to pay his half-
barbarous soldiery. Yet the town of Aberdeen had two
reasons for expecting better treatment : First, that it
had always inclined to the King's party ; and, secondly,
that Montrose himself had, when acting for the Cove-
nanters, been the agent in oppressing for its loyalty the
very city which his troops were now plundering on the
opposite score.

Argyle always continued following Montrose with a su-
perior army, but, it would appear, not with a very anx-
ious desire to overtake him. Will) a degree of activity
that seemed incredible, Montrose marched up the Spry,
hoping still to raise the Gordons. But these gentlemen
too strongly resented his former conduct towards them,
as Genera! of the Covenant, besides being sore with re-
collections for their recent check at the Bridge of Dee,
and would not join him. On the other hand, the men of
Murray, who were very zealous against Montrose, appenr-



l!24 SKIRMISH AT FVVIK.

ed on the northern bank of the Spey to oppose his pas-
sage. Thus hemmed in on all sides, and headed hack
like an animal of chase from the course he intended to
pursue, Montrose and nis litde army showed an extremity
of courage. They hid their cannon in a bog, destroyed
what they had of heavy baggage, entered Badenoch,
where the Clan Chattan had shown themselves uniformly
friendly, and descended from thence upon Athole, and
so on to Angus-shire. After several long and rapid
marches, Montrose returned again into Strathbogie, re-
crossing the great chain of the Grampians, and, clinging
still to the hope of being able to raise the gentlemen of
the name of Gordon, again repaired to Aberdeenshire.

Here this J?old leader narrowly escaped a great dan-
ger. His army was considerably dispersed, and he him-
self lying at the Castle of Fyvie, when he found himself
at once threatened, and nearly surrounded, by Argyle and
Lothian, at the head of very superior forces. A part of
the enemy had already occupied the approach to his po-
sition by means of ditches and enclosures through which
they had insinuated themselves, and his own men were
beginning to look out of countenance, when Montrose,
disguising his apprehensions, called to a gay and gallant
young Irish officer, as if he had been imposing a trifling
piece of duty, " What are you doing, O'Kean ? can
you not chase these troublesome rascals out of the ditch-
es and enclosures ?" O'Kean obeyed the command in
the spirit in which it was given ; and, driving the enemy
before him, got possession of some of their gunpowder
whirh was much needed in Montrose's army. The re-
mark of the Irishman on this occasion, who heavily com-
plained of the neglect of the enemy in omitting to leave
a supply of ball corresponding to the powder, showed the
confidence with which Montrose had been able to inspire
his men.

The Earl of Lothian, on the other side, came with four
troops of horse upon Montrose's hafdful of cavalry,
amounting srarrelv to fifty men. But Montrose had, as
at the bridge of i)ee, sustained his troooers by mingling



CLOSE OF THE CAMPAIGN. 125

them with mt, >ketry. So that Lothian's men, receiving
an unexpected and gal ing fire, wheeled about, and could
not again be brought to advance. Many hours were spent
in skirmishing, with advantage on Montrose's part, and
loss on that of Argyle, until at length the former thought
it most advisable to retreat from Fyvie to Strathbogie.

On the road, he was deserted by many Lowland gen-
tlemen who had joined him, and who saw his victories
were followed with no better results than toilsome march-
es among wilds, where it was nearly impossible to provide
subsistence for man or horse, and which the approach of
winter was about to render still more desolate. They
left his army, therefore, promising to return in summer ;
and of all his Lowland adherents, the old Earl of Airlie
and his sons alone remained. They had paid dearly for
their attachment to the Royal cause, Argyle having plun-
dered their estates, and burnt their principal mansion, the
" Bonnie house of Airlie," situated on the river Isla, the
memory of which conflagration is still preserved in Scot-
tish song.

But the same circumstances which wearied out the
patience of Montrose's Lowland followers, rendered it
impossible for Argyle to keep the field ; and he sent his
army into winter quarters, in full confidence that his enemy
was cooped up for the season in the narrow and unpro-
vided country of Athole and its neighbourhood, where
he might be suffered to exist with little inconvenience to
the rest of Scotland, till spring should enable the Cove-
nanters to attack him with a superior force. In the mean-
time, the Marquis of Argyle returned to his own domains.



126 INVASION of ARGVLE'S COUNTRY.



CHAPTER X.

fatnsion of Ar gyle's Country by Montrote Batths
Fnverlochy, Aulderne, jllford, and Kilsyth, gained
Montr oge } who, by the Victory at Kilsi/th, become*
Master of Scotland He is appointed Captain- Gen-
eral and Lieutenant- Governor of Scotland marches
upon the Borders is defeated by Lesley at Philip'
haugft retires to the Highlands, and leaves Scotland.

IT was about the middle of December that Argyle was
residing at his castle of Inverary, in the most perfect
confidence that the enemy could not approach him, since
he used to say he would not for a hundred thousand
crowns that any one knew the passes from the eastward
into the shire of Argyle. While the powerful Marquis
was enjoying his fancied security of his feudal domin-
ions, he was astounded with the intelligence that Mont-
rose, with an army of Highlanders, wading through drifts
of snow, scaling precipices, and traversing the mountain
paths, known to none save the solitary shepherd or hunts-
man, had forced an entry into his country, which he was
laying waste with all the vindictive severity of deadly
feud. There was neither time nor presence of mind for
defence. The able-bodied men were slaughtered, the
cattle driven off, the houses burnt ; and the invaders had
divided themselves into three bands, to make the devas-
tation more complete. Alarmed by this fierce and un-
expected invasion, Argyle embarked on board a fishing
boat, and left his country to its fate. Montrose continued
the work of revenge for nearly a month, and then con-
cluding he had destroyed the influence which Argyle, by
the extent of his power, and the supposed strength of his
country, had possessed over the minds of the Highland-
er*, he withdrew towards Inverness, with the purpose of



BATTLE OF INVEHl.OCHY. 127

organizing a general gathering of the clans. But he had
scarce made this movement, when he learned that his
rival, Argyle, had returned into the Western Highlands
with some Lowland forces ; that he had called around
him his numerous clan, burning to revenge the wrongs
which they had sustained, and was lying with a strong
force near the old Castle of Inverlochy, situated at the
western extremity of the chain of lakes through which
the Caledonian canal is now conducted.

The news at once altered Montrose's plans.

He returned upon Argyle by a succession of the most
difficult mountain-passes covered with snow ; and the
vanguard of the Campbells saw themselves suddenly
engaged with that of their implacable enemy. Both
parties lay all night on their arms, but by break of day,
Argyle betook himself to his galley, and, rowing off
shore, remained a spectator of the combat, when, by all
the rules of duty and gratitude, he ought to have been at
the head of his devoted followers. His unfortunate
clansman supported the honour of the name with the
greatest courage, and many of the most distinguished fell
on the field of battle. Montrose gained a complete vic-
tory, which greatly extended his influence over the High-
lands, and in proportion diminished that of his discomfit-
ed rival.

Having collected what force he could, Montrose now
marched triumphantly to the north-east ; and in the pres-
ent successful posture of his affairs, engaged at length the
Gordons to join him with a good body of cavalry, com-
manded by their young chief, Lord Gordon. The Con-
vention of Estates were now most seriously alarmed.
While Montrose had roamed through the Highlands, re-
treating betore a superior enemy, and apparently on the
point of being every moment overwhelmed, his progress
was regarded as a distant danger. But he was now
threatening the low country, and the ruling party were
not so confident of their strength there as to set so bold
an adventurer at defiance. They called from the army
in England General Baillie, an officer of skill and char-



128 STORMING OF DUNOKE.

acter, and Sir John TJrry, or, as the English called him.
Hurry, also a brave and good partizan, but a mere sol-
dier of fortune, who had changed sides more than once
during the civil war.

These generals commanded a body of veteran troops,
with which they manoeuvred to 'exclude Montrose from
the southern districts, and prevent his crossing the Tay
or Forth. At the same time, the mandate of the Mar-
quis of Huntly, or the intrigues of Lord Lewis Gordon,
again recalled most of the Gordons from Montrose's stand-
ard, and his cavalry was reduced to one hundred and
fifty. He was compelled again to retire to the mountains,
but, desirous to dignify his retreat by some distinguished
action, he resolved to punish the town of Dundee for
their steady adherence to the cause of the Covenant.
Accordingly, suddenly appearing before it with a chosen
body selected for the service, he stormed the place on
three points at once. The Highlanders and Irish, with
incredible fury, broke open the gales, and forced an en-
trance. They were dispersing in quest of liquor and
plunder, when at the very moment that Montrose threat-
ened to set the town on fire, he received intelligence that
Baillie and Urry, with four thousand men, were within a
mile of the place. The moment required all the activi-
ty of Montrose ; but he was able to withdraw the men
from their revelling and plundering, to get his army into
order, and to effect a retreat to the mountains, which he
safely accomplished in the face of his numerous enemies,
and with a degree of skill which established his military
character as firmly as any of his victories.

In this difficult manoeuvre, Montrose was well second-
ed by the hardihood and resolution of s men, who are
said to have marched about sixty miles, and to have pass-
ed three days and two nights in manoeuvring and fighting,
without either food or refreshment. In this manner that
leader repeatedly baffled the numerous forces and able
generals who were employed against him. The great
check upon his enterprise was the restlessness of the
Highlanders, and the caprice of the gentlemen who form



DEFECTION OF THE GORDONS. 129

d his cavalry, who all went and came at their own plea-
sure.

I have told you that the Gordons had been withdrawn
from Mont rose's standard, contrary to their own inclina-
tions, by the command of Huntly, or the address of Lord
Lewis Gordon. By employing his followers in enter-
| -ises in which the plunder was certain and the dangei
small, this young nobleman collected under his standard
all those who were reluctant to share the toilsome march-
es and bloody fights to which they were led under that
of Montrose. Hence a rhyme, not yet forgotten in Ab^r-
deenshire,

If you with Lord Lewis go

You'll get reif and prey enough ;
If you with Mont rose go,

You'll get grief and wac enough.

But the Lord Gordon, Lewis's elder brother, contin-
uing attached in the warmest manner to Montrose, was
despatched by him to bring back the gentlemen of his
warlike family, arid his influence soon assembled consid-
erable forces. General Baillie, learning this, detached
Urry, his colleague, with a force which he thought suffi-
cient to destroy Lord Gordon, while he himself proposed
to engage the attention of Montrose till that point was
gained.

But Montrose, penetrating the intention of the Cove-
nanting generals, eluded Baillie's attempts to bring him
to action, and traversed the mountains of the North like
a whirlwind, to support Lord Gordon, and crush Urry.
He accomplished his first object; but Urry had been
joined by the Covenanters of Murray, with the Earls of
Seaforth, Sutherland, and others who maintained the
same cause, and had thus collected an army more nume-
rous than that of Montrose, even when united to Lord
Gordon.

Montrose prepared to give them battle at the village of
Aulderne, and drew up his men in an unusual manner, to
conceal his inequality of force. The village, which is
situated on an eminence, with high ground behind, wa?



130 BATTLE OF AULDERNE.

surrounded by enclosures on each side and in front. He
stationed on the right of the village Alexander Mac Don-
ald, with four hundred Irishmen and Highlanders, com-
manding them to maintain a defensive combat only, and
giving them strict orders not to sally from some strong
sheepfolds and enclosures, which afforded the advantages
of a fortified position. As he wished to draw towards
that point the principal attention of the enemy, he gave
this right wing charge of the royal standard, which was
usually displayed where he commanded in person. On
the left side of the village of Aulderne, he drew up the
principal part of his force, he himself commanding the
infantry, and Lord Gordon the cavalry. His two wings
being thus formed, Montrose had in reality no centre
force whatever; but a few resolute men posted in front
of the village, and his cannon placed in the same line,
made it appear as if the houses covered a body of in-
fantry.

Urry, deceived by these dispositions, attacked with a
preponderating force the position of MacDonald. Col-
kitto beat them back with the Irish musketeers, and the
bows and arrows of the Highlanders, who still used these
ancient missile weapons. But when the enemy, rein-w-
ing their attack, taunted MacDonald with cowardice for
remaining under shelter of the sheepfolds, that leader,
whose bravery greatly excelled his discretion, sallied forth
from his fastness, contrary to Montrose's positive com-
mand, to show he was not averse to fight on equal ground.
The superiority of numbers, and particularly of cavalry,
which was instantly opposed to him, soon threw his men
into great disorder, and they could with difficulty be ral-
lied by the desperate exertions of Colkitto, who strove to
make amends for his error, by displaying the utmost per-
sonal valour.

A trusty officer was despatched to Montrose to let him
know the state of affairs. The messenger found him on
the point of joining battle, and whispered in his ear that
Colkitto was defeated. This only determined Montrose
lo pursue with the greater audacity the plan of battle



BATTLE OF AULDERNE. I'M

which he had adopted. " What are we doing ?" he call-
ed out to Lord Gordon ; " MacDonald has been victori-
ous on the left, and if we do not make haste, he will
carry off all the honours of the day." Lord Gordon in-
stantly charged with the gentlemen of his name, and beat
the Covenanters' horse off the field ; but the foot, though
deserted by the horse, stood firm for some time, for they
were veteran troops. At length they were routed on
every point, and compelled to fly with great loss.

Montrose failed not instantly to lead succours to the re-
lief of his left wing, which was in great peril. Colkitto had
got his men cgain secured in the enclosures, he himself
defended the entrance sword in hand, and with a target on
his left arm. The pikemen pressed him so hard as to fix
their spears by two or three at a time in his target, while
he repeatedly freed himself of them by cutting the heads
from the shafts, by the unerring sweep of his broadsword.

While Colkitto and his followers were thus hard press-
ed, Montrose and his victorious troops appeared, and the
face of affairs was suddenly changed. Urry's horse fled,
out the foot, which were the strength of his army, fought
bravely, and fell in the ranks which they occupied. Two
thousand men, about a third of Urry's army, were slain
in the battle of Aulderne ; and, completely disabled by
the overthrow, that commander was compelled once more
to unite his scattered forces with those of Baillie.

After some marching and counter-marching, the arm-
ies again found themselves in the neighbourhood of each
other, near to the village of Alford.

Montrose occupied a strong position on a hill, and it
was said that the cautious Baillie would have avoided the
encounter, had it not been that, having crossed the river
Don, in the belief that Montro?e was in full retreat, he
only discovered his purpose of giving battle when it was
too late to decline it. The number of infantry was about
two thousand in each army. But Baillie had more than
double his 3pponent's number ol cavalry. Montrose's,
indeed, were gentlemen, and therefore in the day of bat-
tle were more to be relied on than mere hirelings The



132 BATTLE OF ALFORD.

Gordons dispersed the Covenanting horse on the nist
shock ; and ihe musketeers, throwing down their muskets
and mingling in the tumult with their swords drawn, pre-
vented the cavalry from rallying. But as Lord Gordon
threw himself, for the second time, into the heat of the
fight, he fell from his horse, mortally wounded by a shot
from one of the fugitives. This accident, which gave the
greatest distress to Montrose, suspended the exertions of
the cavalry, who, chiefly friends, kinsmen, and vassais of
the deceased, flocked around him to lament the genera)
loss. But the veterans of Montrose, charging in columns
of six and ten men deep, along a line of three men only,
broke that of the Covenanters on various points, and ut-
terly destroyed the remnant of Baillie's army, though
they defended themselves bravely.

These repeated victories gave such lustre to Montrose's
arms, that he was now joined by the Highland clans in
great numbers, and by many of the Lowland anti-cove-
nanters, who had before held back, from doubt of his suc-
cess in so unequal a contest.

On the other hand, the Convention of Estates, sup-
ported by the counsels of Argyle, who was bold in coun-
cil though timid in battle, persevered in raising new troops,
notwithstanding their repeated misfortunes and defeats.
It seemed, indeed, as if Heaven had at this disastrous
period an especial controversy with the kingdom of Scot-
land. To the efforts necessary to keep up and supply
their auxiliary army in England, were added the desola-
tion occasioned by a destructive civil war, maintained in
the north with equal fury and success, and conducted on
both sides with deplorable devastation. To these evils,
as if not sufficient to exhaust the resources of a poor
country, were now added those of a wide-wasting plague,
or pestilence, which raged through all the kingdom, but
especially in Edinburgh, the metropolis. The Conven
tion of Estates were driven from the capital by this dread
ful infliction, and retreated to Pe,rth, where they assem-
bled a large force under General Baillie, while they or-
dered a levy of ten thousand men throughout the king;-



DESTRUCTION OF CASTLE-CAMPBELL. 133

dom. While Lanark, Cassilis, Eglinton, and other lords
of the western shires, went to their respective counties to
expedite the measure, Montrose, with his usual activity,
descended from the mountains at the head of an army
augmented in numbers, and flushed with success.

He first approached the shores of the Forth, by occu-
pying the shire of Kinross. And here I cannot help
mentioning the destruction of a noble castle belonging to
the House of Argyle. Its majestic ruins are situated on
an eminence occupying a narrow glen of the Ochil chain
of hills. In former days, it was called, from the char-
acter of its situation perhaps, the Castle of Gloom ; and
the names of the parish, and the stream by which its
banks are washed, had also an ominous sound. The
Castle of Gloom was situated on the brook of Grief or
Gryfe, and in the parish of Dollar or Dolour. In the
sixteenth century, the Earl of Argyle, the owner of this
noble fortress, obtained an act of parliament for changing
its name to Castle Campbell. The feudal hatred of Mon-
trose, and of the clans composing the strength of his ar-
my, the vindictive resentment also of the Ogilvies, for the
destruction of " the Bonnie House of Airlie," and that
of the Stirlingshire cavaliers for that of Menstrie, doom-
ed this magnificent pile to flames and ruin. The de-
struction of many a meaner habitation by the same unscru-
pulous spirit of vengeance has been long forgotten, but
the majestic remains of Castle Campbell still excite a
sigh in those that view them, over the miseries of civil
war.

After similar acts of ravage not to be justified, though
not unprovoked, Montrose marched westward along the
northern margin of the Forth, insulting Perth, where the
army of the Covenanters remained in their entrench-
ments, and even menacing the Castle of Stirling, which,
well garrisoned and strongly situated, defied his means of
attack. About six miles above Stirling he crossed the
Forth, by the deep and precarious ford which the livev
presents before its junction with the Teilh. Having at-



34 BATTLE OF KILSYTH.

tained the southern bank, he directed Ms course west
ward, with the purpose of dispersing the levies which the
western lords were collecting, and doubtless with the view
of plundering the country, which had attached itself
chiefly to the Covenant. Montrose had, however, scarce-
ly reached Kilsyth, when he received the news that Bail-