Battle of Bothwell Brig

So, a couple weeks ago, we talked about the Battle of Drumclog and I said that I would write the sequel to it later in the month. Now, on this day in 1679, came the Battle of Bothwell Brig. 

After the Covenanters had one the last battle, they camped near Hamilton at Bothwell Brig just south of the river Bothwell. Over the next three weeks they camped there, more and more Covenanters rallied to their banner. Unfortunately for them, the majority of their time in that three weeks was not spent in drilling and training the new troops as it should have been, but in arguing about the wording of the Rutherglen Declaration--a declaration made in May of that year after the Covenanter army rode into Rutherglen and burned copies of all the oppressive acts of Parliament--and caused division among the Covenanter ranks. There were now three different groups among the Covenanters, the most extreme being the "Cameronians". They were so named after a young school teacher Richard Cameron. The second was led by Reverend John Welch and the third was led by Reverend John Blackadder. This caused, one more a split between the "Resolutioners" and the "Protesters".

While the Covenanters were busy arguing, the Government took action. They quickly gathered up a new army to deal with them. The command was given to one of King Charles II's sons, James Scott, Duke of Monmouth. He was well known in Scotland, having a wife of Scotch blood (Anne, Countess of Beccleuch) but he had never set foot in Scotland before. 

On the 22nd of June, he reached Bothwell Brig where the Covenanters were to make their stand. They had about four thousand foot and two thousand cavalry drawn up a little ways from the bridge on the risen part of ground called Little Park. While they looked formidable standing there in formation, they were poorly armed. Not to mention under officered and still fighting about their differences in thinking. They had only one small brass cannon they had picked up somewhere and on the other side of the Clyde, across Bothwell Brig, the Duke of Monmouth stood with fifteen thousand Government troops and trained officers (including Claverhouse). At the last minute, the Covenanters decided to sent a letter of truce, but Monmouth refused it. He just promised them that if they were prepared to surrender, he would intercede on their behalf with the King. They refused. Monmouth attacked.

For two hours, the Government emptied their heavy artillery at the Covenanters but they held their positions until a new barrel of gunpowder for their little cannon turned out to be a barrel of raisins. They were then forced to pull back and the Government dragoons swept across the bridge. The Covenanters' foot, having run out of shot and powder after their first volley, could not withstand the strength of the Government troops. They held on for a while, but then they broke, mostly due to John Graham of Claverhouse taking full part in the fray, hoping to avenge his earlier defeat. 

Monmouth did his best to stay the slaughter, not wanting men killed in cold blood, but after the battle was all over, about eight hundred Covenanters were killed and some fourteen thousand were taken prisoner. The next day, General Tam Dalyell came to the Government camp with a commission for Monmouth to succeed as commander-in-chief. 

After that, the Covenanter Rising ended.  There were lots of hangings and such things as that that most often follow a war. It turned out though, that that was not the last time they would have to face the Covenanters on the battle field (more about that next month!)

As of now, I will leave you till thursday when we will be talking about the Battle of Bannockburn!!

Slainte, Hazel

Betsy Ross

I will apologize right now that this is a rather lazy post, but I have family in town and have been incredibly busy the last few days! However, today is Flag Day in America, and that is the day that the first real American flag was adopted in the Revolutionary War. The person who created the original design was Betsy Ross. She was Scottish, don't you know?

Betsy was the niece of one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. (On that subject, did you know that there were nine Scots who signed it?) and she created the stars and stripes--then only bearing thirteen stars in a circle for the thirteen original colonies of America--and presented it to George Washington. Before this flag was created, the Americans used a flag that had the thirteen stripes but had the Union Jack in the corner where the stars are now. 

So that was just a little bit of information. I will try to be back later this week, or most likely next week to continue my summer battle season posts. 

Slainte, Hazel

Battle of Glenshiel

We move on to our second battle of the summer season. This one was the Battle of Glenshiel, another Jacobite battle. It happened in 1719, later to be called the 1719 Rising. This small campaign followed the 1715 Rising and was seen as pretty much a last hurrah of the Jacobites and their attempts to get James III on the throne. This battle did not have a good outcome for the Jacobites, but we get to see some familiar faces fighting in it, including our old friend, Rob Roy MacGregor!

This was Rob's third Jacobite campaign. This battle came about because of, oddly enough, Spain. They had been paying James III a pension of 5,000 pounds a year. The main Spanish fleet had been destroyed by the British and Spain's chief minister, Cardinal Alberoni wanted revenge. He wanted to use the Jacobites to cause trouble for the English, and planned an assault. His men would land in strength in south-west England and the Jacobites, working as a diversion, would be stationed in north-west Scotland.

In early March, the Spanish armada set out and set sail for England with some five thousand men and extra weapons. At the same time, two frigates carrying infantrymen set off for Scotland. The invasion on England, however did not go as planned. The Spanish armada ran into foul weather and most of their ships were destroyed, leaving the survivors to sail into Corunna in tatters.

The ships headed for Scotland had better luck. In command of them was George Keith, the tenth Earl Marischal of Scotland. The ships landed in Stornoway (on the Isle of Lewis) on April 2nd where they were joined by a group of Jacobite exiles including the Earl of Seaforth, Clan MacKenzie's chief. Also there was William the Marquis of Tullibardine who was carrying a commission from James III, making him commander of the Jacobite forces.

The main problems began with these two men, the Earl Marischal and Tullibardine. They were both hot tempered and both thought they should be the proper leader. They both refused to listen to the other and had different strategies on how they wanted to fight the battle. Tullibardine wanted to stay on the Isle of Lewis and await news of the planned landing in England, but the Earl Marischal wanted to head for the mainland, get to Inverness and meet Seaforth's clansmen there. This resulted in time being wasted by useless arguing.

As it turned out, the Earl Marischal had his way. They crossed the Minch in stormy weather and made it to Loch Alsh where the Jacobites and Spaniards set up their headquarters at Eilean Donan, a MacKenzie castle. They deposited weapons here before they moved on to Loch Duich where they had more counsels of war and more arguing. Their original plan to march to Inverness kind of petered out and they heard news of the disaster that had happened to the Spanish armada. Tullibardine wanted everyone to withdraw, but the Earl Marischal disagreed and had the two Spanish frigates sail for home empty so no one would have a change to leave.

England sent a squadron of Royal Navy frigates to sail into Loch Alsh and they pommeled Eilean Donan while a government force commanded by Major-General Wightman set out for Inverness. Tullibardine was at Shiel Bridge near Loch Shiel, trying to raise the clans, when the news came of the failure of the Spanish to invade England. Less than a thousand clansmen had rallied to the cause, some Seaforth MacKenzies, Camerons and some random volunteers, including Rob Roy with forty MacGregors. 

On the 10th of June, the government army marched down Glen Shiel, Tullibardine moved up the glen to meet them, taking a defensive position in a narrow part of the glen. The government troops took the flat ground farther to the east while the jacobite forces split on both sides of the glen. Lord George Murray, Tullibardine's younger brother, was to the south of the stream, while Tullibardine himself along with the Spaniards positioned themselves to the north. The rest of the Spaniards took up positions on the slopes.

The battle started at midday and continued with musket fire until five p. m. when the government grenadiers opened fire with their mortars. The heather, being extremely dry, caught fire and covered the battlefield in smoke, making it hard to see. Lord George Murray was hit in the leg with a shrapnel and Seaforth was also wounded by the musket fire. The clansmen were not able to execute one of their favored Highland Charges and tried two assaults that failed, forcing them to withdraw up the steep hillside, carrying their wounded. The Spaniards held their ground at first but when they saw that they couldn't win, they retreated up the steep slope and over the ridge of the Five Sisters in the north. Today, the low part of the ridge they crossed is known as Bealach nan Spainnteach --Pass of the Spaniards.

The casualties were not as heavy as they could have been; the Hanoverians had lost twenty-one dead and some 131 wounded, but legend has it that only one Jacobite was killed in the fray. That night, the clansmen disappeared into their hills and the Spanish tried to continue the fight, but they had no food or any idea where they were, so they had to surrender. 

The 1719 Rising, like the 1715, did not have the desired effect of the Jacobites, but all of the leaders had escaped this one to tell the tale. Lord George Murray, Tullibardine's brother, is the same Lord George who fought at Culloden in 1746 and led the men throughout the '45.

So that was the extent of the 1719 Rising. One battle that went awry. "The best laid plans o' mice and men aft gang awry," as Robert Burns said.

I'll be back soon for another battle post, but that's all for now!

Slainte, Hazel

 

Battle of Drumclog

I had meant to do all the posts on the days that the battles actually happened, but monday when the Battle of Drumclog happened, I was far too busy to do any research so I had to postpone it for later. Today however, I will write a wee bit on this small battle, but the first one of the summer battle season!

Drumclog was a battle fought in the Covenanter wars during William and Mary's Glorious Revolution. It was a religious war, but also a Jacobite war. The Jacobite leader was the famous Bonnie Dundee, John Graham of Claverhouse. Drumclog is at Loudoun Hill (a very popular place for battles) and on June 1, 1679, Claverhouse met the Covenanters there. The Covenanters had cover of a ditch and quickly formed a battle line as they saw Claverhouse's dragoons advancing. Claverhouse was outnumbered almost four to one, but he kept the advance going. Knowing that a cavalry charge would not do much good in the situation, he had his men dismount and and had them advance that way. The Covenanters moved across the ditch separating them and attacked Claverhouse's men at close quarters. 

Claverhouse might have won the day for all we know, but his horse was wounded and bolted. Before he could find another horse, his men, thinking he was retreating, broke their line and followed him. Thirty-six soldiers were killed and seven were taken prisoner. Claverhouse and his men had to retreat through the narrow streets of Strathaven, having stones thrown at them as they made their way back to Glasgow where they had reinforcements. 

Drumclog was the only set battle victory for the Covananters against the government forces during the war. While Claverhouse had lost this battle, he would eventually win the war itself, though not without loss of life.

The next battle fought in this campaign was at Bothwell Brig and that was on the 22nd of June, so we will be talking about that later this month.

Also, I thought I might share this little thing with you that I found on the internet last night concerning Edward Longshanks. I had to give a good laugh at that!

As always, have a good weekend. I will be back next week for more battles and such.

Slainte, Hazel

Battle Season

Well, it's finally June and that finally starts off the Summer Battle Season in Scotland (as well as other places). Within the next four or five months, we will be talking about many battles and the men who fought in them. June has several amazing battles, including the famous Battle of Bannockburn, that I will be talking about this month along, hopefully, with some other posts to go along with Scotland: The Story of a Nation by Magnus Magnusson. Then in July, we will be talking about more battles, and celebrating three birthdays of three amazing Scots! August, I am planning to make another themed month, seeing as Wallace Day is in August, I am going to be talking about William Wallace along with other things that happened that month. Then of course, in September, we have the amazing Battle of Stirling on the 11th. One of the best victory's ever one by Scotland.

So I hope you will enjoy the excitement I have planned for you this summer! To get in the mood, here's battle ballad for you to listen to:

The Bonnie Blue

I'll be back later this week for our first post!

Slainte, Hazel

Scotland Before Scotland

The first few chapters in Magnus Magnusson's book, Scotland: The Story of a Nation is about the first Scots, the Celts and Picts and ancient Gaelic tribes who fought against the vikings and the Romans. He talks of how the Romans came and tried to invade Britain and how they fought back. The Romans under Agricola tried to invade Scotland but found that the natives were none to happy with that. They met people like Calgacus who I talked about in an earlier post.

There were three tribes in the Lowlands at the time. The Votadini were in the east in Lothian with their capital Traprain Law. The Novantae in the south west (this in Dumfries and Galloway area now.) And then between them form Eskdale to the Cheviots was the Selgovae. This was really the beginning of tribes in Scotland, later to be known as clans. They were described as feuding tribes, unless they were threatened, at which time they would join together and fight their common enemy. This happened when the Romans came to conquer them. Calgacus and others who fought against them, were forced to gather together all the men they could, weather they were from feuding tribes or not. It was much the same throughout Scotland's history. And, of course, once the battle is over, they go back to fighting each other.

Then of course, you also have the wonderful standing stones from this time period, most still standing today. Eventually, I will write a whole post on some of the standing stones in Scotland. If you want to read up on them, There is a whole chapter devoted to famous stones in David R. Ross' book Desire Lines. Apart from the standing stones, there were also several burial mounds. One Magnusson mentions is the Maes Howe on Orkney. This one was quite a disappointment to the first people who stumbled across it, hoping for gold or jewels. These were Norse Crusaders who had dug a hole in the top to look around in the chamber, but were disappointed to find nothing of value in there. So they wrote a wee message on the wall to tell everyone else that there was nothing worth looking for in there:

To the north-west a great treasure is hidden. It was long ago that a great treasure was hidden here. Happy is he who finds the great treasure. 

It is surely true what I say, that treasure was taken away. Treasure was carried off in three nights before these Jerusalem-farers broke into this howe

I love how blunt they are. And how they admit right plainly that they broke in.

It really a shame we don't know more about the early Scots, but it's that way with all ancient peoples, and they didn't really have many records back then.

To go along with this post, here's a link to a website with a video of David R. Ross giving a wee tour of a church in Scotland that once had Viking connections and is now housing some wonderful artifacts from that time period. 

Talk to you again Monday. Have a good weekend!

Slainte, Hazel

A new month

Amazingly enough May is already here and it is more then stifling where I am right now. (More reason to stay inside and research, I say!) Unfortunately, May is another month that is slow in historic happenings, and I do apologize, but as soon as June hits we'll have all kinds of interesting things to talk about. This is mainly because, back in the day warfare stopped during the winter before picking up again in the spring, so that is why most of the battles fought in Scotland, are fought during the summer months. Besides that, I have also started a new blog for young or beginning writers called The First Scribbles so I will also be writing for that this month. 

Right now, though I would like to introduce you to one of my favorite Scottish blogs, Scotland For the Senses. This is a beautiful, wonderful blog and would be enjoyed by anyone who loves Scotland. It's like a travel guide, but more creative. The author has started a wee book club for anyone who wants to join and we will be reading Magnus Magnusson's book Scotland: The Story of a Nation. This has always been one of my favorite books (the first one I really started learning Scottish history with) and I am excited to be able to finally read it cover to cover. For anyone else who wants to read it along with us, please do! Magnusson is a wonderful writer. He writes like he's telling a story, not just putting the facts on paper and when I read him, I feel he's talking to me and not just this stranger on the other end writing the words. He's also accurate which is very good because I have found many books that are NOT. But I have not seen any glaring mistakes in Magnusson's book.

Also, if anyone has anything specific they would like me to talk about this month, I am open for suggestions, so questions, comments and concerns are all very welcome. 

Slainte, Hazel