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Home The Civil War, 1642-1645 1642-1645; Part 6 |
1642-1645; Part 6But, meantime, in Scotland a brilliant attempt had been made to retrieve the King's fortunes. Some two months after the battle Marston Moor in 1644, a Scottish nobleman, the Marquis of Montrose, opened a campaign on behalf of Charles. He was led to do this partly from a detestation of the Presbyterian tyranny then raging in Scotland, partly because, like almost all Highlanders, he hated the clan Campbell and their chief the Earl of Argyll, who was the leader of the Presbyterians; but his action was chiefly due to his devoted loyalty to the King. With forces which never exceeded four thousand foot and two hundred horse he won, within the space of twelve months, no less than six battles. His only permanent force was a contingent from Ireland of some sixteen hundred, consisting mainly of Scotsmen who had served in the Irish war; but he also got various clans to assist him.The first victory was won on September 1, 1644, at Tippermuir, near Perth-won by a rush upon a newly levied army (In their flight after the battle ten of the good citizens of Perth, it is said, " bursted with running"). Then after a victory at Aberdeen-marred by the excesses of his troops in the town after the battle-Montrose turned upon Argyll. Joined by the Macdonalds, the mortal foes of the Campbells, he penetrated into the Campbell country and won a decisive battle at Inverlochy (Argyll himself was on a barge in the loch during the fight, perhaps because he had dislocated his shoulder three weeks previously; but his enemies had another explanation of his conduct) over double his numbers. Finally, after two other successes, he won the battle of Kilsyth, near Glasgow (August 15, 1645), though here, it has been said, the mistakes of his enemy were so enormous that it would have been very difficult not to beat him. After the battle of Kilsyth, Glasgow submitted, and it seemed as if all Scotland might be recovered for the King; Montrose even hoped to cross the border with twenty thousand men. But his victories were at an end, The Macdonalds deserted him to go and renew their fighting with the Campbells. The Gordons went away for some reasons of personal pique. In the Lowlands, where Montrose now was, he obtained no support; the General Assembly had excommunicated him, and his Irish soldiers were regarded as "instruments of Satan". Moreover, two months before the last victory at Kilsyth, had come the fatal day of Naseby. Part of the Scottish forces in England were, therefore, free to operate against Montrose, and marched north. Consequently what remained of Montrose's forces were overwhelmed at Philiphaugh (near Selkirk, September, 1645), and Montrose himself had to escape to the Continent The Civil War both in England and Scotland was now practically over, and finally completed when Charles in May, I646 (He left Oxford with his long locks cut and his beard altered; he journeyed to Harrow, surveyed London from that spot, and then by a circuitous route reached the Scottish army in Nottinghamshire), surrendered himself to the Scottish army, and when the city of Oxford capitulated in the following June. |
Chronology |
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