In 1645, nearly three bloody years into civil war, things looked bleaker than ever. This was especially true for the Royalists and King Charles I.
One star did shine out in each of Charles’s kingdoms; Prince Rupert in England, the Duke of Ormonde in Ireland and the Marquis of Montrose in Scotland.
Now 1st Marquis of Montrose, James Graham was a legend, carving his way through every covenanter army that was thrown in his way. With Royalist territory being extinguished in England, Montrose looked like he could reverse this against all the odds.
Parliament in England wanted him contained in Scotland until they defeated the king while Scottish covenanters (who had allied with the English Parliament) were terrified of the victories he kept on adding to his name in the Northern Kingdom.
Montrose was determined to capture Scotland for his King or march through to his rescue. By May 1645, he was being hunted warily with the hope of stopping these aims.
Sir John Urry was the man with this dubious task ad on the morning of 9th May, he had finally spotted the fox encamped at Auldearn.
Through the fog, Urry’s face must have been clammy from both weather and nerves. He headed 4,000 foot and 600 horse and despite the numbers, he was unsure of his foe.
Creeping steadily forward, Urry’s men prepared for the coming clash. Muffled reports rang out in the wet air as men cleared muskets of damp powder, hoping to reduce misfires.
Further up the valley some alert sentries in the Royalist camp caught the noise and raised the alarm. Although caught off guard, Montrose reacted like lightening and as the rebels advanced slowly, still unaware of his knowledge of their presence, Montrose planned his own surprise.
Camped on a ridge running north to south, Montrose had but 1,500 foot and 250 horse. Deploying 500 Gordons and MacDonalds at the north under the command of Alastair MacDonald, he hoped to give the impression they were only part of a full army right wing.
Within the village in the centre, he ordered a few clansmen to mingle loosely and to fire as fast a round as possible, thus creating a ghost left wing. Planting his great and gold standard behind his ‘right wing’ Montrose loaded the bait. Urry was sure to attack where it appeared Montrose was himself. 200 horse were deployed out of sight to the north and with 800 foot ad 50 horse, Montrose hid behind a hill to the south, waiting for Urry to rise. It all hinged on whether MacDonald and the ‘right wing’ could hold out long enough to draw Urry’s full force into the trap.
As Urry’s covenanters approached the ridge, the fog had lifted and Urry saw primarily the beautiful standard contrasting with the grey could.
Immediately the ball was set rolling ad he jumped to the bait, launching his men towards the standard ad slowly marched over the marshy ground.
Despite Montrose’s orders to hold their position, MacDonald’s men spotted their arch enemy, Sir Mungo Campbell and his clan and demanded to advance. Alastair MacDonald ordered it, seeing that it would be impossible to hold them back and Montrose watched with horror as the 500 streamed down the hill towards the rebels. They were outnumbered six to one.
Montrose was powerless – Urry and the reels had not yet advanced far enough for him to ensnare them in a full onslaught. MacDonald’s men soon felt sheer weight of numbers force them back and he saw no help coming from Montrose – indeed it would have been folly to help him at this moment.
that they should all die with honour, MacDonald spurred his men onto the last. Behind him he had not seen 50 friendly horse come over the hill.
They were a surprise to both sides and Urry saw some of his horse recoil in face of this and trample their way through his foot soldiers in retreat. Urry’s foot stepped up the pressure though and musket smoke made a huge cloud hang over the fighting. As Montrose’s small party of horse unleashed hell, Urry called for his reserves.
Montrose could see this and it was the crucial point of his plan. Now that Urry’s men were all engaged, he ordered the hidden 200 horse to the north to show themselves with the message, ‘MacDonald drives all before him, is his clan to have all the honours this day?’
Thus 200 horse stampeded into Urry’s confused mess, dispensing with pistol fire to produce one great charge of shock tactic, crashing into the enemy. Montrose followed this with his own 800 men and Urry’s men began to panic in the carnage until they broke. Montrose kept his men together and the carnage was great as a result.
Urry survived, but his army was no more, along with Sir Mungo Campbell. Out of such great odds, Montrose had pulled back a great victory. The Royalist flag was able to fly for another day.
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© Copyright 2004 by Mark Turnbull.
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