Battle of Bothwell Brig

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Bothwell Brig
partof=Scottish Covenanter Wars


caption
date=June 22, 1679
place=Bothwell, Lanarkshire, Scotland
result=Government victory
combatant1=Covenanter rebels
combatant2=Royal army
commander1=Robert Hamilton
commander2=James Scott, Duke of Monmouth
strength1=4000
strength2=5000
casualties1=400 killed
casualties2=lightThe Battle of Bothwell Brig or the Battle of Bothwell Bridge was fought on 22 June 1679 in Lanarkshire between an army of Covenanters and a government army commanded by James, Duke of Monmouth, the illegitimate son of Charles II. Badly prepared and ill-led the rebel forces were defeated with ease.

Presbyterians and Rebels

Soon after the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660 the decision was taken to re-establish Episcopacy after a period of more than twenty years of Presbyterian rule in the Church of Scotland. Opposition to this move was particularly strong in the south-west of Scotland: Ayrshire, Galloway and Lanarkshire were in many ways the Presbyterian heartlands, and the home of the more extreme Whig variety of the Covenanter movement.

Over the years more and more people in these areas abandoned the official church and took to hearing banned ministers preach at illegal field assemblies, known as conventicles. In dealing with what was perceived as a problem of public order the government used the military to try to suppress this movement. In 1666 a small incident in Galloway led to the outbreak of armed rebellion, defeated just outside Edinburgh at the Battle of Rullion Green. Ten years later another clash between soldiers and conventiclers exploded into the largest armed rebellion of the whole Restoration period.

Drumclog

On 1 June 1679 a troop of dragoons, under the command of John Graham of Claverhouse received reports that a large conventicle was due to be held near Loudoun Hill to the east of Kilmarnock in Ayrshire. The dispersal of field meetings was a routine task for his men; so they expected no real trouble when they rode to the top of the hill at a place called Drumclog. There, half a mile or so to the north, were the Whigs, drawn up for a battle rather than a service. The scene was a marshy moorland, under the shadow of Loudon Hill, where Robert Bruce had won his first important battle against the English in 1307.

As the women and children were sent to the rear, the men moved forward. Under the command of Sir Robert Hamilton, there were about fifty men on horseback, and two-hundred foot. Some had swords and firearms; the rest had homemade pikes, halberds and pitchforks. John Balfour of Burleigh and David Hackston of Rathilet, who had participated in the recent murder of James Sharp, Archbishop of St. Andrews, were both there, acting as officers, as was William Cleland, who was given a command in the foot. Their ground was well-chosen, though more by accident than design. Between them and the dragoons was a small piece of marshy ground a few yards wide, covered with a sward of green herbage. Although the Whigs knew the way through, the bog was generally too soft to support the weight of horses, and Claverhouse seems not to have been aware of this obstacle. It was to be the chief reason for his defeat.

Rather than wait for reinforcements from Glasgow Claverhouse decided to risk an engagement, even though he was unfamiliar with the terrain. His confidence that his men were dealing with no more than a badly armed rabble clearly outweighed his judgement. He sent a skirmishing party out towards the moss. In response the Whigs sent forward a party of equal size under Cleland, which advanced to within pistol shot of the enemy. As the government soldiers raised their carbines to fire, the rebels immediately prostrated themselves on the suggestion of Burleigh, with the exception of one John Morton who, taking a rather strict view of predestination, refused to stoop, and was killed instantly. Rather than risk another volley the Whigs fell back, whereupon Claverhouse ordered a general advance.

At this point a cavalry charge might easily have dispersed the rebels, but his troops were immediately entangled in the waterlogged marsh. This was the opportunity for the rebels, who did not have enough guns to match Claverhouse in a firefight. With a cry of 'over the bog and on them lads' they moved forward to engage in close quarter combat with halberds and pitchforks. Unable to form proper ranks the dragoons now found themselves in serious difficulties. A number were killed while the others, including Claverhouse, made off as best they could.

The Mad Assembly

Drumclog was little more than a disorganised skirmish with a group of mounted policemen, but for many in the west it was the sign of Divine favour looked for so long. Soon the whole area was in arms, in a far more serious outbreak of disorder than that of 1666. By 7 June some 7000 rebels had gathered at Bothwell Bridge, between Bothwell and Hamilton, on the west bank of the River Clyde in Lanarkshire.

Lord Linlithgow, the commander-in-chief in Scotland, had some 1800 troops in central Scotland, far better armed than the rag-tag Whig army, but he lost both confidence and control, confining his actions to writing alarming reports;

"The numbers which flock to these rouges doe incress dayly, to the end his Majestie may send down such of his English forces as he shall think fitt, and to make use of such other meanes for extinguishing this flam of rebellion as in his princly wisdome he shall judge convenient."

In his 'princly wisdom' Charles II sent the Duke of Monmouth north, armed with both military and political authority, to retrieve the situation. In the task before him he was to have one great and unexpected ally: the Whigs themselves.

At Bothwell all was chaos. There was no experienced general to bring discipline and order; for Sir Robert Hamilton was proving himself to be more of an amateur theologian than a good soldier. In the weeks after Drumclog the Whig army degenerated into a kind of mad General Assembly. As fruitless debates continued between moderates and extremists, absolutely no attempt was made to see that the men were either properly trained or armed. Robert Wodrow, the great eighteenth century chronicler of the Church of Scotland during the Restoration, says of this;

"...they were not only broken in their affections, but the common soldiers were under no kind of discipline; their confusion increased, and numbers lessend much, before the king's army came up; and...they wanted skilled officers; their arms were out of case; they had very little ammunition, their rising being without any prior concert; they were in melancholy circumstances."

With the rebels still static at Bothwell, the government began to regain confidence. At Edinburgh forces had built up steadily, so that by 18 June Linlithgow had mustered some 5000 professional soldiers and militiamen. That same day Monmouth arrived from London.

As the enemy closed in the debates at Bothwell continued as intensely as before. Many, tired and discouraged, simply drifted away. The Hamilton faction, now dominant, was blind to all appeals to military necessity, preferring days of humiliation to reflect on the sins of the church since 1648. In desperation, James Ure of Shargarton appealed for sanity;

"We intreated them... to let us go on against our enemy, and let all debates alone till a free parliament and a general assembly. They told us, we were for the indulged, and they would sheath their swords as soon in those who owned it as they would do in many malignants."

John Welsh arrived at Bothwell on 20 June with 1000 recruits from Galloway; but this was only an occasion for fresh disputes over the selection of officers, and whether the Indulged - more moderate Presbyterians who had accepted previous accommodation with the government - should be admitted or not; and so it stood as Monmouth approached from the east. On 21 June the Whig outpost at the ford east of Hamilton was attacked. News of this was carried to Bothwell Bridge: still the desperate attempt to create a Godly army continued with as much fire as before. This would have been a comedy, save for the bloody and tragic conclusion.

The Bridge at Bothwell

Monmouth, who had emerged in England as the great Protestant champion, came determined to act with as much moderation as he could in the circumstances. He made it known that he had the power to pardon all, except those already forfeited and the murderers of Archbishop Sharp. Some negotiations were held, but before Monmouth agreed to final terms he required the rebels to lay down their arms. Although Hamilton promptly refused he still did nothing to ensure that his men were ready for battle. As Gilbert Burnet, the Scottish cleric and historian, who was also Hamilton's uncle, later wrote - 'they had neither the grace to submit, nor the sense to march away, nor the courage to fight it out.'

At 7 o' clock on the morning of Sunday 22 June, the government army was poised on the north side of the Clyde before Bothwell Bridge. The Whig forces, now reduced to about 4000 men, had been divided in two: the main body was drawn up on some rising ground on the edge of a moorland, close to the town of Hamilton, while a smaller party of 300 men from Kippen and Galloway, under Hackston and Shargarton, prepared to defend the bridge itself. It is not clear who made these dispositions, or if the party by the bridge simply represented a hard core of those who recognised that it was necessary to make a stand. As well as muskets these men had one small brass cannon to hold the passage of Bothwell Bridge.

Monmouth's own guns were brought down to pound the barricades erected by the enemy; but the single Whig cannon and the musketeers opened up with such effect that the timid artillerymen abandoned their weapons. For a brief period the enemy had the chance to spike the government guns. However, the opportunity was allowed to slip and the government soldiers composed themselves enough to return to their posts. For two hours the battle continued, with the defenders running low on ammunition, sending messages for reinforcements and more powder. None came. It has been written of this;

"Hamilton's friends say, that he had no ammunition to send to his men. This must have been owing to gross mismanagement. Why was no ammunition provided? Did Mr Hamilton and Mr Cargill, his Chief priest, expect that the King's army was to be blown off the field by paper Declarations...?"

As Monmouth's cannons kept up a steady fire, a party of dragoons under Major Oglethorpe made ready to exploit any breach. With the Whigs running short of ammunition they charged into action and, after a brief struggle, managed to gain possession of the bridge. This was the critical point in the battle, for once Monmouth's main force was across the Clyde, it was unlikely that the disorganised army would have been able to make a stand; but neither was a counter-attack ordered nor was the bridge mined. All that Hamilton did was order his forward party to rejoin the main army. He then stood back while Monmouth crossed in unbroken order and formed up on the other side of the river. All hope was now gone.

Both armies were now only a short distance apart. To strengthen his vulnerable right wing, Monmouth moved his artillery forward, as well as posting a body of Atholl Highlanders, supported by five troops of English dragoons, in some hollow ground. He was still busy forming his left when the Highlanders came under attack. The pressure was immediately taken off them when the artillery fired on the cavalry on the Whig left. After only a few rounds, the horses started to panic, stampeding from the field, followed soon after by those on the right. Oglethorpe and Claverhouse were then ordered forward in pursuit, while Monmouth followed with the infantry. It was now 10 o' clock. The rebel foot, abandoned by the cavalry, was at the mercy of the enemy. About 400 were killed and 1200 taken prisoner. As for their commander, the last word to be said about him is best left to the Reverend John Blackadder - "Hamilton behaved not worthily that day, showing neither courage, conduct nor resolution; but as a man damned or demented, and also among the foremost that fled".

Monmouth ended the slaughter as quickly as he could, and prevented any attempt to kill the prisoners. Tidings of the outcome of the Battle of Bothwell Bridge were carried to Edinburgh and London, as the general continued his advance into the south-west. By 24 June he was near Strathaven. He sent out parties to scour the area around Douglas and Newmilns, to confirm that the rebels were making no attempt to rally, after which he returned to Edinburgh. The last great Whig rising was over.

The Battle in Literature

The best fictional depiction of the battle and the events leading up to it is that given by Sir Walter Scott in Old Mortality. Although he tends to overestimate the importance of Claverhouse - a particular hero - at the expense of Monmouth, the general depiction of events is fair and told in a somewhat less prolix style than one normally associates with the great master. Even more unusual, the story is brightened by occasional flashes of humour, particularly in the highly memorable character of Cuddie Headrigg, sorely tried by his mother, Maus, fanatical in her support for the Covenanters.

References

Primary

* Blackadder, John, "Memoirs", ed. A. Crichton, 1826.
* Burnet, Gilbert, "History of my Own Life and Times", ed. O.Airey and H. C. Foxcroft, 1897-1902.
* Law, Robert, "Memorials", ed. C. K. Sharpe, 1818.
* Shargarton, James Ure of, "Narrative of the Rising Suppressed at Bothwell Bridge", in Memoirs of William Veitch and George Bryson, ed. T. McCrie, 1825.

econdary

* Aiton, W., "A History of the Recounter at Drumclog and Bothwell Bridge," 1821.
* Buckroyd, J., "Church and State in Scotland, 1660-81", 1980.
* Cowan, I. B., "The Scottish Covenanters," 1660-1688, 1976.
* Hewison, J. K., "The Covenanters", 1913.
* Wodrow, R., "The History of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland from the Restoration to the Revolution", 1828-30.