Battle of Auldearn

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Auldearn


caption=
partof=Wars of the Three Kingdoms
date=May 9 1645
place=Auldearn, Nairn
result=Royalist Victory
combatant1=Royalist Irish and Highland Scots
combatant2=Scots Covenanters
commander1=Lord Montrose
Alasdair MacColla
commander2=Colonel Hurry
strength1=1750 foot, 250 cavalry
strength2=3500 foot, 400 cavalry
casualties1=Light
casualties2=1500|The Battle of Auldearn, an engagement of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, took place on May 9, 1645, in and around the village of Auldearn in Nairn. It was a victory for Montrose and Alasdair MacColla, heading the royalist forces, over a Covenanter army under the command of Sir John Hurry.

Hurry's March

After chasing Montrose's army from the city of Dundee in early April General William Baillie divided his command, sending one part under Hurry to ravage the country of the Gordons, the main recruiting ground for Montrose's cavalry, while he remained with the other part at Perth. Montrose could not ignore this new threat. From his base in the Trossachs, he slipped past Baillie on a rapid march to the north-east. He was joined on the way by Lord Gordon and MacColla, both of whom had brought reinforcements; and by 1 May the combined force had reached Skene, seven miles to the west of Aberdeen. Hurry, in the meantime was busy ravaging the Strathbogie district. Montrose set off in this direction on 2 May. To his rear Baillie, who had been raiding Atholl, began a march through the Grampian Mountains.

Hurry had based himself at Buckie. On receiving news of the enemy's approach he remained only long enough to tempt them onwards, then quickly retired across the Spey, into territory hostile to the royalists. Hurry acted skillfully, drawing Montrose ever deeper into the country around Nairn, an area strong in its Covenanter sympathies, where the rebels could not expect to receive support or information from the local people. Patrick Gordon of Ruthven, one of the leading sources for the whole campaign, says of Hurry that "he did his pairt so weell, as he did show himselfe ane expert, subtill, and craftie warriour." Having almost trapped Montrose at Dundee he was clearly aware of his enemy's tendency to neglect the importance of military intelligence, which he then proceeded to exploit.

In falling back on Inverness Hurry knew he would also be able to call on a concentration of anti-royalist clans and other local levies. He was also joined by three professional regiments: Campbell of Lawers'-recently returned from Ireland-Buchanan's and Loudoun's, bringing his total strength up to about 300 horse and 4000 foot. With these reinforcements he returned to the east, searching for the royalists. Not until he reached the River Nairn on the night of 8/9 May did he discover that they were camped in the village of Auldearn, two miles to the east.

Out of the Night

It was a miserable night; rain fell incessantly. With no tents, the rebel soldiers sought cover wherever they could find it, some in the cottages of Auldearn itself, others in the outlying areas. Taking solace from the night and the rain, Montrose did not take the elementary precaution of sending out scouts. Ruthven comments on this negligence;

"...it cannot be refuised but the generall was to blame, who, drawing neir to his enemies, should not have bolded his confidence upon a generall report, but above all things should have bein cairful of intelligence, either by disguysed espyeles...or a partie send forth to catche ane centrie, or bring in a prisoner; for want of which intelligence, if God had not prevented it beyond all expectation, all their throats had been cut."

Montrose's main camp was situated in a hollow above Boath House, to the north and east of Auldearn, hidden from the west by a low ridge, where the village houses lay. To the south the ground was too boggy and covered in scrubby woodland. Auldearn itself was occupied by some of the Irish and Gordon infantry.

Hurry approached the town from the south-west, advancing over the high ground between Kinnudie and Newmill. His men were tired and wet; but in his anxiety not to lose the advantage of surprise, he pushed his regiments forward as rapidly as possible. It's quite possible his musketeers were having trouble keeping their match alight, the long smoldering fuses used in firing. What is certainly true is that they decided to test fire their guns before closing with the enemy. To muffle the noise they pointed in the direction of the sea before the discharge. The report of the guns was immediately picked up by some scouts sent out by Alasdair MacColla, who hurried back to camp. MacColla immediately gathered all his available men and prepared a defensive screen, while the alarm was carried to the rest of the disorganised camp. It was not a moment too soon; for the leading enemy regiments were now emerging from the dark.

Alasdair's Fight

In his eagerness to gain maximum advantage from his surprise attack, Hurry appears not to have formed a line of battle. Each regiment, rather, was sent in piecemeal fashion as it arrived on the field-the professional units to the fore, the militia following on behind. The first to engage was that of Campbell of Lawers, with some detachments from Loudoun's and Buchanan's. Lawers' spearhead had the additional help of two troops of horse. Montrose's force was soon pressed so hard that there was no possibility of the kind of fighting retreat they had made at Dundee.

MacColla took up a defensive position just in front of the town close to the marsh and some bushes, which gave good cover against a cavalry attack. Gathering his men under his yellow banner, he immediately counter-attacked Lawers' regiment, drawn up on the open ground to the west of the village. For a time the shock of this onslaught stopped the advance of the Covenanters; but, despite fierce and prolonged resistance, the rebels were pushed back on the village by sheer force of numbers. A stand was then made in the gardens and enclosures at the back of the houses, which allowed the musketeers to keep up a steady fire from under cover. This had the effect of disorganising Lawers sufficiently for MacColla to mount a second counter-attack. However, the marshy ground worked against him, preventing his men from advancing in order.

Lawers now had the support of Lothian's regiment to his right, which threatened to turn MacColla's flank. Faced with this fresh danger he was forced again to give ground, fighting his way back to the yards and dikes. The Highland chief's courage was legendary;

"He was ever in the frount, and his strenth, his curage, and dexterity let his enemies sie, even with terror, wonderful feats of armes for his fellows to imitate, his strong arme cutting asunder whatsoever or whosoever did him resist. He brak two swords: and when they had fastened a number of pikes in his tairge, wherwith they could have born thre or four ordinarie men to the ground, they could not make him to shrink, or bow so much as an knie to the ground; but with a blow of his sword the strenth of his vallorous arme cutte all the pikes asunder that struck in his target, whill non durst approach within the length of his weappon."

The fierce determination of MacColla and his men was giving valuable time for the rest of the army; but it was increasingly obvious that they could not hold out for much longer. Lord Aboyne had now managed to organise some of the Gordon cavalry. To prevent his comrades from going under he at once charged the Covenanter right wing, where the danger was the greatest. Ruthven describes their attempt to beat off this sudden threat; "they receive his charge with such a conteinuell giveing of fyre, as he semed, by the thick smok throw which he went, to asalt a terrible cloud of thunder and lightening."

Montrose Advances

At this critical point in the battle the Covenanters made a fatal mistake. Lawers was supported on his southern flank by the Moray horse, commanded by Captain Drummond. Instead of wheeling right to counter Aboyne, they wheeled left into their own infantry, adding to the general confusion. Aboyne came on, crashing into the enemy rear and driving the Moray horse from the field.

Montrose had by now managed to assemble the rest of the infantry, advancing in support of the beleaguered MacColla on the left. Ruthven, who provides us with by far the most detailed account of the battle, does not make it clear how this support was given; it would seem that Montrose inclined slightly to the south of the village, covering MacColla's flank with an extended line. At the same time the rest of the cavalry under Lord Gordon attacked Hurry's left from the northern side of the village, charging with drawn swords straight into their opponents, driving Hurry, and the earls of Seaforth and Sutherland from the field, before wheeling round to attack the infantry in the centre. All of the Covenanter cavalry and the Highland militia to the rear had now been driven off, exposing the professional infantry regiments in the middle of the field. In the battle of annihilation that followed, Lawers and most of his regiment were killed. Many more died in the inevitable pursuit, including the Frasers of Lord Lovat, a leading Covenanter clan.

Victory

Two things robbed Hurry of victory at Auldearn: his own impetuosity and the quick thinking of Alasdair MacColla. But for him it is almost certain that the scattered royal army would have been overwhelmed. His triumph was celebrated in verse by Iain Lom, the Gaelic bard of Keppoch;

"Health and joy to the valiant Alasdair who won the battle of"

"Auldearn with his army;"

"You were not a feeble poltroon engaging in crossing of swords"

"When you were in the enclosure alone."

"Helmeted men with pikes in their hands were attacking you with all"

"their might until you were relieved by Montrose."

Montrose makes no mention of the Highlanders vital role in his own battle report. What is worse, when his pastor George Wishart wrote his "Memoirs of Montrose" a few years later, MacColla was caricatured as a brave but stupid man, who almost robbed the marquis of victory. Auldearn is by far the most confused of Montrose's battles, in no way resembling the bloodless and rather arid chess game described by Wishart. Unfortunately, Wishart has become to basis of the modern hagiography of Montrose, causing John Buchan to make the absurd claim that Auldearn was a prototype for Napoleon's victory at Austerlitz.

References

PRIMARY

* MacDonald, John, "Orian Iain Lom. Songs of John MacDonald, Bard of Keppoch", ed. and trans. A. M. Mackenzie, 1964.
* Ruthven, Patrick Gordon of, "A Short Abridgement of Britane's Distemper", 1844.
* Wishart, George, "The Memoirs of James Marquis of Montros"e, trans. A. D. Murdoch and H. F. Moorland-Simpson, 1893.

SECONDARY

* Buchan, J." Montrose", 1938.
* Cowan, E. J., "Montrose. For Covenant and King", 1995.
* Macleod, R. H., "The Battle of Auldearn, 9 May 1645", in "The Seventeenth Century in the Highlands", Inverness Field Club, 1986.
* O'Danachair, C. O., "Montrose's Irish Regiments", in Irish Sword, 1959-60.
* Reid, S., "The Campaigns of Montrose," 1990.
* Stevenson, D., "Alasdair MacColla and the Highland Problem in the Seventeenth Century," 1980.