The unexpected arrival of Argyle’s army did not disconcert Montrose. His foot, which amounted to 1,500 men, were little more than the half of those under Argyle, while he had only about 50 horse to oppose 1,200. Yet, with this immense disparity, he resolved to await the attack of the enemy, judging it inexpedient, from the want of cavalry, to become the assailant by descending into the plain where Argyle’s army was encamped. On a rugged eminence behind the castle of Fyvie, on the uneven sides of which several ditches had been cut and dikes built to serve as farm fences, Montrose drew up his little but intrepid host; but before he had marked out the positions to be occupied by his divisions, he had the misfortune to witness the desertion of a small body of the Gordons, who had joined him at Strathbogie. They, however, did not join Argyle, but contented themselves with withdrawing altogether from the scene of the ensuing action. It is probable that they came to the determination of retiring, not from cowardice, but from disinclination to appear in the field against Lord Lewis Gordon, who held a high command in Argyle’s army. The secession of the Gordons, though in reality a circumstance of trifling importance in itself, (for had they remained, they would have fought unwillingly, and consequently might not have had sufficient resolution to maintain the position which would have been assigned them,) had a disheartening influence upon the spirits of Montrose’s men, and accordingly they found themselves unable to resist the first shock of Argyle’s numerous forces, who, charging them with great impetuosity, drove them up the eminence, of a considerable part of which Argyle’s army got possession. In this critical conjuncture, when terror and despair seemed about to obtain the mastery over hearts to which fear had hitherto been a stranger, Montrose displayed a coolness and presence of mind equal to the dangers which surrounded him. Animating them by his presence, and by the example which he showed in risking his person in the hottest of the fight, he roused their courage by putting them further in mind of the victories they had achieved, and how greatly superior they were in bravery to the enemy opposed to them. After this emphatic appeal to their feelings, Montrose turned to Colonel O’Kean, a young Irish gentleman, highly respected by the former for his bravery, and desired him, with an air of the most perfect sang froid, to go down with such men as were readiest, and to drive these fellows (meaning Argyle’s men), out of the ditches, that they might be no more troubled with them. O’Kean quickly obeyed the mandate, and though the party in the ditches was greatly superior to the body he led, and was, moreover, supported by some horse, he drove them away, and captured several bags of powder which they left behind them in their hurry to escape. This was a valuable acquisition, as Montrose’s men had spent already almost the whole of their ammunition.
While O’Kean was executing this brilliant affair, Montrose observed five troops of horse, under the Earl of Lothian, preparing to attack his 50 horse, who were posted a little way up the eminence, with a small wood in their rear. He, therefore, without a moment’s delay, ordered a party of musketeers to their aid, who, having interlined themselves with the 50 horse, kept up such a galling fire upon Lothian’s troopers, that before they had advanced half way across a field which lay between them and Montrose’s horse, they were obliged to wheel about and gallop off.
Montrose’s men became so elated with their success that they could scarcely be restrained from leaving their ground and making a general attack upon the whole of Argyle’s army; but although Montrose did not approve of this design, he disguised his opinion, and seemed rather to concur in the views of his men, telling them, however, to be so far mindful of their duty as to wait till he should see the fit moment for ordering the attack. Argyle remained till the evening without attempting anything farther, and then retired to a distance of about three miles across the Spey; his men passed the night under arms. The only person of note killed in these skirmishes was Captain Keith, brother of the Earl Marshal.
Next day Argyle resolved to attack Montrose, with the view of driving him from his position. He was induced to come to this determination from a report, too well founded, which had reached him, that Montrose’s army was almost destitute of ammunition;—indeed, he had compelled the inhabitants of all the surrounding districts to deliver up every article of pewter in their possession for the purpose of being converted into ammunition; but this precarious supply appears soon to have been exhausted.[271] On arriving at the bottom of the hill, he changed his resolution, not judging it safe, from the experience of the preceding day, to hazard an attack. Montrose, on the other hand, agreeably to his original plan, kept his ground, as he did not deem it advisable to expose his men to the enemy’s cavalry by descending from the eminence. With the exception of some trifling skirmishes between the advanced posts, the main body of both armies remained quiescent during the whole day. Argyle again retired in the evening to the ground he had occupied the preceding night, whence he returned the following day, part of which was spent in the same manner as the former; but long before the day had expired he led off his army, “upon fair day light,” says Spalding, “to a considerable distance, leaving Montrose to effect his escape unmolested.”
Montrose, thus left to follow any course he pleased, marched off after nightfall towards Strathbogie, plundering Turriff and Rothiemay house in his route. He selected Strathbogie as the place of his retreat on account of the ruggedness of the country and of the numerous dikes with which it was intersected, which would prevent the operations of Argyle’s cavalry, and where he intended to remain till joined by Macdonald, whom he daily expected from the Highlands with a reinforcement. When Argyle heard of Montrose’s departure on the following morning, being the last day of October, he forthwith proceeded after him with his army, thinking to bring him to action in the open country, and encamped at Tullochbeg on the 2d of November, where he drew out his army in battle array. He endeavoured to bring Montrose to a general engagement, and, in order to draw him from a favourable position he was preparing to occupy, Argyle sent out a skirmishing party of his Highlanders; but they were soon repulsed, and Montrose took possession of the ground he had selected.
Baffled in all his attempts to overcome Montrose by force of arms, Argyle, whose talents were more fitted for the intrigues of the cabinet than the tactics of the field, had now recourse to negotiation, with the view of effecting the ruin of his antagonist. For this purpose he proposed a cessation of arms, and that he and Montrose should hold a conference, previous to which arrangements should be entered into for their mutual security. Montrose knew Argyle too well to place any reliance upon his word, and as he had no doubt that Argyle would take advantage, during the proposed cessation, to tamper with his men and endeavour to withdraw them from their allegiance, he called a council of war, and proposed to retire without delay to the Highlands. The council at once approved of this suggestion, whereupon Montrose resolved to march next night as far as Badenoch; and that his army might be able to accomplish such a long journey within the time fixed, he immediately sent off all his heavy baggage under a guard, and ordered his men to keep themselves prepared as if to fight a battle the next day.[272] Scarcely, however, had the carriages and heavy baggage been despatched, when an event took place which greatly disconcerted Montrose. This was nothing less than the desertion of his friend Colonel Sibbald and some of his officers, who went over to the enemy. They were accompanied by Sir William Forbes of Craigievar, who, having been unable to fulfil the condition on which he was to obtain his ultimate liberation, had returned two or three days before to Montrose’s camp. This distressing occurrence induced Montrose to postpone his march for a time, as he was quite certain that the deserters would communicate his plans to Argyle. Ordering, therefore, back the baggage he had sent off, he resumed his former position, in which he remained four days, as if he there intended to take up his winter quarters.
In the meantime Montrose had the mortification to witness the defection of almost the whole of his officers, who were very numerous, for, with the exception of the Irish and Highlanders, they outnumbered the privates from the Lowlands. The bad example which had been set by Sibbald, the intimate friend of Montrose, and the insidious promises of preferment held out to them by Argyle, induced some, whose loyalty was questionable, to adopt this course; but the idea of the privations to which they would be exposed in traversing, during winter, among frost and snow, the dreary and dangerous regions of the Highlands, shook the constancy of others, who, in different circumstances, would have willingly exposed their lives for their sovereign. Bad health, inability to undergo the fatigue of long and constant marches—these and other excuses were made to Montrose as the reasons for craving a discharge from a service which had now become more hazardous than ever. Montrose made no remonstrance, but with looks of high disdain which betrayed the inward workings of a proud and unsubdued mind, indignant at being thus abandoned at such a dangerous crisis, readily complied with the request of every man who asked permission to retire. The Earl of Airly, now sixty years of age and in precarious health, and his two sons, Sir Thomas and Sir David Ogilvie, out of all the Lowlanders, alone remained faithful to Montrose, and could, on no account, be prevailed upon to abandon him. Among others who left Montrose on this occasion, was Sir Nathaniel Gordon, who, it is said, went over to Argyle’s camp in consequence of a concerted plan between him and Montrose, for the purpose of detaching Lewis Gordon from the cause of the Covenanters, a conjecture which seems to have originated in the subsequent conduct of Sir Nathaniel and Lord Lewis, who joined Montrose the following year.
Montrose, now abandoned by all his Lowland friends, prepared for his march, preparatory to which he sent off his baggage as formerly; and after lighting some fires for the purpose of deceiving the enemy, took his departure on the evening of the 6th of November, and arrived about break of day at Balveny. After remaining a few days there to refresh his men, he proceeded through Badenoch, and descended by rapid marches into Athole, where he was joined by Macdonald and John Muidartach, the captain of the Clanranald, the latter of whom brought 500 of his men along with him. He was also reinforced by some small parties from the neighbouring Highlands, whom Macdonald had induced to follow him.
In the meantime Argyle, after giving orders to his Highlanders to return home, went himself to Edinburgh, where he “got but small thanks for his service against Montrose.”[273] Although the Committee of Estates, out of deference, approved of his conduct, which some of his flatterers considered deserving of praise because he “had shed no blood;”[274] yet the majority had formed a very different estimate of his character, during a campaign which had been fruitful neither of glory nor victory. Confident of success, the heads of the Covenanters looked upon the first efforts of Montrose in the light of a desperate and forlorn attempt, rashly and inconsiderately undertaken, and which they expected would be speedily put down; but the results of the battles of Tippermuir, Aberdeen, and Fyvie, gave a new direction to their thoughts, and the royalists, hitherto contemned, began now to be dreaded and respected. In allusion to the present “posture of affairs,” it is observed by Guthry, that “many who had formerly been violent, began to talk moderately of business, and what was most taken notice of, was the lukewarmness of many amongst the ministry, who now in their preaching had begun to abate much of their former zeal.”[275] The early success of Montrose had indeed caused some misgivings in the minds of the Covenanters; but as they all hoped that Argyle would change the tide of war, they showed no disposition to relax in their severities towards those who were suspected of favouring the cause of the king. The signal failure, however, of Argyle’s expedition, and his return to the capital, quite changed, as we have seen, the aspect of affairs, and many of those who had been most sanguine in their calculations regarding the result of the struggle, began now to waver and to doubt.