Raising his camp, Baillie marched towards Strathbogie to lay siege to the Marquis of Huntly’s castle, the Bog of Gight, now Gordon castle; but although Montrose had not yet received any reinforcements, he resolved to follow Baillie and prevent him from putting his design into execution. But Montrose had marched scarcely three miles when he was observed by Baillie’s scouts, and at the same time ascertained that Baillie had taken up a strong position on a rising ground above Keith, about two miles off. Next morning Montrose, not considering it advisable to attack Baillie in the strong position he occupied, sent a trumpeter to him offering to engage him on open ground, but Baillie answered the hostile message by saying, that he would not receive orders for fighting from his enemy.[304]
In this situation of matters, Montrose had recourse to stratagem to draw Baillie from his stronghold. By retiring across the river Don, the covenanting general was led to believe that Montrose intended to march to the south, and he was, therefore, advised by a committee of the Estates which always accompanied him, and in whose hands he appears to have been a mere passive instrument, to pursue Montrose. As soon as Montrose’s scouts brought intelligence that Baillie was advancing, he set off by break of day to the village of Alford on the river Don, where he intended to await the enemy. When Baillie was informed of this movement, he imagined that Montrose was in full retreat before him, a supposition which encouraged him so to hasten his march, that he came up with Montrose at noon at the distance of a few miles from Alford. Montrose, thereupon, drew up his army in order of battle on an advantageous rising ground and waited for the enemy; but instead of attacking him, Baillie made a detour to the left with the intention of getting into Montrose’s rear and cutting off his retreat. Montrose then continued his march to Alford, where he passed the night.
On the following morning, the 2d of July, the two armies were only the distance of about four miles from each other. Montrose drew up his troops on a little hill behind the village of Alford. In his rear was a marsh full of ditches and pits, which would protect him from the inroads of Baillie’s cavalry should they attempt to assail in that quarter, and in his front stood a steep hill, which prevented the enemy from observing his motions. He gave the command of the right wing to Lord Gordon and Sir Nathaniel; the left he committed to Viscount Aboyne and Sir William Rollock; and the main body was put under the charge of Angus Macvichalaster, chief of the Macdonells of Glengarry, Drummond younger of Balloch, and Quarter-master George Graham, a skilful officer. To Napier his nephew, Montrose intrusted a body of reserve, which was concealed behind the hill.
Scarcely had Montrose completed his arrangements, when he received intelligence that the enemy had crossed the Don, and was moving in the direction of Alford. This was a fatal step on the part of Baillie, who, it is said, was forced into battle by the rashness of Lord Balcarras, “one of the bravest men of the kingdom,”[305] who unnecessarily placed himself and his regiment in a position of such danger that they could not be rescued without exposing the whole of the covenanting army.[306]
When Baillie arrived in the valley adjoining the hill on which Montrose had taken up his position, both armies remained motionless for some time, viewing each other, as if unwilling to begin the combat. Owing to the commanding position which Montrose occupied, the Covenanters could not expect to gain any advantage by attacking him even with superior forces; but now, for the first time, the number of the respective armies was about equal, and Montrose had this advantage over his adversary, that while Baillie’s army consisted in part of the raw and undisciplined levies which the Earl of Crawford had exchanged for some of his veteran troops, the greater part of Montrose’s men had been long accustomed to service. These circumstances determined Baillie not to attempt the ascent of the hill, but to remain in the valley, where, in the event of a descent by Montrose, his superiority in cavalry would give him the advantage.
This state of inaction was, however, soon put an end to by Lord Gordon, who observing a party of Baillie’s troops driving away before them a large quantity of cattle which they had collected in Strathbogie and the Enzie, and being desirous of recovering the property of his countrymen, selected a body of horse, with which he attempted a rescue. The assailed party was protected by some dykes and enclosures, from behind which they fired a volley upon the Gordons, which did considerable execution amongst them. Such a cool and determined reception, attended with a result so disastrous and unexpected, might have been attended by dangerous consequences, had not Montrose, on observing the party of Lord Gordon giving indications as if undetermined how to act, resolved immediately to commence a general attack upon the enemy with his whole army. But as Baillie’s foot had intrenched themselves amongst the dykes and fences which covered the ground at the bottom of the hill, and could not be attacked in that position with success, Montrose immediately ordered the horse, who were engaged with the enemy, to retreat to their former position, in the expectation that Baillie’s troops would leave their ground and follow them. And in this hope he was not disappointed, for the Covenanters thinking that this movement of the horse was merely the prelude to a retreat, advanced from their secure position, and followed the supposed fugitives with their whole horse and foot in regular order.
Both armies now came to close quarters, and fought face to face and man to man with great obstinacy for some time, without either party receding from the ground they occupied. At length Sir Nathaniel Gordon, growing impatient at such a protracted resistance, resolved to cut his way through the enemy’s left wing, consisting of Lord Balcarras’s regiment of horse; and calling to the light musketeers who lined his horse, he ordered them to throw aside their muskets, which were now unnecessary, and to attack the enemy’s horse with their drawn swords. This order was immediately obeyed, and in a short time they cut a passage through the ranks of the enemy, whom they hewed down with great slaughter. When the horse which composed Baillie’s right wing, and which had been kept in check by Lord Aboyne, perceived that their left had given way, they also retreated.[307] An attempt was made by the covenanting general to rally his left wing by bringing up the right, after it had retired, to its support, but they were so alarmed at the spectacle or mêlée which they had just witnessed on the left, where their comrades had been cut down by the broad swords of Montrose’s musketeers, that they could not be induced to take the place of their retiring friends.
Thus abandoned by the horse, Baillie’s foot were attacked on all sides by Montrose’s forces. They fought with uncommon bravery, and although they were cut down in great numbers, the survivors exhibited a perseverance and determination to resist to the last extremity. An accident now occurred, which, whilst it threw a melancholy gloom over the fortunes of the day, and the spirits of Montrose’s men served to hasten the work of carnage and death. This was the fall of Lord Gordon, who having incautiously rushed in amongst the thickest of the enemy, was unfortunately shot dead, it is said,[308] when in the act of pulling Baillie, the covenanting general, from his horse, having, it is said, in a moment of exultation, promised to his men, to drag Baillie out of the ranks and present him before them. The Gordons, on perceiving their young chief fall, set no bounds to their fury, and falling upon the enemy with renewed vigour, hewed them down without mercy; yet these brave men still showed no disposition to flee, and it was not until the appearance of the reserve under the Master of Napier, which had hitherto been kept out of view of the enemy at the back of the hill, that their courage began to fail them. When this body began to descend the hill, accompanied by what appeared to them a fresh reinforcement of cavalry, but which consisted merely of the camp or livery boys, who had mounted the sumpter-horses to make a display for the purpose of alarming the enemy, the entire remaining body of the covenanting foot fled with precipitation. A hot pursuit took place, and so great was the slaughter that very few of them escaped. The covenanting general and his principal officers were saved by the fleetness of their horses, and the Marquis of Argyle, who had accompanied Baillie as a member of the committee, and who was closely pursued by Glengarry and some of his Highlanders, made a narrow escape by repeatedly changing horses.
Thus ended one of the best contested battles which Montrose had yet fought, yet strange as the fact may appear, his loss was, as usual, extremely trifling, Lord Gordon being the only person of importance slain. A considerable number of Montrose’s men, however, were wounded, particularly the Gordons, who, for a long time, sustained the attacks of Balcarras’s horse, amongst whom were Sir Nathaniel, and Gordon, younger of Gicht.[309] The loss on the side of the Covenanters was immense; by far the greater part of their foot, and a considerable number of their cavalry having been slain. Some prisoners were taken from them, but their number was small, owing to their obstinacy in refusing quarter. These were sent to Strathbogie under an escort.
The brilliant victory was, however, clouded by the death of Lord Gordon, “a very hopeful young gentleman, able of mind and body, about the age of twenty-eight years.”[310] Wishart gives an affecting description of the feelings of Montrose’s army when this amiable young nobleman was killed. “There was,” he says, “a general lamentation for the loss of the Lord Gordon, whose death seemed to eclipse all the glory of the victory. As the report spread among the soldiers, every one appeared to be struck dumb with the melancholy news, and a universal silence prevailed for some time through the army. However, their grief soon burst through all restraint, venting itself in the voice of lamentation and sorrow. When the first transports were over, the soldiers exclaimed against heaven and earth for bereaving the king, the kingdom, and themselves, of such an excellent young nobleman; and, unmindful of the victory or of the plunder, they thronged about the body of their dead captain, some weeping over his wounds and kissing his lifeless limbs; while others praised his comely appearance even in death, and extolled his noble mind, which was enriched with every valuable qualification that could adorn his high birth or ample fortune: they even cursed the victory bought at so dear a rate. Nothing could have supported the army under this immense sorrow but the presence of Montrose, whose safety gave them joy, and not a little revived their drooping spirits. In the meantime he could not command his grief, but mourned bitterly over the melancholy fate of his only and dearest friend, grievously complaining, that one who was the honour of his nation, the ornament of the Scots nobility, and the boldest asserter of the royal authority in the north, had fallen in the flower of his youth.”[311]