Glencairn passed about five weeks in Cromar and Badenoch, waiting for additional reinforcements; and as Lord Lorn had not yet joined him, he despatched Lord Kenmure with 100 horse into Argyleshire to urge him to hurry forward the levies in that quarter. Lorn soon arrived in Badenoch with 1,000 foot and about 50 horse; but he had not remained above a fortnight in the field when, on some pretence or other, he (January 1st, 1654) clandestinely left the army, and carried off his men along with him, taking the direction of Ruthven castle, which was then garrisoned by English troops. Glencairn was greatly exasperated at Lorn’s defection, and sent a party of horse, under the command of Glengarry and Lochiel, with instructions either to bring him and his men back to the army, or, in case of refusal, to attack them. Glengarry followed the Campbells so hard that he came up with them within half a mile of the castle. Lord Lorn escaped, and was followed by his horse, of whom about 20 were brought back by a party sent in pursuit by Glengarry; the foot halted on a hill, and offered to return to the camp. Glengarry, who had had a great antipathy to the whole race of the Campbells ever since Montrose’s wars, would, contrary to his instructions, have attacked them; but Glencairn fortunately arrived in time to prevent bloodshed, and having ordered Graham of Duchray to acquaint them that he could not receive any proposals from them with arms in their hands, they delivered them up. Glencairn, along with some officers, then rode up to them, and having addressed them on the impropriety of their conduct, they all declared their willingness to serve the king and to obey him as their commander, a declaration which both officers and men confirmed with an oath. Their arms were then restored to them, but they all deserted within a fortnight.[456]
About this time Glencairn was joined by a small party of English royalists, under Colonel Wogan, an enterprising officer, who had landed at Dover, and having raised a body of volunteers in London, traversed England under the banners of the commonwealth, and entered Scotland by Carlisle.
Notwithstanding the desertion of the Campbells, Glencairn’s army was so increased by daily accessions of force that he considered himself in a condition to cope with the enemy, and, by the advice of his officers, resolved to descend into Aberdeenshire, and beat up the quarters of the English. Another reason which urged him to leave the Highlands was a scarcity of provisions in the districts which had been occupied by his army, and which could no longer afford to support such a large body of men. Descending by Balveny, he took up his quarters at Whitelums, near the castle of Kildrummie, belonging to the Earl of Mar, then garrisoned by the English. After lying about a fortnight at Whitelums unmolested, Glencairn raised his camp, and marching into Morayshire, took possession of Elgin, where he established his head quarters. Here he was joined by the Marquis of Montrose, Lord Forrester, and some country gentlemen.
After spending a month at Elgin, where, according to Graham of Duchray’s narrative, the army had “very good quarters, and where they made themselves merry,” the earl received letters from General Middleton, who had some time before made his escape from the tower of London, where he had been imprisoned after the battle of Worcester, announcing his arrival in Sutherland, with a commission from the king, appointing him generalissimo of all the royal forces in Scotland. Some dissensions had existed among the royalists respecting the chief command of the army, which had been finally conceded to Glencairn; but neither he nor the nobility who were with him, were prepared to expect that the king would have appointed, to such an important charge, a man so much their inferior in station as Middleton. The intelligence was accordingly received with discontent; but, as the king’s commission could not, without serious injury to the royal cause, be disputed, in the present juncture they stifled their displeasure, and Glencairn, in terms of the instructions he had received from Middleton to march north, put his army in motion. Morgan, the English commander, having drawn together a body of troops, followed Glencairn, between whose rear and Morgan’s advanced guard many warm skirmishes took place.
Glencairn and his men crossed the river Ness, eight miles above Inverness. The earl having placed guards along the northern bank of the river to watch the approach of the enemy, hastened to Dornoch to meet Middleton. In a few days a grand muster of the army took place, when it was found to amount to 3,500 foot, and 1,500 horse. Glencairn then resigned the command to Middleton, in presence of the army, and, riding along the lines, acquainted the troops that he was no longer their general, and expressed a hope that they would find themselves happy in serving under such a commander as Middleton. The troops expressed great dissatisfaction at this announcement by their looks, and some, “both officers and soldiers, shed tears, and vowed that they would serve with their old general in any corner of the world.”[457]
After the review, the earl gave a sumptuous entertainment to Middleton and the principal officers of the army, at which an occurrence took place which soured the temper of the officers, and sowed the seeds of new divisions in the camp. On the cloth being removed, Glencairn proposed the health of the commander-in-chief, whom he thus addressed:—“My lord general, you see what a gallant army these worthy gentlemen here present and I have gathered together, at a time when it could hardly be expected that any number durst meet together: these men have come out to serve his majesty, at the hazard of their lives and all that is dear to them: I hope, therefore, you will give them all the encouragement to do their duty that lies in your power.” Scarcely had these words been uttered when Sir George Munro, who had come over with Middleton from France to act as his lieutenant-general, started up from his seat, and addressing himself to the earl, swore by G— that the men he had that day seen were nothing but a number of thieves and robbers, and that ere long he would bring a very different set of men into the field. These imprudent observations called up Glengarry, but he was restrained by Glencairn, who said that he was more concerned in the affront put upon the army by Munro than he was, and, turning to Munro, he thus addressed him:—“You, Sir, are a base liar; for they are neither thieves nor robbers, but brave gentlemen and good soldiers.” A meeting took place in consequence early next morning between Glencairn and Munro, about two miles to the south of Dornoch, when the latter was severely wounded. The parties then returned to head-quarters, when Glencairn was put under arrest in his chamber, by orders of Middleton, and his sword taken from him.
The partiality thus shown to Munro, who was the aggressor, and who had sent the challenge to Glencairn, was exceedingly mortifying to the earl, which being followed by another affair which soon took place, and in which the same partiality was displayed, made him resolve to retire from the army. The occurrence was this:—A dispute having taken place on the merits of the recent quarrel between a Captain Livingston, a friend of Munro, and a gentleman of the name of Lindsay, who had accompanied Lord Napier from the continent, in which Livingston maintained that Munro had acted properly, and the contrary insisted upon by Lindsay; mutual challenges were given, and the parties met on the links of Dornoch to decide the dispute by the sword. Lindsay, being a superior swordsman, run Livingston through the heart at the first thrust, and he expired immediately. Lindsay was immediately apprehended, and although Glencairn, backed by other officers, used every exertion to save him, he was brought to trial before a court-martial, by order of Middleton, and condemned to be shot at the cross of Dornoch, a sentence which was carried into execution the same day.
These unfortunate disputes divided the officers of the army into two parties, and afforded but a sorry prognostic of the prospects of the royalists. Glencairn, no longer able to curb his displeasure, slipped off about a fortnight after Lindsay’s death, with his own troop of horse, and a few gentlemen volunteers—100 horse in all—and took the direction of Assynt. The laird of Assynt, who had betrayed Montrose, on the arrival of Glencairn’s party on his lands, offered to assist him to secure the passes, so as to prevent him from being overtaken that night, of which offer Glencairn, though distrustful of Macleod, agreed to accept. Middleton indeed sent a party in pursuit, but they did not come up with Glencairn, who reached Kintail the following day, where he was well received by the Earl of Seaforth’s people. He remained there a few days, and afterwards traversed the Highlands till he arrived at Killin, at the head of Loch Tay, where he was successively joined by Sir George Maxwell, the Earl of Selkirk, and Lord Forrester, each of whom brought a small party of horse along with him, by which additions his force was increased to 400 horsemen. The earl now appears, for the first time, to have seen the impropriety of his conduct in withdrawing from the army; but as he could not endure the idea of returning himself, he endeavoured to make some reparation by sending this body north to join Middleton, and sought a retreat with the laird of Luss at his castle of Rosedoe, when he despatched some officers to raise men in the lowlands for the king’s service.
In the meantime Monk had returned to Scotland, and had brought along with him a strong reinforcement of troops from England, with which he joined Morgan in the north, and marched directly into the Highlands in search of Middleton. It was the intention of the latter to have remained for some time in the Highlands, to have collected all the forces he possibly could, to make occasional descents upon the lowlands, and by marches and countermarches to have distracted the enemy; but the advance of Monk into the very bosom of the Highlands, with a large army, frustrated his design. Middleton soon found himself sorely pressed by his able adversary, who brought forward his army in separate divisions, yet not so isolated as not to be able to support each other in case of attack. In an attempt to elude his pursuers, Middleton was surprised in a defile near Lochgarry, by one of these divisions under the command of Morgan. His men were either slain or dispersed, and he himself escaped with difficulty. The chiefs of the insurrection immediately made their peace with Monk, who treated them with great lenity.[458]