The Road to Bothwell Brig, 1679

Lord Ross was in command at Glasgow on June 1st, 1679 when John Graham, laird of Claverhouse was repulsed at Drumclog. News of this defeat trickled back to Glasgow that evening, and Lord Ross placed the city on alert, with patrols out on the roads and barricades thrown up in the streets. Eventually word arrived that a body of troops was on its way to the city. Ross at once gathered a party of horsemen to head them off, but rather than a band of zealous covenanters, they found Claverhouse's exhausted column. The news was grim; the Covenanters rebels were marching to Glasgow, and "the country was gathering everywhere to these rogues." At once they resolved to hold Glasgow in the name of the King. Each man wrote letters to the Earl of Linlithgow, the Royal commander-in-chief in Scotland, Claverhouse with a report of the battle of Drumclog, and Ross with his take on the strategic situation:

My Lord, if this be not a rebellion, I know not what is rebellion. In the meantime, I shall secure, as well as I can, this place. I have ordered the half of our party to mount guard this night, foot, horse, and dragoons, and have posted them as well as may, and barricaded all the streets about the market place. (Smythe, 31)

That night, the Covenanter force arrived at Tollcross Muir, only four miles outside the city, and prepared to assault the place the next day.

Map of Glasgow with directions of Covenanter attacks on June 2nd indicated in blue.

On June 2nd, Sir Robert Hamilton personally led the attack against Gallowgate, the main avenue of entrance to the east of the city. Another group attacked down High Street from the north, but the attack did not last long. The Covenanters, who could not have been very well armed, did not have the morale or the stamina to endure a sustained assault, and so they were easily repulsed with limited casualties. At Drumclog, the Covenanters had exploited the tactical blunders of Captain Claverhouse, but at Glasgow, the Covenanter attack in two waves had shattered like a glass hammer. Hamilton led his forces back to Tollcross Muir that day, but soon moved off again to Hamilton. Here they were opposed the next day, June 3rd at Bothwell Brig by Claverhouse's cavalry. The wary Covenanters formed up to oppose them on the southern bank of the Clyde, but there would be no battle that day. Chastened by his defeat at Drumclog, Claverhouse chose not to attempt to assault this even larger Whig host.

While the Royalists consulted the Earl of Linlithgow, the consternated Covenanters were communing with their Lord. The conclusion of a long council of war was that: 

... none who were disaffected at the cause of God, or scandalous; none who had sworn false oaths, paid cess, joined with abjured Prelacy, accepted of the indulgence given by the Government, or that were guilty of any public sin, should be received into the army, till they repented and made public acknowledgement of their sins. (Aiton, 61-62)

Their conclusion was not that they lacked weapons or training or numbers, rather that the men who were present were unqualified, and so they determined to exercise Presbyterian church discipline over the army. After all, Moses had commanded those who were fearful and fainthearted to depart the army of Israel (Deuteronomy 20:8), and Gideon had dismissed more than two thirds of his army at Mount Gilead (Judges 7:3). Moreover, the Lord "delighteth not in the strength of the horse: he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man." Instead, the Lord "taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy." (Psalm 147:10)

With the exercise of this church discipline over the army, soon there was discovered an "Achan in the camp." Another Biblical reference, quite on-the-nose, having to do with a man whose private sin in withholding treasure led to the Israelites' repulse before the city of Ai (Joshua 7). The offender was Thomas Weir of Greenrig, who had served in the King's army which had crushed a Covenanter force 13 years before at Rullion Green. When summoned to repent, he refused, and so was sent home, along with some others who seem to have made the same stand.

This appears to have actually worked, as while these debates were taking place, Lord Ross was withdrawing his troops from Glasgow to Stirling. Perhaps Claverhouse's appearance north of Bothwell Brig was meant to cover this withdrawal. The Covenanters were at Strathaven on June 4th, Kilbride on June 5th, and a party of horsemen cautiously entered Glasgow on June 6th and posted their manifesto, with the same declaration that had been posted at Rutherglen on May 29th. The army camped at Rutherglen on June 7th, and entered Glasgow the next day. At this time, their numbers swelled to the thousands. 

Route of the Covenanter forces, first week of June, 1679.

On June 9th, another council of war was held at Glasgow to determine the next course of action. Sir Robert Hamilton of Preston was the generally accepted leader of the Covenanters, along with Hackston and Balfour, who had murdered Archbishop Sharp, William Clelland the young poet-soldier, along with several other military leaders and four church ministers, including Thomas Douglas. They were united in opposition to a number of things:

1. Episcopacy, the rule of the Kirk by Bishops,
2. The supremacy of the King over the Kirk, and,
3. The indulgence offered to the Covenanters by the King.

However it was this last point that alienated some of the Covenanters and threatened to scare off newcomers who may have accepted indulgence in the past. The moderates desired that this third point would be laid aside, while the hard-liners refused to let it go, insisting that those who had previously accepted indulgence had broken covenant along with the King. These men, led chiefly by Hamilton and Balfour, labelled themselves the Honest Party and condemned their enemies as Erastians, referring to a theologian who believed the church should be subservient to the state. As Sunday, June 15th approached, the debate grew to who should lead Sabbath worship for the army. There was "great confusion," according to one writer, "the Lord's day was grievously dishonored, and his people sadly discouraged," by this disorder (Aiton, 64).

On June 18th, the Covenanter army marched east from Glasgow to Airdrie, an advantageous position blocking the road to Edinburgh, however, lack of provisions forced them to travel to Hamilton. This was closer to the main Covenanter base of support, but it left Glasgow and the road to Edinburgh completely open. Meanwhile, the King's commander-in-chief, the Earl of Linlithgow had gathered an army of 5,000 men around Edinburgh, and began to march west. They were joined on June 19th at Blackburn by the Duke of Monmouth, the King's eldest illegitimate son and an experienced soldier, who took command of the Royal Army. The army arrived at Muirhead on June 20th, and skirmished with the Covenanters at a ford near Hamilton. The next day, the Royal army arrived at Bothwell, opposite the Covenanter position at Hamilton by two miles. Between they lay the River Clyde, spanned by Bothwell Bridge, or "Brig" in the Scots dialect.

As Sunday, June 22nd dawned, there were two hosts in arms on opposite sides of Bothwell Brig, but both hoped to negotiate a settlement without a battle.

Worked Cited

Aiton, William. A history of the rencounter at Drumclog, and battle at Bothwell Bridge, in the month of June, 1679, and reflections on political subjects. Hamilton: W. D. Borthwick and Co., 1821. https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009722308.

Smythe, George, ed. Letters of John Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee, with illustrative documents. Edinburgh: James Ballantyne and Company, 1826. https://digital.nls.uk/publications-by-scottish-clubs/archive/80260261?mode=gallery_grid&sn=50.

Soli Deo Gloria