The Covenanters

James Graham: The Marquis of Montrose (1612 - 1650)
Continued From Page Eight
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Philliphaugh September 13, 1645

Map of Glasgow, Click for larger image Moving on to Glasgow, Montrose and his army were met by a remarkably friendly populace and he sent McColl into Ayrshire, the Covenanter heartland, to negotiate terms with the landowners particularly.

This was in the last two weeks of August, during which time most of the Scottish clansmen had returned to their homes with their booty; the Gordons too had left and McColl who had gone into Argyllshire leaving 700 of his infantry with Montrose.

Thus reduced in number the denuded forces of Montrose were suprised by David Leslie and the Covenanter forces at Philliphaugh, near Selkirk, on September 13, 1645.

This time the Royalist forces were massacred with over 500 of the Irishmen cut to ribbons after they had been offered quarter and had surrendered. There followed a slaughter of the camp followers - boys, cooks and women. Three hundred Irish women, wives of the soldiers, and many pregnant were cut up - literally, and unborn babies cut from the womb and cast on the ground with their murdered mothers.

Dirk, Click for larger image The horror of this was compounded by Covenanter ministers who incited all and any retribution on the royalists.

In the period after Philliphaugh and December 1, many of the Scottish nobility who had taken part were rounded up. Any Irish found or held in prison were summarily executed by order of the Estates (the Scottish Parliament) who directed

"This House ordains the Irish prisoners taken at and after Philliphaugh in all the prisons of the kingdom, especially in the prisons of Selkirk, Jedburgh, Glasgow, Dumbarton and Perth, to be executed without any assize or process... "

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