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During the English Civil War, a fierce conflict also unfolded in Scotland between the Royalists and the Covenanters. In 1645, the brilliant Royalist general James Graham Montrose suffered a crushing defeat near Selkirk. Montrose’s force numbered only about 2,000 men, facing a Covenanter army of roughly 4,000. Despite making excellent use of the terrain with its ditches and hedges, the sheer numerical advantage eventually secured victory for Leslie’s Covenanters. Montrose escaped with some of his cavalry, but his infantry and camp followers were not so fortunate—men, women, and children were all slaughtered. (See: Newark Castle).

Montrose’s reputation was in tatters and he could only maintain a guerrilla campaign until being ordered to lay down his arms by King Charles, who was himself a prisoner at the time.