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1650-2 the armies of the Commonwealth had taken on and routed
the armies of the covenant, those who had fought alongside
the English Parliament in the 1640s. In 1653 they faced a
new challenge from the Highland clans who had remained loyal
to Charles I and had never recognised the covenant. These
men had loitered in their fastnesses while Charles II dallied
with the Presbyterians. Now they made their own bid to restore
him at least to his Scottish throne. No less than thirteen
Scottish peers pledged themselves to the exiled king, who
responded by sending Lieutenant-General Middleton, a veteran
of Preston and Worcester from St Germain to be their leader.
For the best part of two years they tied down thousands of
English troops by refusing to be drawn into open battle and
waging an opportunistic war against successive forces commanded
first by Colonel Robert Lilburne and then Lieutenant-General
George Monck. It was a war of attrition with many ambusjes
and skirmishes, during which thousands of clansmen and hundreds
of English were killed; and it involved Monck and his deputy,
Robert Morgan, in hundreds of miles of forced marches. There
is no question that the English had the superiority in numbers,
resources, discipline. The question was whether they had the
superiority of willpower and the ability to keep the Lowlands
quiet, especially since the costs of the campaign would need
to be met in large part from Scotland. The English nerve held,
and while taxation was high, so was Monck's willingness to
soften the regime's attitude to its previous enemies. A notable
easing of the policy of Anglicization and proscription prevented
the spread of the revolt; and an iron grip was kept on all
the routes from the Highlands to the Lowlands. The unflinching
gaze of the English at their Highland foes, together with
increasing shortages of supplies made worse by a brutal scorched
earth policy, broke the will of the Scottish royalists. Once
Monck started transporting to slavery in Barbados all those
captured in arms, panic set in and bands of rebels began surrendering
themselves. It was not a glamorous campaign, or a militarily
interesting one, but it showed a ruthless efficiency and determination
lacking elsewhere. Even after the embers of revolt were stamped
out, there was no complete safety. The English did not occupy
the Highlands; they sealed it off from the Lowlands..........As
ever in Scottish history, pacifying the Lowlands was not to
prove the same thing as pacifying Scotland."
- John Morrill, 'The Civil Wars
- A Military History of England Scotland and Ireland 1638-1660',
Oxford Press.
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