Volume 1 - Electric Scotland

BATTLE'^ 01' Al:K]xnOL.M AND LOCJIMAEJON. Xix
.viilciable share in that bfitlle it is prohablf thai liis eldest son John, who
liad h}- this time a'taiiied iiiauhi,iod, wuiihl bo tlieve also and actively assisting
his move aged father, as well as the olhcr menibcis of tlie Johnstone clan.
Tiic next actis'c engagement of John Jolinstone was at the battle of
.'\rkinholm, now Langholm, on 1st May li5:). The battle arose out of the
continued insunectiou of the Douglases to a\enge tlie slaughter of two Jvarls
of Douglas, the sixth and eighth of the name. It was led by Douglas, Eail
of ]\[oray, Douglas, Earl of Ormond, and Douglas, Lord Balvany, all three
lirotjiors of tljc ninth Kail of Douglas. They entered Annandalc and jdun-
dL'iing it, sent the .'poil as a present to their mother^ tlien in Carli.sle.
Jolin Johustrne, with 200 men, met the convoy, and a .sharp liglit ensued,
in which Douglas, Earl of ]\Joraj', was slain, and his head v\"a5 carried and
]ire?eutcd to King James the Second as a trojdiy.-
lu the summer of the same 3'ear, 1455, King James the Second personally
conducted the siege of Tiireave Castle, one of the strongholds of Douglas in
(hiUoway. John Johnstone of Johnstone joined that ex]iedition, and for this
he was rewarded with the lands of Luittle and Sannoeh in (lie neighbour-
hijod of Tiireave Castle, and forming part of the ])ouglas lands in CUdloway.-
The final battle in which John Johnstone was engaged ^^as that of
l.ochmaben, fought on St. ^Magdalen's Day, 22d July ]4S-t. Bishop Lesley,
in Ills History of Scotland, extols the presence and valour of Johnstone at
LocJnnalicn, as docs Abercrombie in his IVIarlial Achievements of the SLOttish
Xation. The battle commenced with an attack by Alexander, Duke of
AUiany, who was lord of Annandale, and }-ounger brother of King James
the Third, aided by James, the ninth and last Earl of Duuglas. These two
iKiblcmcn joined in the hope that the old vassals of the Douglases would
rally to the Douglas standard in the same \s ay as at the famous battle of
' Tjtk-.'s History, vol. iii. }.. 2G0, quotiug ^ ]