A history of the Highlands and of the Highland clans : with an ...

406 HISTORY OP THE HIGHLANDS.
great discretion, could extricate the Highlanders from the perils whicK
beset them, he begged of him, in the name of God I to perform the
duty expected of him. This appeal to the chivalrous feelings of tlie
venerable earl met with a ready and willing response from him, and
after stating his readiness to undertake the duty assigned him, he immediately
put himself at the head of a troop of his own horse, commanded
bj' Colonel John Ogiivy of Baldavie, who had distinguished himself in
the Swedish service, and rode off with great speed towards tlie enemy.
He instantly ordered his squadron to charge the enemy's liorse, who
stood the attack with rirmncss at first, but they could not long withstand
the impetuous bravery of the Ogilvies, and were forced to retire. The
earl of Airly did not allow them an opportunity of rallying, but kept
pressing so closely upon them that they got entangled among the
covenanting foot, which they put into disorder.
As soon as Baillie perceived that his horse were falling back, he
endeavoured to bring up his reserve to support them ; but this body,
which consisted chiefly of the Fife militia, became so alarmed at the
retreat of the horse, that they immediately abandoned their ranks and
fled. On the other hand, the rest of Montrose's men, encouraged by
the success of the Ogilvie's, could no longer restrain themselves, and
rushing forward upon the enemy with a loud shout, completed the
disorder. The wild appearance of the royalists, who were almost in a
state of complete nudity—for, with the exception of the cavalry, who
had thrown off merely their upper garments, the whole of Montrose's
troops had cast away every article of their apparel but their shirts—added
to the dreadful yells which they set up, created such a panic among the
astonished covenanters, that, in an instant, and as if by a simultaneous
impulse, every man threw away his arms, and endeavoured to secure his
personal safety by flight. In the general rout which ensued, the
covenanting horse, in their anxiety to escape, galloped through tlie flying
foot, and trampled many of their companions in arms almost to death.
In the pursuit which followed, Montrose's men cut down the defence-
less covenanters without mercy, and so great was the carnage, that, out
of a body of upwards of six thousand foot, probably not more than a
hundred escaped with their lives. The royalists were so intent upon
hewing down the unfortunate foot, that a considerable part of the cavalry
effected their escape. Some of them, however, in the hurry of their
flight, having ran unawares into a large morass, called Dolater bog, now
forming a part of the bed of the Forth and Clyde canal, there perished,
and, many years afterwards, the bodies of men and horses were dug up
fi-om the bog, witliout any marks of decomposition ; and there is a tra'
dition still current, that one man was found upon horseback, fully attired
in his military costume, in the very posture in wliich he had sunk.*
Very few prisoners were taken, and with the exception of Sir William
Oi-iieral History of Stirlingshir,;, p. 396.