Qualla: Battle of Kilsyth https://qualla.com/battle-of-kilsyth en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:16 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/v/n/battle-of-kilsyth-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Battle of Kilsyth https://qualla.com/battle-of-kilsyth Battle of Kilsyth: Introduction https://qualla.com/battle-of-kilsyth/ Photo credit Signed C. R., Public domain. The bodies came up out of the bog with the canal builders. When workmen cut the Forth and Clyde Canal through Dullatur Bog in the 1770s, they uncovered the remains of several troopers from the rout of August 1645 — one of them still seated on his horse, both perfectly preserved by 130 years in the peat. The battle that put them there had been the largest engagement of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms in Scotland, fought near Kilsyth on 15 August. The Royalist general Montrose, with about 3,000 foot and 600 horse — a force built around Irish Confederate infantry, Highland clansmen, and Lowland Gordon levies — destroyed a numerically superior Covenanter army under William Baillie. Approximately three-quarters of Baillie's troops perished. The decision that doomed them was not made on the battlefield. It was made by a committee.

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Image: Signed C. R. | Public domain

]]> Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/v/n/battle-of-kilsyth-wp/gcvn-battle-of-kilsyth-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Battle of Kilsyth: What Montrose Had Won, and What Was Coming https://qualla.com/battle-of-kilsyth/ Photo credit No readable signature., Public domain. By August 1645 Montrose had spent thirteen months running circles around the Scottish government forces. With an army built around an Irish Confederate brigade under Alasdair Mac Colla — a brilliant tactician whose 'Highland Charge' would terrify Lowland infantry for the next cen...

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]]> Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/v/n/battle-of-kilsyth-wp/gcvn-battle-of-kilsyth-what-montrose-had-won-and-what-was-coming.mp3 0:06 2 full Battle of Kilsyth: The March Through the Night https://qualla.com/battle-of-kilsyth/ Photo credit myself, CC BY-SA 3.0. From Dunkeld, Montrose's army skirted Baillie at Perth and travelled via Kinross, Glenfarg, and Alloa, crossing the Forth near Stirling and looping around the castle. By nightfall on 14 August they were camped in a meadow at Colzium, by Kilsyth — an area still called Cavalry Park...

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]]> Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/v/n/battle-of-kilsyth-wp/gcvn-battle-of-kilsyth-the-march-through-the-night.mp3 0:06 3 full Battle of Kilsyth: The Committee Overrules https://qualla.com/battle-of-kilsyth/ Photo credit Signed C. R., Public domain. It was a sound decision. But Baillie's orders were subject to the approval of the 'Committee of Estates' — a group of earls and Calvinist clergymen accompanying the army to ensure political and religious orthodoxy. The committee consisted of the Earls of Argyll, Crawford, and Tul...

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Image: Signed C. R. | Public domain

]]> Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/v/n/battle-of-kilsyth-wp/gcvn-battle-of-kilsyth-the-committee-overrules.mp3 0:06 4 full Battle of Kilsyth: What the Bog Held https://qualla.com/battle-of-kilsyth/ Photo credit Signed C. R., Public domain. Approximately three-quarters of the Covenanter troops perished. The Highland Charge — that terrifying combination of musket volley, dropped firearms, and headlong rush with broadswords and Lochaber axes — broke Baillie's men, and what had been an army became a fleeing crowd. Bail...

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]]> Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/v/n/battle-of-kilsyth-wp/gcvn-battle-of-kilsyth-what-the-bog-held.mp3 0:06 5 full