The decisive battle was seen as part of the wider English Civil War which ultimately led to the execution of King Charles I and the emergence of Oliver Cromwell.
The Actions of a King which led to the Battle of Philiphaugh
During the early months of 1637, it became clear that the attempt by King Charles I and his hated Archbishop Laud of Canterbury to introduce the English prayer book into the Scottish Kirk would not be tolerated.
Two leading Scottish Presbyterians, Moderator of the General Assembly, Alexander Henderson and his clerk Archibald Johnston (Lord Warriston) drew up a document of protest against the actions of the king. It became known as the National Covenant.
Greyfriars Church
On February 28, 1638, Scottish nobles gathered at Greyfriars Church in Edinburgh to sign the document. The following day thousands more queued to add their name to a piece of Scottish history that would ultimately divide the country and plunge it into war.
Charles was now forced to accept that the only way of restoring control was by using force and he ordered his navy north to threaten the towns along the east coast.
Covenanting (supporters of the National Covenant) forces were dispatched to confront them defeating them at the Battle of Brig o’ Dee near Aberdeen.
Marquis of Montrose
Leading the Covenanting army that June day in 1639 was James Graham, the Earl (later Marquis of Montrose). The king was now desperate, with civil war raging in England and Covenanting forces in Scotland holding the upper hand, he needed a miracle. One man almost delivered it.
He was the same James Graham, victorious general at Brig O’ Dee and one of the first signatories of the National Covenant.
Graham had become increasingly unhappy with the Kirk’s anti-monarchist line and in 1644 switched his allegiance to the beleaguered king.
Now determined to keep the king on the throne he joined forces with Alisdair MacColla who landed on the Ardnamurchan peninsula with 1600 Irish troops to support the monarchy.
MacColla the wild man from Colonsay and the dashing Montrose formed a stunning military partnership and throughout 1644 and 1644 inflicted six crushing defeats on Covenanting armies from Aberdeen to Kilsyth.
After Kilsyth, MacColla and his soldiers left Montrose and returned home leaving the Marquis very short of men.
However with offers of support from Lords Hume and Roxburgh he headed south to the Borders although it seemed an unlikely place to recruit to the Royalist cause.
General David Leslie
As Montrose marched south a Covenanting army was heading north from England to meet him, their commanding officer was General David Leslie.
Increasingly worried, Montrose continued his search for new recruits and somewhere on the Gala Water he was joined by Lord Linton and his troop of Peebleshire Horse.
Marching slowly down the River Tweed he reached Kelso, on 8 September 1645, where the news reached him that both Hume and Roxburgh had been taken prisoner and sent to Berwick.
The 11th of September saw Leslie camped at Gladsmuir East Lothian where he received a letter detailing the whereabouts and weaknesses of the Royalist army.
The following day an exhausted Montrose set up camp at Philiphaugh near Selkirk in a strong position protected by the Ettrick and Yarrow rivers on two sides and wooded land on another.
His few guns, the spoils from Kilsyth were placed on what is now Selkirk cricket field. Leaving his officers to post sentries he retired to a house in the West Port of Selkirk.
The following day Montrose’s army was defeated in one of the bloodiest battles fought on Scottish soil.
Although he escaped from Philiphaugh he was subsequently captured, hanged, headed and quartered.
In 1661 his remains were removed from a felon’s grave and laid to rest in the High Kirk of St Giles in Edinburgh.
