Qualla: Battle of Aberdeen (1644)

Battle of Aberdeen (1644): Introduction

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Edward Weller, Public domain. The drummer was killed on his way back. Montrose had sent him forward under a flag of truce to demand Aberdeen's surrender, and one of the Aberdeen magistrates had even given the boy a coin worth six pounds Scots. But as the party returned to Royalist lines, a trooper from the Fife regiment opened fire, killing the drummer. According to the accounts that survived, the Marquess of Montrose was so enraged that he ordered an immediate assault and gave his soldiers permission to sack the town. What followed on 13 September 1644 was a military victory that destroyed its own purpose.

Image: Edward Weller | Public domain

Battle of Aberdeen (1644): A Depleted Army Arrives

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Edward Weller, Public domain. Montrose had already won one battle that month, defeating government forces at Tippermuir outside Perth, but he could not hold his gains. Highland troops melted away with their plunder, and a stronger force under the Marquess of Argyll was closing from the west. Montrose moved no...

Image: Edward Weller | Public domain

Battle of Aberdeen (1644): Two Hours on the Ridge

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Edward Weller, Public domain. Burleigh's Covenanters took a strong defensive position on a steep ridge above the How Burn valley, southwest of the town. Montrose arranged his outnumbered force in an extended line. The battle opened with a Covenanter cannonade, and the fighting quickly became a series of tacti...

Image: Edward Weller | Public domain

Battle of Aberdeen (1644): The Sack That Changed Everything

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Edward Weller, Public domain. What followed the battle was worse than the battle itself. Royalist troops pursued fleeing soldiers into Aberdeen and turned on the civilian population. The chronicler John Spalding, who witnessed the events, recorded days of looting and violence. Women were assaulted. At least 1...

Image: Edward Weller | Public domain

Battle of Aberdeen (1644): Victory That Poisoned Its Own Cause

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bob Embleton, CC BY-SA 2.0. The tragedy was compounded by irony. Aberdeen had been broadly sympathetic to the Royalist cause before Montrose arrived. After three days of occupation and abuse, that sympathy was destroyed. Montrose left for the Highlands to recruit and avoid the approaching Argyll, but he wou...

Image: Bob Embleton | CC BY-SA 2.0