John Cockburn (Scottish officer)

Last updated

Colonel John Cockburn was an officer in the Scottish Covenanter army in the late 1640s and early 1650s during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. In this capacity he led Lowland soldiers against Montrose's Scottish Royalist forces during the First English Civil War (1642-1646), when the Covenanter parliament of Scotland was allied with the English Parliamentarians against King Charles I. Colonel Cockburn led the colourfully defiant but futile Scottish resistance at Hume Castle during the Third English Civil War (1649-1651), when a Parliamentary army led by Oliver Cromwell invaded Scotland after its Covenanter government had made an uneasy alliance with King Charles II.

Contents

Family background and the choice of a military career

John Cockburn was born in about 1620, the third son of William Cockburn of Choicelee and Sybilla Sinclair. [1] A military career would have been a common choice for a son who stood little chance of inheriting his father's property. Quite possibly Cockburn fought as a mercenary in the 30 Years War along with thousands of other Scotsmen. Many Scottish officers, such as Leven, David Leslie, James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton and William Baillie, gained military experience and a strong reputation in the army of Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. [2] Thus a body of experienced Scottish soldiers became available to the Parliament of Scotland during the Bishops' Wars (1639–40) and during the First English Civil War.

Military service during the campaign against Montrose's Royalist army

The Scottish Parliament, dominated by the Covenanters, was a powerful ally of the English Parliament when armed conflict erupted in 1642 between it and the Royalist forces of King Charles I. It is unknown whether or not Cockburn served under Alexander Leslie at the Battle of Newburn during the Second Bishop's War in 1640. In 1644 John Cockburn was a lieutenant in the Fifeshire Regiment, which was present in the Scottish Covenanter army led by Alexander Leslie, 1st Earl of Leven, at the Battle of Marston Moor, the Siege of York, and the Siege of Newcastle. [3] Cockburn was given several senior commands in William Baillie's Scottish Covenanter army in 1645, and so it seems likely that Cockburn was known to and well regarded by Baillie.

At the Battle at Inverlochy on 2 February 1645, Lieutenant-Colonel John Cockburn, of the Earl of Moray's Regiment, led a battalion of 200 Lowland militiamen that formed the left wing of the Covenanter army that was commanded nominally by Archibald Campbell, the 8th Earl of Argyll and the chief of Clan Campbell. [4] These Lowland militiamen had been recalled recently from the Scottish campaign in northern England, where they were quite likely led by Cockburn within the infantry forces commanded by Baillie. Despite their recent military experience the Lowlanders, together with the rest of the Covenanter force, suffered a crushing defeat following an aggressive pre-dawn charge by the Scottish Royalists and their Irish allies. The fighting degenerated into massacre, fueled by the years of bitter conflict between Clan Donald with its allies (e.g., Clan Maclean), the sources of the Highland contingent in Montrose's army, against Argyll's Clan Campbell, which provided the Highland component of the Covenanter army. Along with a small number of Lowland officers, Cockburn retreated to the relative safety of nearby Inverlochy Castle; outside the walls the survivors of the Covenanter army were pursued ruthlessly and killed. The besieged officers surrendered soon afterwards to Montrose (a former Covenanter turned Royalist) when they were given quarter in exchange for their parole that they would not oppose him later. [5]

Nevertheless, by 4 April Lieutenant-Colonel Cockburn commanded the defences of Dundee when the town was assaulted and nearly captured by elements of Montrose's Royalist army. The Royalists were forced back out of the town when Covenanter reinforcements from Baillie's army arrived late in the afternoon.

Service as Governor of Stirling Castle and at the Siege of Newark

On 8 July 1645 Lieutenant Colonel Cockburn was governor of Stirling Castle when the Scottish royal regalia were exhibited there at the opening of a new session of the Scottish Parliament. Parliament had left Edinburgh to escape a major outbreak of plague in the capital. It was a critical time during the Scottish Civil War: three weeks after the Royalist disaster in England at the Battle of Naseby (14 June), six days after the Scottish Royalist victory at the Battle of Alford (2 July), and five weeks before the Battle of Kilsyth (15 August) when Montrose appeared to have carried Scotland for the king. The threat posed by Montrose's army was effectively ended by Lieutenant-General David Leslie's cavalry-based force at the Battle of Philiphaugh on 13 September.

On 17 January 1646, Cockburn commanded the College of Justice Horse Troop at the siege of Newark, within the Scottish Army of the Solemn League and Covenant led by David Leslie. [6] On 5 May King Charles surrendered himself to the Scottish besieging army at Newark. By delivering himself to the Scots the king was likely trying to produce a split between the Scottish Covenanters and the English Parliamentarians. However, on 6 May the king was required by Leslie to order the surrender of the Royalist garrison at Newark. This was one of the final chapters of the First English Civil War.

Marriage and first retirement

On 14 January 1647 Colonel Cockburn married his cousin Helen Cockburn, the eldest daughter and heiress to William Cockburn of Caldra. [7] The lands of his father-in-law (a staunch Scottish Royalist) were made over to him in 1648, shortly after he retired as governor of Stirling Castle. It is unlikely that Colonel Cockburn was involved in the ill-fated Scottish Engager-instigated campaign in 1648 in support of the restoration of Charles I during the Second English Civil War (1648-1649). Cockburn's duties as governor would have kept him in Stirling, far from the fighting. He would thus have avoided the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Preston of the Scottish army led by James Hamilton.

On 15 March 1649, just six weeks after the execution of Charles I in London, the Scottish Parliament passed an act in favour of Colonel Cockburn, the former governor of Stirling Castle. [8] The act approved the prompt payment of £10,305 to clear up a debt that had been recognized as being already owed to Colonel Cockburn by an earlier act on 20 July 1647. The act of 1649 confirms that Cockburn's paid service in the Scottish army began no later than 1 August 1644. It further confirms that he was governor of Stirling Castle from 1 April 1645 until 1 July 1647.

The defence of Hume Castle at the time of Cromwell's invasion of Scotland

Colonel Cockburn returned to the service of Scotland during the Third English Civil War, when the Covenanter-controlled Parliament of Scotland entered into an alliance with Charles II under the terms of the Treaty of Breda, signed on 1 May 1650. Cromwell responded by leading a Parliamentary army in an invasion of Scotland. The Covenanter army, led by David Leslie, was soundly defeated at the Battle of Dunbar on 3 September 1650. Parliamentary forces were then dispatched around the country to reduce the strongholds that were holding out. In February 1651, Cockburn commanded the garrison of Hume Castle when it was besieged by a Parliamentary force led by Colonel George Fenwick. [9] (Hume Castle was only 12.75 km southwest of Cockburn's seat at Caldra.) At the start of the siege, when called upon to surrender, Cockburn is reported to have replied "I know not Cromwell. And as to my castle, it stands upon a rock!". After the bombardment of the castle had begun, Cockburn is supposed to have sent a note containing the following verse in Scots:

I Willie Wastle
Stand Firm in my Castle
And a' the dogs in the Toun
Shanna gar me gang doun!

However, once the resumed bombardment had breached the castle walls and rendered the castle's defence hopeless, Cockburn surrendered the castle with quarter given for its surviving defenders. Having given his parole to the Parliamentarians, Cockburn would have missed the final disaster that met David Leslie's army at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651.

Death and the succession of his eldest son as laird of Caldra

Colonel John Cockburn is believed to have died in about 1680, his wife having died before him in March 1668. [10] He was succeeded as laird of Caldra by his eldest surviving son William Cockburn.

Related Research Articles

Alexander Leslie, 1st Earl of Leven Scottish soldier in Dutch, Swedish and Scottish service

Alexander Leslie, 1st Earl of Leven was a Scottish soldier in Swedish and Scottish service. Born illegitimate and raised as a foster child, he subsequently advanced to the rank of a Swedish Field Marshal, and in Scotland became Lord General in command of the Army of the Covenanters, a privy councillor, captain of Edinburgh Castle, Lord Balgonie and Earl of Leven. In England he commanded the Army of the Solemn League and Covenant and was senior commander of the Army of Both Kingdoms (1642–1647). Leslie served in the Thirty Years' War, the Bishops' Wars, and most of the English Civil War, fighting primarily in the First English Civil War. Leslie would live a long life, dying roughly at the age of 80 or 81.

James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose Scottish nobleman and soldier (1612–1650)

James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose was a Scottish nobleman, poet and soldier, lord lieutenant and later viceroy and captain general of Scotland. Montrose initially joined the Covenanters in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, but subsequently supported King Charles I as the English Civil War developed. From 1644 to 1646, and again in 1650, he fought in the civil war in Scotland on behalf of the King. He is referred to as the Great Montrose.

Archibald Campbell, Marquess of Argyll Governed Scotland during Wars of the Three Kingdoms

Archibald Campbell, Marquess of Argyll, 8th Earl of Argyll, Chief of Clan Campbell was a Scottish nobleman, politician, and peer. The de facto head of Scotland's government during most of the conflict of the 1640s and 50s known as the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, he was a major figure in the Covenanter movement that fought for the maintenance of the Presbyterian religion against the Stuart monarchy's attempts to impose episcopacy. He is often remembered as the principal opponent of the royalist general James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose.

Major General Sir James Holborne of Menstrie was a Scottish soldier during the years of the English Civil War. He eventually reached the rank of Major General and fought with the Parliamentarians during the English Civil War, fighting at Newbury and Taunton. Although he initially fought on the side of the English Parliament, he later became a senior officer in the Scottish Army, fighting against Cromwell. He lived at Menstrie Castle, in Menstrie, Clackmannanshire, central Scotland, which he had purchased in 1649.

David Leslie, 1st Lord Newark

David Leslie, 1st Lord Newark was a Scottish cavalry officer. He fought for the Swedish army of Gustavus Adolphus during the Thirty Years' War. He had entered Swedish service in 1630, serving as a captain in the regiment of Alexander Leslie. He returned to Scotland just before the end of the Bishops' War, and participated in the English Civil War and Scottish Civil Wars.

Battle of Inverlochy (1645) Part of the Wars of Three Kingdoms

The Battle of Inverlochy occurred on 2 February 1645 during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms when a Royalist force of Highlanders and Confederate Irish troops under the overall command of James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, routed and largely destroyed the pursuing forces of Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll, who had been encamped under the walls of Inverlochy Castle.

Scotland in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms Role of Scotland during the Wars of the 3 Kingdoms (1639–1653)

Between 1639 and 1653, Scotland was involved in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, a series of wars starting with the Bishops Wars, the Irish Rebellion of 1641, the English Civil War, the Irish Confederate Wars, and finally the subjugation of Ireland and Scotland by the English Roundhead New Model Army.

John Urry (soldier) Scottish soldier

Sir John Urry, also known as Hurry, was a Scottish professional soldier who at various times during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms fought for Scots Covenanters, Engagers and Royalists, as well as both English Parliamentarians and Royalists. Captured at Carbisdale in April 1650, he was executed in Edinburgh on 29 May 1650.

Battle of Kilsyth Battle that took place during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms

The Battle of Kilsyth, fought on 15 August 1645 near Kilsyth, was an engagement of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. The largest battle of the conflict in Scotland, it resulted in victory for the Royalist general Montrose over the forces of the Covenanter-dominated Scottish Parliament, and marked the end of General William Baillie's pursuit of the Royalists.

The Battle of Alford was an engagement of the Scottish Civil War. It took place near the village of Alford, Aberdeenshire, on 2 July 1645. During the battle, the Royalist general James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose defeated the forces of the Covenanter-dominated Scottish government, commanded by William Baillie.

Engagers Political party in Scotland

The Engagers were a faction of the Scottish Covenanters, who made "The Engagement" with King Charles I in December 1647 while he was imprisoned in Carisbrooke Castle by the English Parliamentarians after his defeat in the First Civil War.

Battle of Carbisdale Scottish civil war battle (1650)

The Battle of Carbisdale took place close to the village of Culrain, Sutherland, Scotland on 27 April 1650 and was part of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It was fought by the Royalist leader James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, against the Scottish Government of the time, dominated by Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll and a grouping of radical Covenanters, known as the Kirk Party. The Covenanters decisively defeated the Royalists. The battlefield has been inventoried and protected by Historic Scotland under the Scottish Historical Environment Policy of 2009. Although Carbisdale is the name of the nearest farm to the site of the battle, Culrain is the nearest village.

Battle of Stirling (1648) Battle on 12 September 1648 during the Scottish Civil War of the 17th century

The second Battle of Stirling was fought on 12 September 1648 during the Scottish Civil War of the 17th century. The battle was fought between the Engagers who were a faction of the Scottish Covenanters under the command of George Munro, 1st of Newmore and who had made "The Engagement" with Charles I of England in December 1647, against the Kirk Party who were a radical Presbyterian faction of the Scottish Covenanters who were under the command of Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll.

Clan Leslie Lowland Scottish clan

Clan Leslie is a Lowland Scottish clan. The progenitor of the Clan, Bartolf, was a nobleman from Hungary, who came to Scotland in 1067. He built a castle at Lesselyn, from which the clan name derives.

George Munro, 1st of Newmore

Sir George Munro, 1st of Newmore (1602–1693) was a 17th-century Scottish soldier and member of parliament from the Clan Munro, Ross-shire, Scotland. He was seated at Newmore Castle. Between 1629 and 1634 Munro held command in the Swedish army during the Thirty Years' War, and from 1642 in the Scottish Covenanter army during the Irish Confederate Wars before changing his allegiance to the Royalist cause of Charles I in 1648 during the Scottish Civil War and Irish Confederate Wars.

Battle of Preston (1648) Battle of the Second English Civil War

The Battle of Preston, fought largely at Walton-le-Dale near Preston in Lancashire, resulted in a victory for the New Model Army under the command of Oliver Cromwell over the Royalists and Scots commanded by the Duke of Hamilton. The Parliamentarian victory presaged the end of the Second English Civil War.

The Battle of Mauchline Muir was an engagement fought on 12 June 1648 between two rival factions of the Covenanters of Scotland. On one side where those who favoured The Engagement, known as Engagers, and those who were opposed to the Engagement, and known as the Kirk party.

Archibald Strachan was a Scottish soldier who fought in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, reaching the rank of Colonel.

The Western Association was a Scottish military association to coordinate the military forces of the south western counties of Scotland during the War of the Three Kingdoms.

This is a timeline of events leading up to, culminating in, and resulting from the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.

References

  1. ↑ Sir Robert Cockburn of that Ilk, 9th Bt. and Harry A. Cockburn, The Records of the Cockburn Family, T. N. Foulis, London and Edinburgh, 1913.
  2. ↑ Alexia Grosjean, Alexander Leslie and the Scottish Generals of the Thirty Years' War, 1618-1648, Routledge, 2015.
  3. ↑ Charles S. Terry (ed.), Papers Relating to the Army of the Solemn League and Covenant, 1643-1647, Vol. I, Publications of the Scottish History Society, Second Series, Vol. XVI, Edinburgh, 1917.
  4. ↑ Stuart Reid, Auldearn 1645: The Marquis of Montrose's Scottish Campaign, Osprey Publishing, Botley, Oxfordshire, UK, 2002.
  5. ↑ James Hogg, Tales of the Wars of Montrose, revised edition prepared by Gillian Hughes, Edinburgh University Press, 2002.
  6. ↑ Alisdair McRae, How the Scots Won the English Civil War: The Triumph of Frazer's Dragoones, The History Press, 2013, ISBN   0752498630.
  7. ↑ Sir Robert Cockburn of that Ilk, 9th Bt. and Harry A. Cockburn, The Records of the Cockburn Family, T. N. Foulis, London and Edinburgh, 1913.
  8. ↑ Act 1649/1/316,The Records of the Parliaments of Scotland to 1707, the University of St. Andrews.
  9. ↑ Sir Robert Cockburn of that Ilk, 9th Bt. and Harry A. Cockburn, The Records of the Cockburn Family, T. N. Foulis, London and Edinburgh, 1913.
  10. ↑ Sir Robert Cockburn of that Ilk, 9th Bt. and Harry A. Cockburn, The Records of the Cockburn Family, T. N. Foulis, London and Edinburgh, 1913.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.