Twenty years ago we named our Texas home “Drumclog Ranch” to honor Scottish Heritage, the faithful Scots who sacrificed much in the Protestant Reformation, the Covenanters who fought to preserve our great faith at Drumclog Farm, and the Rev. Thomas Douglas whose surname we proudly bear.
The Battle of Drumclog Farm was fought on 1 June 1679, between a group of Covenanters and the forces of John Graham of Claverhouse, at High Drumclog, in South Lanarkshire, Scotland.
Following the assassination of Archbishop James Sharp on Magus Muir, and the Declaration of Rutherglen, the Covenanters were on the verge of open rebellion. A large conventicle was planned to take place at Loudoun Hill, on the boundary of Ayrshire and Lanarkshire, in defiance of government persecution of the Covenanters. On the morning of Sunday 1st June, the Reverend Thomas Douglas allegedly broke off his sermon with the words "Ye have got the theory, now for the practice", when it was reported that the dragoons of Claverhouse were heading to the area. Claverhouse, better known to his enemies as 'Bluidy Clavers', had recently been appointed captain, with a mission to disperse conventicles in south west Scotland .
A group of around 200 armed Covenanters moved east, to a boggy moor near the farm of Drumclog. With about 40 mounted men, and armed with muskets and pitchforks, the Covenanter force was no rabble. Commanded by Robert Hamilton, the army took up a strong position behind a bog, or 'stank'. Claverhouse's forces arrived, but were unable to engage the enemy directly due to the ground conditions. For some time groups of skirmishers exchanged fire across the stank, and Claverhouse felt he was gaining the upper hand. However, he was still unable to get his troops close to the Covenanters without becoming bogged down.
At this point, the Covenanters decided to press the attack. They closed ranks, began singing Psalm 76 and William Cleland led a force around the stank, and advanced rapidly. Despite heavy fire from the government troops, the attack was entirely successful. The line of Claverhouse's force broke, and the dragoons were soon routed from the battlefield, leaving 36 dead.
The victory was a huge success for the rebellious Covenanters, although euphoria was short lived. Just three weeks later Claverhouse, under the leadership of the Duke of Monmouth, helped to crush the rebellion at the Battle of Bothwell Brig.
A somewhat fanciful account of the battle, allegedly written by Thomas Brownlee of the Covenanter army, was published in 1822 and can be found in numerous historical works. Claverhouse himself also left a frank account of the battle. A most poignant Drumclog account from a family hardship perspective is found in Richard M. Hannula's Radiant: 50 Remarkable Women in Church History; A fictionalized version appears in Sir Walter Scott's novel Old Mortality; Mention is made in the Douglas M. Jones children's book Scottish Seas (a Douglas family read aloud favorite) and several references in the Douglas Bond Crown and Covenant series.