During the summer of 1636 HEPBURN'S REGIMENT served with the army commanded by the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, and in the month of May it appeared before _Saverne_, a town of Alsace, situated on the banks of the river Sarre, which was defended by an Imperial garrison commanded by Colonel Mulhein. The siege of this place was immediately commenced, and the garrison made a desperate resistance. A breach having been effected, three assaults were made on the 20th of June, and were repulsed with great loss. On the following day the batteries against the town opened their fire with greater fury than before, and during the progress of the siege the gallant Sir John Hepburn[37] was shot in the neck, and died, regretted, not only by his old companions in arms, but also by the court of France, where his valour and abilities were well known and appreciated. After holding out a few days longer the garrison surrendered; and Louis XIII. conferred the vacant Colonelcy of the regiment on Lieutenant-Colonel James Hepburn, whose name appears amongst the Scots lieutenant-colonels in the service of the King of Sweden in 1632. [Sidenote: 1637] The regiment appears to have continued to serve in Alsace, under the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, whose army consisted of French, Scots, Swedes, and Germans, in the pay of France; and during the year 1637 it was engaged in several skirmishes with the Imperialists, but no considerable action was performed by either side. This year Colonel James Hepburn was killed, and he was succeeded in the command of the regiment by Lord James Douglas, second son of William, first Marquis of Douglas. From this period the regiment was known in France by the title of _Le Régiment de Douglas_.[38] While the regiment was in Alsace, Picardy was invaded by the Spaniards, and in 1637 this corps of hardy Scots appears to have been withdrawn from the army commanded by the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, and stationed near the frontiers of Picardy. [Sidenote: 1638] In the spring of 1638 it was placed under the command of the Marshal de Chastillon, for the purpose of penetrating into the Earldom of Artois, which at this period formed part of the Spanish Netherlands.