The early history of the Royal Scots Dragoons is painfully and intimately associated with the sufferings and trials of the Covenanters—a page in our history which, would the truth admit, we would gladly omit. The ignominious duty imposed upon this gallant regiment, of hunting down the Presbyterians, and the cruelties which they were called to witness, sometimes to inflict upon their unhappy brethren, must have been extremely harrowing and repulsive to the feelings of brave men. Along with a troop of horse, a troop of the corps was present in 1679, under Graham of Claverhouse, at the battle of Drumclog, where they were defeated, with the loss of twenty men, by the superior numbers and desperate valour of the Covenanters, as also from the unsuitableness of the ground for cavalry to act upon. The result of this overthrow was a general rising of the disaffected and oppressed—a motley and undisciplined army was speedily assembled, better in the use of the tongue than the sword; and as always happens where that “unruly member” is in the ascendant, proved the precursor of party division, and in the end brought ruin to the good cause in which they had embarked. Foiled in an attack upon Glasgow by the retiring royal troops, especially the Royal Scots Dragoons and Scots Foot Guards, the Covenanters took up a strong position behind the Clyde at Bothwell Bridge, and there awaited the attack of the royal army, now advancing from Edinburgh under the Duke of Monmouth. Failing in effecting an accommodation, the battle was commenced by the Royal Scots Dragoons, supported by the Scots Foot Guards attacking the bridge, which, defended with great bravery, was only relinquished when the ammunition of the defenders was exhausted. The loss of this most important post, as well as the divisions already prevailing amongst the Covenanters, soon produced a panic which lost the battle, ruined for the present the cause of liberty of conscience, and served to add nearly ten years more to their sufferings. In the pursuit, the troopers of Claverhouse took a cruel revenge for the defeat of Drumclog, upon the broken and flying remnant. The Royal Scots Dragoons continuing to be employed in the humiliating work of persecution, were often roughly handled by the Presbyterians, especially at Ayr Moss on the 20th July, 1680, where a desperate _rencontre_ took place.