The Battle of Tippermuir, 1644: Montrose’s First Victory

At a glance

Date	1 September 1644
War	Wars of the Three Kingdoms
Where	Tibbermore, west of Perth
Royalists	Montrose & Alasdair MacColla
Covenanters	Lord Elcho
Outcome	Decisive royalist victory

Background

Commissioned as the King’s Lieutenant, Montrose slipped into the Highlands and joined ~1,600 Irish troops under Alasdair MacColla, gathering Atholl men to his standard. Short of everything — horses, powder, even muskets — he marched on Perth, where Lord Elcho’s levies barred the way at Tippermuir.

The battle

Outnumbered, Montrose thinned his line to three ranks so it could not be flanked, MacColla’s Irish in the centre, Highlanders on the wings. A Covenanter cavalry probe broke under musket fire and a hail of thrown stones; Montrose ordered a general charge, and the raw Fife and Perthshire militia collapsed and were chased to Perth.

The casualty figures come from royalist propaganda (Wishart): Covenanter dead as high as ~2,000 with almost no royalist loss. The line that “a man could walk to Perth on the bodies of the slain” is rhetoric, not evidence.

Outcome & significance

Perth surrendered the same day, giving Montrose the arms and powder he needed and launching his extraordinary run of victories.

The battlefield today

On the Inventory of Historic Battlefields (BTL39); a plaque on Needless Road, Perth, records the Fife men killed in the flight. Open farmland near Tibbermore.

The clans & people involved

Royalist: MacDonald (MacColla’s Irish/Highlanders), Graham, and Stewart/Atholl men.
Covenanter: Fife & Perthshire militia under Elcho and Tullibardine.

Sources

Battle of Tippermuir — Wikipedia; Historic Environment Scotland (BTL39).

📝 Kevin’s note: a photo of the Tibbermore battlefield / the Perth plaque — add from our own visit.

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