Tam Dalyell of the Binns Thomas " Tam " Dalyell of The Binns ( or " Dalziell " , " Dalziel " , " Dalzell " , etc . ) ( 1615 – 1685 ) was a Scottish Royalist general in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms , also known by the soubriquets " Bluidy Tam " and " The Muscovite de ' il " . Dalyell was born in Linlithgowshire , the son of Thomas Dalyell of T he Binns , Linlithgowshire , head of a cadet branch of the family of the Earls of Carnwath , and of Janet , daughter of the 1st Lord Bruce of Kinloss , Master of the Rolls in England . He appears to have accompanied Charles I ' s expedition to La Rochelle in 1628 ( to aid the Huguenots during the Siege of La Rochelle ) at the age of thirteen . Latterly as a colonel , he served under General Robert Munro and General Alexander Leslie in Ulster . Hearing of the execution of Charles I on 30 January 1649 , it is said that he refused to shave his beard as a penance for the behaviour of his fellow countrymen . He was taken prisoner at the capitulation of Carrickfergus in August 1650 , but was given a free pass , and having been banished from Scotland , remained in Ireland . He was present at the Battle of Worcester ( 3 September 1651 ) , where his men surrendered , and he himself was captured and imprisoned in the Tower of London . In May he escaped abroad and , in 1654 , took part in the Highland rebellion and was exempted from Cromwell ' s Act of Grace , a reward of 200 guineas being offered for his capture , dead or alive . Dalyell evaded capture and fled to Russia . There , he entered the service of Tsar Alexis I and distinguished himself as general in the wars against the Turks and Tatars as well as in the Russo - Polish War ( 1654 – 1667 ) . He returned to Britain upon The Restoration of Charles II . By 19 July 1666 he was appointed commander - in - chief in Scotland , with orders to subdue the Covenanter s . Dalyell defeated them at the Battle of Rullion Green , in the Pentland Hills , south of Edinburgh . He treated the defeated with great cruelty , imprisoning some 1 , 200 Covenanters in Greyfriars Kirkyard amongst other things , earning him the nickname " " Bluidy Tam " " . Legends of his cruelty were probably exaggerated by anti - Royalists . The General obtained several of the forfeited estates of his opponents . On 3 January 1667 he was made a privy counsellor , and from 1678 till his death he represented Linlithgow in the Scottish parliament . He was incensed by the choice of the Duke of Monmouth as commander - in - chief in June 1679 , and was confirmed in his original appointment by Charles , but in consequence did not appear at the Battle of Bothwell Brig till after the close of the engagement . On 25 November 1681 , a commission was issued authorizing him to enroll the regiment afterwards known as the Scots Greys . His commission was confirmed by King James VII , but he died soon after the latter ' s accession in August 1685 . He married Agnes , daughter of John Ker of Cavers , by whom he had a son , Thomas , created a baronet in 1685 , whose only son and heir , Thomas , died unmarried . The baronetage apparently became extinct , but it was assumed about 1726 by James Menteith . The Dalyell baronetage today is represented by Tam Dalyell " a . k . a . " Sir Thomas Dalyell of the Binns , 11th Baronet , the veteran British politician . Gaming with the Devil . Legend has it that " Bluidy Tam " enjoyed on occasion a hand of cards with the Devil . During one of these games , the Devil losing threw the card table at the General . The Devil missed and the Table flew threw through the window and ended up in a pond on the grounds of the House of the Binns . This tale was passed down through generations of inhabitants of the Binns . In 1870 following a particularly hard drought , a Marble topped Card table was seen poking through the low waters of the pond . In 1930 the Mother of the present Tam Dalyell asked a local joiner to repair the legs on the table , to find out that the about - to - be - retired tradesman ' s first job had been to retrieve said table from the pond .