Alexander Leslie , 1st Earl of Leven Alexander Leslie , 1st Earl of Leven ( 1582 – 4 April 1661 ) was a Scottish soldier in Dutch , Swedish and Scottish service . Born illegitimate and raised as a foster child , he subsequently advanced to the rank of a Dutch captain , a Swedish Field Marshal , and in Scotland became lord general in command of the Covenanters , privy councillor , captain of Edinburgh Castle , Lord Balgonie and Earl of Leven . Early life . Alexander Leslie was born in 1582 as an illegitimate son of a captain of Blair Castle , George Leslie , and a mother sometimes described as " A wench in Rannoch " . He was a member of the family of Leslie of Balquhain . At an early age , Alexander was fostered out to the Campbells of Glenorchy . The fosterage bond was strong and still written about by Leslie into the 1640s . Indeed it was this link that brought Leslie into the orbit of the House of Argyll as Lord Lorne , the son of the marquis of Argyll was also a Glenorchy fosterling . This relationship perhaps explains the presence of Campbells in the same regiments as Leslie in Sweden , most notably Captain Charles Campbell ( Karl Kammel ) , whose portrait hangs to this day in Skokloster Castle in Sweden . In foreign service . In Dutch Service . Alexander Leslie entered Dutch service in 1605 , and eventually attained the rank of captain in the Dutch States Army . In Swedish Service . In 1608 , he transferred to the Swedish army where he served with distinction . In 1627 the Swedish monarch knighted Alexander Leslie , by now a full colonel . Gustavus Adolphus had a particular affection for him , trusting him with guarding the crucial strategic garrisons in North Germany while the main Swedish army established a foothold on the Baltic shoreline and advanced slowly southwards . In 1628 , Leslie was appointed governor of besieged Stralsund , replacing Colonel Alexander Seaton and the Scottish regiment of Donald Mackay who had been holding the town on behalf of the Danes . Leslie continued the successful defense of the town against Albrecht von Wallenstein ' s imperial army in what effectively constituted Sweden ' s entrance into the Thirty Years ' War , Gustav II Adolf also sending eight warships to help raise the siege . In 1631 , Leslie organized English and Scottish troops raised for the Swedish army by James Hamilton , 1st Duke of Hamilton , then the 3rd Marquis of Hamilton and was promoted Major - General . Leslie was badly wounded in February 1632 near Hamburg . Despite his injury , Leslie was appointed Field Marshal in 1636 and was one of the Swedish commanders at the Battle of Wittstock in the same year . Although the overall commander was Johan Banér , the spectacular victory was largely the work of Leslie and his subordinate , a fellow Scotsman , Lieutenant - General James King , a fact related by Banér himself in his report of the battle to Axel Oxenstierna . Leslie was furious with Banér and in his own account of the battle infers there had been a dispute about the tactics for the day . As it was , Leslie was forced to sacrifice many of his veteran troops in the process of saving Banér ' s men from being routed . Leslie intimated to Oxenstierna that he would stand down from Swedish service but was persuaded to remain and restructure the Army of the Weser . However , by 1637 , Leslie was in Scotland preparing the way for his final retirement from Swedish service . Return to Scotland . In 1638 , events in his native country again compelled him to return to Scotland , where he was appointed " lord general in command " of the Covenanter s army by the Scottish administration , and as such participated in the Bishops ' Wars . Scottish regiments were generally called into service by the lairds and clan chieftains obliging their tenants with feudal duty or coercion to send their kin into battle . However , support among the Presbyterians of Scotland was widespread and the Covenanters ' army swelled to over 20 , 000 men . From 1639 they rallied under a flag bearing the motto ' For Christ ' s Crown and Covenant ' . Most of the officers of the Army of the Covenant were veterans of Swedish service brought out of the continental wars to form Scotland ' s first professional army . This took place after careful negotiations in the Swedish Riksråd ( state council ) in which Leslie worked behind the scenes to ensure Chancellor Oxenstierna allowed up to 300 officers to be decommissioned along with an unknown number of ordinary soldiers . He was also able to bring from Sweden his arrears of pay in the form of cannon and muskets as ' parting gifts ' and these were transported for him on Swedish naval vessels . Nonetheless , the payment arrangement meant that the Swedes could claim that they were not supporting rebellion in Scotland , only paying off a debt . Leslie ' s reputation , guile and discretion were frequently noted by contemporary observers including the English officer John Aston and intellectual , Sir Cheney Culpeper who both commented on his qualities in their writings . His reputation was well earned and he took Edinburgh Castle without the loss of a single man . In the First Bishops ' War , Leslie marched his army to Duns Law where he encamped and awaited the arrival of the Royalist forces . Rather than fight them when they arrived , Leslie invited the Royalist officers to dinner before allowing them to inspect his army . Having seen they were out - classed by the Army of the Covenant , the Royalists chose to retire rather than to engage Leslie ' s superior forces . In the Second Bishops ' War , Leslie conducted a brilliant campaign in the North of England , overwhelming the Royalists at the Battle of Newburn . From there he took Newcastle with ease putting pressure on the King to come to a treaty with the Scottish Covenanters . Thus followed the treaty of London . In 1641 King Charles I in reward for his extraordinary military achievements at home and abroad appointed Leslie to the Scottish Privy Council and bestowed upon him , at Holyrood , the titles of Lord Balgonie and Earl of Leven , and made him captain of Edinburgh Castle . Leven eventually accepted command of the forces raised for the invasion of England , and was in consequence accused of having broken his personal oath to Charles . He rose to become a commander of the Scottish army from 1644 to 1646 and fought for the Solemn League and Covenant , which bound both the Scottish and English parliaments together against the Royalist forces in the Three Stuart Kingdoms . In 1644 , Leven commanded an army that he marched to England to take part in the unsuccessful Siege of York , before participating in the Battle of Marston Moor . The Covenanter and the Parliamentarian forces inflicted a crushing defeat on the Royalists under Prince Rupert . After Martston Moor Leven commanded the allied army to York which surrendered within a fortnight . He also took Newcastle later in the year . When Charles surrendered to the Scottish army again in 1646 , he was placed under the charge of General Lord Leven , who returned him to the English in 1647 . Although over seventy years of age and still active , Leven passed actual command of the army to David Leslie , in whom he had complete confidence . However , splits within the Scottish Parliament saw the Royalist Engager faction oust the Argyll radicals . Hamilton led an ill - supported army over the border in support of the king . They were soundly defeated by English parliamentary forces of Oliver Cromwell . This led to the return of the Argyll faction in Scotland . After the execution Charles I , Argyll declared his son , Charles II , King of Great Britain and Ireland leading to an English invasion of Scotland . The Scottish Covenanters were defeated ( 1650 ) at the battle of Dunbar . In the new war , and in the disastrous campaign of Dunbar , Leven took but a nominal part , though attempts were afterwards made to hold him responsible . In August 1651 Leven was captured by a group of English dragoon s , and was sent to London . He was confined to the Tower of London for some time , until he was released on providing a bond of £20 , 000 , whereupon he retired to Northumberland . Sometime later in London he was arrested for a second time , but negotiations involving the queen of Sweden again obtained him his liberty . He died in 1661 at Balgonie Castle , Fife , Scotland . Family . Alexander Leslie was married in 1637 to Agnes Renton ( died 29 June 1651 , daughter of David Renton of Billie ) , and in due course his eldest son , Gustav Leslie became a colonel in the Swedish Army . One known descendant is writer and musician , Adam S . Leslie . Nursery rhyme and Song . The nursery rhyme " There was a crooked man " is allegedly about Sir Alexander Leslie : There was a crooked man and he walked a crooked mile , He found a crooked sixpence upon a crooked stile . He bought a crooked cat , which caught a crooked mouse . And they all lived together in a little crooked house . The song " General Lesley ’ s March " is said to have been sung by Scottish soldiers during the wars of the Covenant in the 1640s , though it is more likely to be a mockery of the Covenanters : When to the kirk we come , We ' ll purge it ilka room , Frae popish relics , and a ' sic innovation , That a ' the world may see , There ' s nane in the right but we , Of the auld Scottish nation . NB this is either a later version or a forgery . In Scots ' When ' is rendered ' Whan ' and in seventeenth century Scots usually spelled ' quhan ' .