Robert Hamilton of Preston Sir Robert Hamilton ( 1650 – 1701 ) , second baronet of Preston , was one of the leaders of the Scottish Covenanters . Early life . He was the younger son of Sir Thomas Hamilton of Preston Tower , a Royalist , who fought as lieutenant - colonel at the battle of Dunbar in 1650 , and at the battle of Worcester , in the cause of the Stuarts . After his death in 1672 a baronetcy was conferred in 1673 on his eldest son . Sir William . He then took part in the expedition of Archibald Campbell , 9th Earl of Argyll in 1685 , escaped to Holland , accompanied the Prince of Orange to England in 1688 , but died at Exeter , when the troops were on the march to London . Robert Hamilton , the younger son , was educated at the University of Glasgow under the care of Gilbert Burnet , whose sister was his step - mother . He began to attend conventicle s , and became an extreme Covenanter . Campaign of 1679 . Along with Thomas Douglas and Hackston of Rathillet he , in 1679 , drew up what became known as the " Rutherglen declaration " , which they intended on 29 May , the king ' s birthday , to nail to the market - cross of Glasgow . The advance of the troops of John Graham of Claverhouse prevented that , and Rutherglen , about two miles to the east of Glasgow , was chosen instead . They extinguished the bonfire in the king ' s honour and lit another , where they proceeded to burn all the acts of parliament and royal proclamations made since the Restoration . They then retired towards Evandale and Newmilns , preparing to hold an armed convention on the following Sunday at Loudon Hill . Battle of Drumclog . Claverhouse , who had gone to Rutherglen , came suddenly in sight of the gathering . Sending away their women and children the covenanters drew up in battle array on the farm of Drumclog , a little to the east . Nominally Hamilton was in command , but the experienced officers , such as Hackston and Cleland , led the separate detachments of the Covenanters , defeating Claverhouse was due . Hamilton , however , showed some energy after the fight . In a vindication of his conduct , 7 December 1685 , published in " Faithful Contendings displayed " , for having put to death one of the prisoners after the battle with his own hand , he asserted that before the battle began he had given out the word that " no quarter should be given " . Battle of Bothwell Bridge . The troops had barricaded Glasgow , and the Covenanters were easily repulsed . They halted at the position occupied on the previous night , but on Claverhouse advancing towards them retreated to Hamilton . As Claverhouse was too weak to attack them here , they formed a camp , and according to Hamilton numbered within a week five or six thousand men . Hamilton took all the credit for the victory at Drumclog , and assumed command without ceremony . Time was spent in harangues and theological disputes . After the withdrawal of the government forces to Stirling the Covenanters advanced to Glasgow , where they are stated to have robbed the archbishop ' s house , to have pulled down the ornaments of the cathedral , and to have defaced several of the monuments , but having done so they fell back on their old position . The arrival in the camp of John Welch , with a reinforcement of men from Ayr , introduced a disturbing element . Welch was prepared to accept a compromise with the government by which both episcopacy and presbyterianism should be tolerated . He was therefore denounced by the Hamilton party as an Erastian , and the dispute raged till the appearance of the government forces under the Duke of Monmouth . Welch and others , though much in the minority , drew up a declaration , which they presented on 22 June in the hope that it would lead to at least a suspension of hostilities . The declaration is known as the Hamilton declaration , in reference to the town where it was drawn up . Sir Robert Hamilton , in name of the army , also signed a petition to Monmouth , and afterwards , when taunted with this , said that he had been ensnared into the subscription by the belief that it was Donald Cargill ' s work . When the Hamilton declaration was presented , the armies were drawn up facing each other on opposite banks of the River Clyde at Bothwell Bridge . Monmouth refused to consider terms until they had laid down their arms . Hamilton occupied himself with the erection of a gigantic gibbet , around which was placed a cartload of new ropes , but as soon as the action began his courage ebbed away . He ordered Hackston to retire when the bridge was attacked , and himself ' rode off with the horse ' and ' allowed the foot to shift for themselves , ' thus ' leaving the world to debate whether he acted most like a traitor , coward , or fool ' . Hamilton ' s courage was doubted . Burnet , in a passage omitted from the earlier editions of his " Own Time " , ' calls him an ' ignominious coward , ' and Robert Wodrow speaks of his behaviour at Bothwell Bridge as ' ill conduct , not to say cowardice . ' During the attack on Glasgow he is said to have waited the issue in a place of safety . In any case he was incompetent as a commander , and displayed feebleness . Later life . Hamilton fled to Holland , whereupon he was outlawed , and sentenced to be executed whenever apprehended . While in Holland he acted as commissioner ' to the persecuted true presbyterian church in Scotland , ' and in this capacity he visited Germany and Switzerland . In 1683 he prevailed on the presbytery of Groningen to ordain James Renwick , who had studied at the university there , as minister to the presbyterian church in Scotland . At the Glorious Revolution in 1688 Hamilton returned to Scotland , and , his attainder having been reversed , succeeded in that year to the baronetcy on the death of his brother Sir William . He declined to claim his brother ' s estates , on the ground that it would involve the " acknowledging an uncovenanted sovereign of these covenanted nations " . He was unmarried and privately took measures for securing the entailed settlement of the family inheritance on the issue of his brother ' s daughter Anne , by her husband Thomas , son of Sir James Oswald . On 20 October 1686 a letter had been sent to Hamilton by the united societies stating that they had information ready to be proven ' that he had countenanced the Hamilton declaration which he and his party since had cried out so much against ; that he had signed a petition to Monmouth in name of the army ; that he had received large sums of money from good people in Holland for printing the testimonies of the sufferers , and yet greater for the support of the suffering party in Scotland , of which he had given no accounts ' . On his return to Scotland he continued , however , to retain his influence with the extreme Covenanters . On 9 November 1689 he protested against the ' compliance at Hamilton , ' by which it was agreed by a section of the covenanters to form the Cameronian regiment , of which William Cleland was appointed colonel . Suspected of having drawn up and published the Sanquhar declaration of 18 August 1692 , Hamilton was arrested at Earlstown on 10 September , and for some months he was detained a prisoner at Edinburgh and Haddington . He was several times brought before the privy council for examination , but , although declining to acknowledge their jurisdiction or the authority of William and Mary , received his liberty on 15 May 1693 , and was permitted to remain unmolested till his death , 20 October 1701 .