Battle of Drumclog The Battle of Drumclog was fought on 1 June 1679 , between a group of Covenanters and the forces of John Graham of Claverhouse , at High Drumclog , in South Lanarkshire , Scotland . The battle . Following the assassination of Archbishop James Sharp on Magus Muir , and the " Declaration of Rutherglen " , the Covenanters were on the verge of open rebellion . A large conventicle was planned to take place at Loudoun Hill , on the boundary of Ayrshire and Lanarkshire , in defiance of government persecution of the Covenanters . On the morning of Sunday 1 June , the Rev . Thomas Douglas allegedly broke off his sermon with the words " Ye have got the theory , now for the practice " , when it was reported that the dragoon s of Claverhouse were heading to the area . Claverhouse , better known to his enemies as ' Bluidy Clavers ' , had recently been appointed captain , with a mission to disperse conventicles in south west Scotland . A group of around 200 armed Covenanters moved east , to a boggy moor near the farm of Drumclog . With about 40 mounted men , and armed with muskets and pitchforks , the Covenanter force was no rabble . Commanded by Robert Hamilton , the army took up a strong position behind a bog , or ' stank ' . Claverhouse ' s force arrived , but were unable to engage the enemy directly due to the ground conditions . For some time groups of skirmishers exchanged fire across the stank , and Claverhouse felt he was gaining the upper hand . However , he was still unable to get his troops close to the Covenanters without becoming bogged down . At this point , the Covenanters decided to press the attack . William Cleland led a force around the stank , and advanced rapidly . Despite heavy fire from the government troops , the attack was entirely successful . The line of Claverhouse ' s force broke , and the dragoons were soon routed from the battlefield , leaving 36 dead . The victory was a huge success for the rebellious Covenanters , although euphoria was short lived . Just three weeks later Claverhouse , under the leadership of the Duke of Monmouth , helped to crush the rebellion at the Battle of Bothwell Brig . A somewhat fanciful account of the battle , allegedly written by Thomas Brownlee of the Covenanter army , was published in 1822 . Claverhouse himself also left a frank account of the battle . A fictionalised version appears in Sir Walter Scott ' s novel " Old Mortality " . Memorials to the battle . The Battle of Drumclog is celebrated by some in Scotland as a victory for religious freedom over the oppressive policies of the government of the day . In 1839 a monument was erected on the site of the battle , and in 1859 a school house was erected nearby . The battlefield has been inventoried and protected by Historic Scotland under the Scottish Historical Environment Policy of 2009 . The Boston Church in Duns , in the Scottish Borders , had a bell named in memory of the battle . The church was demolished in the 1950s , but the bell is preserved on the site . In 1905 the Darvel and Strathaven Railway opened , with a station at Drumclog , 2 km south west of the battle site . By 1912 the village which had grown up here required a church , and the Drumclog Memorial Kirk was constructed . Inside the kirk , located on the A71 Edinburgh to Kilmarnock road , is a stained glass window depicting the Covenanters , and a painting of the Covenanters ' army standard . The kirk holds an annual memorial service on the first Sunday in June , at the Drumclog Monument .