His son was a Major in the Covenanter army and was killed at the Battle of Inverlochy (1645).
Their "popish" overtones led to them being damaged by an occupying Covenanter army in 1640.
The Covenanter army lost 2,000 men that day.
Not long afterwards, the Covenanter army was told to disperse at Duns.
Cromwell's forces then invaded Scotland, crushed the Covenanter army, and went on to take Edinburgh.
To these ends, he had instructions to do all in his power to keep the Scottish Covenanter army in the north of Ireland occupied.
A Scottish Covenanter army under the command of David Leslie had been shadowing his progress.
The Royalists only withdrew to York when the Scottish Covenanter army marched south in support of Parliament.
Upon the arrival of the Covenanter army, they laid siege to the castle and made small raids against the forces of the castle.
A somewhat fanciful account of the battle, allegedly written by Thomas Brownlee of the Covenanter army, was published in 1822.