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Sir John Cochrane of that Ilk’s Regiment of Foot

Active	1640 to 1646
Country	Scotland
Allegiance	Covenanter
Conflicts	Second Bishops’ War
	Confederate War
	First Civil War
Type	Foot
Colonel	Sir John Cochrane
	Robert Home
	John Maxwell
Area Raised	Partly Galloway
Coat Colour	Grey?
	Red
Flag Colour
Flag Design
Field Armies	Munro 1642-6
	Baillie 1645

Later Colonel Robert Home of Heugh’s, then Colonel John Maxwell’s Regiment of Foot

Covenanter foot serving in both Scotland and Ireland, notably wearing red coats in 1645

Service History

1640

April: Raised, partly in Galloway
May: Quartered at Haddington
May: March on Dumfriesshire
June to September: Siege of Caerlaverock Castle
June to September: Siege of Threave Castle
Garrison Dumfries

1641

September: Moved from Dumfries to Edinburgh and retained despite the general disbandment of the Scots army
Cochrane implicated in ‘The Incident’ and dismissed, replaced as Colonel by Home

1642

March: Embarked at Ayr and shipped for Ireland under Home
March: Windbound off Arran
April: Arrive at Carrickfergus, forming part of Monro's army
May: Take Newry (commanded musketeers)
Summer: Campaign with Leven along the Bann and Lough Neagh
September: Leven's Lifeguard Coy quartered at Donahadee, County Down
Autumn: Garrison Carrickfergus

1643

April: Raid Clandeboy's Woods
May: Siege of Newcastle County Down
Garrison Carrickfergus

1644

May: Take Belfast from Ormond's officers, 400 men garrison the town
June: Join Munro at Lisnagarvey to campaign into Leinster (7 companies)
July: With Munro marching against Lord Castlehaven
July: Take Kells?
July: Repulsed from Newry?
August to September: Standoff at Charlemont?
September: Return to quarters at Carrickfergus and Belfast

1645

April: Provide 200 men to a combined regiment of 1400 which returns to Scotland under Home
Lt Col Maxwell promoted to Colonel and commands the regiment in Ireland in Home's absence
Home leads 2 'battalions' in Baillie's army
August: Battle of Kilsyth (Home)
December: Home returns to Belfast

1646

Garrison of Belfast
June: Battle of Benburb

1647

Remain in garrison

1648

Accept the engagement and detach 300 men to serve under George Munro in Hamilton's army
September: Belfast, Carrickfergus and Coleraine surrender to Monck
September: Disbanded, although some join Monck

Notes

A history of the unit is shown in Edward M. Furgol’s A Regimental History of the Covenanting Armies 1639-1651 Edinburgh, 1990. ISBN 0 85976 194 0

The regiment included a company known as the Earl of Leven’s Lifeguard. This was theoretically independently commanded by Home but considered an additional company of the regiment. In 1645 Home formed a composite regiment of two battalions of Scots drawn from a number of Munro’s infantry regiments. These were the redcoats that he led to Kilsyth, then he returned to Ireland in December 1645.

Coats, Flags and Equipment

Most likely they were originally clothed in the usual Scots hodden grey. However, by their detachment's return to Scotland in 1645 they had acquired red coats.

Notable Officers

A list of the regiment's officers is shown in Stuart Reid's Scots Armies of the 17th Century 1. The Army of the Covenant 1639-1651 Partizan Press 1998 ISBN 094652550