It took its title from having been fixed to the market-cross
of Sanquhar, a small town in Dumfriesshire, on June 22nd, 1680. Exactly
a month later Claverhouse's troopers (though, as I have said, not
commanded by Claverhouse himself) came upon the Cameronians in a
desolate spot among the wilds of Ayrshire, known as Aird's Moss. Richard
Cameron was killed at the first charge: Donald Cargill and Hackston of
Rathillet were made prisoners. Both were taken to Edinburgh and
executed, the latter with circumstances of needless barbarity.
Though Claverhouse was reinstated in his commission, he does not appear
to have been actively employed during the year 1681, the second year of
the Duke of York's administration in Scotland, and the year also of the
Test and Succession Acts, which were destined to cost another Argyle his
head. Early in 1682 the Duke of York returned to England, to which fact
Wodrow attributes "a sort of respite of severities," notwithstanding
that Claverhouse was once more commissioned for his old work in the
West, and with even ampler authority than before. In addition to his
military powers, he was appointed Sheriff of Wigtownshire and
Deputy-Sheriff of Dumfriesshire and the Stewartries of Kirkcudbright and
Annandale; and he was also specially invested with a commission to hold
criminal courts in the first-named shire and to try delinquents by jury.
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