As I come in by Auchindoun,
Just a wee bit frae the toun,
To the Hi'lands I was bound
To view the Haughs of Cromdale.
I met a man in tartan trews,
Spiered at him (asked) what was the news,
Quo' he, "The Hi'land army rues
That e'er we come to Cromdale.


"We were in bed, sir, every man,
When the English host upon us cam;
A bloody battle then began
Upon the Haughs of Cromdale.
The English horse they were so rude,
They bathed their hoofs in Hi'land blood,
But our brave clans, they boldly stood
Upon the Haughs of Cromdale.


"But, alas! We could no longer stay,
And o'er the hills we come away,
Sore we do lament the day
That e"er we come to Cromdale."
T
hus the great Montrose did say:
Hi'land man show me the way
I will over the hills this day,
To view the Haughs of Cromdale."


They were at their dinner, every man,
When great Montrose upon them cam;
A second battle then began
Upon the Haughs of Cromdale.
The Grant, Mackenzie and M'Ky,
As Montrose they did espy,
Then they fought most valiantly
Upon the Haughs of Cromdale.


The McDonalds they returned again,
The Camerons did our standard join,
McIntosh played a bloody game
Upon the Haughs of Cromdale.


The Gordons boldly did advance,
The Frasers fought with sword and lance,
The Grahams they made the heads to dance,
Upon the Haughs of Cromdale.


And the loyal Stewarts, wi' Montrose,
So boldly set upon their foes,
Laid them low wi' Hi'land blows
Laid them low on Cromdale.
Of twenty-thousand Cromwell's men,
A thousand fled to Aberdeen,
The rest of them lie on the plain,
There on the Haughs of Cromdale.


Of twenty-thousand Cromwell's men,
A thousand fled to Aberdeen,
The rest of them lie on the plain,
There on the Haughs of Cromdale.


The song is about a battle which took place on 30
April, 1690,
in which a Jacobite force was routed
on the low ground or meadow (haughs) at Cromdale
by government forces.
The first verses imply the defeat as alas we could no
longer stay
and o'er the hills we come away. But then a second
battle
with a great victory by Montrose is described, which is
actually based
on Montrose's victory at Auldearn in 1645.
Montrose had been dead for 40 years
before the conflict at Cromdale.
The victory verses may be a "wishfull"
patriotic fancy, wherein previous heros join together
to
win a "second" non-existant battle at Cromdale.