Rutherglen Declaration

Rutherglen Declaration, the name given to a protesting declaration of an armed body of Covenanters who, in 1679, assembled in this old burgh, burned some obnoxious acts of Parliament, and affixed a copy of their protest to the market cross. Claverhouse was sent, May 31, from Glasgow in search of the party; the battle of Drumclog was fought, and the royalist forces were routed. At the battle of Bothwell Bridge, Sunday, June 22, the Covenanters were defeated and twelve hundred prisoners taken.