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Gustavus Adolphus himself preferred Scottish officers to
others. Even at a time when he was fairly overrun
with them he tries to make shift by splitting one regiment
into two, in order to make room for them. The ensigns
and lieutenants still remaining without a charge were to
receive officers’ pay in the meantime, until ways and
means could be found to appoint them.1 He sometimes,
it is true, complained of their hot temper, but then, he
added, “ they have to bear with me likewise.” He
gratefully acknowledged their services above all others,
and never ceased to reward them with a lavish hand.
He distrusted only one of his Scottish officers, and that
was the Marquis of Hamilton. The almost regal state
with which the latter surrounded himself, the utter
collapse of his mission, and his incapacity as a commander
and diplomatist, go far to explain this feeling.
I have followed the fortunes of the King of Sweden’s
most prominent Scottish officers from the time of their
landing in Germany in my book on the Scots in
Germany. It will therefore only be necessary to
supplement the story given there. The greatest efforts had of
course to be made to raise the numerical strength of the
Swedish army so as to be able not only to compete with
the enemy but to garrison and protect the conquered
territory. Large numbers of Scottish recruits were again
brought over in 1627. According to Mankel1 2 they
numbered about 240c men. These numbers are, however,
deceptive; they very often represent the required total
on paper only, not the active strength of the regiments.
In the present case the force arrived off Kalmar on the
1 Oxenstierna, Skrifter och Brefvexling, i. 608. In the same letter
two Hamiltons of Prestfield and of Reda (?) are mentioned: 29th
May 1630.
2 Uppgifter rörande.
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