One evening when the officers of Reay’s regiment were sitting round the campfire Lieutenant Farquhar said to Colonel Munro: 

“How is it that Sir John Hepburn has, although still so young, risen to such high honour in the counsel of the king; how did he first make his way?”

“He first entered the force raised by Sir Andrew Gray, who crossed from Leith to Holland, and then uniting with a body of English troops under Sir Horace Vere marched to join the troops of the Elector Palatine.  It was a work of danger and difficulty for so small a body of men to march through Germany, and Spinola with a powerful force tried to intercept them.  They managed, however, to avoid him, and reached their destination in safety.

“Vere’s force consisted of 2200 men, and when he and Sir Andrew Gray joined the Margrave of Anspach the latter had but 4000 horse and 4000 foot with him.  There was a good deal of fighting, and Hepburn so distinguished himself that although then but twenty years old he obtained command of a company of pikemen in Sir Andrew Gray’s band, and this company was specially selected as a bodyguard for the king.

“There was one Scotchman in the band who vied even with Hepburn in the gallantry of his deeds.  He was the son of a burgess of Stirling named Edmund, and on one occasion, laying aside his armour, he swam the Danube at night in front of the Austrian lines, and penetrated to the very heart of the Imperial camp.  There he managed to enter the tent of the Imperialist general, the Count de Bucquoi, gagged and bound him, carried him to the river, swam across with him and presented him as a prisoner to the Prince of Orange, under whose command he was then serving.

“It was well for Hepburn that at the battle of Prague he was guarding the king, or he also might have fallen among the hosts who died on that disastrous day.  When the elector had fled the country Sir Andrew Gray’s bands formed part of Mansfeldt’s force, under whom they gained great glory.  When driven out of the Palatinate they still kept up the war in various parts of Germany and Alsace.  With the Scotch companies of Colonel Henderson they defended Bergen when the Marquis of Spinola besieged it.  Morgan with an English brigade was with them, and right steadily they fought.  Again and again the Spaniards attempted to storm the place, but after losing 12,000 men they were forced to withdraw on the approach of Prince Maurice.

“The elector now made peace with the emperor, and Mansfeldt’s bands found themselves without employment.  Mansfeldt in vain endeavoured to obtain employment under one of the powers, but failing, marched into Lorraine.  There, it must be owned, they plundered and ravaged till they were a terror to the country.  At last the Dutch, being sorely pressed by the Spaniards, offered to take them into their pay, and the bands marched out from Lorraine in high spirits.

“They were in sore plight for fighting, for most of them had been obliged to sell even their arms and armour to procure food.  Spinola, hearing of their approach pushed forward with a strong force to intercept them, and so came upon them at Fleurus, eight miles from Namur, on the 30th of August, 1622.