Tam Dalyell Scottish, British and Russian military leader and statesman. Date of Birth: 01.01.1615 Country: Great Britain

1. Early Life and Military Career
2. Loyalty to the Royalists
3. Flight and Russian Service
4. Service in Russia
5. Conflict with Khovansky

Early Life and Military Career

Thomas Dalyell was born in 1599 to a noble Scottish family at The Binns, near Linlithgow in West Lothian. His military career began at La Rochelle, where he served in the expeditionary force led by the Duke of Buckingham to aid the garrison besieged by the army of Louis XIII of France. From 1642 to 1648, Dalyell served as an officer in the Scottish army under Major-General Robert Monro, fighting against Irish Catholic forces in Ulster. In 1649, he was appointed governor of Carrickfergus Castle in Northern Ireland.

Loyalty to the Royalists

The execution of King Charles I in 1649 deeply affected Dalyell. A staunch royalist, he vowed never to cut his beard in mourning, a vow he kept until the end of his life. After the defeat of Monro's army, Dalyell returned to Scotland with its remnants. In 1650, he joined the forces of Charles Stuart, who was rallying his supporters to fight Cromwell.

At the Battle of Worcester in 1651, Dalyell commanded one of the three infantry regiments in the vanguard of the royalist army. He fought valiantly against Cromwell's forces, covering the crossings of the rivers Teme and Severn. However, the Scottish army suffered a crushing defeat, and Dalyell was captured along with other royalist leaders and imprisoned in the Tower of London. He soon escaped and fled to the exiled court of Charles Stuart in the Netherlands.

Flight and Russian Service

In 1654, Dalyell returned to Scotland with General William Drummond to prepare an uprising. They waged guerrilla warfare against Cromwell's forces for a year, but the rebellion was eventually suppressed. Dalyell was forced to flee again.

In exile, Dalyell decided to go into Russian service, accompanied by his comrade from the "Highland War," William Drummond. On July 21, 1656, General-Lieutenant Thomas Dalyell and General-Major Drummond arrived in Moscow with a letter of recommendation from Charles Stuart requesting that they be accepted into Russian military service.

Service in Russia

Dalyell's service in Russia began under the walls of Riga, where he commanded a regiment of infantry in the army of Prince Yakov Cherkassky. From 1657 to 1658, he supervised the training of soldiers for the "new model" regiments. In 1659, his regiment was deployed to Polotsk, where he clashed with the independent-minded Prince Ivan Andreyevich Khovansky.

Conflict with Khovansky

On the night of August 15-16, 1660, three drunken cavalrymen quarreled with soldiers from Dalyell's regiment, killing one. Dalyell demanded that Khovansky punish the culprits, but the voivode refused. In response, Dalyell raised an alarm in his regiment and threatened to fire on Khovansky's noblemen and cavalrymen. He marched his soldiers out of the city and refused to command them until the voivode restored order among his subordinates.

Khovansky promptly punished the guilty cavalrymen with lashes, but he complained to the Razryadny Prikaz that Dalyell "does not obey me in anything and does not attend the regiment."