Orkney's Forgotten War: The Royalist Occupation, 1649-1650

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Blog entry for Orkney's Forgotten War

In 1976, George Mackay Brown wrote one of his lesser-known short stories, ‘Soldier From The Wars Returning’. The tale follows the journey of an Orcadian soldier who had enlisted in the marquis of Montrose’s Royalist army in 1649. The unnamed soldier awakes in the aftermath of the fateful Battle of Carbisdale (27 April 1650) to find himself alone on the battlefield. Assuming that Montrose’s forces had emerged victorious, and having no clue as to where the army had gone, the soldier decides to travel back home to Orkney. As he makes the long pilgrimage home, the soldier encounters different figures on the road who seem to shun his company. While crossing the Pentland Firth, he shares a boat with a group of Caithness fishermen and a minister. During the voyage, the soldier is appalled when his fellow companions, whom he describes as ‘regicides’ and ‘traitors’, openly discuss treasonous things in his presence.