his men had little rest. Overnight, his scouts located the Royalist encampment, and at dawn the next morning his troops were on the move and, marching directly across country, reaching the village of Banton. This gave the Covenanters the higher ground around the eastern rim of the hollow occupied by the Royalist infantry. Deployments Montrose had been reinforced at Dunkeld by 800 high-quality infantry and 400 cavalry led by Viscount Aboyne. He retained at least 500 of his Irish troops, a large number of Lowland infantry from the Gordon estates, and a regiment of Athollmen under Patrick Graham of Inchbrackie, as well as up to 1400 Highlanders from western clans: a total of around 3000 foot, with up to 600 cavalry and dragoons. Baillie is stated to have had up to 7,000 infantry based on Royalist accounts, though 3,500 may be a more accurate figure. While four of the government regiments were regulars, and a further unit under Lieutenant-Colonel Kennedy was made up of the remains of three veteran regiments from Alford and Auldearn, a large proportion of Baillie's foot was composed of the three newly raised regiments of levies from Fife, led by the lairds of Fordell, Ferny and Cambo. On news of the Royalist advance, the levies had already attempted to desert en masse, and had to be forcibly brought back. Royalist (James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose) Infantry regiments Irish Brigade (Alasdair Mac Colla) Mac Colla's Lifeguard Strathbogie Regiment Col. Patrick Graham of Inchbrackie's Regiment Col. William Gordon of Monymore's Regiment Col. James Farquharson of Inverey's Regiment Clan MacDonell of Glengarry / western clans Cavalry Col. Nathaniel Gordon's Regiment Viscount Aboyne's Regiment Earl of Airlie's Regiment Viscount Aboyne's Regiment of Dragoons Captain John Mortimer's Regiment of Dragoons (Irish) Covenanter (Maj-Gen. William Baillie) Infantry regiments Marquess of Argyll's Regiment Earl of Crawford-Lindsay's Regiment Col. Robert Home's Regiment Earl of Lauderdale's Regiment Lt-Col. John Kennedy's Battalion Col. James Arnot of Ferny's Regiment Col. John Henderson of Fordell's Regiment Sir Thomas Morton of Cambo's Regiment Cavalry Earl of Balcarres' Regiment Col. Harie Barclay's Regiment The battle The Royalist troops were clearly visible, undisturbed by the arrival of the main army of their enemies. Having a healthy respect for his opposition, and appreciating that his own forces had already marched several miles in full kit, Baillie decided to take positions where he was and wait for Lanark's force to appear. If