Information Source:
Inverurie and the Earldom of the Garioch by Rev. John Davidson, D.D. (1878).
Available at: https://archive.org/details/inverurieearldom00davi
The Solemn League and Covenant was first signed on the first day of March 1638 on tables erected in the churchyard of the Greyfriars in Edinburgh. Commissioners or Apostles of the Covenant were then sent out across the country to gain signatures. At that time the Earl of Rothes, the head of the Protestant branch of the Leslies, sent for Field-Marshall Alexander Leslie to return from Sweden in anticipation of trouble. At this time, the Leslies of Balquhain in the north continued to be partly Catholic. When Field-Marshall Leslie returned, several other Leslies and relatives who were in service in Europe also returned to Scotland.
In 1639 there was constant trouble in the Garioch. Hostile forces met at Turriff where efforts were made to determine who were adherents of the Covenant. Aberdeen was the only place where large numbers of persons were against the Covenant. Consequently, a force of 900 men from the Covenanting army under Field-Marshall Leslie proceeded to Aberdeen. Huntly, the Marquis of Aberdeen, summoned royalist lairds and by proclamation the king’s liege between age 16 and 60 to meet him in Inverurie. About 5000 men answered the call.
On Monday 1st of April General Leslie’s men marched out of Aberdeen and camped near Inverurie, while Huntly’s men were near Castle of Balquhain. On the 6th, General Leslie’s army left Inverurie after plundering and proceeded to plunder surrounding areas. The king sent Lord Aboyne to the north and with the news that the king was in Berwick with an army caused a retreat of the Covenanting army from Aberdeen. With this action Aberdeen was now in the hands of the loyalists.
“By midsummer, 1641, a new phase came upon Scottish affairs. The Scots army under General Leslie had come in sight of the King’s English force in the north of England, and an interview granted by his Majesty to the General led the way to a pacification. The King accompanied Leslie to Edinburgh : a Parliament was held, and political prisoners were set at liberty. Both parties were gratified by the bestowal of honours from the Crown: Argyll was made Marquis; Loudoun an Earl; General Leslie created Earl of Leven…” Page 276.
In a battle on the 13th September 1645 the Marquis of Montrose was defeated by General David Leslie who was also part of the Swedish army. Later, General David Leslie was appointed Major-General in Alexander Leslie, Earl of Leven’s, army.