RAMSAY, ALEXANDER [SSNE 1183]
- Surname
- RAMSAY, RAMSEIS
- First name
- ALEXANDER
- Title/rank
- COLONEL AND GOVERNOR
- Nationality
- SCOT
- Social status
- OFFICER
Text source
Alexander Ramsay was a Scottish officer in Swedish service serving first as Quartermaster to James Marquis of Hamilton [SSNE 1348]. In 1631 he held the rank of colonel and commanded 8 companies of Scottish soldiers (128 officers and 470 men) at the battle of Breitnefeld on 17 September 1631. The same year he was also appointed commandant of Creuzenach. Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna's earliest surviving letters to Ramsay in that appointment date from 7 March 1632, though the Swedish Intelligencer notes it in 1631. He was apparently in charge of a sizeable amount of ordinance and ammunition there. As part of his duties he was commanded to retain the ill soldiers from the Yellow and Blue regiments. When Ramsay requested reinforcements to fend of the Spanish troops, the Chancellor initially rejected this and urged him to use whatever forces he had available to him, but he relented the following month and some musketeers were sent to him. In April Oxenstierna requested that Ramsay send 1000 loaves of bread to him at Mainz, however he also rejected a request to exchange the old soldiers [referred to as "alten Schottischen knechte"] in the Creutznach garrison with fresh men. During this period it appears that Ramsay had some differences of opinion with the Elector Christian of Birkenfeld as Oxenstierna reprimanded him over this in May and reminded him to initiate the reinforcement work at the garrison. He is possibly the same as [SSNE 230] as many Scots in Danish-Norwegian service subsequently entered Swedish service after the treaty of Lubeck. Ramsay died at the battle of Nordlingen on 6 September 1634.R. Monro, His Expedition with a worthy Scots Regiment called Mac-Keyes (2 vols., London, 1637), II, The List of the Scottish Officers in Chiefe, list 1; The Swedish Intelligencer: The Second Part (London, 1632), p.83; Rikskansleren Axel Oxenstiernas skrifter och brefvexling, first series, VII, passim; Swedish Riksarkiv, P. Sondén, Militärachefer i svenska arméen och deras skrivelser; T. Fischer, The Scots in Germany (Edinburgh, 1902).
The following source was kindly provided by Dr Bernd Warlich - Otto Rudert, Die Kämpfe um Leipzig im Großen Kriege 1631-1642 (Leipzig, 1936), p.54
Service record
- SWEDEN, SWEDISH ARMY
- Arrived 1631-01-01, as COLONEL
- Departed 1634-09-06, as COLONEL
- Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY
- SWEDEN, CREUTZENACH
- Arrived 1632-01-01, as COMMANDANT
- Departed 1632-12-31, as COMMANDANT
- Capacity OFFICER, GOVERNOR AND COMMANDANT, purpose MILITARY