Captain Thomas Crawford scaled Dumbarton Rock in a night operation in April 1571 and seized the castle for the King's party — one of the most daring military coups of the civil war period. Archbishop Hamilton, the leading Marian churchman, was captured in the castle and hanged at Stirling. The loss of Dumbarton broke the Marians' western sea route for receiving supplies and correspondence from France and Mary herself. It was a decisive strategic blow to the Queen's party.
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