During the covenanting troubles the Reids were prominent and they fought against the king at the Battle of Bothwell Brig in 1679. At one point in the battle the Kilbryd (Kilbride) Parish Flag was taken by the enemy and James Reid fought his way to its rescue, ripping it off its pole and wrapping it around his body as he ran with it. His brother John was captured and would have been sent to the West Indies as a slave if it were not for the intervention of the Duke of Hamilton. John was jailed for about 6 years and then returned in less violent times to manage Wester Kittochside farm.