Alexander Seaton or Seton (before 1626 – after 1649) was a Scottish soldier in Danish service during the Thirty Years' War. He briefly served as a governor in the Battle of Stralsund and as an admiral in the Torstenson War.
Neither the place nor the date of Alexander Seaton's birth are recorded.[1] Though his parents remain unknown, it has been proposed that either Alexander Seton of Lathrisk or George Seton of Cariston be his father.[1]
Alexander Seaton entered the service of Christian IV of Denmark, and advanced to the rank of a captain of infantry on 8 April 1626.[1] Upon request by the Danish king, the Scottish Privy Council allowed Seaton to levy 500 Scottish soldiers on 30 June.[1]
On 28 February 1627, he advanced to the rank of a lieutenant colonel.[1] In September, he was wounded in battle near Oldenburg, while securing Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar's rear against Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly's forces[1] during the Battle of Heiligenhafen.[2] [3]
He moved his company to Stralsund where they joined other Scots of Donald Mackay's regiment during the Battle of Stralsund (1628), where he served as lieutenant colonel. He succeeded the Danish-German mercenary Heinrich Holk as Stralsund's governor.[4] During the time he was in command, the town withstood the siege of Albrecht von Wallenstein's imperial army.[4] He was succeeded as the governor in July by Alexander Leslie, a Scot in Swedish service who arrived with a contingent of Scots, Swedes and Germans.[5] Wallenstein lifted the siege on 4 August,[6] forced to accept his first check in the Thirty Years' War.[7]
Seaton did not stay with his regiment when it entered Swedish service, and instead joined the Norwegian infantry as a captain in 1628 - having left Mackay's troops as a lieutenant colonel.[1] For the next 17 years, no records of Seaton's life are known.[1]
By 1645, he had advanced to the rank of a colonel in the Norwegian army and navy again.[1] In 1645, Seaton took over eight ships of the Danish navy to fight Sweden as an admiral - the last appointment of a British in Christian IV's service.[8] With these ships, he took part in the "Norwegian response" by attacking Gothenburg (Göteborg) from the sea.[9] [10] Seaton's assault took place in August,[11] just before the Treaty of Brömsebro ended the Danish-Swedish war in favour of Sweden on 13/23 August 1645.[12] [13] [14]
The last record of Seaton is of 19 April 1649, when he was a colonel in the Norwegian army.[1] Date and place of Seaton's death are unknown, marriages are not recorded.[1]