must pass (I mean near it), and I hope we shall attempt it very
soon; and when we do, your being in the rear of the enemy could not
but very much incommode them, and be of great advantage to us. The
Duke of Argyle would be so hemmed in at Stirling by your being on
the one hand of him and our being on the other, that I scarce see
what I can do but to intrench myself, and by that our passage over
Forth and joining of you might be very easy; nor do I see how the
Duke of Argyle in those circumstances can subsist long there. Were
we once past Forth and joined on the south side, we should soon make
our way good to England, and then should be much more able to put in
execution the project of our English friends, without being in any
danger of returning back to Scotland. It would be of great
consequence to have possession of Edinburgh, but I hear just now
that the Duke of Argyle has sent two regiments of dragoons, so tho'
perhaps that may prevent your getting possession of that town, yet I
scarce believe that they will be able with all the detachments that
the Duke of Argyle dare adventure to send from Stirling to make any
attempt against you at Dalkeith, which is so strong a place
naturally; and should the enemy return again from Stirling, you
might either follow them in their rear without danger, or take
possession of Edinburgh. Were once Lord Seaforth come up to us and
General Gordon with the clans which I expect every day, I shall not
be long of leaving this place, and I shall likewise be able to send
more foot over the water, as I sent the last, if you want them, and
your being at Dalkeith, they could easily join you. Should most of
the Dutch troops come to Scotland, as is probable they will, it
would be very hard for us here to pass Forth without your
assistance, which would be a great loss and a grateing thing. I hear
to-day from about Stirling that Sir William Blacish is upon the head
of several thousands in the North of England, but your Lordship and
our English friends will know the truth of this better: be it as it
will, I do not think it alters the case much. The main and principal
thing is for us to get soon joined all in one body, then I am sure
we should be more considerable than all the force the Government,
with the six thousand Dutch, can bring against us, and when once the
British troops see so considerable a force together, asserting their
King's and their country's cause, I cannot believe they will, but
rather join us, and restore their country to peace and liberty.
"These, my Lord, are my humble thoughts, but they are with
submission to your Lordship's and the King's friends with you who
are equally concerned with us, and I know equally zealous, and you
all certainly know a great deal more than me here.
"I beg your Lordship may make my compliments to our countrymen, with
you, and to those noblemen and gentlemen of England who have so
handsomely and generously joined you. I long impatiently to be with
you, and with all the haste I can.
"I send copies of this three different ways, that one or other of
them may certainly come to your hands.
"I also send by one of them, if not two, a power for your Lordship
to raise money for the use of your armie, which my commission for
the King fully empowers me to do and give.
"I wish this may come to your hand, and I long to hear from your
Lordship, which it being necessary I should soon, I am, with all
respect, my Lord, your Lordship's most obedient humble servant,
"MAR."[102]
It was the intention of Lord Mar to remain at Perth until all the
Jacobite clans should have joined his army; but having gained the
intelligence that some arms for the use of the Earl of Sutherland were
put on board a vessel at Leith, to be taken northwards, he determined to
take possession of them. The master of the vessel had dropped anchor at
Brunt Island, for the purpose of seeing his wife, who was there: Lord
Mar sent a detachment to surprise the harbour, which succeeded in
carrying off the spoil, back to Perth. A report was at the same time
raised in Stirling: that the Earl was marching to Alloa, the Duke of
Argyle forthwith ordered out the picquets of horse and foot, and, also,
all the troops to be ready to march out to sustain them, if required.
But the Jacobite army did not appear; and the report of their advance to
Stirling was believed to be a false alarm, contrived by Mar in order to
draw off the attention of the Duke of Argyle from the expedition to
Brunt Island.
The insurgents were now masters of the eastern coasts of Scotland from
Brunt Island to the Murray Frith, an extent of above one hundred and
sixty miles along the shore. On the western side, the Isle of Skye,
Lewis, and all the Hebrides were their own, besides the estates of the
Earl of Seaforth, Donald Mac Donald, and others of the clans. So that
from the mouth of the river Lochie to Faro-Head, all the coast of
Lochaber and Ross, even to the north-west point of Scotland, was theirs:
theirs, in short, was all the kingdom of Scotland north of the Forth,
except the remote counties of Caithness, Strathnaver and Sutherland
beyond Inverness, and that part of Argyleshire which runs north-west
into Lorn, and up to Lochaber, where Fort William continued in
possession of the Government.
The Earl of Mar had resolved to impose an assessment upon the large
extent of country under his sway, to raise money for the use of his
army. It was of course an unpopular, though doubtless a necessary
measure. The sum of twenty shillings sterling was to be paid by each
landholder upon every hundred pounds Scots of valued rent; and, if not
paid by a certain day, the tax was to be doubled. In levying this
assessment, the friends of the Government were far more severely treated
than those of the Chevalier; and the Presbyterian Ministers, who had
dared to raise their voices in their churches against the Pretender, as
they called the Chevalier, were commanded to be silent on that subject;
their houses were plundered, and many of them were driven by tyranny
from their homes.[103]
The northern clans were now on their march to join the camp at Perth.
First came the famous Laird of Mackintosh, better known as Brigadier
Mackintosh, chief of that numerous clan in Invernesshire. His regiment,
composed of five hundred men, whom he had persuaded to join in the
insurrection, was considered the best that the Earl of Mar could boast.
The Marquis of Huntley, with five hundred horse and two thousand foot,
next arrived; and the Earl Marischal shortly afterwards brought a
thousand men to the camp. But Lord Seaforth, afraid lest in his absence
the Earl of Sutherland should invade his country, was still absent; and
the anxiety of the Earl of Mar for his arrival is expressed in more than
one of his letters. The whole strength of the army amounted to sixteen
thousand seven hundred men; this number was afterwards diminished by the
detachment sent southwards by the Earl, and by the number of three
thousand who were dispersed in garrisons. But it was no common force
that was now encamped at Perth.
At this critical moment where was the individual for whom these great
and gallant spirits had ventured their all, the hills so dear to them,
their homes, the welfare of their families, to say nothing of that which
Highlanders least consider, their personal safety? At this moment, the
ill-advised and irresolute James Stuart, was absent. What could have
been his counsels? who were his advisers? of what materials was he made?
why did he ever come? are questions to which the indignant mind can
scarcely frame a reply. The fact, indeed, seems to be that his heart was
never really in the undertaking; that he for whom the tragedy was
performed, was the only actor in it who did not feel his part; it was
reserved for a nobler and a warmer nature to experience the ardour of
hope, and the bitter mortifications of disappointment.
It was not until the middle of October that the Earl of Mar took any
personal share in the contest between the Jacobite army and that of the
Government. Hitherto he had remained at Perth, acting with an ill-timed
caution, and apparently bestowing far more attention upon the ill-fated
insurrection in Northumberland, aided by the low country Scots under
Lord Kenmure, than upon the proximate dangers of his own army. The
detachment of a body of troops under Brigadier Mackintosh, sent in order
to assist the Lowlanders, who were marching back into Scotland,
accompanied by the forces under Mr. Forster and the Earl of
Derwentwater, was the immediate cause of the two armies coming to an
engagement. The Earl of Mar in his narrative thus explains his plans and
their failure.
The detachment under Brigadier Mackintosh having been sent,
"occasioned," Lord Mar says, "the Duke of Argyle's leaving Stirling, and
going with a part of his army to Edinburgh. Now, had the Scots and
English horse, who were then in the south of Scotland, come and joined
the fifteen hundred foot, (under Brigadier Mackintosh) as was expected;
had the Highland clans performed, as they promised, the service they
were sent upon in Argyleshire, and marched towards Glasgow, as the Earl
of Mar marched towards Sterling, he had then given a good account of the
Government's army, the troops from Ireland not having yet joined them,
nor could they have joined them afterwards. But all this failing by some
cross accidents, Lord Argyle returned with that part of his army to
Scotland, and the Earl of Mar could not then, with the men he then had,
advance further than Dumblane, and for want of provisions there, was
soon after obliged to return to Perth."
"But immediately after that we had got provisions, and that the clans
and Lord Seaforth had joined us, we marched again towards the enemy; and
notwithstanding the many difficulties the Earl of Mar had upon that
occasion with some of our own people, he gave the enemy battle: and, as
you saw in our printed account of it, had not our left wing given way,
which was occasioned by mistake of orders and scarcity of experienced
officers, that being composed of as good men, and marched as cheerfully
up to the field of battle as the other, our victory had been complete.
And as it was, the enemy, who was advanced on this side the river, was
forced to retire back to Sterling."[104]
Such is the Earl of Mar's comment upon the battle of Sherriff Muir, of
which the friends of Government gave a very different representation.
The Earl had, it is evident, no disposition to risk a general engagement
before the Chevalier arrived in Scotland. He had sent two gentlemen to
the Prince to learn his determination, and had resolved to remain at
Perth until their return. During his continuance in that city he
employed himself not only in throwing up entrenchments round the town,
but in publishing addresses to the people, to keep up the spirits of the
Jacobites. Since the Earl was never scrupulous as to the means of which
he availed himself, we may not venture to reject the declaration of an
historian of no good will to the cause, that he ordered "false news" to
be printed and circulated; and published that which he hoped would
happen, as having already taken place. "The detachment," he related,
"had passed the Forth, had been joined by the army in the South, were
masters of Newcastle, and carried all before them; and their friends in
and about London had taken arms in such numbers, that King George had
made a shift to retire." These falsehoods were printed by Freebairn,
formerly the King's printer at Edinburgh, whom the Earl had established
at Perth, and provided with the implements brought by the army from
Aberdeen.[105]
In the beginning of November, the Earl of Seaforth arrived at Perth, and
the Mac Invans, the Maccraws, the Chisholmes of Strath-Glass, and
others, completed all the forces that Lord Mar expected to join him.
Truly might the Earl say, "that no nation in such circumstances, and so
destitute of all kind of succour from abroad, ever made so brave a
struggle for restoring their prince and country to their just
rights."[106] But the usual fate of the Stuarts involved their devoted
adherents in ruin: or rather, let us not call that fate, which may be
better described by the word incapacity in the leaders of their cause.
The want of ammunition, which was to have been supplied from abroad, was
now severely felt. "I must here add one thing," says Lord Mar, "which,
however incredible the thing may appear, is, to our cost, but too true:
and that is, that from the time the Earl of Mar set up the Chevalier's
standard to this day, we never received from abroad the least supply of
arms and ammunition of any kind; though it was notorious in itself, and
well known, that this was what from the first we mainly wanted; and, as
such, it was insisted upon by the Earl of Mar, in all the letters he
writ, and by all the messengers he sent to the other side."[107]
On the ninth of November it was determined, at a great council of war,
to march straight to Dumblane with the ultimate view of following the
Brigadier Mackintosh into England, with the main body of the army,
amounting to nine thousand men, whilst a detachment of three thousand
should, if possible, gain possession of Stirling.
The engagement which ensued, and which was called the battle of Sherriff
Muir, was fought on a Sunday; after both armies had been under arms all
night. No tent was pitched for the Duke of Argyle's men, either by
officer or soldier, on that cold November evening. Each officer was at
his post, nor could they much complain whilst their General sat on
straw, in a sheepcote, at the foot of the hill, called Sherriff Muir,
which overlooks Dumblane, on the right of his army. In the dead of the
night, the Duke, by his spies, learned where the enemy were; for,
although on account of the hills and broken ground, they could not be
seen, they were not at two miles' distance. This was at Kinback; at
break of day, the army of Argyle was completely formed, and the General
rode up to the top of the hill to reconnoitre the foe.[108]
The Earl of Mar, meantime, had given orders for his army to form to the
left of the road that leads to Dumblane, and whilst they were forming
in front of the town of Dumblane, they discovered the enemy on the
height of the west end of the Sherriff Muir. A council of war was then
held, and it was resolved, _nemine contradicente_, to fight.
The Earl of Mar's forces had also been ready for combat during the whole
of the night. To the Highlanders the want of shelter was of little
consequence. It was usual to them, before they lay down on the moor to
dip their plaids in water, by which the cloth was made impervious to the
wind; and to choose, as a favourite and luxurious resting-place, some
spot underneath a cover of overhanging heath. So late as the year 1745,
they could not be prevailed on to use seats.[109] It was therefore with
unimpaired vigour that they rushed on to the combat.
The Earl of Mar placed himself at the head of the clans: perhaps a
finer, a more singular, a more painful sight can rarely have been
witnessed than the rush of this great body of Highlanders to the
encounter. It was delayed by the Earl of Mar's despatching his
aide-de-camp, Colonel Clephan, to Lord Drummond, and to General Gordon,
with orders to march and attack immediately. On their return, pulling
off his hat, he waved it with an huzza, and advanced in front of the
enemy's formed battalions. Then was heard the _slogan_ or war-cry, each
clan having its own distinctive watch-word, to which every clansman
responded, whether his ear caught the sound in the dead of night, or in
the confusion of the combat. Distinguished by particular badges, and by
the peculiar arrangement and colours of the tartans, these devoted men
followed the Earl of Mar towards the foe.
But the action cannot be described in a manner better adapted to this
narrative, than in the words of Lord Mar himself, in his letter on the
very day of the engagement, to Colonel Balfour, whom he had left in
command of the garrison at Perth. It is dated Ardoch, November 13th,
1715.
"Ardoch, Nov. 13th, 1715."
"I thought you would be anxious to know the fate of this day. We
attacked the enemy on the end of the Sherriff Muir, at twelve of the
clock this day, on our right and centre; carried the day entirely;
pursued them down to a little hill on the south of Dumblane; and
there I got most of our horse and a pretty good number of our foot,
and brought them again into some order. We knew not then what was
become of our left, so we returned to the field of battle. We
discerned a body of the enemy on the north of us, consisting mostly
of the Grey Dragoons, and some of the Black. We also discovered a
body of their foot farther north upon the field where we were in the
morning; and east of that, a body as we thought of our own foot, and
I still believe it was so. I formed the horse and foot with me in a
line on the north side of the hill, where we had engaged and kept
our front towards the enemy to the north of us, who seem'd at first
as if they intended to march towards us; but upon our forming and
marching towards them, they halted and marched back to Dumblane. Our
baggage and train-horses had all run away in the beginning of the
action. But we got some horses and brought off most of the train to
this place where we quarter to-night about Ardock, whither we
march'd in very good order: and had our left and second line behaved
as our right and the rest of the first line did, our victory had
been compleat: but another day is coming for that, and I hope ere
long too.
"I send you a list of the officers' names who are prisoners here,
besides those who are dangerously wounded and could not come along,
whose words of honour were taken. Two of these are the Earl of
Forfar, who I'm afraid will die, and Captain Urquhart, of Burn's
Yard, who is very ill wounded. We have also a good number of private
men prisoners; but the number I do not exactly know.
"We have lost, to our regret, the Earl of Strathmore and the Captain
of Clan Ranald. Some are missing, but the fate we are not sure of.
"The Earl of Panmure, Drummond of Logie, and Lieutenant Colonel
Maclean are wounded.
"This is all that I have to say now, but that I am,
"Yours, &c. MAR."
"P.S. We have taken a great many of the enemy's arms."
Lord Mar, on this occasion, showed a degree of personal bravery worthy
of the great name which he bore. He had placed himself on the right,
and, as he was giving orders to the Macdonalds to charge that battalion
of the enemy opposite to them, he encountered a very close fire. "The
horse on which my Lord was," writes an eye-witness on the Jacobite side,
"was wounded, for he fell down with him upon the fire, and got away, and
my Lord immediately mounted another horse: he exposed his person but too
much, and showed a great deal of bravery, as did the other lords about
him."[110]
The army of the Duke of Argyle lay on their arms all night, expecting
that the next day the battle would be resumed; but, on Monday the
fourteenth of November, the Duke went out with the piquet guard to the
field to view the enemy, but found them gone: and leaving the piquet
guard on the place, he returned to Dumblane, and thence to Stirling,
carrying off with him fourteen of the enemy's colours and standards, and
among them the royal standard called the Restoration, besides several
pieces of artillery, and many prisoners, some of them men of rank and
influence.
Both sides claimed the victory of Sherriff Muir as their own; but,
however it may be argued, it is certain that with only three thousand
effective troops, Argyle had contrived "to break the heart of the
rebellion," and to subdue an army such as could never again be
reassembled. Between six and eight hundred of the Jacobites are stated
to have fallen on the field,[111] and several, among whom was the brave
Earl of Panmure and Colonel Maclean, were among the wounded. Lord Mar,
nevertheless, celebrated the engagement as if it had been a victory.
Thanksgiving-sermons were ordered to be preached at Perth, and a Te Deum
sung in the church; and ringing of bells, and other demonstrations
deceived the hearts of those who knew little of the real injury done to
the cause, or amused others whose nearest interests had not suffered in
the Sherriff Muir. A paper was also circulated containing a report of
the battle, of course highly favourable to the Earl of Mar's part in
what he called his victory. The following is the statement which he sent
to the Chevalier.
THE EARL OF MAR TO THE CHEVALIER.[112]
"Nov. 24, 1715.
"Sir,
"It was but yesterday that I had accounts of your being at sea, and
I thought myself obliged to do all in my power to let you know the
state of affairs in this island before you land in it, so that you
may not be disapointed upon your comeing.
"I had the certain account yesterday of those who had appear'd in
arms besouth Forth, and in the north of England, all being made
prisoners at Preston in Lancashire, which I'm affraid will putt a
stop to any more riseings in that country at this time.
"Your Majesty's army, which I have the honour to command, fought the
enime on the Shirreff-Muir, near Dumblain, the thirteenth of this
moneth. Our left behav'd scandalously and ran away, but our right
routed the enimies left and most of their body.
"Their right follow'd and pursued our left, which made me not
adventure to prosecute and push our advantage on our right so far as
otherwayes wee might have done, however wee keept the field of
battle, and the enimie retir'd to Dumblain.
"The armie had lyen without cover the night before, and wee had no
provisions there, which oblidg'd me to march the armie back two
milles that night, which was the nearest place where I could get any
quarters. Next day I found the armie reduced to a small number, more
by the Highlanders going home than by any loss wee sustained, which
was but very small. So that and want of provisions oblidg'd me yet
to retire, first to Auchterarder, and then here to Perth. I have
been doing all I can ever since to get the armie together again, and
I hope considerable numbers may come in a little time; but now that
our friends in England are defeated, there will be troops sent down
from thence to reinforce the Duke of Argyle, which will make him so
strong, that wee shall not be able to face him, and I am affraid wee
shall have much difficultie in makeing a stand any where, save in
the Highlands, where wee shall not be able to subsist.
"This Sir, is a melancholy account, but what in duty I was oblidg'd
to let you know, if possibly I can, before you land; and for that
end I have endeavour'd to send boats out about those places where I
judg'd it most probable you would come.
"Ther's another copie of this upon the West Coast, and I wish to God
one or other of them may find you if your Majesty be upon the coast.
"By the strength you have with you, your Majesty will be best able
to judge if you will be in a condition, when join'd with us, to make
a stand against the enimie. I cannot say what our numbers will be
against that time, or where wee shall be, for that will depend on
the enimie, and the motions they make; but unless your Majesty have
troops with you, which I'm affraid you have not, I see not how wee
can oppose them even for this winter, when they have got the Dutch
troops to England, and will power in more troops from thence upon us
every day.
"Your Majestie's coming would certainly give new life to your
friends, and make them do all in their power for your service; but
how far they would be able to resist such a formed body of regular
troops as will be against them, I must leave your Majestie to judge.
"I have sent accounts from time to time to Lord Bolingbroke, but I
have not heard once from any of your Majestie's servants since Mr.
Ogilvie of Boin came to Scotland, nor none of the five messengers I
sent to France are return'd, which has been an infinite loss to us.
I sent another, which is the sixt, to France, some days ago, with
the account of our victory, who I suppose is sail'd ere now.
"May all happiness attend your Majestie, and grant you may be safe,
whatever come of us. If it do not please God to bless your kingdoms
at this time with your being settled on your throne, I make no doubt
of its doing at another time; and I hope there will never be wanting
of your own subjects to assert your cause, and may they have better
fortune than wee are like to have. I ask but of Heaven that I may
have the happiness to see your Majestie before I die, provided your
person be safe; and I shall not repine at all that fortune has or
can do to me.
"Your Majestie may find many more capable, but never a more faithful
servant than him who is with all duty and esteem, Sir, your
Majestie's most dutiful, most faithfull and most obedient subject
and servant,
"MAR."
"From the Camp of Perth, Nov. 24, 1715."
A fortnight previously the Earl of Mar had addressed the following
curious letter to Captain Henry Straiton,[113] at Edinburgh, to whom
many of Lord Mar's epistles are written. The allusion to Margaret Miller
refers to Lady Nairn, the sister-in-law of the Marquis of Tullibardine,
and wife of Lord Nairn, who, in compliance with a Scottish custom, took
his wife's title, she being Lady Nairn in her own right. The allusion
to "a dose" which will require the air of a foreign country to aid it,
seems to offer some notion of the Earl's subsequent flight.
"Novemb. 8th, 1715.
"Sir,