Mackay had now decided on a new plan of campaign. He would apply to the
service of war a device employed by the Highlanders in the chase, and
put in practice against them their own tactics of the tinchel.[90] A
chain of fortified posts was to be established among the Grampians, and
at various commanding points in Invernessshire. On the west a strong
garrison was to be placed in the castle of Inverlochy, the northernmost
point of Argyle's country overlooking the stronghold of the Camerons. A
small fleet of armed frigates drawing a light draft was to cruise off
the western coasts, and to watch those dangerous islands whence issued
the long war-galleys of the Macdonalds and the Macleans. Stores and
transport enough to keep a considerable force in the field for one month
was to be collected; and a skilled body of pioneers, equipped with all
the tools necessary for road-making, was to accompany the column.
Having already sketched out this plan in a letter to Hamilton, Mackay
was in hopes to find on his arrival in Edinburgh that measures had been
begun to put it into operation. He was grievously disappointed. He found
nothing but quarrels and intrigues in the Parliament House and out of
it. Each man was too intent on out-manoeuvring his neighbour in the
great struggle for place, to spare a thought for a foe who was happily
separated from them by a vast barrier of mountains and many hundreds of
miles of barren moorland, deep waters, and dense forests. He saw that
his plan for subduing the warriors of the Highlands must wait till the
Lowland politicians were at leisure to listen to him; yet he determined
to return to his duty, and to do his best with such means as he could
find or make for himself. It was possible that Argyle might now have
sufficiently repaired his affairs to be able to render some assistance
from the West; and there was an ally in Perthshire who might, if he
would, prove of even more value than Argyle.[91]
Lord Murray, Athole's eldest son, had, unlike his father, made up his
mind early in the Revolution and kept to it. But it happened that there
was one now in possession of Blair Castle who had also chosen his side
with equal resolution. Athole had slunk off to England, leaving his
castle and his vassals to the charge of his agent, Stewart of Ballechin.
Ballechin was a sturdy Jacobite; and though he had not yet dared to arm
the Athole men for James, he had managed on more than one occasion to do
timely service to Dundee. Blair was one of the most important posts in
the proposed line of garrisons. It commanded on one side the only road
by which troops could march from the low country of Perth into the
Highlands, and on the other the passes leading to the Spey and the Dee.
Whoever held Blair practically held the key of the Highlands. Mackay
therefore urged Murray, who was then in Edinburgh, to get rid of this
unjust steward and make sure of so valuable a stronghold for the
Government. Murray promised to do what he could. He did not profess to
be very sanguine of persuading the men of Athole to fight for William;
but for the castle, he could not suppose that Ballechin would dare to
shut the gates of his own father's house against him. "Keep the Athole
men from joining Dundee," said Mackay, "and that is all I ask, or can
expect from your father's son." He pressed Murray to start at once for
Blair, promising to follow as soon as he could collect the necessary
force of troops and stores.
It was tedious work preparing for a campaign in Edinburgh, where, nobody
feeling himself in immediate danger, nobody was concerned to guard
against it. Mackay was detained longer than he had expected, and before
he could take the field bad news had come down from Perthshire.
Ballechin was strongly entrenched in Blair, and resolute not to budge an
inch. The Athole men had gathered readily enough to their young lord's
summons; but when they found he had summoned them to fight for King
William they had gone off in a body shouting for King James.[92] And
there was yet worse news. The fiery cross was speeding once more through
the Western Highlands. There could be no doubt that Ballechin was acting
under orders from Dundee. A few men had stayed with Murray, and with
these he proposed to watch the castle and the pass till Mackay should
come. But the clans were mustering fast. Dundee himself was said to be
in the neighbourhood. Unless troops could be brought up at once, Blair
would be irretrievably lost, and the key of the Highlands in the hands
of Dundee.
Dundee was in the neighbourhood. He was at Struan, close to Blair,
whence he wrote more than one letter to Murray, using every argument he
could think likely to influence the interests or the prejudices of
Athole's son. Professing to be convinced that Murray was really for
James, though doubtful about the time for declaring himself, he declared
that he had only sent help to Ballechin to keep the rebels at bay till
Murray was able to act as his principles and education would naturally
suggest. The King, he said, had seen the mistakes into which Melfort had
hurried him. He had now given his word to secure the Protestant
religion as by law established, to allow full liberty of conscience to
all dissenters, and to grant a general pardon for all except those who
had been actively engaged in dethroning him. What more might be
necessary to satisfy the people, Dundee begged Murray to let him know.
The King was particularly anxious for advice on these points, and ready
to go all reasonable lengths; and Murray, he well knew, would advise
nothing unreasonable. No more was to be feared from Melfort, who had
promised to forgive all old quarrels, and even to resign his office
rather than force himself upon those who were unwilling to receive him.
Finally (keeping to the last the most powerful argument he could
devise), he declared that it was now in Murray's power to "have the
honour of the whole turn of the King's affairs." Murray would make no
answer, refused to see Dundee's messengers, and sent all his letters on
to Mackay.[93]
Dundee knew the importance of Blair as well as Mackay. As soon as he
heard from Ballechin of Murray's action, he threw a garrison into the
castle, and sent signal to the clans to join him at once. The time was
short: too short even to muster all the outlying Camerons. Some days
must elapse before he could expect to see round him such a force as he
had commanded two months earlier, and every hour was precious. Lochiel
urged him to march at once for Blair with such forces as were at hand,
promising to follow with the rest. But Dundee was loth to advance
without Lochiel. He relied much on the old chief's sagacity and
experience, on his knowledge of the Highland character, and his tact in
managing it: without his counsel and support he did not feel even now
certain of his quarrelsome captains. He prayed Lochiel, therefore, to
come with him, leaving his son to bring on the late musters.
As they marched through Badenoch they were joined by the long-promised
succours from Ireland--three hundred ragged Irish recruits, half
starved, badly armed, and entirely ignorant of war. Their leader was an
officer named Cannon, who bore a commission from James giving him rank
next to Dundee, a position which neither his abilities nor his
experience entitled him to hold in such an army. Some stores of powder
and food had been sent with them; but the vessels containing them had,
through Cannon's negligence, been taken in the Hebrides by English
cruisers. Dundee had neither powder nor food to spare. There had been no
time to collect provisions; and for many days past his officers had
eaten no bread and drunk nothing but water. The great promises of help
on which the Highlanders had so confidently relied, on the assurance of
which they had taken the field, and for which their general had
repeatedly given his own word, had shrunk to this--three hundred empty
mouths to feed, and three hundred useless hands to arm.[94]
And now word came that Mackay was approaching. He had marched by way of
Stirling to Perth, at which place he had appointed his muster. At
Stirling he had found six troops of dragoons, which he had ordered to
follow him to Perth. On July 26th he was at Dunkeld, where he received
word from Murray of Dundee's arrival at Blair, but not the dragoons he
was expecting from Stirling. His own cavalry consisted of but two
troops, chiefly composed of new levies. He dared no longer trust
Livingstone's dragoons in the face of the enemy. Half of the officers he
had been obliged to send under guard to Edinburgh as traitors: the rest
of the regiment was out of harm's way in quarters at Inverness. The
horses of Colchester's men were in such a plight after their marches
among the Grampians that they could not carry a saddle. Mackay knew well
how important cavalry was to the work before him. A mounted soldier was
the one antagonist a Highlander feared; and his fear was much the same
superstitious awe that a century and a half earlier the hordes of
Montezuma had felt for the armoured horsemen of Cortez. But the messages
from Murray were urgent, and he dared not delay. At break of day on
Saturday, the 27th, he marched out from Dunkeld for the glen of
Killiecrankie.
His force, according to his own calculation, was between three and four
thousand strong; but barely one half of these were seasoned troops.
There was the Scots Brigade, indeed, of three regiments, his own,
Balfour's, and Ramsay's. But before despatching them to Scotland William
had ordered them to be carefully weeded of all Dutch soldiers, that the
patriotism of the natives might be offended by no hint of a foreign
invasion; and the gaps thus made had been hastily filled up in
Edinburgh. Besides this brigade were three other regiments of infantry:
the one lately raised by Lord Leven (now the Twenty-fifth of the Line,
and still recognizing its origin in its title of The Borderers),
Hastings' (now the Thirteenth of the Line), and Lord Kenmure's.[95] Of
these, Hastings' was manned chiefly by Englishmen, and seems to have
been the only one of the three that had had any real experience of war.
One troop of horse was commanded by Lord Belhaven: the other should have
been commanded by Lord Annandale, whose name it bore, but Mackay could
persuade neither him nor Lord Ross to take the field. Some feeling of
compunction may have kept the latter from drawing his sword against an
old comrade in arms; but Lord Annandale had always been fonder of
wrangling than fighting. Mackay makes no mention of any artillery; but
it appears that he had a few small field-pieces of the kind known as
Sandy's Stoups from the name of their inventor.[96]
It is only possible to guess at Dundee's numbers. When he broke up his
army early in June he seems to have had about three thousand claymores
under him. The second muster was, we know, much smaller than the first;
and though it was slightly increased on the march, and while he waited
at Blair, the whole force he led at Killiecrankie cannot have much
exceeded two thousand men. Over and above the claymores he had not four
hundred. The Irish were three hundred, and his cavalry mustered about
fifty sabres. Highland tradition puts the claymores at nineteen hundred;
and this is probably much about the truth. Artillery, of course, he had
none.
As soon as it was known that Mackay was at the mouth of the pass, Dundee
called a council of war. Three courses, he told his officers, were
before them: to harass Mackay's advance with frequent skirmishes,
avoiding a general engagement till the reinforcements a few days would
certainly bring had made the numbers more equal: to attack him in the
pass; or to wait till he had reached the level ground above it. His own
officers, and the Lowland gentlemen generally, were in favour of the
first plan. Some of the chiefs were in favour of the second. Dundee
listened courteously to all, and then turned to the old chief of the
Camerons who had not yet spoken. What, he asked, did Lochiel advise?
Lochiel had no doubt. They must fight and fight at once, were the enemy
three to one. Their men were in heart: they would have all the advantage
of the ground: let Mackay get fairly through the pass that the
Highlanders might see their foes, and then charge home. He had no fear
for the result; but he would answer for nothing were the claymores to be
kept back now the Saxons were fairly at their feet.
Those who watched Dundee saw his eye brighten. He answered that he
agreed with every word Lochiel had spoken. Delay would bring
reinforcements to Mackay as well as to them, and Mackay's reinforcements
would almost certainly include more cavalry. To fight them in the pass
was useless. In that narrow way the weight of the Highland onset would
be lost. The claymores would not have room for their work, and half the
column would escape. They must fight on open ground and on fair terms,
as Montrose would have fought.[97]
There was no more opposition. The word for battle went through the
clans, and was hailed with universal delight. Then Lochiel spoke again.
He had always, he said, promised implicit obedience to Dundee, and he
had kept his promise; but for once he should command. "It is the voice
of your Council," he went on, "and their orders are that you do not
engage personally. Your Lordship's business is to have an eye on all
parts, and to issue out your commands as you shall think proper. It is
ours to execute them with promptitude and courage. On you depends the
fate not only of this little brave army, but also of our King and
country." He finished by threatening that neither he nor any of his clan
should draw sword that day unless his request were granted. Dundee
answered that he knew his life to be at that moment of some importance,
but he could not on that day of all days refuse to hazard it. The
Highlanders would never again obey in council a general whom they
thought afraid to lead them in war. Hereafter he would do as Lochiel
advised, but he must charge at the head of his men in their first
battle. "Give me," he concluded, "one _Shear-Darg_ (harvest-day's work)
for the King, my master, that I may show the brave clans that I can
hazard my life in that service as freely as the meanest of them."[98]
Mackay had reached the mouth of the pass at ten in the morning. Here he
found Murray and his little band, who had not judged it prudent to
remain longer in the neighbourhood of Blair. Two hundred picked men were
accordingly sent forward to reconnoitre under Colonel Lauder; and at
noon, the ground having been reported clear in front, the whole column
advanced.
The pass of Killiecrankie is now almost as familiar to the Southron as
to the Highlander. It forms the highest and narrowest part of a
magnificent wooded defile in which the waters of the Tummel flowing
eastward from Loch Rannoch meet the waters of the Garry as it plunges
down from the Grampians. Along one of the best roads in the kingdom, or
by the swift and comfortable service of the Highland railway, the
traveller ascends by easy gradations from Pitlochrie, through the
beautiful grounds of Faskally to the little village and station of
Killiecrankie, where a guide earns an unlaborious livelihood by
conducting the panting Saxon over the famous battle-field and to various
commanding points of the defile. How the scene must have looked in those
days, and what thoughts it must have suggested to men either ignorant of
war or accustomed to pursue it in civilised countries, has been
described by Macaulay in a passage which it were superfluous to quote
and impertinent to paraphrase. Near sixty years later, when some
Hessian troops were marching to the relief of Blair Castle, then
besieged by the forces of Prince Charles, the stolid Germans turned from
the desperate sight and, vowing that they had reached the limits of the
world, marched resolutely back to Perth. The only road that then led
through this Valley of the Shadow of Death was a rugged path, so narrow
that not more than three men could walk abreast, winding along the edge
of a precipitous cliff at the foot of which thundered the black waters
of the Garry. Balfour's regiment led the van of this perilous march: the
baggage was in the centre, guarded by Mackay's own battalion:
Annandale's horse and Hastings' foot brought up the rear.
For about the last mile and a half the pass runs due north and south;
but at the summit the river bends westward, and the mountains sweep back
to the right. As the head of the column emerged into open air it found
itself on a small table-land, flanked on the left by the Garry, and on
the right by a tier of low hills sparely dotted with dwarf trees and
underwood. Above these hills to the north and east rose the lofty chain
of the Grampians crowned by the towering peaks of Ben Gloe and Ben
Vrackie. In front the valley gradually opened out towards Blair Castle,
about three miles distant, and along this valley Mackay naturally looked
for the Highland advance. He sent some pioneers forward to entrench his
position, and as each regiment came up on to the level ground, he formed
it in line three deep. Balfour's regiment thus made the left wing
resting on the Garry, while Hastings was on the right where the ground
began to slope upwards to the hills. Next to Balfour stood Ramsay's
men, and then Kenmure's, Leven's, and the general's own regiment. The
guns were in the centre, and the two troops of horse in the rear of the
guns.
In the meantime Dundee had not been idle. Sending a few men straight
down the valley, he led his main body across the Tilt, which joins the
Garry just below the castle, round at the back of the hills till he had
reached the English right. Mackay was in front with his skirmishers,
watching what he supposed to be the approach of Dundee's van, when word
was brought to him that the enemy were occupying the hills on the right
in force. Mackay saw his danger at a glance. The Highlanders would be
down like one of their own rivers in flood on his right flank, and roll
the whole line up into the Garry. On one of the hills overlooking his
position stood what is now known as Urrard House, but was then called by
its proper name of Renrorie.[99] Immediately below this stretched a
piece of ground large and level enough in Mackay's judgment for his army
to receive, though not to give, the attack. He made no change in his
line, but wheeling it as it stood upon the right wing, he marched it up
the slope on to this new ground in the face of the enemy.[100] His
position was now better than it had been; but it was bad enough. The
river was in his rear, and behind the river the inhospitable mountains.
His only way of escape, should the day go against him, lay through that
terrible pass up which, with no enemy to harass him, he had just climbed
with infinite toil. He could hardly hope to make good his retreat down
such a road with a victorious army maddening in his rear. In the
preliminary game of tactics he had been completely out-manoeuvred by
his old comrade.
The clans were now forming for battle. The Macleans of Duart held the
post of honour on the right wing. Next to the Macleans stood Cannon with
his Irish. Then came the men of Clanranald, the men of Glengarry, and
the Camerons. The left wing was composed of the Macdonalds of Sleat and
some more Macleans. In the centre was the cavalry, commanded not as
hitherto by the gallant Dunfermline, but by a gentleman bearing the
illustrious name of Wallace. He had crossed from Ireland with Cannon;
but nothing is heard of him till apparently on the very morning of the
day he produced a commission from James superseding the Earl of
Dunfermline in favour of Sir William Wallace of Craigie. What would
otherwise appear one of those inexplicable freaks by which James ever
delighted to confound his affairs at their crisis, is amply explained by
the fact that the new captain was the brother of Melfort's second wife.
Fortunately Dunfermline was too good a soldier and too loyal a gentleman
to resent the slight. As Mackay's line was much longer than his, Dundee
was compelled to widen the spaces between the clans for fear of being
outflanked, which left for his centre only this little cluster of
sabres. Lochiel's eldest son, John, was with his father, but Allan, the
second, held a commission in Mackay's own regiment. As the general saw
each clan take up its ground, he turned to young Cameron and said,
pointing to the standard of Lochiel, "There is your father with his wild
savages; how would you like to be with him?" "It signifies little what I
would like," was the spirited answer; "but I recommend you to be
prepared, or perhaps my father and his wild savages may be nearer to you
before night than you would like!"[101]
Each general spoke a few words to his men. Dundee reminded his captains
that they were assembled that day to fight in the best of causes, in the
cause of their King, their religion and their country, against rebels
and usurpers. He urged them to behave like true Scotchmen, and to redeem
their country from the disgrace cast on it by the treachery and
cowardice of others. He asked nothing of them but what they should see
him do before them all. Those who fell would fall honourably like true
and brave soldiers: those who lived and conquered would have the reward
of a gracious King and the praise of all good men. Let them charge home
then, in the name of King James and the Church of Scotland. Mackay urged
the same honourable duty on his battalions; but he added one very
practical consideration which suggests that he was not so confident of
the issue as he afterwards professes to have been, and which was perhaps
not very wisely offered. They must fight, he said, for they could not
fly. The enemy was much quicker afoot than they, and there were the
Athole men waiting to pounce on all runaways. Such thoughts would hardly
furnish the best tonic to a doubtful spirit. Nevertheless the troops
answered cheerfully that they would stand by their general to the last;
which, adds the brave old fellow ruefully in his despatch, "most of them
belied shortly after."[102]
A dropping fire of musketry had for some time been maintained between
the two lines, and on the English left there had been some closer
skirmishing between Lauder's sharpshooters and the Macleans. Mackay was
anxious to engage before the sun set. He doubted how his raw troops
would stand a night-attack from a foe to whom night and day were one:
still more did he fear what might happen in the darkness during the
confusion of a retreat down that awful pass. But he could not attack,
and Dundee would not, till his moment came. The darkness the other
feared would be all in his favour. A very short time he knew would be
enough to decide the issue of the battle. Should that issue be
favourable to King James, as he felt confident it would be, he had
determined that before the next morning dawned there should be no army
left to King William in the Highlands.
The sun set, and the moment he had chosen came. The Southrons saw
Dundee, who had now changed his scarlet coat for one of less conspicuous
colour, ride along the line, and as he passed each clan they saw plaids
and brogues flung off. They heard the shout with which the word to
advance was hailed; but the cheer they sent back did not carry with it
the conviction of victory. Lochiel turned to his Camerons with a smile.
"Courage!" he said, "the day is our own. I am the oldest commander in
this army; and I tell you that feeble noise is the cry of men who are
doomed to fall by our hands this night." Then the old warrior flung off
his shoes with the rest of them, and took his place at the head of his
men. Dundee rode to the front of his cavalry. The pipes sounded, and the
clans came down the hill.
They advanced slowly at first, without firing a shot, while Mackay's
right poured a hot volley into their ranks, and the leathern cannon
discharged their harmless thunder from the centre. A gentleman of the
Grants, who was fighting that day among the Macdonalds, was knocked over
by a spent ball which struck his target. "Sure, the Boddachs are in
earnest now!" he said, as he leaped to his feet with a laugh. It was not
till they had reached the level ground that the Highlanders delivered
their fire. One volley they poured in, and then, flinging their muskets
away, bounded forward sword in hand with a terrific yell. The soldiers
had not time to fix their bayonets in the smoking muzzles of their
muskets before the claymores were among them and the battle was
over.[103] On the left wing scarcely a trigger was pulled: the men broke
and ran like sheep. The famous Scots Brigade, in fact, set the example
of flight. Their officers behaved like brave soldiers. Balfour,
abandoned by his men, defended himself for a time against overwhelming
odds, till he was cut down by a young clergyman, Robert Stewart, a
grandson of Ballechin. Eight officers of Mackay's own regiment were
killed, including his brother, the colonel; and many of Ramsay's. In
vain was the cavalry ordered to charge. In vain did Belhaven like a
gallant gentleman gallop to the front. In vain did Mackay place himself
at their head, and, calling on them to follow him, spur into the thick
of the flashing claymores. Before his horse they fell back right and
left in such a way as to justify his boast to Melville that with fifty
stout troopers he could have changed the day even then; but one of his
own servants alone followed him. A few of the dragoons discharged their
carbines at random. Then all turned and spurred off among the crowd of
footmen to the mouth of the pass. Some of the fugitives tried to cross
the Garry, and were either drowned in its swift waters, or cut down as
they scrambled drenched and unarmed through its fords. Down the pass to
Pitlochrie the rout went. The men of Athole, no longer doubtful of the
issue, pounced from their lair upon the easy prey; and even women lent
their hands to the butchery.[104]
Well might Mackay bitterly complain, "There was no regiment or troop
with me but behaved like the vilest cowards in nature except Hastings
and my Lord Leven's."[105] For on the right matters had fared rather
better with the Lowlanders. Many of Leven's Borderers had stood firm and
Hastings' Englishmen; and where the Southrons stood firm the Highlanders
wavered. But they were too few for Mackay to have any hopes of
retrieving the fortune of the day. The Highlanders were now busy with
the baggage, which offered a more tempting and less troublesome prize
than the struggling mass of fugitives. Mackay therefore collected the
few men he could get together, and led them across the Garry by a ford
above the field of battle over the mountains towards Stirling. On his
march he overtook some more of his runaways whom Ramsay was leading in
the same direction. Mackay did all it was possible for a brave man to do
to encourage his men and keep them together. But many were too
frightened to heed his words, or even the pistol with which he
threatened to shoot the first man he saw leaving his ranks. The news of
his defeat had spread with marvellous rapidity: the whole country was
up: every glen and mountain sent out its reapers to the rich harvest.
And where enemies did not exist, the fears of these poor wretches found
them. Every drover with his herd, every shepherd with his flock, was
magnified into a fresh array of the terrible Highlanders. On the evening
of Monday, the 29th, Mackay reached Stirling with barely one-fifth of
the force with which he had marched out of the town a week earlier.
The Highland loss was calculated at nine hundred men. The Macdonalds and
Camerons were the principal sufferers, their position on the left and
left-centre having brought them in contact with the battalions who had
kept their ground. Glengarry's brother was among the killed, with
Macdonald of Largo, and no less than five cousins of Macdonald of the
Isles. Among the Lowlanders fell Hallyburton of Pitcur, and Gilbert
Ramsay, Dundee's favourite officer, who had dreamed overnight of the
victory and of his death. But though the battle had been won for James,
he had suffered a greater loss than William. A fresh army could replace
Mackay's broken battalions; but no one could replace Dundee, and Dundee
was dead.
He had ridden at the head of his cavalry straight on Mackay's centre.
But for some unexplained reason his troopers had not followed him close;
whether their new captain did not like the guns, or had misunderstood
his orders, is not clear. Dunfermline, seeing his general's plumed hat
waving above the smoke, had spurred out of the ranks with sixteen
gentlemen, and with these sabres the guns were taken and silenced.
Dundee, seeing that all went well on the right wing, turned to the left
where the Macdonalds were wavering before the firmer front of Hastings'
Englishmen. As he galloped across the field to bring them to the
charge, a shot struck him in the right side immediately below his
breastplate. For a few strides further he clung swaying to his saddle,
and then sank from his horse into the arms of a soldier named Johnstone.
Like Wolfe on the heights of Abraham, he asked how the day went. "Well
for the King," said the man, "but I am sorry for your Lordship." And
like Wolfe, Dundee answered, "It is the less matter for me, seeing the
day goes well for my master." As his officers returned from the pursuit
they found him on the field, and it is said, though one would be glad to
disbelieve it, stripped by the very men whom he had led to victory. By
his side was found a bundle of papers. Among them was a letter from
Melfort, bidding him be sure that both he and James would feel
themselves bound by no promise of toleration circumstances had induced
them to make. Well might Balcarres, who knew his friend's disposition
better than Melfort, tell James how such foolish and disingenuous
dealing had grieved Dundee and all who wished honestly to the
cause.[106]
Dundee's body, wrapped in a plaid, was carried to the castle, and a few
days later buried in the old church of Blair. In 1852 some bones,
believed to be his, were removed from Blair to the Church of Saint
Drostan in the parish of Old Deer, in Aberdeenshire; and eleven years
later a window of stained glass was placed in the same church, bearing,
on a brass plate in the window-sill, this inscription: "Sacred to the
memory of John Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee, who died in the
arms of victory, and whose battle-cry was 'King James and the Church of
Scotland!'"
As no stone was ever known to mark his first grave; there is, of course,
ample room for the incredulous to smile over this late tribute to his
memory. But in truth the shadow of doubt broods over him in death as in
life. It is certain only that he received his death-wound on the field
of battle, and in the moment of victory. What else fell with him there
was well expressed by William. When the news from Killiecrankie came
down, the King was urged at once to send a large army into the
Highlands. "It is needless," he answered, "the war ended with Dundee's
life."
FOOTNOTES:
[90] See the sixth canto of "The Lady of the Lake."
"We'll quell the savage mountaineer,
As their tinchel cows the game."
The tinchel was the name given to the circle of hunters which, gradually
narrowing, hemmed the deer into a small space, where they could be
easily slaughtered.
[91] Mackay complains bitterly in his Memoirs of "the unconcerned method
of the Government in matters which touch them nearest as to their
general safety, each being for his particular, and fixed upon his
private projects, so as neither to see nor be concerned for anything
else."
[92] "When in front of Blair Castle their real destination was disclosed
to them by Lord Tullibardine [the heir of Athole did not assume this
style till 1695]. Instantly they rushed from their ranks, ran to the
adjoining stream of Banovy, and, filling their bonnets with water, drank
to the health of King James; and then, with colours flying and pipes
playing, 'fifteen hundred of the men of Athole, as reputable for arms as
any in the kingdom' [Mackay's words], put themselves under the command
of the Laird of Ballechin and marched off to join Lord Dundee."
Stewart's "Sketches of the Highlanders of Scotland," i. 67. But this is
not strictly true. They joined neither Ballechin nor Dundee, but went
off on their own account to the mountains to watch the issue of events.
[93] Probably Dundee wrote more confidently than he felt. He owned that
Murray might "have more to do to believe" Melfort's assurance than
James's; but, in fact, there was too good reason to disbelieve both.
From the first letter written from Struan it appears that the despatch
from James which had fallen into Hamilton's hands was much more
temperate and conciliatory than the earlier one brought to the
Convention by Crane. Dundee had not seen this despatch; and it is
possible that he described it rather as his own good sense urged him to
believe it must have been, than as it really was. The letters to
himself, which he summarises for Murray's benefit, must have been those
acknowledged in the postscript to Melfort of June 28th. It is, as we
shall presently see, certain that about this time James was induced to
assume, as he had before assumed when it was too late, the virtue of
toleration. How much of these promises Dundee really believed, it is
impossible to say. The history of our own time has shown, and is every
day showing, that neither wisdom nor experience will always avail to
prevent a man from believing that which it is his interest to believe.
[94] Memoirs of Balcarres and of Lochiel.
[95] I have given the modern style of these regiments as they were
before the last freak of the War Office. What they may be now, I do not
know; nor is the knowledge important, for the style I have used will
probably be most familiar to my readers. "My Uncle Toby," it will be
remembered, was of Leven's regiment. There exists a letter from
Schomberg to Lord Leven, especially commending to the latter's care a
gentleman of the name of Le Fevre. See the "Leven and Melville Papers."
[96] Mackay says in his Memoirs that he left Edinburgh with two troops
of horse, and four of dragoons. It is certain that only the former were
engaged at Killiecrankie. But the general's narrative is throughout
extremely confused, and sometimes barely intelligible. Perhaps the
larger force was that he had counted on having; or the four troops of
dragoons may have been those he ordered to follow from Stirling.
Alexander Hamilton, who commanded the artillery in the Covenanter's army
with which Leslie and Montrose made the famous passage of the Tyne in
1640. From Burton's description of them they can hardly have been very
dangerous, at least to the enemy. "They seem to have been made of tin
for the bore, with a coating of leather, all secured by tight cordage. A
horse could carry two of them, and it was their merit to stand a few
discharges before they came to pieces." "History of Scotland," vi. 302.
[97] It is said that one of Dundee's arguments against attacking in the
pass was, that it did not become brave soldiers to engage a foe at
disadvantage, an argument which I should imagine Dundee was much too
sensible a man to employ to Highlanders. Had his force been sufficient
for him to close up the mouth of the pass after the Lowlanders had
entered, it is hard to imagine he would have lost the chance of catching
Mackay in such a trap. But his force was too small to divide: while the
nature of the ground would of course have told as much against those who
made as against those who met a charge, besides inevitably offending the
jealous point of honour which forbad one clan to take precedence of
another. It may be, too, that Dundee was not very well served by his
scouts. Mackay certainly seems to have got well on his way through the
pass before the other knew that he had entered it. See the "Life of
Mackay," and the "Rebellions in Scotland."
[98] Memoirs of Lochiel.
[99] For long afterwards the battle was known among the Highlanders as
the battle of Renrorie.
[100] Mackay's Memoirs: "a quart de conversion" is his own phrase for
this change of front.
[101] "Sketches of the Highlanders."
[102] Among the Nairne Papers is what purports to be a copy of Dundee's
speech. It has been contemptuously rejected by some writers as a
manifest forgery, on the ground that no Highlander would have understood
a word of it. But there were Dundee's own officers and men to be
addressed; and, moreover, his language would have been perfectly
intelligible to some, at least, of the chiefs, who would have conveyed
its purpose to their men. It was still the fashion for a general to
harangue his troops before leading them into action, and it was a
fashion particularly in vogue among the Highlanders. I see no reason,
therefore, to doubt the general authenticity of this speech. Exactly as
it stands in the Nairne Papers probably Dundee did not deliver it; the
style being somewhat more grandiloquent than he was in the habit of
employing. But its general purpose, which I have endeavoured to give in
a paraphrase, seems to be very much what such a man would have said at
such a moment. The authority for Mackay's speech will be found in his
own despatch to Lord Melville after the battle.
[103] It was the disastrous experience of this day that led Mackay to
devise a plan of fixing the bayonet to the musket so that each could be
used, as now, without interfering with the other.
[104] "History of the Rebellions in Scotland." Even the men who had
stood by Lord Murray joined in the slaughter. He did his best to keep
them quiet, but was forced to own afterwards to Mackay that he had not
been very successful. "It cannot be helped," he wrote, "of almost all
country people, who are ready to pillage and plunder whenever they have
occasion." See the Bannatyne edition of Dundee's Letters, &c.
[105] Mackay's opinion was that "the English commonalty were to be
preferred in matter of courage to the Scots."
[106] One tradition, for a long while current among the Lowlands,
declares him to have been shot by one of his own men in the pay of
William Livingstone, who afterwards married Lady Dundee; Livingstone
having been for some weeks a close prisoner in Edinburgh with the other
disaffected officers of his regiment. Lady Dundee, the story goes on to
say, was aware of his intentions, and on the following New Year's day
sent "the supposed assassin a white night-cap, a pair of white gloves,
and a rope, being a sort of suit of canonicals for the gallows, either
to signify that she esteemed him worthy of that fate, or that she
thought the state of his mind might be such as to make him fit to hang
himself." Another tradition makes Dundee fall by a shot fired from the
window of Urrard House, in which a party of Mackay's men had lodged
themselves. He was watering his horse at the time at a pond called the
Goose-Dub, where the Laird of Urrard's geese were wont to disport
themselves. This story is evidently part of the old nurse's prophecy
mentioned on page 3. For these and many other anecdotes of the battle,
see the "History of the Rebellions in Scotland." I have taken my account
of Dundee's death from the memoirs of Balcarres and Lochiel, and from
the depositions, printed by Napier, of certain witnesses examined
afterwards at Edinburgh, among them being an officer of Kenmure's
regiment, who was carried prisoner into the castle after the battle and
heard Johnstone's story. As for the letter said to have been written by
Dundee to James after the battle, and now among the Nairne Papers, there
is more to be said for it than some have allowed. Macaulay, alluding to
it as dated the day after the battle, calls it as impudent a forgery as
Fingal. But in fact it bears no date at all: the handwriting is declared
on the best authority to be beyond question contemporary; and there is
no absolute proof that Dundee did not live long enough at least to
dictate an account of his victory to James. It is tolerably certain that
he would have done so had his strength permitted him. But in a letter
written from Dublin in the following November by James to Ballechin,
there is no mention of any letter from Dundee, and his death is there
alluded to as having occurred at the beginning of the action. This, of
course, is not conclusive; James's actual words are, "the loss you had
... at your entrance into action," which need not imply instant death.
On the whole, however, the balance of evidence seems to me to prove that
Dundee died where he fell, and that the letter is not genuine, though
certainly no forgery of Macpherson's. Those who are still curious on a
point which is, after all, of no very great importance, will find it
amply discussed in a note to the edition of Dundee's letters published
for the Bannatyne Club, and in an appendix to Napier's third volume. A
stone still marks the spot where Dundee is said to have fallen, and was
seen by Captain Burt less than fifty years after the battle.
INDEX.
Abjuration oath, the, 121
Acts against the Covenanters, 35-6, 40, 45, 121
Aird's Moss, skirmish at, 91
Annandale, Lord, 200
Argyle, Marquis of, 21, 22, 24, 25, 28, 34
Earl of (son of preceding), 45, 119, 139
Earl of (son of preceding), 171, 193
Athole, Marquis of, 44, 46, 139, 145 _note_, 153, 154, 159, 162, 188, 194
men of, behaviour of the, 196 _note_, 211 and _note_
Auchencloy, execution of Covenanters at, 128-31
Auchinleck, Robert, execution of, 131-2
Balcarres, Earl of, 141, 142, 143, 148, 149, 151, 155, 156, 157, 166, 189
memoirs of the Revolution by, 144 _note_
Balfour, Colonel, 200, 205, 211
of Burley, John, 58, 60, 62, 65, 69, 83
Ballechin, Stewart of, 194
letter to, from James, 215 _note_
Belhaven, Lord, 200, 211
Blair Castle, 194, 195, 201, 214
Church, 214, 215
Bothwell Bridge, battle of, 83-6
Brown, John, execution of, 116-22
Bruce, Andrew, of Earlshall, 55, 91
Buchan, Colonel, 107, 108, 109, 145
Burnet, Bishop, on Claverhouse, 4, 151 _note_
Cameron of Lochiel, Sir Ewan, 169, 170, 171, 179, 181, 185, 198, 202,
203, 210
memoirs of, 5 _note_
Allan, 207-8
Richard, 91
Cameronians, the, 91
Cannon, Colonel, joins Claverhouse with Irishmen, 198
Cargill, Rev. Donald, 78, 79, 91
Charles the Second, signs the Covenant, 24
crowned in Scotland, 24
his opinion of Lauderdale's administration, 42
acquits Claverhouse of malversation, 91
Charles the Second appoints Claverhouse to a regiment of cavalry, 97
his goodwill to Claverhouse, 100 and _note_
settles Claverhouse in possession of Dudhope, 101
Claverhouse, birth of, 1
family and education, 2-7
supposed to have served in French army, 8, 9
gallant action at Seneff, 12, 13
resigns commission in Dutch service, 15
story of his reasons for resigning, 15, 16 _note_
applies to Montrose for employment, 44
receives lieutenant's commission, 45
portrait of, 46, 47
refuses to interfere illegally with Covenanters, 48
appointed Deputy-Sheriff of Dumfriesshire, 55
at Drumclog, 70
at Glasgow, 72, 73
at Bothwell Bridge, 85, 86
accused of malversation, 90, 91 _note_
appointed Sheriff of Wigtownshire, 92
his policy towards the Covenanters, 92-3, 135 and _note_
receives command of cavalry regiment, 97
his quarrel with the Dalrymples, 95-7
his visit to England, 97-100
made a Privy-Councillor, 100
obtains estate of Dudhope, 101
his marriage, 101-5
merciful conduct to prisoners, 109
examination into charges against, 111-36
in disgrace, 125-6
his character, 134-5
his quarrel with Queensberry, 139-42
second visit to England, 142
Provost of Dundee and Major-General, 143
marches into England, 145
quartered in London, 146
joins James at Salisbury, 146
created Viscount of Dundee, 146
his advice to James, 147
marches to Reading, 147
receives a message from William at Watford, 148
attends Scottish Council in London, 148
waits on James at Whitehall for the last time, 149
negotiations with William, 151
returns to Edinburgh, 151
plot to assassinate him, 158
leaves Edinburgh, 160
his interview with the Duke of Gordon, 160
proclaimed traitor by the Convention, 164
escapes to Glen Ogilvy, 166
a son born to him, 173
saves Inverness from Keppoch, 174
his raid upon Dunkeld and Perth, 175
demonstration outside Dundee, 177
at Lochaber, 179
the muster of the Clans, 179-80
his popularity with the Highlanders, 182-3
returns to Lochaber, 185
re-assembles the Clans, 198
garrisons Blair Castle, 198
holds Council of War, 201-4
addresses his soldiers, 208
death and burial, 213-15
Cleland, William, 65, 159
"Cloud of Witnesses," the, value of the testimony of, 123
Cochrane, Lady Jean, 101, 102, 104
Convention of Estates, the, 155-9, 161-2, 165-6
Covenanters, assembly of, at Mauchline, 21
under Strachan, 28
cruelties of, 29, 30
character of, 29, 59
address of, to Charles, 32
rising of, in the West, 37
divisions among, 77-80, 82, 83
declarations by, 63, 91, 120, 121 _note_
treatment of, after Bothwell Bridge, 87-8
rabble the Episcopalian clergy, 154
Creichton, Captain, 176-7
Cromwell, Oliver, his advice to the Presbyterians, 20
negotiates with Argyle, 21, 25
his policy towards the Presbyterians, 25-6
Dalrymples of Stair, their quarrel with Claverhouse, 95-7
Dalziel, Thomas, 38, 81, 85, 106, 145 _note_
Declaration of Indulgence, the, 8
repeal of, 9
the Rutherglen, 63
the Hamilton, 82
the Sanquhar, 91
Defoe on Claverhouse, 123 _note_, 127, 131
value of his testimony, 124 _note_
Douglas, General James, 123, 126, 139-40, 145, 147, 188
Drumclog, battle of, 64-71
Drumlanrig, Viscount, 145 _note_, 147
Drummond, General, 126
Alexander, of Bahaldy, 169
John, of Bahaldy, 5 _note_
Drunken Parliament, the, 33
Dumbarton, Earl of, 123, 137, 138, 147, 150
Dundee, Viscount of. _See_ Claverhouse
memoirs of, 16 _note_
Viscountess of, second marriage and death, 105 _note_
story of, and Col. Livingstone, 214 _note_
Dundonald, Earl of, 101, 103
Dunfermline, Earl of, 172, 180, 189, 207, 213
Dunmore, Earl of, 145 _note_, 150
Edinburgh, riots in, 142, 154-5
Enterkin Hill, rescue of Covenanters at, 109
Episcopal clergy, Scotch, Burnet's complaint against, 48 _note_
Feud between Macdonalds and Mackintoshes, 123
Field-preaching, Act against, 40
Gordon, Duke of, in command of Edinburgh Castle, 155-6, 160-61,
187 _note_
Graham, David, 3, 115, 180
Graham, Robert, 68 and _note_
Grameis, the, 13, 173
Grierson, Sir Robert. _See_ Lag
Hackston of Rathillet, 58, 60, 83, 91
Hamilton, Duke of, 42, 102, 148, 153, 155, 159, 161-3, 165-6
Robert, 62-3, 65, 71-3, 77-9, 82-4
Highland Host, the, 41-2
Highlanders, loyalty of, 169-71
their value as soldiers, 168, 181
Hislop, Andrew, execution of, 125-7
James the Second, as Duke of York, favours Claverhouse, 44
High Commissioner in Scotland, 91, 97
promotes Claverhouse, 139-40
summons him to London, 141
announces invasion of England to Scotch Council, 143
orders Scotch troops to England, 144
at Salisbury, 145-7
his flight and return, 148
ordered to leave the capital by William, 148
his last interview with Balcarres and Claverhouse, 149-50
leaves England, 150
his foolish letter to the Estates, 156
his letter to Claverhouse falls into hands of Hamilton, 165
his promises of toleration, 197 _note_, 214
his letter to Ballechin, 215 _note_
Keppoch, Colin Macdonald of, 170, 173-4, 183
Killing-time, the, 111-36
King, Rev. John, 64, 71
Lag, the Laird of, 49-53, 114 _note_
Latin poem on Battle of Bothwell Bridge, 68 _note_
Lauderdale, Duke of, 33, 39, 42, 58, 98
Earl of, 98-101
Leather guns, 201
Leighton, Bishop, 34, 40
Leslie, David, 30
Letters from Claverhouse to Archbishop Burnet, 107, 108
to Duke of Hamilton, 163-4
to James, 215 _note_
to Earl of Melfort, 186-92
to Linlithgow, 48-9, 54, 56, 64-5, 67, 70
to Lord Murray, 196-7
to Queensberry, 92, 94, 96 _note_, 99 _note_, 103-4, 109, 117, 138
Leven, Earl of, 166, 200, 212
Linlithgow, Earl of, 44, 81
Livingstone, George, Lord, 83, 145, 162-3
Sir Thomas, 150, 172, 185, 199
William, 176, 177 _note_, 214 _note_
Macaulay on Claverhouse, 13, 17, 18, 119, 125, 151 _note_
Macdonald of Keppoch, 170
Macdonalds, killed at Killiecrankie, 213
Mackay, General, story of his alleged quarrel with Claverhouse, 16 _note_
commands the troops in Scotland, 172
tries to raise the Clans for William, 178-9
marches against Claverhouse, 184-5
new plan of campaign, 193
sends Lord Murray to Blair Castle, 195
takes the field again, 199
the strength of his army, 200-1 and _note_
marches through the Pass of Killiecrankie, 204-5
his order of battle, 206
his address to his troops, 208
his bravery, 211
his opinion of English soldiers, 212 _note_
his retreat to Stirling, 212-13
John, of Rockfields, his biography of General Mackay, 16 _note_
Mackenzie, Sir George, 99, 159, 188
Colin, 105
Macpherson, James, alleged forgery of letters from Claverhouse by, 215
_note_
Martyrs, the Wigtown, 112-15
Mekellwrath, Matthew, execution of, 128
Melfort, Earl of, 142, 144, 156-8, 165, 186, 207
Mitchell, James, attempt to assassinate Sharp by, 58
Mitchell, Robert, 130
Monmouth, Duke of, appointed to command army in Scotland, 80
his leniency to the Covenanters, 82, 84, 87
executed, 139
Montrose, Marquis of, 44-5, 46
Munro, Dr., on Claverhouse, 5
Murray, Earl of, letter from to Queensberry, 140
Lord Charles. _See_ Earl of Dunmore
Lord, 194-7, 204, 211 _note_
Muster-roll of Claverhouse's regiment, 145 _note_
Nairne Papers, the, 209 _note_, 215 _note_
Napier, Mark, his "Life and Times of Dundee," 5 _note_
Peirson, Rev. Peter, murder of, 129-30
Perth, Earl of, 39 _note_, 142, 154-5
"Pilliwincks," torture of the. _See_ Thumbkin
Plot to assassinate Claverhouse and Mackenzie, 159
Queensberry, Duke of, 55, 92, 99, 137-8, 141, 162. _See_ Letters from
Claverhouse to
Ramsay, Lieut.-Col., 184, 211, 212
Gilbert, 213
Remonstrants, the, 21, 25-8
Renwick, head of the Covenanters, proclamation by, 121 _note_
Resolutioners, the, 21, 25-8
Ross, George, Lord, 57 and _note_, 61, 72
William, Lord, 105 and _note_, 200
Rullion Green, battle of, 38
Rutherford, Rev. Samuel, 35
Ruthven Castle destroyed, 184
Saint Drostan, church of, memorial to Claverhouse in, 215-6
Sanquhar Declaration, the, 91
Scotch troops ordered to England, 144
Scotland, state of, reviewed, 17-76
Scott, Sir Walter, his account of Drumclog in "Old Mortality," 67
his account of Bothwell Bridge in the same, 85 and _note_
Seneff, battle of, 12
Sharp, James, 26, 31
consecrated Primate of Scotland, 34
murdered, 57, 60
Simpson, Rev. Robert, on Claverhouse and the Covenanters, 132 _note_
Smith, Robert, evidence on battle of Bothwell Bridge, 85
Stormont, Viscount of, 176 and _note_
Thumbkin, torture of the, 39 _note_
Tinchel, the, 193 and _note_
Traditions about Claverhouse, 3, 47 _note_, 70, 182, 214 _note_
Turner, Sir James, 36-8
Walker, Patrick, on Claverhouse, 7 _note_, 135
his opinion of Wodrow, 116
on death of John Brown, 116-17, 122 and _note_
Welsh, Rev. John, 56-7, 78, 82
Westerhall, Johnstone of, 125
Western Shires, the, nursery of the Covenanters, 29
Whiggamores' raid, the, 22
Whigs, origin of the name of, 23 _note_
brought into Edinburgh by Hamilton, 158-9, 161
William the Third, stories of his early acquaintance with Claverhouse,
12, 15-16
his message to Claverhouse, 148
tries to persuade Claverhouse and Balcarres to enter his service, 151
and _note_
his opinion of Claverhouse, 216
Winrahame, George, 118 _note_, 160
Wodrow, Rev. Robert, his "History of the Sufferings of the Church of
Scotland," 51-2
vagueness of his charges against Claverhouse, 88
on the Wigtown Martyrs, 113-14
on the death of John Brown, 116
Andrew Hislop, 127
on the murder of Rev. Peter Peirson, 129-30 and _note_
* * * * *
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES:
VARIANT SPELLINGS
Page vi: John Mackay is of Rockfield (p. vi); and Rockfields (p. 16 and
index, under Mackay). Amended Rockfield to Rockfields.
Page vi.: Variant spelling of Scourie and Scowrie retained, however, as
the author could well have spelled it Scowrie (though online historical
sources suggest Hugh Mackay was born at Scourie).
Page 133: Hyslop has been in all other instances spelt Hislop; corrected.
Page 159: "bloodly Clavers" matches book: retained.
Variant spelling of doggerel/doggrel (one instance of each) retained.
VARIANT CAPITALISATIONS
Inconsistent capitalisation of Council-Board and Council-board (one
instance of each) retained.
Capitalisation of Churchman (p. 9) and Legislature (p. 9) retained
The Killing Time variously capitalised as killing-time, Killing-time,
Killing-Time and Killing Time (one of each). Two of these are enclosed
in quote marks and one is in the index. Retained.
Popery and popery/popish and Popish variant capitalisations retained
(read properly in context).
VARIANT SPELLINGS IN QUOTED LETTERS
While the author notes that Claverhouse could not spell correctly (for
example p. 6), the only misspellings that appear in the reproduced
letters are proper names: there are no other spelling errors. It would
appear that the transcriber was correcting the common English without
correcting the proper names. Subsequently the following misspelled
proper names have been corrected:
Page 108: Mauchlin corrected to Mauchline.
Page 138: Sanquar corrected to Sanquhar (spelt correctly in a previous
letter, p. 108).
Page 188: Variant spelling of Locheil, elsewhere Lochiel, corrected. In
the same letter there is a reference to Queenberry (otherwise
Queensberry), ditto corrected.
Page 190: Kircudbright corrected to Kirkcudbright (spelt correctly in at
least 3 previous letters, see pp. 54, 93 and 94).
HYPHENS
One instance of each headquarters, head-quarters and one split over the
end of a line. Settled on headquarters as the more common spelling.
PUNCTUATION
Page 69: "; amended to ;", which is the standard punctuation arrangement
in the book.
Page 188: "strangely, For" amended to "strangely. For".
Page 192: Editorial comment in quoted letter (that) is in parentheses
and not square brackets as has been used elsewhere in book. Amended to
square brackets.
MISCELLANEOUS
TOC created for this text (no TOC in the original book)
Page 117: "...I caused shoot him dead;" checks out against original
book. Left as is.
Index: Page reference for Whigs, origin of name fixed to page 23
(footnote 8); no note on page 82 (original reference in book).