from Inverness the day after the battle to put to death all the
wounded they might find in the inclosure adjoining the field of
Culloden. These orders were fulfilled with a punctuality and
deliberation that is sickening to read of. Instead of despatching
their unfortunate victims on the spot where they found them, the
soldiers dragged them from the places where they lay weltering in
their gore, and, having ranged them on some spots of rising ground,
poured in volleys of musketry upon them. Next day parties were sent
to search all the houses in the neighbourhood of the field of battle,
with instructions to carry all the wounded Highlanders they could
find thither and despatch them. Many were in consequence murdered;
and the young laird of Macleod was heard frankly to declare, that
on this occasion he himself saw seventy-two persons killed in cold
blood. The feelings of humanity were not, however, altogether
obliterated in the hearts of some of the officers, who spared a few
of the wounded. In one instance the almost incredible cruelty of the
soldiery was strikingly exemplified. At a short distance from the
field of battle there stood a small hut, used for sheltering sheep
and goats in cold and stormy weather, into which some of the wounded
had crawled. On discovering them the soldiers immediately secured the
door, to prevent egress, and thereupon set fire to the hut in several
places, and all the persons within, to the number of between thirty
and forty, perished in the flames.[1219]
Another instance of fiendish cruelty occurred the same day. Almost
immediately after the battle, nineteen wounded officers of the
Highland army, unable to follow their retiring companions, secreted
themselves in a small plantation near Culloden house, whence they
were afterwards carried to the court-yard of that mansion, where they
remained two days in great torture weltering in their blood, and
without the least medical aid or attention but such as they received
from the president’s steward, who, at the hazard of his own life,
alleviated the sufferings of his unhappy countrymen by several acts
of kindness. These wretched sufferers were now tied with ropes by the
brutal soldiery, thrown into carts, and carried out to a park wall
at a short distance from Culloden house. Being dragged out of the
carts, they were ranged in order along the wall, and were told by
the officer in command of the party to prepare for death. Such of
them as retained the use of their limbs fell down upon their knees in
prayer; but they had little time allowed them to invoke mercy, for
in a minute the soldiers received orders to fire, and, being posted
at the distance of only two or three yards from the prisoners, the
unfortunate gentlemen were almost all instantly shot dead. That the
butchery might be complete, the soldiers were ordered to club their
muskets and dash out the brains of such of their miserable victims
as exhibited any symptoms of life, an order which, horrible to tell,
was actually fulfilled. A gentleman named John Fraser, who had been
an officer in the Master of Lovat’s regiment, alone survived. He
had received a ball, and being observed to be still in life, was
struck on the face by a soldier with the butt end of his musket.
Though one of his cheek bones and the upper part of his nose were
broken, and one of his eyes dashed out by the blow, he still lived,
and the party, thinking they had killed him, left him for dead. He
would probably have expired on the spot, had not the attention of
Lord Boyd, son of the Earl of Kilmarnock, when riding past, been
fortunately attracted by the number of dead bodies he observed
lying together. Espying, at a little distance from the heap, a body
in motion, his lordship went up, and having ascertained from the
mouth of the sufferer who he was, he ordered his servant to carry
Mr. Fraser to a cottage, near at hand, which he named, where he lay
concealed for three months. He lived several years afterwards, but
was a cripple during life.[1220]
By the capture of Inverness, a considerable quantity of ordnance and
military stores fell into the hands of the royal army. Including
those taken on the field of battle, there were 30 pieces of cannon,
2,320 firelocks, 190 broadswords, a large quantity of musket
cartridges, 1,019 cannon balls, a quantity of musket shot, 37 barrels
of gunpowder, and 22 ammunition carts, besides tents, cantines,
pistols, saddles, &c. To encourage the soldiers to collect the arms
which the Highlanders had left on the field, they were allowed
half-a-crown for every musket, and a shilling for every broadsword
which they brought into the camp at Inverness. For every stand of
colours the sum of sixteen guineas was allowed, and no less than
fourteen of these were captured or picked up upon the field, all of
which were burnt on the 4th of June at the market cross of Edinburgh,
by the hands of the common hangman, after being carried in mock
procession from the castle by a party of chimney-sweeps.
Two days after the battle the Earl of Cromarty, his son, Lord
Macleod, several officers, and 153 private men, were landed at
Inverness from the Hound sloop of war, which had conveyed them from
Sutherland, where they had been taken prisoners by a party of Lord
Sutherland’s people on the preceding day, viz., the 15th of April,
under the following circumstances. Having received instructions to
rejoin the main body of the Highland army at Inverness, the earl
was about proceeding to fulfil them, when a plan was formed by the
Mackays and the Earl of Sutherland’s people to cut him off. Uniting
their forces, consisting of three independent companies, near
Golspie, they resolved to attack the Earl of Cromarty, early in the
morning of the 15th of April, in flank and in rear. In pursuance
of this resolution, Captain Macallister, who commanded the Earl of
Sutherland’s militia, marched with his company towards the water
of Golspie, and having in his march received intelligence that
Cromarty’s regiment had marched towards the ferry, but that the earl
himself with the greater part of his officers was at Dunrobin castle,
he sent Ensign John Mackay, with a party of 26 men, to intercept him.
The earl left the castle with 14 officers on horseback, and a small
party of well-armed foot, to join his men, and would have fallen
into an ambuscade which Ensign Mackay had laid for him, had not some
of the Mackays begun to fire too soon. Lord Cromarty immediately
retraced his steps and took refuge in the castle, from the top of
the tower of which he displayed a white flag and rang a bell, as a
signal that he was attacked. The earl’s men began immediately to
march back to his relief, upon which Mackay and his party retired to
the adjacent high grounds. Meanwhile, the two independent companies,
which were to attack Cromarty’s men in flank, arrived at the hill of
Culmaly, to the north west of Golspie, and observing the insurgents
returning from the ferry, and drawing up in order of battle on
a rising ground about a mile west from Golspie, they concealed
themselves on the top of the hill: Captains Gray and Sutherland,
the commanders of the two companies, then descended the hill to
reconnoitre. They computed Cromarty’s force to be between 400 and 500
men; and, having resolved to attack them, they returned to their men
and gave orders to that effect. To deceive the insurgents as to the
extent of their numbers, they marched down the hill in open column,
keeping a distance of about twenty paces between each rank; and so
well did this _ruse_ succeed, that the insurgents, struck with a
panic, fled towards the ferry, and were pursued by the two companies,
who, attacking them in flank, killed a considerable number, and
took 178 prisoners. The two companies thereupon marched to Dunrobin
castle, which they invested. The earl held out the castle till the
evening, when, despairing of relief, he requested the commanders
of the companies to hold a conference with him in the castle on
the subject of a surrender. While engaged in conversation, Ensign
Mackay, who had entered the castle along with the two captains, went
down stairs, and having informed the earl’s men below that he had
surrendered, induced them to deliver up their arms. Having secured
their arms, he took the keys from the porter, and, opening the gates,
admitted his party. He then went up stairs with them, and, entering
the dining-room, seized the earl, Lord Macleod, and the whole
officers.[1221]
Whilst the Duke of Cumberland was deliberating upon the course he
should adopt for finally suppressing the rebellion, his unfortunate
kinsman, disheartened by his recent disaster, was entirely occupied
with thoughts of his own personal safety. After leaving the field,
Charles, escorted by a large body of horse, crossed the river Nairn
at the ford of Falie, about four miles from the field of battle.
Having halted a short time on the south side of the Nairn, during
which he held a consultation with his friends, Charles dismissed the
horse and most of his attendants, with instructions to assemble at
Ruthven in Badenoch, where they were directed to wait for further
orders. Taking along with him Sir Thomas Sheridan, O’Sullivan,
Captain O’Neil, John Hay, and a few other persons, Charles set out
for Gortuleg, the residence of Lord Lovat’s steward, where he arrived
about sunset. There, for the first and only time, the prince met
Lord Lovat, who, on learning the cause of the Prince’s unexpected
visit, became, it is said, almost frantic, and, anticipating the fate
which awaited him, called out to those around him to chop off his
head. In a little time the aged chief regained his self-possession,
and entered into conversation with Charles and his followers in
relation to their future prospects. As it was not considered safe
to pass the night so near the royal troops, Charles and his party,
after partaking of some supper, left Gortuleg about ten o’clock
for Invergarry, the seat of Macdonell of Glengarry. Before leaving
Gortuleg, the prince took the precaution to change his dress.
The prince and his party arrived at the mansion of Invergarry about
four o’clock in the morning, where Charles began to experience a
foretaste of the hardships he was destined to endure. This ancient
castle, ever since its first erection, had never been in such a
cheerless condition as that in which Charles now found it. Unprovided
with furniture or provisions, and inhabited by a solitary domestic,
it seemed to warn the unfortunate fugitives that they were unwelcome
within its walls, and that they must speedily look out for a more
hospitable place of retreat. Overcome by fatigue, the whole party
lay down upon the floor, in their clothes, and fell asleep. After
reposing several hours, they rose, but had nothing to eat till Edward
Burke, servant to Alexander Macleod, one of the party, observing a
net in the water of Garry, pulled it out and caught two salmon, on
which they dined.
With the exception of O’Sullivan, O’Neil, and Edward Burke, who, from
his knowledge of the country, was selected as the prince’s guide,
all the party took leave of Charles at Invergarry. Before leaving
the castle, Charles, in order the more effectually to disguise
himself, put on Burke’s coat; and at three o’clock in the afternoon,
he set out for Loch Arkaig in Lochaber, accompanied by his three
attendants, and took up his quarters for the night in the house
of Donald Cameron of Glenpean. Charles slept the following night,
that of Friday the 18th, at Mewboll, where he and his small party
were well entertained. From Mewboll they set out next morning for
Glenboisdale. At Loch Morar they waited several hours for a boat to
carry them across; but, not finding one, they were obliged, from the
road being impracticable for horses, to abandon them and to walk on
foot to Glenboisdale, which they reached on Sunday the 20th, after
great fatigue, having crossed two lofty ranges of mountains in their
route.
[Illustration: Lord George Murray.--From the original painting by
permission of His Grace the Duke of Athole.]
Presuming that Charles still meant to make a stand, Lord George
Murray and the other chiefs who remained with the army retired to
Ruthven, where, including Cluny’s men whom they met on their retreat,
they assembled a force of between 2,000 and 3,000 men. From the
want of provisions it was impossible to keep such a body together
for any length of time; and a message from Charles, two or three
days after the battle, desiring them to disperse, hastened an event
which seemed to be inevitable. In thus resigning the contest which
by his inconsiderate rashness he had provoked, Charles showed that
he was not possessed of that magnanimity which many of his followers
ascribed to him. Notwithstanding their recent reverse, there existed
no unwillingness on the part of the brave men who had risked their
all for him to continue the war. They might not have, it is true,
succeeded in vindicating the claim of an ungrateful prince in the
field; but, under his leadership, they might have made a gallant
stand, and forced the government to grant them favourable terms.
In extenuation of the prince’s conduct, on the present occasion,
it is but fair to add, that he was under the influence of a set of
contemptible advisers, who prejudiced him against his best friends,
and instilled into his mind a conviction that he had been betrayed
at Culloden. How far the conduct of Lord George Murray, after that
event, may have determined Charles to take the course he did, cannot
now be ascertained; but if Charles, in the midst of his perplexity
immediately after the battle, hesitated as to the course he should
pursue, his reception of the following document, under the hand of
Lord George Murray, was certainly not calculated to induce him to
continue the contest.
“MAY IT PLEASE YOUR ROYAL HIGHNESS.
“As no person in these kingdoms ventured more frankly in the
cause than myself, and as I had more at stake than almost all
the others put together, so, to be sure, I cannot but be very
deeply affected with our late loss and present situation; but I
declare, that were your royal highness’s person in safety, the
loss of the cause, and the misfortunate and unhappy situation of
my countrymen, is the only thing that grieves me, for I thank
God I have resolution to bear my own family’s ruin without a
grudge. Sir, you will, I hope, upon this occasion, pardon me, if
I mention a few truths, which all the gentlemen of our army seem
convinced of.
“It was highly wrong to have set up the royal standard without
having positive assurances from his Most Christian Majesty, that
he would assist you with all his force; and as your royal family
lost the crown of these realms upon the account of France, the
world did and had reason to expect that France would seize the
first favourable opportunity to restore your august family.
“I must also acquaint your royal highness, that we were all fully
convinced that Mr. O’Sullivan, whom your royal highness trusted
with the most essential things with regard to your operations,
was exceedingly unfit for it, and committed gross blunders on
every occasion of moment. He whose business it was, did not so
much as visit the ground where we were to be drawn up in line
of battle, and it was a fatal error to allow the enemy these
walls upon their left, which made it impossible for us to break
them, and they, with their front fire, and flanking us when we
went upon the attack, destroyed us without any possibility of
our breaking them, and our Athole men have lost a full half of
their officers and men. I wish Mr. O’Sullivan had never got any
other charge in the army than the care of the baggage, which, I
am told, he had been brought up to and understood. I never saw
him in time of action, neither at Gladsmuir, Falkirk, nor in the
last, and his orders were vastly confused.
“The want of provisions was another misfortune which had the most
fatal consequence. Mr. Hay, whom your royal highness trusted
with the principal direction of ordering provisions of late, and
without whose orders a boll of meal or farthing of money was not
to be delivered, has served your royal highness egregiously ill.
When I spoke to him, he told me the thing is ordered, it will be
got, &c.; but he neglected his duty to such a degree, that our
ruin might probably have been prevented had he done his duty.
In short, the three last days which were so critical, our army
was starved. This was the reason our night march was rendered
abortive, when we possibly might have surprised and defeated the
enemy at Nairn; but for want of provisions a third of the army
scattered to Inverness, &c., and the other who marched had not
spirits to make it so quick as was necessary, being really faint
for want of provisions.
“The next day, which was the fatal day, if we had got plenty of
provisions we might have crossed the water of Nairn, and drawn
up so advantageously, that we would have obliged the enemy to
come to us, for they were resolved to fight at all hazards at
prodigious disadvantage, and probably we would in that case have
done by them as they unhappily have done by us. In short, Mr.
O’Sullivan and Mr. Hay had rendered themselves odious to all our
army, and had disgusted them to such a degree, that they had bred
a mutiny in all ranks, that had not the battle come on, they were
to have represented their grievances to your royal highness for
a remedy. For my own part, I never had any particular discussion
with either of them; but I ever thought them uncapable and unfit
to serve in the stations they were placed in.
“Your royal highness knows I always told I had no design to
continue in the army. I would of late, when I came last from
Athole, have resigned my commission; but all my friends told me
it might be of prejudice to the cause at such a critical time. I
hope your royal highness will now accept of my demission. What
commands you have for me in any other situation, please honour
me with them.--I am, with great zeal, Sir, your royal highness’s
most dutiful and humble servant,
“GEORGE MURRAY.
“RUTHVEN, _17th April, 1746_.
“I have taken the liberty to keep 500 pieces, which shant be
disposed upon except you give leave.”[1222]
It would appear from the preceding document that Lord George Murray,
who, of all men, was the best judge of the propriety of trying
another campaign, did not in the least contemplate that Charles would
abandon the enterprise. His own opinion was, that the war should be
continued; and when he heard that Charles had resolved to depart
for France, he sent Secretary Hay to Glenboisdale with a message to
Charles, to dissuade him against such a step; but Charles informed
Hay that his resolution was fixed. Lord George maintained that the
Highlanders “could have made a summer’s campaign without the risk of
any misfortune: they could have marched through the hills to places
in Banffshire, Aberdeenshire, the Mearns, Perthshire, Lochaber, and
Argyleshire, by ways that regular troops could not have followed;
and if they (the regular troops) had ventured among the mountains,
it must have been attended with great danger and difficulty: their
convoys might have been cut off, and opportunities would have offered
to attack them with almost a certainty of success. And though the
Highlanders had neither money nor magazines, they would not have
starved in that season of the year so long as there were sheep and
cattle: they could also have separated themselves in two or three
different bodies, got meal for some days’ provision,--met again at a
place appointed, and might have fallen upon the enemy when they least
expected: they could have marched in three days what would have taken
regular troops five: nay, had those taken the high roads as often
as they would have been obliged upon account of their carriages,
it would have taken them ten or twelve days. In short, they might
have been so harassed and fatigued that they must have been in the
greatest distress and difficulties, and at length probably been
destroyed, at least much might have been expected by gaining of time:
perhaps the Highlanders might have been enabled to have made an
offensive instead of a defensive war.”[1223]
After receiving Charles’s orders to disperse, the officers at
Ruthven, to use an expression of one of themselves,[1224] “took a
melancholy leave of each other,” and went off in different directions
to secure their personal safety, and the common men proceeded
straight to their respective homes.
While Secretary Hay was at Boisdale, Charles drew up a letter to
the chiefs, stating the reasons of his departure, which he inclosed
in one to Sir Thomas Sheridan,[1225] with instructions to show it
to them, but to keep it as long back as he conveniently could. He
stated that it was “of the last consequence” to conceal his departure
on some pretext or other, which he enjoined him to contrive, and to
recommend, particularly to every person to whom he showed the paper,
to follow the same course. In using this precaution Charles probably
wished to keep the government in ignorance of his design to leave the
kingdom. The letter to the chiefs, which, though written on or before
the 23d of April, the date of the letter to Sir Thomas Sheridan, is
post-dated the 28th, with the view, perhaps, of allowing Sir Thomas
to withhold it for a few days, by which time Charles expected that he
would be on his way to the Long island, where he expected to find a
vessel to carry him to France. The letter to the chiefs runs thus:--
“FOR THE CHIEFS,
“When I came into this country, it was my only view to do all in
my power for your good and safety. This I will always do as long
as life is in me. But alas! I see with grief I can at present do
little for you on this side the water, for the only thing that
can now be done is to defend yourselves till the French assist
you, if not to be able to make better terms. To effectuate this,
the only way is to assemble in a body as soon as possible, and
then to take measures for the best, which you that know the
country are only judges of. This makes me be of little use here;
whereas, by my going into France instantly, however dangerous it
be, I will certainly engage the French court either to assist
us effectually and powerfully, or at least to procure you such
terms as you would not obtain otherways. My presence there, I
flatter myself, will have more effect to bring this sooner to a
determination than any body else, for several reasons; one of
which I will mention here; viz. it is thought to be a politick,
(policy,) though a false one, of the French court, not to restore
our master, but to keep a continual civil war in this country,
which renders the English government less powerful, and of
consequence themselves more. This is absolutely destroyed by my
leaving the country, which nothing else but this will persuade
them that this play cannot last, and if not remedied, the Elector
will soon be as despotick as the French king, which, I should
think, will oblige them to strike the great stroke, which is
always in their power, however averse they may have been to it
for the time past. Before leaving off, I must recommend to you,
that all things should be decided by a council of all your
chiefs, or, in any of your absence, the next commander of your
several corps with the assistance of the Duke of Perth and Lord
George Murray, who, I am persuaded, will stick by you to the very
last. My departure should be kept as long private and concealed
as possible on one pretext or other which you will fall upon. May
the Almighty bless and direct you.”[1226]
At Glenboisdale Charles was joined by Clanranald, Lockhart, younger
of Carnwath, Æneas Macdonald, the banker, and several other
adherents, who endeavoured to dissuade him from embarking for the
isles, where, from the number of cruisers which hovered among the
Hebrides, they considered he would run greater risk than if he
remained on the mainland. Charles seemed disposed to adopt this
advice; but O’Sullivan being averse to it, and having represented
the great probability of speedily finding a ship among the isles to
convey him to France, and the great danger of staying where he was,
the prince adhered to his determination of seeking a temporary refuge
in the Long island. With the intention of soliciting the protection
of Sir Alexander Macdonald and the laird of Macleod, Charles sent to
Kinlochmoidart for one Donald Macleod, a trustworthy person whom he
wished to intrust with his despatches. Macleod had been at Inverness
shipping a cargo of meal for Skye when Charles entered that town,
and had been employed to accompany Æneas Macdonald to the island of
Barra, for the purpose of bringing over a sum of about £380, which
was lying there. They had reached Kinlochmoidart, on their way back,
and were about setting out for Inverness, when Macdonald received a
letter from the prince announcing his defeat, and requesting him to
repair to Borodale. On receiving this message Macleod immediately set
out, and in passing through a forest in the vicinity of Glenboisdale,
he observed a solitary wanderer among the trees, who immediately
came forward and asked him if he was Donald Macleod of Gualtergill
in Skye. Macleod answered that he was, and having recognised the
prince in the person of his interrogator, he stated that he was
at his service. “Then,” said the prince, “you see, Donald, I am in
distress. I therefore throw myself into your bosom; do with me what
you like. I hear you are an honest man, and fit to be trusted.” The
aged Highlander doubting his capacity to serve him, Charles stated
to him the nature of the mission on which he intended to send him.
Macleod, startled at the proposal, positively refused to undertake
the task; and having remonstrated with Charles upon the impropriety
of asking the protection of men who had, contrary to their promise,
taken part against him, he abandoned his design.[1227]
During the few days that Charles spent at Glenboisdale, he is said
to have wavered in his plans. Though informed of the dispersion of
his troops, he had hopes that a good many might still be collected
as occasion offered. He is said even to have entertained thoughts of
again assembling his scattered forces, and acting on the defensive.
He sent a few men, with whom Clanranald had supplied him, on all
sides to obtain intelligence, but they learned nothing favourable;
and accounts which he received from the Isle of Skye, that Lord
Loudon was about to come over immediately to the coast of Arisaig,
joined to a report, which, however, turned out to be false, that a
detachment of the Duke of Cumberland’s army had already reached Fort
Augustus, hastened his departure from the mainland.[1228]
Accordingly, on the evening of the 26th of April, Charles,
accompanied by O’Sullivan, O’Neil, Allan Macdonald, a catholic priest
of Clanranald’s family, and Edward Burke, embarked in an eight-oared
boat at Borodale, in the bay of Lochnanuagh, where a few months
before he had landed full of hope and enthusiasm. Besides the persons
enumerated, and Donald Macleod who acted as pilot, there were seven
boatmen. Charles sat down in the bottom of the boat at the feet of
the pilot. Macleod, who observed indications of an approaching storm,
had advised Charles to postpone his voyage till next day; but the
prince was so intent upon proceeding, that he would not put off his
departure. Four pecks of oatmeal were all the provision the whole
party carried along with them, and the only cooking utensil was a pot
which Macleod had taken care to provide.
Charles soon had occasion to repent of his obstinacy in not listening
to the advice of the aged mariner; for before the boat had proceeded
far, a storm arose, which is described by Macleod as the most violent
he had ever witnessed, though he had been all his life a seafaring
man. The danger was greatly increased by the darkness of the night,
and to add to the distress of the party, the rain poured down in
torrents. Vivid flashes of lightning which threw a momentary gleam
over the face of the troubled deep, and the crash of the thunder
which rolled over the heads of the affrighted party, increased the
horrors of the scene. Unprovided with a compass, they were entirely
ignorant of the course they were steering; but they had, from the
violence of the tempest, no alternative but to go before the wind,
and in the event of escaping the fury of the waves, running the risk
of being driven upon Skye, where the prince might fall into the hands
of the militia who were in that island. But all their apprehensions
of danger on this score were removed, by discovering at day-break
that they were on the coast of the Long island. At seven o’clock in
the morning they landed with great difficulty at Rossinish, a point
of land on the north-east of Benbecula, one of the islands which
form the group called the Long island. Having secured their boat,
Charles and his party entered an uninhabited hut, in which they
kindled a fire to warm themselves and dry their clothes, which were
saturated with rain and salt-water. Charles purchased a cow, which
was immediately slaughtered; and which, with the small quantity of
meal provided by Donald Macleod, served to support the party during
the time they remained on the island.[1229]
Meanwhile the Duke of Cumberland was using every effort to capture
the persons of the young Chevalier and his principal adherents. For
this purpose, several detachments were sent out by the duke from his
camp at Inverness in different directions, and as he was desirous
that Charles should not fall alive into his hands, his instructions
to the commanders of the detachments were to make no prisoners.
One of these detachments, under Colonel Cockayne, proceeded to Moy
castle, and after shooting some fugitives who had taken refuge in
that mansion, and massacring some old men, women and children,
returned to Inverness, carrying along with them Lady Mackintosh, who,
on her arrival there, was committed to custody by the duke. Another
party went to castle Downie, the seat of Lord Lovat, which they burnt
to the ground, having previously secured a large quantity of booty,
which they carried to Inverness. A body of 600 Grants was sent into
the Frasers’ country to reduce and disarm that powerful clan; and the
Monroes, Mackays, and Sutherlands, were scattered over the shires of
Ross, Cromarty, Sutherland, and Caithness, to keep the disaffected
in these counties in check. To secure the passages to the isles,
Lord Fortrose, son of the Earl of Seaforth, proceeded to raise the
Mackenzies, and orders were given along the coast to prevent any
suspicious persons from making their escape by sea. Cobham’s and Lord
Mack Ker’s dragoons were posted along the east coast, and bodies of
militia were stationed at the passes leading into the Highlands to
intercept all persons who might attempt to escape to the lowlands.
The pass of Stirling was also guarded by a detachment posted at the
Fords of the Frew, and the Edinburgh regiment was spread along the
south side of the Frith of Forth, to apprehend such of the insurgents
as might attempt to cross that arm of the sea. Besides these
different detachments, a body of 1,700 militia, under the Earl of
Loudon, the laird of Macleod, and Sir Alexander Macdonald, the last
of whom had raised his men before the battle of Culloden, and another
body of 800 Argyleshire men under General Campbell, afterwards Duke
of Argyle, spread themselves over Lochaber, all eager to secure the
person of the prince. In short, no means were neglected to attain
this object; and the eager pursuers required no other stimulus to
urge them on than the splendid reward of £30,000, which had been
offered for the capture of the royal fugitive.
The departure of Charles from Lochnanuagh was not known at Inverness
till some days after he had sailed, and the place of his destination
become a matter of interesting speculation. No doubt could exist
that he designed to seek refuge among the western islands, and as
St. Kilda is the most distant and the least frequented of the whole,
it was supposed that Charles had repaired thither. Acting on this
supposition, General Campbell collected some sloops of war and
transports, and having embarked a considerable body of troops, set
sail for St. Kilda.[1230] After touching at Barra and some other
islands, and searching for the prince, he approached St. Kilda, the
inhabitants of which, alarmed at the sight of the fleet, fled and
concealed themselves in the cliffs of the rocks. Landing with some
of his forces, the general inquired at some of the inhabitants, whom
he discovered in their recesses, what had become of the “Pretender;”
but these people answered, with great simplicity, that they had never
heard of such a person,--that they had indeed been informed that
their laird (Macleod) had lately been at war with a woman a great
way abroad, and that he had overcome her. This, they added, was all
they knew of the affairs of the world. General Campbell, however, not
satisfied with this statement, made a search over the island, but not
finding any strangers, returned to the main land after visiting South
Uist.
Anticipating the utter ruin which awaited them and their followers,
if no attempt was made to resist the meditated designs of the Duke
of Cumberland, several chiefs and others[1231] held a meeting at
Mortlaig on the 8th of May, at which they entered into a bond for
their mutual defence, and agreed never to lay down their arms, or
make a general peace, without the consent of the whole. They may be
supposed to have come to this resolution the more readily, as a sum
of 35,000 louis d’ors had been received a few days before by two
French frigates which had arrived on the west coast. By the bond of
association, the chiefs agreed, and solemnly promised, with the
utmost expedition, to raise in behalf of the prince and in defence
of their country, as many able-bodied armed men as they could on
their respective properties, and they further promised and agreed,
that the following clans, viz., Lochiel, Glengarry, Clanranald,
Stewarts of Appin, Keppoch, Barisdale, Mackinnons and Macleods,
should assemble on Thursday, the 15th of May, at Auchnacarry, in
the braes of Lochaber. To facilitate the junction of the different
corps with all possible speed, it was agreed that the Frasers of Aird
and the other Jacobite clans on the north side of the river Ness,
should join the people of Glenmoriston and Glengarry, and that the
Frasers of Stratherrick, the Mackintoshes and Macphersons, should
assemble and meet at the most convenient place in Badenoch on the
same day;--that the Macgregors, and Menzies’ and Glenlyon’s people
should march to Rannoch and join the Rannoch and Athole men, and be
kept in readiness to receive intelligence and orders to meet the
main body in the braes of Mar, or at any other place that might be
considered convenient,--that Gordon of Glenbucket and Colonel Roy
Stewart should intimate the resolutions of the meeting to Lord Lewis
Gordon, Lords Ogilvy and Pitsligo, the Farquharsons, and the other
principal gentlemen in the north, who were to be directed to fix a
place of rendezvous among themselves, and that Macpherson of Cluny
and Colonel Roy Stewart should advertise the principal gentlemen
of the Mackintoshes of the resolutions adopted by the meeting. The
better to conceal their designs from the Duke of Cumberland, the
assembled chiefs agreed not to discover or reveal to any of their men
or inferior officers, the agreement they had entered into, nor the
day and place of rendezvous, till they had assembled their respective
corps. It was finally agreed, that should any one engaged in the
association make separate terms for himself, he should be looked upon
as a traitor to the prince, and be treated by his associates as an
enemy.[1232]
The associated chiefs had been too sanguine in their expectations,
not one of them being able, for various reasons, to meet on the day
appointed. Clanranald’s people refused to leave their own country,
and many of Glengarry’s had delivered up their arms. Lochgarry came
with a small party to Invermely on the 20th of May; but, after
staying one night, he crossed Loch Arkaig and did not return. Lochiel
and Barisdale met at Auchnacarry, the place of rendezvous, on the
21st or 22d of May, but with very few men, and they were almost
surprised by a large party of the government forces on the morning
of the 23d, who took an officer and two of Lochiel’s men prisoners.
The Highlanders immediately dispersed, and Lochiel, seeing no chance
of making an effectual stand under existing circumstances, wrote
a circular to his brother chiefs, advising them to disperse their
people; but, as great expectations were entertained that the French
king would send assistance, he requested them to preserve their arms
as long as possible.
Conceiving that the only effectual mode of suppressing the rebellion
was to march into the Highlands with the whole of his army, the Duke
of Cumberland began, about the middle of May, to make preparations
for his journey. He had in the beginning of that month issued a
proclamation, ordering the insurgent clans to deliver up their arms;
but little attention was paid to this mandate, and the continuance
of considerable armed parties convinced him that the Highlands
could never be reduced without the presence of a considerable army
stationed in a central district. Having pitched upon Fort Augustus
for his new head-quarters, the duke left Inverness, on the 23d of
May, with eleven battalions of foot and Kingston’s horse, and reached
Fort Augustus next day. Charles had intended to make this place a
rallying point in case of a defeat; but his plan was rejected by the
chiefs, and, that it might not be serviceable to the royal troops,
the buildings had been blown up. No accommodation being therefore
found for the duke’s army, a camp was formed in the neighbourhood,
and a turf hut with doors and windows, and covered with green sods
and boughs, was erected by Lord Loudon’s Highlanders for the use of
his royal highness.[1233]
Resolving to inflict a signal chastisement upon the rebels, the duke
sent, from his camp at Fort Augustus, detachments of his troops in
all directions, which devastated the country with fire and sword, and
committed excesses scarcely paralleled in history, resembling, though
perhaps on a minor scale, those committed by the hosts of Hyder Ali,
when that merciless destroyer burst into the Carnatic. The seats of
Lochiel, Glengarry, Kinlochmoidart, Keppoch, Cluny, Glengyle, and
others, were plundered and burnt to the ground, and great numbers of
the houses of the common people shared the same fate.[1234] Major
Lockhart, whose name, by his cruelties on this occasion, has obtained
an infamous notoriety, marched with a detachment into the country
of the Macdonalds of Barisdale, and laid waste and destroyed their
dwellings. Some of these poor people had obtained protections from
Lord Loudon; but the major disregarded them, and told the people who
had them, that not even a warrant from heaven should prevent him from
executing his orders. Another corps, under Lord George Sackville,
ravaged the country about the glens of Moidart, while others carried
fire and desolation through other districts. Not contented with
destroying the country, these bloodhounds either shot the men upon
the mountains, or murdered them in cold blood. The women, after
witnessing their husbands, fathers, and brothers murdered before
their eyes, were subjected to brutal violence, and then turned out
naked, with their children, to starve on the barren heaths. A whole
family was inclosed in a barn, and consumed to ashes. So alert were
these ministers of vengeance, that in a few days, according to the
testimony of a volunteer who served in the expedition, neither house,
cottage, man, nor beast, was to be seen within the compass of fifty
miles: all was ruin, silence, and desolation. Deprived of their
cattle and their small stock of provisions by the rapacious soldiery,
the hoary-headed matron and sire, the widowed mother and her helpless
offspring, were to be seen dying of hunger, stretched upon the bare
ground, and within view of the smoking ruins of their dwellings.
It may seem surprising that the Highlanders did not avenge themselves
upon their oppressors, by assassinating such stragglers as fell
in their way. It cannot be supposed that men in whose bosoms the
spirit of revenge must have taken deep root, would have spared their
relentless adversaries from any scruple as to the mode of despatching
them; nor can it be imagined that the Highlanders could not have
selected fit occasions when they might have inflicted vengeance upon
individuals. The reason of their forbearance probably was, that such
a system of warfare, if adopted, would lead to acts of retaliation on
the part of the military, and thus increase their calamities. Only
one instance is known where an injured person attempted to avenge
himself. This was the case of a Highlander who had his house burned,
his cattle plundered, and his son killed, while defending his family,
who were turned out in the snow. Vowing revenge, he watched the
officer who was the author of this inhuman outrage, and who, he was
informed, was to be distinguished by a cloak of a particular kind.
This officer riding one day with Captain George Munro of Culcairn in
a shower of rain, lent him his cloak; and while marching in it with
a party of men along the side of Loch Arkaig, the captain was shot
by the enraged Highlander, who perceived the cloak, but could not
distinguish the difference of person. The man escaped, and although
he was well known, and might have been afterwards apprehended, he was
allowed to pass unpunished.[1235]
Of the immense quantity of cattle carried off by Cumberland’s troops,
some idea may be formed from the fact mentioned in a journal of
the period,[1236] that there were sometimes 2,000 in one drove.
Intelligence of such a vast accumulation of live stock reaching
the ears of the graziers of the south, numbers of them went to Fort
Augustus well provided with money, which they laid out to great
advantage. Some of the people, impelled by starvation, repaired
to the camp to solicit from the spoilers some of their flocks, to
preserve an existence; but their supplications were unheeded, and
they were doomed to behold their cattle sold and driven away, while
famine stared them in the face.
[Illustration: Duncan Forbes of Culloden, Lord President.
From Original Painting at Culloden House.]
The atrocities committed by the English must have been revolting to
the humane mind of Lord President Forbes. On paying his respects to
the duke at Inverness, he hinted to his highness that the laws of
the country should be observed even by his army; but the duke, who
entertained very different ideas, not relishing such an intrusion
upon his authority, cut the worthy president short with this
exclamation, “The laws of the country, my Lord! I’ll make a brigade
give laws, by God!” Judging farther remonstrance to be vain, Forbes
dropped the subject, and was compelled to deplore in silence the
cruelties which he could not prevent. He might have represented the
matter to the government; but he was perhaps unwilling to run the
risk of incurring its displeasure, and thereby deprive himself of
the chance of being afterwards useful in saving many families from
ruin.[1237]
The enormities of the lawless soldiery were not confined to the
Highlands, but extended to all the adjoining lowland districts where
the spirit of disaffection was known to exist. The houses of the low
country Jacobite gentry were plundered and destroyed, and the chapels
of the nonjurant episcopal clergy, as well as the more humble and
secluded places of worship belonging to the Catholics, were either
razed or burnt to the ground. “Rebel-hunting” was the term adopted by
the ruffians of the British army to designate their bloody occupation.
To complete the work of extermination, the duke issued a
proclamation, denouncing the punishment of death, by hanging, against
every person who should harbour the insurgents, and a similar fate
was declared to await such as should conceal arms, ammunition, or any
other thing belonging to them, or should not immediately deliver up
to persons authorized by the duke to receive the same, any property
or effects in their possession belonging to the rebels. In compliance
with a requisition made by the duke, the General Assembly of the
Church of Scotland, about the end of May, enjoined the ministers of
the different parishes to read a proclamation from the pulpits, in
which they themselves, and every well affected person, were ordered
by his royal highness to use every exertion to discover and seize
the unfortunate fugitives; and to facilitate their discovery and
apprehension, the clergy were required to furnish lists of the names
of all persons in their respective parishes who had had any share in
the insurrection. Many clergymen, including those of Edinburgh, with
feelings of humanity and independence which did them honour, refused
to read this proclamation, or to comply with the order requiring
them to give in the names of such of their parishioners as had been
engaged in the rebellion. The government, equally intent with its
sanguinary general upon the destruction of the unfortunate adherents
of the house of Stuart, offered rewards for apprehending such of the
fugitives as might land in Ireland, and instructions were sent to the
British ministers at foreign courts in alliance with George II., to
seize all who might seek refuge in the territories of such powers.
The guilt of all these acts of bloodshed and rapine has been laid to
the charge of the Duke of Cumberland, and the single fact that he
issued no orders to put an end to the enormities which were daily
committed, almost under his own eyes, and with his perfect knowledge,
seems of itself sufficient to justify the charge. But when taken in
connexion with his sanguinary order not to make prisoners, the proofs
of his criminality, or rather unconstitutional severity, are evident.
Though the foul stain of wanton cruelty must ever attach to the
British army on the present occasion, from the commander down to the
private, there were some redeeming exceptions among the officers, who
alleviated the sufferings, and, in some instances, saved the lives of
the devoted Highlanders. “I think myself,” says Mr. Maxwell, “bound
in justice to let the reader know that there were in the duke of
Cumberland’s army officers of all ranks, whom neither the prospect of
ingratiating themselves and making their fortunes, nor the contagion
of bad example were able to corrupt. Some of those that had done the
government the most essential services were as conspicuous now for
their humanity as formerly for their courage and conduct. It might be
indiscreet to be particular at present; but their names, which are
written with indelible characters in the hearts of those poor people
that owe to them the preservation of their being, will be carefully
handed down to posterity. They are already known, and even, in the
worst of times, meet with the applause they deserve from all those
that have a fellow-feeling for their species.”
With the honourable exceptions here alluded to, neither the duke nor
the submissive slaves of his tyrannical will ever appear to have
felt the least compunction for the miseries they inflicted upon the
unfortunate Highlanders. On the contrary, they seem to have revelled
amidst the ruin and desolation which they spread around; and when
their occupation of “rebel-hunting” was gone, by the destruction of
their victims, they endeavoured to relieve the _ennui_ of repose
by ludicrous and indecent diversions. Horse and foot races were
instituted by the royal duke, who did not think it beneath his
dignity to induce the women of the camp to enter the lists, and to
expose themselves in a way at which decency revolts.[1238] This
species of amusement produced great insubordination in the army, for
the soldiers got very fond of it, and, according to a volunteer, most
of them had horses, which they bought and sold with one another at
a low price, and on which they rode about, neglecting their duty,
and consequently it became necessary to publish an order to part
with them, otherwise they were all to be shot. “I saw,” continues
the same writer, “a soldier riding on one of these horses, when,
being met by a comrade, he asked him, ‘Tom, what hast thou given
for the Galloway?’ Tom answered, ‘Half-a-crown.’ To which the other
replied, with an oath, ‘He is too dear; I saw a better bought for
eighteen-pence.’ Notwithstanding the low price, the vast quantities
of cattle, such as oxen, horses, sheep, and goats, taken from the
rebels, and bought up by the lump by the jockies and farmers from
Yorkshire and the south of Scotland, came to a great deal of money,
all which was divided amongst the men that brought them in, who were
sent out in parties in search of the Pretender; and they frequently
came to rebels’ houses, which they had left, as their owners would
not be reduced to obedience. These our soldiers commonly plundered
and burnt, so that many of them grew rich by their share of spoil.”
When the zeal and activity of the military in pursuing the leading
fugitives on the one hand, and the great care of the government to
prevent their escape to the continent on the other, are considered,
it is surprising that so many succeeded in their attempts to leave
the kingdom. Besides the Earls of Cromarty and Kilmarnock, and Lord
Macleod, the only other Jacobite chiefs who fell into the hands of
the government were the Marquis of Tullibardine, Lords Balmerino
and Lovat, and Secretary Murray. The Marquis being unable, from
the bad state of his health, to bear the fatigue of running from
covert to covert, surrendered himself, on the 27th of April, to
a Dumbartonshire gentleman, who committed him to the castle of
Dumbarton; and Lord Balmerino, by the advice of Mr. Grant, younger of
Rothiemurchus, most unwisely delivered himself up at Inverness, two
days after the battle of Culloden. After having the mortification of
witnessing, from the summit of a mountain, the conflagration of his
seat of Castle Downie by the king’s troops, Lord Lovat took refuge in
the western parts of Inverness-shire, and finally concealed himself
in the hollow of a tree which grew on a small island in Loch Morar,
where he was apprehended early in June by a party from the Furnace
sloop of war. When discovered, he was wrapt up in a blanket; and,
though he had between five and six hundred guineas in his pocket,
had been obliged to live twelve days in his miserable retreat on
oatmeal and water. Being unable, from his great age and infirmity, to
ride, he was carried in a litter to the royal camp at Fort Augustus.
Secretary Murray contrived to escape from the Highlands, and sought
for safety in the house of his brother-in-law, Mr. Hunter of
Polmood, in Peebles-shire; but information having been given of his
retreat, he was apprehended on the morning of Saturday, the 28th of
June, by a party of St. George’s dragoons, carried to Edinburgh, and
committed the same evening a prisoner to the castle.
Macdonald of Barisdale and his son were also taken prisoners, but
were almost immediately set at liberty. That a man who had taken
such an active part in the insurrection as Barisdale did should
have been liberated unconditionally is very improbable; and it was
generally understood that he had entered into an engagement to
apprehend the prince, and deliver him up to the Duke of Cumberland.
So strong were the suspicions of Charles and his friends of
Barisdale’s treachery, that when Colonel Warren arrived in the West
Highlands for the purpose of transporting Charles to France, he
actually seized Barisdale and his son, and carried them along with
him to that country as prisoners. A list of charges, in the shape
of interrogatories, was afterwards drawn up by Charles at Paris, to
each of which Barisdale was required to make a direct and particular
answer in writing; but the nature of his answers, if he made any, is
not known. There may have been no foundation for these grave charges;
but well or ill founded, an opinion long prevailed in the Highlands
that Barisdale had been unfaithful.
If Glengarry’s apprehension proceeded upon the information of the
gentlemen of his own clan, they must have had better grounds for
taking the extraordinary step they are alleged to have done than
the mere assertion of Barisdale; but the charge against Glengarry
seems highly improbable, as it is scarcely credible, if, as stated,
they had letters from him in their possession, advising them to take
up arms in support of Charles, while he himself kept back, that he
would, by such a perfidious act, have put himself in their power.
Glengarry, after his apprehension, was sent to London, and, along
with the other chief prisoners, was committed to the Tower, where he
suffered a long and tedious confinement. Young Glengarry had been
taken up some months previously and sent to the Tower, in which he
was kept a close prisoner for twenty months.
Notwithstanding the sanguinary ferocity with which Cumberland’s
soldiers hunted down the unfortunate fugitives, the lives of a
considerable number of those who were taken or surrendered themselves
were saved from immediate destruction by the interference of a few
humane persons, who did everything in their power to put a stop to
the exterminating system of these bloodhounds. Though they thus
escaped the merciless sword of the destroyer, they were nevertheless
doomed to suffer the most extraordinary privations. After having
been cooped up in the loathsome prisons of the north, without any
attention to their wants, many of them were afterwards huddled
together in the holds of ships, where they were condemned unheeded to
pine away, and, amidst a mass of filth and corruption, to inhale the
seeds of pestilence and death. Of 157 persons who were immured for
eight months in the hold of one transport, only 49 survived the cruel
treatment they received.[1239]
Meanwhile several of the chiefs of the insurrection succeeded in
effecting their escape to the Continent. The Duke of Perth, Lord
John Drummond, Lords Elcho and Nairne, Maxwell of Kirkconnel, and
others, embarked at Lochnanuagh, on board one of the French ships
which arrived on the western coast about the end of April. The Duke
of Perth, who had been long in bad health, died on the voyage.
Another party of twelve or thirteen persons, including Lords Pitsligo
and Ogilvy, and Hunter of Burnside, after skulking some time in
Buchan, got a vessel which conveyed them to Bergen in Norway. The
British consul applied to the governor to have them secured, but
he disregarded the application, and the party proceeded to Sweden.
Stewart of Ardshiel, and General O’Sullivan also succeeded in
reaching France. Old Glenbucket, after being hunted from place to
place, eluded his pursuers by assuming the garb of a beggar, and
allowing his beard to grow. In the month of November he escaped
to Norway in a Swedish vessel. Lord George Murray remained in
concealment in Scotland till the month of December, when, after
paying a private visit to his friends at Edinburgh, he took shipping
at Anstruther in the Frith of Forth, and reached Holland in safety.
FOOTNOTES:
[1166] The publication of the _Forbes Papers_ has brought to light
the meanness and rapacity of the Duke of Cumberland and General
Hawley. The duke lived, all the time he was at Aberdeen, in the
house of Mr. Alexander Thomson, advocate, and, although he made use
of every kind of provisions he found in the house, and of the coals
and candles, he did not pay Mr. Thomson a single farthing, nor did
he even thank him. He left, however, six guineas for the servants, a
boy and two women, one of whom had washed and dressed his linen. Mrs.
Gordon of Hallhead was induced to yield possession of her house in
the town to General Hawley, under a promise that the greatest care
would be taken of every thing in the house. Having represented that
she was unable to furnish linen and other necessaries for Hawley and
his suite, Mrs. G. was informed, that as the general would bring
every thing with him, she might lock up all she had, and that all
that was wanted was the use of two of her maid-servants to do the
work of the house. Mrs. G. accordingly secured her effects under
lock and key; but Hawley had not been above a day in the house when
he sent a messenger to Mrs. G. demanding delivery of all her keys,
and threatening, in case of delay, to break open all the locks.
Having received the keys, the general sent Major Wolfe, one of his
aides-de-camp, to Mrs. G. in the evening, who intimated to her that
she was deprived of every thing except the clothes on her back.
The poor lady then desired to have her tea, but the major told her
that it was very good, and that tea was scarce in the army. She
next asked for her chocolate, and the same answer was returned. She
expressed a wish to get other things, particularly her china, but
the gallant major told her that she had a great deal of it, that it
was very pretty, and that the general and his friends were very fond
of china themselves; but perhaps she might get back some of it. Mrs.
G. petitioned the Duke of Cumberland to order her property to be
restored to her. The duke, it is said, promised to grant the prayer
of the petition, but no prohibitory order was issued, and General
Hawley proceeded to pack up every thing in the least portable, and
shipped the best things off to Edinburgh a fortnight before he left
Aberdeen. Mrs. Gordon gives a very minute catalogue of the effects
carried off, which she values at £600. Among those abstracted were
the whole of her husband’s body-clothes, three wigs, “with several
shirts and night-gowns of Bob’s,” (Mr. Gordon’s son). He carried off
all the china and other crockery ware, and did not leave a single
teacup or plate,--all the wine glasses and decanters,--the linens
and table napery, and even the kitchen towels. He stript the beds
of every thing, and left the bare posts standing. In short, he
cleared the house of almost every thing,--of empty bottles, larding
pens, iron skewers, flutes, music books, two canes with china
heads, wash-balls, &c. &c. Mrs. Gordon insinuates that the Duke of
Cumberland participated in the spoil. In a letter written by Thomas
Bowdler, Esq. of Ashley, near Bath, brother of Mrs. Gordon, to the
Rev. Robert Lyon, who lived in Lady Cotton’s family in London, he
observes, that a Mrs. Jackson, who knew Mrs. Gordon’s china well,
recognised part of it one day in the window of a china shop in
London, and having the curiosity to inquire of the shopkeeper from
whom he had bought it, was informed that he had purchased it from a
woman of the town, who told him that the Duke of Cumberland had given
it to her.
[1167] Ray, p. 313.
[1168] Home, App. No. 41.
[1169] _Jacobite Memoirs_, p 120.
[1170] _Kirkconnel MS._
[1171] _Kirkconnel MS._ _Lockhart Papers_, vol. ii. p. 507.
[1172] _Lockhart Papers_, vol. ii. p. 518.
[1173] _A Particular Account of the Battle of Culloden._ In a letter
from an officer (Lord George Murray) of the Highland army to his
friend in London. London, 1749, p. 4. No. 42 of Appendix to Home.
_Jacobite Memoirs_, p. 121.
[1174] _Kirkconnel MS._ _Lockhart Papers_, vol. ii. p. 518.
[1175] _Particular Account of the Battle of Culloden_, p. 6.
[1176] Idem, p. 9.
[1177] _Particular Account_, p. 10.
[1178] _Lockhart Papers_, vol. ii. p. 508.
[1179] _Particular Account_, p. 10.
[1180] Appendix to Home, No. 42.
[1181] Home, Appendix, No. 42. _True Account_, &c. p. 11.
[1182] In the letter which Lord George, under the signature of De
Valignie, addressed to his friend Hamilton of Bangour, dated from
Emerick, 5th August, 1749, he thus justifies himself for having
ordered a retreat without the prince’s orders:--“They say, why return
from Kilraick without the Prince’s positive orders? he was general,
and without his immediate orders no person should have taken so much
upon him. My answer to this is, (waiving what Mr. O’Sullivan said
from the Prince,[1183]) that all the officers were unanimous;--that
as it could not be done by surprise, and before day-break, as had
been proposed and undertaken with no other view, it was impossible
to have success; for it was never imagined by any one that it was
to be attempted but by a surprise. Whatever may be the rules in a
regular army, (and it is not to be supposed I was ignorant of them,)
our practice had all along been, at critical junctures, that the
commanding officers did every thing to their knowledge for the best.
At Gladsmuir (the plan of which attack I had formed,) I was the
last that passed the defile of the first line, and the first that
attacked; and gained in going on a good part of the ground we had
left betwixt us and the main ditch, by the front having, on account
of the darkness, marched a little too far. When I came up with the
enemy’s cannon, I did not stay to take them, but went on against
both foot and dragoons, being very quickly followed by our right. I
received no orders (nor did I wait for any, otherwise the opportunity
would have been lost,) from the time I passed the defile till the
battle was over. At Clifton, where I expected to have been supported
by all our army, John Roy Stuart brought me orders from the Prince
to retreat, for he had ordered the march for Carlisle, which was
begun. The officers who were with me agreed in my opinion, that to
retreat when the enemy were within less than musket-shot would be
very dangerous, and we would probably be destroyed before we came up
with the rest of our army. We had nothing for it but a brisk attack;
and therefore, after receiving the enemy’s fire, we went sword in
hand and dislodged them; after which we made our retreat in good
order. I own I disobeyed orders; but what I did was the only safe and
honourable measure I could take, and it succeeded. At the battle of
Falkirk I never received an order or message from his Royal Highness
after I passed the water at Dunipace till the battle was over. I
could say much more on this subject; all I shall now add is, that
at the time we returned from Kilravock there was no officer of any
distinction with the prince, (except Sir Thomas Sheridan be reckoned
one,) they being all in the van. Brigadier Stapleton was indeed in
the rear, but he knew nothing of the ground there, and his people
were only to have been a corps de reserve, and not in the attack.”
[1183] “Mr. O’Sullivan said, (he had just come up to the front,)
he had just then come from the Prince, who was very desirous the
attack should be made: but as Lord George Murray led the van, and
could judge of the time, he left it to him whether to do it or
not.”--_Particular Account_, p. 12.
[1184] _Particular Account_, &c. p. 12.
[1185] Mr. John Hay’s account of the Retreat, No. 43 of Appendix to
Home’s _Rebellion_. This statement has been hitherto supposed to rest
upon the single authority of Hay; and Mr. Home has been blamed for
making it, as it was not confirmed by others. The same statement,
however, is also made by Mr. Maxwell of Kirkconnel, a much more
respectable authority than Hay. Mr. Home had the Kirkconnel MS. in
his possession when writing his history, but seldom refers to it.
Mr. Maxwell’s words are: “The prince was incensed beyond expression
at a retreat, begun in direct contradiction to his inclination
and express orders. In the first moments he was convinced he was
betrayed, and expressed himself to that purpose. He was confirmed
in this opinion by those who never missed an opportunity of loading
Lord George Murray, but when he knew that this step had been taken
in concert with Lochiel and others, whom he had never distrusted,
he did not know what to think or what to do: thus perplexed he
arrived with the army at Culloden.” See also narrative by the Rev.
George Innes in _Jacobite Memoirs_, who says, (p. 289,) that some
persons positively said, that when the prince met the Duke of Perth’s
regiment returning, he cried out, “I am betrayed; what need I give
orders, when my orders are disobeyed.”
[1186] Answer by the Prince to Mr. Home’s query, Home’s _Rebellion_,
No. 44 of the Appendix.
[1187] _Kirkconnel MS._ _Lockhart Papers_, vol. ii. p. 519.
_Particular Account_, p. 14.
[1188] _Kirkconnel MS._
[1189] _Particular Account_, p. 14.
[1190] Home, p. 226.
[1191] Boyse, p. 155.
[1192] Boyse, p. 156. English official account of the battle.
[1193] See a curious and interesting letter in the _Stuart Papers_,
from Lord George Murray to the prince, written from Ruthven the day
after the battle.
[1194] _Particular Account_, p. 15.
[1195] _Lockhart Papers_, vol. ii. p. 510.
[1196] _Lockhart Papers_, vol. ii. p. 510.--_Kirkconnel MS._
[1197] These guards were originally a body of cavalry, called the
horse-grenadiers, but they were dismounted, and their horses were
given to the men of Fitz-James’s regiment, who had landed in Scotland
without horses.
[1198] “The great object of the duke, before recommencing his march,
had been to prepare his men for a firm reception of the Highland
charge. He knew that on this all depended, and that the two previous
disasters had been caused by the men not being rightly disciplined to
receive the novel mode of attack. Some writers on military tactics
had, in the meantime, proposed alterations on the complex infantry
movements of the day, for the purpose of evading the Highlander’s
target, by directing the bayonet against his right breast. The men
were trained during the winter, in some measure, to such a change of
motion, but it appears to have rather been for the purpose of giving
them a confidence that might make them steady, than from any belief
in the absolute efficacy of the change.”--Burton’s _Scotland from
Revolution_, vol. ii. p. 519.
[1199] Boyse, p. 159.
[1200] Boswell’s _Tour to the Hebrides_, p. 228.
[1201] _Kirkconnel MS._
[1202] Mr. Home says that about a hundred men were stationed in
the inclosure, who were put to the sword by the dragoons when they
entered; but he is certainly mistaken. Mr. Maxwell of Kirkconnel,
from whom Mr. Home took his description of the battle, does not
mention such an occurrence. In the memoir by a Highland officer,
(Colonel Ker,) printed among the _Lockhart Papers_, it is stated,
(p. 520,) that to guard against any attempts that might be made to
break down the walls of the inclosure, there were two battalions
placed facing outward, covering the right of the two lines, to
observe the motions of the English; and that “when the attack began,
the Campbells threw down a great part of the wall of the inclosure
for the dragoons on the duke’s left, to pass to the rear of the
prince’s army, which they did without receiving one shot from the two
battalions that were placed to observe their motions.”--P. 521.
[1203] _Lockhart Papers_, vol. ii. p. 521.
[1204] Maxwell of Kirkconnel.
[1205] In retiring from the field, Captain Roy Macdonald received a
musket bullet, which passed in at the sole of the left foot and came
out at the buckle. With difficulty he reached Bun Chraobg, two miles
beyond Inverness, where he procured a horse and set off for the Isle
of Skye, but his foot had swelled so much that he could not put it in
the stirrup.--_Jacobite Memoirs_, p. 425.
[1206] Johnstone’s _Memoirs_, p. 196.
[1207] One of the duke’s sycophants says, that after the fatigue
of the battle was over, his royal highness retired to a place near
the field to refresh himself; and that, after sitting a short time,
he rose and took “a serious walk to view the multitudes that lay
dead on the ground. He was followed by some of his attendants, who
observed him in deep meditation. He laid his hand upon his breast,
and with his eyes lifted up to heaven, was heard to say, _Lord, what
am I! that I should be spared?_ when so many brave men lie dead
upon the spot!--an expression of such deep humility towards God,
and compassion towards his fellow creatures, as is truly worthy a
Christian hero!!!”--_Marchant_, p. 396.
[1208] Cromek’s _Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway Song_, p.
200.--Henderson’s _History_, p. 60.
[1209] _Jacobite Memoirs_, p. 124.
[1210] Chambers’s _Rebellion_, and authorities referred to there.
[1211] The ground was totally unsuited to Highland tactics. “It is
impossible to look on this waste, with the few green patches still
marking the graves where the slain were covered up in heaps, without
a feeling of compassion for the helplessness of a Highland army in
such a place. It is a wide flat muir, with scarcely a curve, where
the mountaineers had nothing to aid their peculiar warfare, in high
or rugged ground. A better field for steady disciplined troops could
not exist. They could see everywhere around, and it was impossible
either to surprise them, or subject them, as at Killiecrankie or
Falkirk, to a rush from the higher ground.”--Burton after Revolution,
vol. ii. p. 518.
[1212] _Scots Mag._ vol. viii. p. 192.
[1213] _Jacobite Memoirs_, p. 129.
[1214] Idem, p. 236.
[1215] Boyse, p. 164.
[1216] Johnstone’s _Memoirs_, p. 203.
[1217] “It is not necessary to believe all the Jacobite stories
tending to show a wanton and fiendish indulgence, by the duke and
his most distinguished followers, in cruelty and any kind of bloody
work for its own sake; nor to admit that he ridiculed President
Forbes as the old woman who spoke about humanity and the laws. What
he did was, we may be assured from his character, not done in a
spirit of wantonness, but after a sense of duty. But that duty led
him to severity. He was a soldier according to the German notions
of a soldier, and a rebel province was a community to be subjected
to martial law. Many of the insurgents, attempting to escape or
hide themselves when detected by well-known peculiarities, were put
to death by the soldiery, who, even when they made a mistake and
slew the wrong man, could not easily be punished. The duke, brought
up in the German military school, seems to have been unable to
distinguish between a rebellion suppressed in constitutional Britain,
where all men are supposed to be innocent but those proved to be
guilty,--and a revolted German province, where every accorded grace
to the unfortunate people proceeds from the will of the conqueror.
Thus there was a propensity to subject all the northern districts to
something too closely resembling military law or license.”--Burton’s
_Scotland after Revolution_, v. ii. pp. 522, 523.
[1218] Letter from a gentleman in London to his friend in Bath. Bath,
1751, reprinted in _Jacobite Memoirs_.
[1219] Idem.
[1220] Letter from a gentleman in London, &c.
[1221] _Life of George, Earl of Cromarty_: London, 1746. Boyse, p.
155.
[1222] From the _Stuart Papers_.
[1223] _Account of the Battle of Culloden, &c.;_ Lond. 1749.
[1224] Maxwell of Kirkconnel.
[1225] _Stuart Papers._
[1226] From a copy among the _Stuart Papers_ thus quoted on the back
in Charles’s own hand:--“The Prince’s Letter to ye Chiefs in parting
from Scotland, 1746.”
[1227] Macleod’s Narrative in _Jacobite Memoirs_.
[1228] _Kirkconnel MS._
[1229] Genuine and True Journal of the most miraculous Escape of the
young Chevalier, by an Englishman. London, 1749. Macleod’s Narrative.
[1230] Genuine and True Journal, p. 7. Home, p. 245.
[1231] There were twelve or thirteen gentlemen present; among whom
were Lochiel, young Clanranald, Barisdale, Dr. Cameron, John Roy
Stewart, old Glenbucket, Secretary Murray, and Cameron of Dungallon.
Lord Lovat was also present, but by accident.
[1232] Appendix to Home, No. xlvii.
[1233] Boyse, p. 169.
[1234] The booty taken must have been considerable, as in one
instance, that of Glengarry House, the party who plundered it,
consisting of 200 men, had the following allowances made as their
shares, viz., every captain, £11 5s.; each subaltern, £5 18s.; a
sergeant, £1 10s.; a corporal, £1; and every common soldier, 15s.,
clear of all deductions.--Boyse, p. 169.
[1235] “Colonel Grant of Moy, who died in April, 1822, in his
90th year, was walking along the road with a gun on his shoulder
when Culcairn was shot. A turn of the road concealed him from the
soldiers at the moment, but when he came in sight with his gun,
they immediately seized him upon suspicion, and carried him to Fort
William. After a short confinement he was released. Colonel Grant
entered the 42d as a volunteer or soldier of fortune, and afterwards
got a cadetship in India, from which he returned with a handsome
fortune nearly fifty years ago.”--_Stewart’s Sketches_, vol. i. note
p. 280.
[1236] _Scots Magazine_, vol. viii. p. 287.
[1237] How far any remonstrance on the part of the president
would have been attended to may be judged from the following
statement:--“When he visited London in the end of the year, (1746,)
for the purpose of settling the accounts he had run with the loyal
Highland militia, he, as usual, went to court. The king, whose ear
had been offended with repeated accounts of the conduct of the
military, thus addressed him:--‘My lord-president, you are the person
I most wished to see. Shocking reports have been circulated of the
barbarities committed by my army in the north; your lordship is,
of all men, the best able to satisfy me.’ ‘I wish to God,’ replied
the president, ‘that I could, consistently with truth, assure your
majesty that such reports are destitute of foundation.’ The king,
as was his custom, turned abruptly away from the president; whose
accounts, next day, were passed with difficulty; and, as report says,
the balance, which was immense, never fully paid up.”--_Antijacobin
Review_, vol. xiii. _Review of Home’s History of the Rebellion_.
[1238] A letter from Fort Augustus, dated June 27, 1746, which made
the round of the public journals at the time, thus describes these
pastimes:--“Last Wednesday the duke gave two prizes to the soldiers
to run heats for on bare-backed Galloways taken from the rebels, when
eight started for the first, and ten for the second prize. These
Galloways are little larger than a good tup, and there was excellent
sport. Yesterday his royal highness gave a fine Holland smock to the
soldiers’ wives, to be run for on these Galloways, also bare-backed,
and riding with their limbs on each side of the horse like men.
Eight started, and there were three of the finest heats ever seen.
The prize was won, with great difficulty, by one of the Old Buff’s
ladies. In the evening, General Hawley and Colonel Howard run a match
for twenty guineas on two of the above shelties: which General Hawley
won by about four inches.”
[1239] _Jacobite Memoirs_, p. 300. William Jack, one of the
prisoners, in a letter to his friends in Elgin (_Memoirs_, p.
299), says that the sailors used to amuse themselves by hoisting
the prisoners up to the yard-arm and dropping them into the sea,
and that they would tie them to the mast and flog them; that for
several months they had no bed-clothes, and that they used to dig
holes among the ship’s ballast, consisting of black earth and small
stones, to keep themselves warm. John Farquharson of Aldlerg, himself
a prisoner, in a letter to the Rev. Mr. Forbes, published among the
Forbes papers, gives an appalling description of the miseries of his
fellow prisoners on their voyage from Inverness to London. He says
that from hunger, bad usage, and exposure “to all weathers, they were
seized with a kind of plague which carried them off by dozens;” and
that “a good many of those who would have outlived their sickness,
were wantonly murdered by the sailors, by dipping them in the sea
in the crisis of their fevers.” After arriving in the Thames, the
common prisoners were put into Tilbury Fort, and would have perished
for want had not some humane people supported them. The officers
were marched rank and file to Southwark jail, amid the hootings of a
tumultuous mob, who loaded them with scornful epithets, and assailed
them with brickbats, stones, and other missiles.