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From Perth, Dundee retired to Scone, where an unwilling host, the Viscount of Stormont, was obliged to accord him the hospitality of a dinner. Knowing what pains and penalties were incurred by holding intercourse with one who had been outlawed as a traitor and a rebel, Stormont lost no time in informing the President of the Convention of the untoward incident. But although he urged the excuses that the dinner had been forced from him, and that his ‘intercommuning’ had been wholly involuntary, the Committee was not satisfied. Stormont, together with his uncle and his father-in-law, who happened to be staying with him at the time, was subsequently put to considerable trouble for the delinquency of having been compelled to entertain the unbidden and unwelcome guest.

Dundee had not forgotten the errand on which he had originally started from the north, but which Mackay’s advance had obliged him to abandon for a time. By way of Cargill, Cupar-Augus, and Meigle, he worked his way round to Glamis, within less than twenty miles of Dundee. He utilised the circuitous march by detaching some of his troopers to collect revenues, in the name of the King, from the neighbouring villages; and not less acceptable than the money thus brought in, was the accession of half a score of volunteers amongst whom were Hallyburton, Fullerton, and a third whose is variously given as Venton, Fenton, and Renton. But even with these added to it, the little force with which he re-entered Glen Ogilvy did not amount to more than eighty.

In the afternoon of the 13th of May, the inhabitants of Dundee were startled by the alarming intelligence that an armed force was advancing over the Seidlaws to attack them. Hardly had they completed a rough and hasty preparation for defence by barring the gates and barricading the streets, when the redoubted leader appeared on the summit of the Law, of which his troopers held the base and the declivities. What the scared citizens took for a serious attack was merely a demonstration, devised for the purpose of affording the friendly dragoons an opportunity of effecting a junction with Dundee. William Livingstone appears to have understood the hint; for, according to the poetical chronicle of James Philip of Almerieclose, he endeavoured to head a feigned sortie at the head of the dragoons and of three hundred citizens whom he had enlisted for the Jacobite cause. But, by some means, of which there is no record, Captain Balfour, who was a staunch partisan of the new Government, succeeded in frustrating the attempt.

At nightfall Dundee retired to Glen Ogilvy, without the reinforcement which he had hoped to secure. All that he was able to take back with him as the result of his raid consisted in three hundred pounds of cess and excise, which he succeeded in seizing, and the baggage of a camp which lay outside the town, and which had been hastily abandoned at his approach. By the other side, this demonstration was looked upon as a daring attack. In the excitement which the news of it caused on reaching Edinburgh, the Convention gave orders that six firkins of powder should be sent from Bo’ness to Dundee, and that Hastings’s infantry, and Berkley’s horse should reinforce the garrison. Urgent despatches were also forwarded to Mackay, in Inverness, and brought less welcome than trustworthy information as to the movements of the man in pursuit of whom he was supposed to be.

IX
THE HIGHLAND CAMPAIGN

The date fixed for the meeting of the clans was drawing near; and, after a brief rest, Dundee was again in the saddle. By way of Cupar, Dunkeld, Comrie, and Garth, he shaped his course to Loch Rannoch, and thence over the Grampians, through wild and rugged paths, to Loch Treig and Lochaber. There he was received with all honour and respect by Sir Ewen Cameron of Lochiel, who assigned to his use a house at a little distance from his own, and supplied him with such conveniences as the country afforded. The chief of the Camerons was the most remarkable Highland figure of the time. He had always shown himself a staunch adherent of the Stuart cause, and his veneration for the memory of its great champion, Montrose, was proverbial amongst his kinsmen and friends. His own loyalty was above temptation; and when, at the suggestion of Mackenzie of Tarbat, Mackay made an attempt to bribe him into submission to the new Government, the letters containing the proffered terms, were contemptuously left unanswered. It was mainly through the influence of Lochiel that the coalition of the clans had been effected. He himself brought to the royal cause a contingent of a thousand men, whom he had never led but to victory.

In accordance with the old Highland custom, Dundee sent round the fiery cross, immediately on his arrival in Lochaber. During the week which would have to elapse before the chieftains could all bring their followers to the trysting-place, he utilised his enforced leisure by drilling his small body of cavalry, and accustoming the horses to stand fire. The time at his disposal was insufficient to allow of his putting the infantry through a course of military training, and, on the advice of Lochiel he refrained from interfering with the rude but effective tactics of the Highlanders.

At length, about the 25th of May, the gathering of the clans was complete, and Dundee held a review of his army in the plain of Macomer. There was the brave Glengarry with three hundred warriors in the flower of vigorous manhood; and following him closely was his brother with a hundred more. Next came Glencoe, huge-limbed, but strong and active, accompanied by another hundred claymores. Macdonald of Sleat headed a body of five hundred clansmen from the Isles of which he was the Lord. The men of Uist, of Knoydart, and of Moydart, marched under the leadership of their youthful chief, Allan Macdonald, Captain of Clan Ranald; and two hundred men, as wild as himself were gathered about Keppoch, the notorious raider, the ‘Colonel of the Cows,’ as he was dubbed by Dundee, because of his particular skill in finding out cattle, when they were driven to the hills, to be out of his way.

All these, some fifteen hundred in the aggregate, belonged to the great clan Donald. They were all armed alike, and carried into battle, as their emblem, a bunch of wild heather, hung from the point of a spear. Under Dundee, the Macdonalds formed one battalion of twenty companies. The thousand men that composed the Cameron contingent doubtless included the various septs of the great clan, as well as some of the proscribed and scattered Macgregors, between whom and the Camerons there existed a close friendship.

From the various branches of the Macleans, another thousand men gathered around the blue standard of the tribe. The two hundred retainers of Stewart of Appin, together with those of Macneill of Barra, of Macleod of Raasay, of Fraser of Fayers, of Fraser of Culduthill, of Grant of Urquhart, of Macnaughten, Macallister, Maclaughlane, and Lamont, helped to swell the ranks of Dundee’s infantry, and to bring up its numbers to a total, which, if the enumeration of one who was present, and bore the leader’s standard, be not grossly exaggerated, must have amounted to close on four thousand. Dundee’s own following consisted of some eighty horse, composed of his veteran troopers, reinforced by a few noblemen and gentlemen. The most notable of these were the Earl of Dunfermline, Lord Dunkeld, Sir Alexander Innes, Edmonstone of Newton, Clelland of Faskin, the three recruits who had joined Dundee after the raid on Perth, a Bruce, who may have been Captain Bruce of Earlshall, Graham of Duntroone, and David Graham, the leader’s own brother.

On the same day, after a stirring address from Dundee, who promised them that they should see him in the van whenever he hurled their united bands against the foe, the Highlanders marched forth towards Glen Spey. Glengarry, accompanied by thirty horse, opened the march. The rear was brought up by Fayers with his marshalled clan. By the evening of the 28th of May, Dundee had pitched his camp near the Castle of Raits, a few miles from Kingussie.

The 29th of May was a date which the adherents of the Stuarts held in special reverence. It was that of the birth of Charles II., and it was also that of his entry into London, at the Restoration. A day marked by two such events was considered specially auspicious; and its annual recurrence was hailed by commemorative celebrations. It offered an opportunity for a general and public expression of loyalty to the cause, which Dundee did not neglect; and with impressive ceremony he himself lighted a huge bonfire in the middle of the camp, and drank to the memory of the late King, and the success of his brother.

But the day was to be kept in a more practical way. Within accessible distance lay the Castle of Ruthven. In it Mackay had placed a garrison under Captain John Forbes, for the purpose of facilitating communication with Ramsay, who was expected with reinforcements from the south. Dundee opened hostilities by sending a force under Keppoch to demand the surrender of the Castle. Forbes returned a spirited answer to the summons, and made a brave show of resistance; but perceiving how futile it would be, in view of the preparations which were being made for the assault, he came to terms, and promised to lay down his arms, if, within three days, Mackay did not come to his relief. But the General remained at Alvie, to which he had advanced from Inverness, and the Castle was evacuated at the expiration of the delay agreed upon.

Forbes was treated with remarkable consideration by Dundee. He was allowed to pass through the camp with his garrison; and having noticed that the horses were all saddled and bridled, he concluded that immediate action was intended, and reported accordingly when he reached Mackay. On his way to join his chief, he met two of his troopers making for Dundee’s camp. They alleged that they had been sent out to reconnoitre; and though warned of the danger which they ran of being captured, they pursued their way towards Raits. This circumstance having also been communicated to Mackay, he opened an inquiry from which it resulted that the troopers were messengers who had been sent to arrange for the desertion of the Scots dragoons. By the measures which the General at once adopted, the plan was again frustrated.

In the meantime, Dundee, whom rumours of an intended attack had reached, sent Bruce with a dozen troopers to ascertain their truth. He returned with the information that Mackay was encamped near Alvie, and did not appear to have made any preparations for an advance. At this, Dundee himself determined to move forward. As he was pressing towards Alvie, he was startled to see that the Castle of Dunachton which he had passed shortly before, and left unharmed, was in a blaze. The marauding Keppoch had again been at work. After setting fire to Ruthven, as he had been ordered to do, he had further gratified his own love of plunder and of revenge by pillaging and destroying the old castle of his enemy the Mackintosh.

If discipline was to be maintained, Dundee could not tolerate such conduct, even on the part of so powerful a chieftain as Keppoch, and he sharply called the offender to task for it. He told him in presence of all the officers of his small army, that ‘he would much rather choose to serve as a common soldier amongst disciplined troops, than command such men as he, who seemed to make it his business to draw the odium of the country upon him.’ Keppoch, whom no man had probably overawed before, muttered an excuse, and promised to abide strictly by the commander’s orders for the future.

On reaching Alvie, Dundee discovered that Mackay had broken up his camp and was in full retreat. For four days he followed him so persistently and so closely that, on one occasion parties of his Highlanders were within shot of the rear-guard. If night had not come on, nothing, in all probability, could have saved the retreating troops. But the ground was dangerous, the march had been long, and the open country of Strathbogie, now only three miles distant, would have given Mackay’s cavalry too much advantage over their pursuers. Dundee ordered a halt.

Next morning, having learnt that Mackay had marched ten miles further, he lay still all day. This was on the 5th of June. That same day, he received information that Barclay and Lesly’s regiments, from Forfar and Cupar-Angus, had joined Mackay at Suy Hill. His old friends in the Scotch dragoons, who had dispatched the messenger with these tidings, communicated the further intelligence, that the Duke of Berwick was reported to have been captured, and that a party which had endeavoured to effect a landing in Scotland was also said to have been beaten back. They told him, too, that they were now surrounded by English horse and dragoons themselves, and that, in spite of their desire to cast in their lot with his, they could not avoid fighting against him, if there were an engagement. Under these circumstances, they begged him to go out of the way for a time, until better news should come.

The advice was judicious. Dundee adopted it, and turned back towards Badenoch. His action was fully justified by the event. With the reinforcements which he had received from the south, Mackay at once turned back upon his pursuer, whom he hoped to take by surprise. But his night march was in vain. When he reached Edinglassie, where the Highland camp had been, it was only to find that Dundee was already on his way to Cromdale. He sent a party of horse in pursuit; but the troopers never came within sight of the rear-guard, though they succeeded in cutting off some of the plundering stragglers.

During this retreat, there occurred an incident which helped to cheer Dundee; for it was not with a glad heart that he had turned away from the enemy, and, to add to the disappointment which he felt, he was so prostrate through illness, at this critical moment, that his rate of progress had to be reduced to a few miles a day – to less than six miles in all on the 7th and 8th of June. On the 9th of June, whilst Dundee, who had moved up the Spey, was in the neighbourhood of Abernethy, Mackay gave orders to Sir Thomas Livingstone to cross the river with a detachment of dragoons, for the purpose of supporting the Laird of Grant’s men, who had been hard pressed by parties of the Highlanders. Whilst on this mission, an advance guard of the troopers fell in with a body of three hundred Macleans, who, under Lochbery, were on their way to join Dundee. In the engagement that followed, the cavalry was completely routed, and the clansmen, elated with victory and laden with spoil stripped from the slain were enthusiastically welcomed in Dundee’s camp.

It had been Dundee’s intention to take up a strong position in Rannoch, but, as he wrote in one of his despatches, finding that the Lochaber men were going away every night by forties and fifties, with droves of cattle, and that all the rest, who were laden with plunder of Grant’s land and others, were equally anxious to return home with it, he yielded to necessity, came into Lochaber with them, and dismissed them to their respective houses, with injunctions to be ready within a few days, if the enemy pursued. If he did not, they were to lay still till further orders. Mackay, on his side, seeing that Dundee had reached a district where there were no good roads, and where it would be impossible to buy the provisions without which no regular body of forces could subsist together, also resolved to retire from the field for a time. In a despatch forwarded to Ireland through Hay, the position at this time was described as follows: ‘My Lord Dundee hath continued in Lochaber, guarded only by two hundred, commanded by Sir Alexander Maclean. But, being in the heart of Glengarry and Lochiel’s lands, he thinks himself secure enough; though he had not, as he has, the Captain of Clanranald, with six hundred men within ten miles of him, and Maclean, Sir Donald, and Macleod marching towards him. So that he can march with near four thousand; or refresh in safety, till such time as the state of affairs of Ireland may allow the King to send forces to his relief: which if it please God shall fall out, there is all appearance of forming a considerable army, notwithstanding that the people are a little disheartened by the unexpected surrender of the Castle of Edinburgh, which, as said, was only by despair the Duke had of any relief, though he wanted not from my Lord Dundee, by a third hand, all the encouragement he could give.’ This brings the Highland campaign forward to about the middle of June.

In spite of the circumstances which had made it necessary for him to retire to Lochaber, Dundee entertained no doubt as to the ultimate success of the cause which he championed. Though indecisive, the result of his military operations was such as to inspire him with confidence in himself, and in the fighting powers, if not in the discipline, of his Highlanders. With them, he had more than held his own under difficulties that might well have discouraged a less energetic and resourceful leader. He had been obliged to begin the campaign with but fifty pounds of powder, for all the great towns and sea-ports were hostile to him, and would sell none. He had no money, and could raise none on his own credit; and, worse than all, the help on which he depended, and on the promise of which he had induced the chieftains to join him, had not come. Yet, in spite of all this, he had suffered no reverse; and though the bulk of his army was disbanded, he knew that a few days would suffice to bring the clans about him again, in all their former strength, and with more than their former devotion. For he had won their respect by his own cheerful endurance of all the hardships of the campaign, and their affection by the sympathy and the ready help which he had given them to bear their share.

Of that which might, indeed, have discouraged him, of the true state of affairs outside Scotland, he knew nothing. He had not only been kept in ignorance, he appears to have been systematically deceived. As late as the 23rd of June, writing to Macleod of Macleod to communicate to him the news he had just received, he gave him a glowing account of what was being achieved in Ireland. Hay, who had himself been at the siege of Londonderry, had just reported, that more than three weeks before, the inhabitants were reduced to such extremities that horse flesh was sold for sixpence a pound, that, for cannon-balls they were shooting lumps of brick wrapped in pewter plates, that an attempt at relief had been defeated with great loss. Fifty-two sail of French warships were already in Ireland; eighty more were on their way from Brest; some of the French fleet had been seen amongst the islands, and had taken the two Glasgow frigates; Edinburgh had lost heart, and offered to surrender if King James would grant terms; in short, everything was so hopeful and so far advanced, that if Macleod did not hasten to land his men, he would have but little occasion to do the King much service.

In view of such hopeful accounts, Dundee who could have no means of testing their truth, and who had no suspicion of their exaggeration, might well feel confident of success, if only, as had repeatedly been promised, King James would send him the reinforcements and the supplies so anxiously expected, ‘ammunition, and three or four thousand arms of different sorts, some horse, some foot.’ Even when he learnt, about the middle of July, that the only succour to be got from Ireland, consisted of three hundred ill-trained men, with whom Cannon had effected a landing at Inverlochy, he did not lose confidence, and an attempt to bring him to terms, of which his brother-in-law, Lord Strathnaver was the intermediary, was met with a dignified refusal. Nor did his enemies themselves seem to think that his power and influence had yet begun to wane; for they thought it worth their while to set a price of twenty thousand pounds sterling on his head.

But a crisis was now at hand. About the middle of July, Lord John Murray, the Marquis of Athole’s eldest son, in accordance with an agreement come to with Mackay, had gone into the Highlands, for the purpose of raising a body of his father’s followers. He knew their loyalty to the Stuart cause, and had no hope of being able to induce them to take sides for the new Government. But he might devise means to keep them neutral; and no more was required of him. ‘Keep the Athole men from joining Dundee,’ Mackay had said to him, ‘and that is all I ask, or can expect, from your father’s son.’ He succeeded in bringing together twelve hundred men, with whom he intended to garrison the important Castle of Blair.

Dundee had been duly informed of Murray’s levies; but he affected to believe in the young chief’s loyalty, and wrote to him, from his quarters in Struan, on the other side of the Garry, suggesting that they should meet to concert what was fittest to be done for the good of the country, and the service of their lawful King. Receiving no answer to his letter, he gave orders to Stewart of Ballechin, a retainer of Athole’s, and a staunch Jacobite, to occupy the Castle, in the name of King James. Two further communications to Murray having been similarly disregarded, Dundee dispatched two of his officers to him, with a final appeal. They were instructed to deliver it into Murray’s own hands, and to receive his positive answer; but Murray declined to grant them an interview.

When this became known to the clansmen whom he had with him, and from whom he had so far succeeded in concealing his real designs, they called upon him to let them know what course of action he had resolved upon, and plainly told him that if he meant to join Dundee they would follow him, but that if he refused to do so, they would immediately forsake him. In vain he attempted to threaten them into submission. They were true to their word. Filling their bonnets with water, they drank the King’s health, and turned their backs on the chief who had thought to make them traitors, against their will, to the cause of the Stuarts.

In the meantime, Dundee had been active in other directions. His summons to the clans had again been sent forth, and orders given for a general meeting at Blair, where he himself arrived, at latest, on the 26th of July. That same day Mackay marched from Perth to Dunkeld, with about four thousand foot, and two troops of horse and dragoons.

There still remained two days to the date fixed for the gathering of the claymores, when Dundee moved from the camp at Blair to meet Mackay’s advance. He could not wait for the arrival of his full force; but he hoped that the deficiency in numbers would be compensated by the mettle and determination of those who had joined. To satisfy himself that the martial ardour of the clans had not suffered from the long years of inactivity which had elapsed since last they met an enemy, at Philiphaugh, he put it to an effective test. At early dawn, when the men were still sleeping in their plaids, in the heather, he caused the alarm to be sounded. In an instant, every man had sprung to his feet, and seizing his arms had run to take up his position in front of the camp. When the Viscount perceived this, says one of the chroniclers who record the incident, and that not a man of them retired, with full assurance, he instantly began his march to meet the enemy.

Before deciding to leave Blair, Dundee had called together a council of war composed of all the leading men who had joined him. The question to be discussed was, whether it was wiser to remain encamped until the arrival of all the Highland contingents, or to march forward at once to meet Mackay. The old officers, who were accustomed to the command of regular troops, favoured the former alternative, and urged that it would be imprudent to risk an engagement against an army which exceeded theirs by more than half, and was composed of trained soldiers, whilst their own forces consisted of raw, undisciplined men, who had never seen blood, whose strength was impaired by the sufferings and privations of a long march, and whose spirit was damped by disappointments.

Glengarry, on the other hand, represented that, although the clansmen’s endurance had been taxed by want of provisions as well as by fatigue, they were but little affected by hardships to which their own way of living inured them; and that, in spite of what they had gone through, they were both able and ready to fight an equal number of the enemy’s best troops, and had a fair chance of beating them. Still, even he did not recommend a general engagement before the arrival of the remaining claymores had brought their numbers more nearly to an equality with those of their opponents. His advice, which met with the approval of most of the chieftains, was that they should keep the army constantly in sight of the enemy, and should post their men on strong ground, where they would be safe from attack themselves, and whence they could easily sally forth, at every available opportunity, to harass the foe.

Alone of those present, Lochiel had refrained from giving any sign of adherence to the views of either party; and Dundee noticing this, called upon him, in terms most flattering to the old chief, to declare his opinion. It was given without hesitation: To fight the enemy. As he supported this advice by pointing to the eagerness of the men, and by enumerating the disadvantages of a delay, it was observed that Dundee’s countenance brightened, and that he listened with obvious satisfaction to his spirited yet wise words. When his turn came to speak, he told the Council that his sentiments had just been expressed by one who added to them the weight of long experience and of intimate knowledge, and that his voice, like that of Lochiel, was for immediate and decisive action, a course which was consequently resolved upon.

Before the Council broke up, the venerable chieftain again rose to speak. He had promised, he said, and would yield implicit obedience to all Dundee’s orders; but he requested that, before they separated, he might be allowed to give one command, not in his own name, but in that of the whole Council. It was the unanimous wish of all present that Dundee should not engage personally, for on him depended the fate, not only of their brave little army, but also of their king and of their country. ‘If your Lordship deny us this reasonable demand,’ he added, ‘for my own part I declare that neither I, nor any I am concerned in, shall draw a sword on this important occasion, whatever construction shall be put on the matter.’ In his reply to this appeal, Dundee admitted that, if he fell, his death might be a loss to them; but he reminded his hearers of the temper of their men. If the least reason were given them to doubt the personal courage of their leader, they would lose their respect for him, and give him, at best, but grudging obedience. For this reason, he begged to be permitted to give one ‘shear-darg’ – that is, one harvest day’s work – to the King, his master, that he might have an opportunity of convincing the brave clans that he could hazard his life in that service, as freely as the meanest of them. If this were granted him he pledged his word never again to risk his person, so long as he had the honour of commanding them. Finding him inflexible in the chivalrous resolution which he had couched as a request, the Council reluctantly yielded.

On the morning of the 27th of July, Mackay left his quarters in Dunkeld. By ten o’clock he had reached the southern extremity of the Pass of Killiecrankie, where he halted for two hours. At noon he again gave the order to advance. The Pass into which he led his army consisted of an almost straight road, fully two miles in length, and so narrow that barely half a dozen men could march abreast. To the right it was flanked by lofty mountains. The precipitous banks of the Garry skirted it on the left; and, on the other side of the river, a thickly wooded mountain hemmed in the landscape. Through this wild and rugged defile Balfour, Ramsay and Kenmore opened the march with their three battalions. Then came Belhaven’s troop of horse, followed by Leven’s regiment, and a battalion of the General’s. Over twelve hundred baggage horses formed a long line behind them, protected by a rear-guard which consisted of the Earl of Annandale’s troop of horse and Hastings’s regiment.

Impressed by the wildness of the surroundings, and conscious of the danger to which it would be exposed in the event of an attack, the army moved cautiously but cumbrously on. As it advanced without discovering any sign of the presence of the enemy, his neglect to avail himself of the obvious advantages which the nature of the ground offered him, inspired a new fear. Some carefully prepared trap at the further end seemed to afford the only intelligible explanation of his action in leaving the pass free. Even Mackay himself did not realise that the only stratagem which Dundee had devised was an engagement that should not merely retard, but wholly scatter his opponent’s forces.

At length, the open ground on the bank of the Garry was reached. As his men debouched into it, Mackay drew them up three deep, without changing the relative position of the regiments. The extreme left was thus held by Balfour. Ramsay and Kenmore came next, and were posted between him and two troops of horse that occupied the centre. Leven, Mackay and Hastings were on the right. Some short, portable leather cannon, that could hardly be dignified with the name of artillery were placed behind the horse. The whole line faced towards Blair, from which the enemy was expected to move forward. And, indeed, before long, the General perceived what he thought was the advance guard, coming down the valley towards him. It was in reality but a small detachment that had been sent on for the purpose of attracting his attention. Dundee, with his main body had wound his way round to the left, and his Highlanders were soon seen taking up their position on some elevated ground that commanded Mackay’s right wing. Without altering the disposition of his line of battle, the General wheeled it round to face the clansmen, a movement by which he put the river and the steep ridge above it immediately in his rear, and rendered his own position far more precarious in the event of a defeat, whilst the rise of the ground towards the hills in his front prevented him from attacking the enemy except under obviously disadvantageous conditions.