Chapter XX: March to July, 1689 (1)

BRITISH SOVEREIGN:--William III., 1688-1703.

Viscount Dundee--Proceedings of the convention--General
Hugh Mackay--Attempt to apprehend Dundee, who retires
to the north--Mackay follows Dundee--Dundee joined by
Keppoch--Movements of the two commanders--Movements of Colonel
Ramsay--Disaffection among Mackay’s troops--Ruthven Castle
surrenders to Dundee--Mackay retreats down Strathspey--Followed
by Dundee--Retreat of Dundee, who disbands his forces--Mackay
returns to Edinburgh--Probabilities of success--Dundee solicits
aid from Ireland--Preparations of Mackay--Lord Murray and the
Athole-men--Departure of Mackay to Perth--Dundee marches into
Athole--Battle of Killiecrankie--Death and character of Dundee.

Before giving the details of Dundee’s insurrection, the following short sketch will not be out of place. John Graham, Viscount Dundee, descended from the royal line of the Stuarts by the marriage of William, Lord Graham of Kincardine, his ancestor, with the Princess Mary, second daughter of King Robert III., was the eldest son of Sir William Graham of Claverhouse in Angus or Forfarshire, and was born in 1643. Besides a royal descent, Viscount Dundee also claimed to be descended, through the family of Morphy in Mearns, from the illustrious house of Montrose, and was also allied to the noble family of Northesk by his mother, Lady Jean Carnegy, who was fourth daughter of the first earl. Young Graham entered the university of St. Andrews in the year 1660, where, according to his partial biographer, he made “very considerable progress” in “Humanity and Mathematics.” He was chiefly remarkable for his enthusiastic predilection for Highland poetry and the established order of things. He left the university in 1670 and went to France, where he entered as a volunteer. He afterwards transferred his services to Holland, and received the commission of a cornet in one of the Prince of Orange’s troops of guards. He distinguished himself at the battle of Seneffe, in 1674, by saving the life of the prince, who had been dismounted, and carrying him off upon his own horse. Having been refused the command of one of the Scottish regiments in the employment of the States, he left the Dutch service and returned to Scotland in the year 1677, and was appointed by Charles II. captain of one of the regiments then raising in Scotland for the suppression of the Whigs, in which service he acquired from the unfortunate Covenanters, on account of his severities, the unenviable appellation of “the bloody Clavers.” The confidence which Charles had bestowed on Captain Graham was continued by his successor James, who, after promoting him successively to the ranks of brigadier and major-general, raised him to the peerage under the title of Viscount Dundee, on the 12th of November 1688, seven days after the invasion of the Prince of Orange.

From Original Painting in possession of the Earl of Strathmore.]

The idea of setting up a counter convention at Stirling, was immediately abandoned on the departure of Dundee from the capital. The Marquis of Athole, whom the adherents of the king had chosen for their leader, showed no disposition to follow Dundee, and the Earl of Mar, who to save his loyalty made a feint to escape by the only guarded way, was apprehended, not unwillingly, as is supposed, by the sentinels, and brought back, but was released on giving his parole that he would not leave the city without the permission of the convention. The ambiguous conduct of these two noblemen tended to cool the ardour of the few remaining adherents of the king, some of whom resolved to support the new order of things, whilst others, less pliant, absented themselves wholly from the convention. That assembly, after approving of the conduct of the English convention, in requesting the Prince of Orange (now declared King of England) to take upon him the administration of the affairs of that kingdom, acknowledged their obligations to him as the assertor of their liberties, and also entreated him to assume the management of the affairs of Scotland.

Popular as the steps were which the convention were about to take for settling the government of the nation, with the great body of the people, they were not insensible to the probability of a formidable opposition being raised to their plans by a determined band of royalists in the north, who, headed by such a warlike and experienced commander as Dundee, might involve the whole kingdom in a civil war. To prepare, therefore, against such an emergency, the convention before proceeding to the important business for which it had assembled issued a proclamation, requiring all persons from sixteen to sixty, and capable of bearing arms, to put themselves in readiness to take the field when called upon; they deprived all militia officers suspected of attachment to the king of their commissions, and filled up the vacancies thus occasioned by others on whom they could rely. Sir Patrick Hume, who lay under an attainder for the part he took in Argyle’s rebellion, was appointed to the command of the horse militia, and the Earl of Leven was nominated to the command of a body of 800 men, raised for a guard to the city of Edinburgh.

Backed by these, and by about 1100 men of the Scotch brigade from Holland, which arrived at Leith from England, on the 25th of March, under General Mackay, as major-general of all the forces in Scotland,[556] and by a force of 200 dragoons which were also sent from England; the leaders of the convention proposed that a committee of eight lords, eight knights, and eight burgesses, should be appointed to prepare and report upon a plan of settling the government.

The throne having been declared vacant, the convention, on the motion of the Duke of Hamilton, appointed the committee to draw up an act for settling the crown of Scotland upon William and Mary, and they were also instructed to prepare an instrument or declaration for preventing a recurrence of the grievances, of which the nation complained. The Earl of Argyle on the part of the lords, Sir James Montgomery for the knights, and Sir John Dalrymple for the burghs, were thereupon despatched to London to offer the crown to William and Mary, on the conditions stipulated by the convention. The commissioners were introduced to their majesties at Whitehall, on the 11th of May, and were of course well received, but on the coronation oath being presented to them by the Earl of Argyle, William, who was rather disposed to support episcopacy in Scotland, demurred to take it, as it appeared by a clause which it contained, importing that their majesties should root out heresy, and all enemies to the true worship of God, to lay him under an obligation to become a persecutor. This difficulty, which it is evident was well founded, was however got over by the commissioners declaring that such was not the meaning or import of the oath.

The convention having thus completed the object for which it was assembled, adjourned to the 21st of May, not however till it had passed an act at utter variance with those principles of constitutional liberty, which it professed to establish. By this act the Duke of Hamilton was vested with full power and authority to imprison any person he might suspect of disaffection to the new government, a violent and arbitrary measure certainly, which nothing but the extraordinary circumstances of the times could justify. The Earl of Balcarras and Viscount Dundee were marked out as the first victims of this unconstitutional law. The latter had been already proclaimed an outlaw and a rebel by the convention, for absenting himself from its meetings, but he had hitherto made no movement, in consequence of instructions from the king, desiring him not to take the field till a force of 5,000 foot, and 300 horse, which he promised to send him from Ireland, should land in Scotland.

These instructions having come to the knowledge of Hamilton, hastened his determination to arrest Balcarras and Dundee. Balcarras was seized at his country seat, carried to Edinburgh, and imprisoned in the common jail, from which he was afterwards transferred to the castle after its surrender; but Dundee, who had received notice of the approach of the party, retired from his house at Dudhope and took refuge in the mountains.

The favourable reception which James had met with in Ireland, and the discovery which the adherents of William in Scotland had made of his intention to land an army in Scotland, joined to the fact that the great body of the Highlanders, and almost the whole of the episcopal party in the north, were hostile to the recent change in the government, could not fail to excite alarm in the minds of the partizans of the new dynasty. The brilliant achievements of Montrose had shown how inadequate the peaceful inhabitants of the south, though impelled by the spirit of religious fanaticism, were to contend with the brave and hardy mountaineers of the north; and as Dundee, as they were aware, was desirous of emulating his great predecessor, and was engaged in an active correspondence with the Highland chiefs, they must necessarily have looked forward to a long and bloody, and perhaps a doubtful contest.

As Dundee possessed the confidence of the Highland clans,[557] and as he looked chiefly to them for support in his attempt to restore the exiled monarch, Viscount Tarbat, one of the ablest politicians of the period, proposed a plan for detaching the chiefs from the cause of James, some of whom he averred were not so inimical to William nor so attached to James, as was supposed; but who, jealous of the power of Argyle, were justly apprehensive that if, as appearances indicated, that nobleman acquired an ascendency in the national councils, he would make use of his power to oppress them, and would obtain a revocation of the grants of certain lands which belonged to his family, and which had been forfeited in the reign of Charles II. Besides these reasons, there was another which was supposed to influence others in their determination to restore the fallen dynasty, and thereby crush the rising power of Argyle, viz. that they were greatly in arrears to him as their superior. Tarbat, therefore, suggested to General Mackay, that an attempt should be made, in the first place to obtain the submission of these last by making them an offer to discharge Argyle’s claims against their lands, which he computed would amount to £5,000 sterling, and that a separate offer should be made to the chief of the Macleans to make good a transaction which had been in part entered upon between him and the late earl for adjusting their differences. This plan was approved of by the English government, but the affair is said to have been marred by the appointment of Campbell of Cawdor as negotiator, who was personally obnoxious to the chiefs. Mackay attempted to open a correspondence with Cameron of Lochiel on the subject, but could obtain no answer, and Macdonell of Glengary, to whom he also made a communication, heartily despising the bribe, advised the general, in return, to imitate the conduct of General Monk, by restoring James.[558]

Dundee crossed the Dee, and entered the Duke of Gordon’s country, the inhabitants of which were friendly to the cause of James, and where he was joined by about 50 horse under the Earl of Dunfermline, who, as has been stated, was sent north by the Duke of Gordon to raise his vassals in support of his royal master. Whilst Dundee was occupied in raising forces in this district, Mackay was despatched from Edinburgh with a considerable body of troops in pursuit. Mackay appointed the town of Dundee as the rendezvous for his troops, being the best station he could select for keeping the adjoining country, which was disaffected to the new government, in awe, and whence he could send parties to the north to watch the motions of Dundee. On arriving at Dundee, Mackay, leaving a part of his troops there under the command of Lieutenant-colonel Livingston, proceeded north with a body of about 500 men, consisting chiefly of dragoons, in quest of the viscount. At Brechin he received intelligence that Dundee, ignorant of course of Mackay’s movements, was on his return to his seat of Glenogilvie in the braes of Angus, that he had already passed the Cairn-a-mount, and that he was expected to pass the night at Fettercairn, only a few miles north from Brechin. The viscount, however, having been apprized of Mackay’s movements, recrossed the Dee.

As soon as Mackay was informed of this retrograde movement, he resolved to pursue Dundee, and, if possible, to overtake him before he should have time to collect any considerable body of forces. With a small but select body of horse and foot, therefore, he crossed the Dee at Kincardine, in the expectation of being joined in the course of his march by some country gentlemen who had given him assurances of support before leaving Edinburgh. In this expectation, however, he was sadly disappointed, for, with the exception of the Master of Forbes, who met him after he had crossed the Dee, with a party of 40 gentlemen of his name on horseback and a body of between 500 and 600 men on foot, chiefly raw peasantry, not one of them showed any inclination to join him. The fact was, that, with few exceptions, the people residing to the north of the Tay, were either indifferent to the course of events, or were opposed upon principle to any change in the hereditary succession to the crown, which many of them considered an infraction of the Divine law, and which they believed no misconduct on the part of the king could justify. No man knew these things better than Dundee, who calculated that by means of this feeling he would soon be able to arouse the war-like north against the more peaceful south. But valuable as such a body of auxiliaries as that brought by the Master of Forbes may be supposed to have been under these circumstances, Mackay, who had been accustomed to the finest troops in Europe, considered that they would be of no service to him, as, according to his own account, they were “ill armed,” and appeared “little like the work” for which they were intended. He therefore declined the services of the Forbeses in the meantime, and after thanking the master for having brought them together, he ordered him to dismiss them to their homes, with instructions that they should re-assemble whenever a necessity occurred for defending their own country against the inroads of Dundee.

Having received intelligence of Dundee’s route through Strathdon towards Strathbogie, Mackay continued his march in that direction through Aberdeenshire and Moray. On arriving at Strathbogie, he was informed that Dundee had crossed the Spey with about 150 horse without opposition, although Mackay had given particular instruction to the laird of Grant, while in Edinburgh, to occupy all the fords of that river. Mackay also learned, on the following day, by a letter sent to him by the magistrates of Elgin, which had been addressed to them by Dundee, that the viscount was at Inverness, that he had been there joined by Macdonald of Keppoch at the head of 1,000 Highlanders, and that he intended to make Elgin his head-quarters preparatory to an attack upon Mackay. The accession of the Macdonalds was of immense importance to Dundee, and was as seasonable as unexpected. A deadly feud had for some time existed between Macdonald and Mackintosh, arising out of certain claims by the former upon the lands of the latter; and to such a pitch of armed violence did Keppoch carry his pretensions, that James II. felt himself called upon to interfere, by issuing a commission of fire and sword against him as a rebel. Keppoch, taking advantage of the unsettled state of the government, renewed his claims against Mackintosh; and having defeated the Mackintoshes in battle, he had advanced to Inverness, the inhabitants of which had supported the Mackintoshes against him, and was threatening to wreak his vengeance upon them if they did not purchase forbearance by paying him a large pecuniary fine. It was at this critical moment that Dundee arrived, who, anxious at once to secure the aid of Keppoch and the friendship of the citizens of Inverness, who had only a few days before proclaimed the Prince of Orange, interposed between them and their exasperated foe, and satisfied the latter’s supposed claims by collecting the amount of his demands by subscription among the inhabitants.[559]

The news of the junction of the Keppoch Highlanders with Dundee, and of their intention to march to the south, was exceedingly disconcerting to Mackay, who had advanced into a hostile country with a handful of troops quite incapable of resisting the powerful force now opposed to them. The obvious and apparently most prudential course which presented itself, was, on the approach of the enemy, to make a sure and as slow a retreat as possible, and to bring up the forces which he had left behind him; but Mackay, rightly judging that a retreat, besides giving Dundee the command of a large tract of country favourable to his views, might create an impression that his adversary was much stronger than he really was, resolved not only to stand firm, but even to cross the Spey, and take possession of Elgin before Dundee should arrive there. Accordingly, after despatching a courier to bring up his reserves from Brechin without delay, he crossed the Spey and advanced upon Elgin, with his dragoons at a hard trot, followed by 200 veteran foot, who were so desirous of coming to action that they kept up with the horse the whole way from the river to the town. From Elgin, Mackay despatched messengers to some of the principal Whig proprietors in Moray, Ross, and Sutherland, desiring them to prepare themselves for joining him as soon as they should receive his orders.

Mackay lay a few days at Elgin in expectation of Dundee’s advance; but as the latter did not appear, Mackay, who had just received a reinforcement of horse from Brechin, left Elgin and took the road to Inverness. When he reached Forres, he ascertained that Dundee had left Inverness, and had crossed the heights of Badenoch on his way to Athole. It is said that Dundee intended to have advanced upon Elgin, and to have engaged Mackay, but he was counteracted in his design by the refusal of a party of Camerons, who were under Keppoch, to march without the consent of their chief, their real motive apparently being that they were desirous of securing what booty they had taken. Mackay continued his march to Inverness, where he was joined by 500 of the Mackays, Grants, and Rosses. From Inverness, he despatched couriers to the adherents of the new government in the north to join him; and at the same time sent an express to Colonel Balfour at Edinburgh, to despatch Colonel Ramsay north with a select body of 600 men to be drawn from the Dutch regiments. To effect as speedy a junction with him as possible, Mackay directed that Ramsay should march through Athole and Badenoch. These transactions, Burton[560] thinks happened probably about the beginning of May.

Dundee, on the other hand, was no less busy in his preparations for the ensuing campaign. He never ceased to carry on an active correspondence with many of the Highland chieftains whose confidence he possessed; and on his march through Badenoch he received the most gratifying assurances of support from the gentlemen of that country, with the exception of Mackintosh, who had taken offence at Dundee. Having fixed upon Lochaber as the most central and convenient district for mustering his forces, Dundee appointed the friends of King James to assemble there on the 18th of May, and in the meantime he descended into Athole, with a body of 150 horse, where he met with a cordial reception from Stewart of Ballechan, factor or steward to the Marquis of Athole, and from the other vassals of the marquis. Whether Stewart and the other gentlemen of the district, in taking this decided part, acted from a private understanding with their chief, who still remained at Edinburgh, where he had given in an equivocal adherence to the government, or whether they were yet ignorant of the course he meant to follow, are questions which, for want of information, do not admit of solution. The omission on the part of the marquis to send instructions to Stewart to raise a body of 400 Athole Highlanders, to oppose the passage of Dundee through his bounds to the south, should he attempt it, to which effect he had pledged himself to Mackay, before the latter left Edinburgh for the north, raises a suspicion that the gentlemen of Athole acted agreeably to the understood wishes of their chief.[561]

Being informed that the lairds of Blair and Pollock were lying in Perth with a troop of horse, which they had raised for the service of the government, Dundee determined to surprise them, and accordingly left Athole, and proceeded with celerity during the night towards Perth, which he entered unawares early next morning, and seized both these gentlemen and two other officers in their beds, carrying them off prisoners. He also took away 30 horses, and a sum of 9,000 merks of the public revenue which he found in the office of the collector. Leaving Perth, Dundee ranged through Angus, augmenting his cavalry, and after an ineffectual attempt to surprise Lord Rollo, who was raising a troop of horse, he appeared before the town of Dundee, then guarded by two troops of Livingston’s dragoons. Their commander, unwilling to encounter Dundee, shut himself up in the town, and the viscount, after spending two nights at Dudhope, his country seat, returned to the Highlands, to meet his friends at the appointed place of rendezvous.

During all this time, Mackay remained at Inverness, waiting for the arrival of Ramsay’s detachment from the south, which he had long and anxiously looked for. In conformity with Mackay’s orders, Colonel Balfour immediately put the troops under Colonel Ramsay in readiness to march, but just as they were about to pass across the Frith of Forth, from Leith to Burntisland, an alarm was created by the appearance of a large number of vessels at the mouth of the Frith, which were at once supposed to be a French fleet with troops on board for the purpose of making a descent upon the coast in support of Dundee. As the seizure of the capital, it was naturally supposed, would be the first object of the invaders, the embarkation of Ramsay’s detachment, which in such an event would be necessary for its defence, was countermanded; but in two or three days the fears of the government were dispelled, by having ascertained that the fleet in question consisted of a number of Dutch herring vessels which were proceeding on their annual voyage to the fishing stations on the northern coast. This delay occasioned great embarrassment to the operations of Mackay, and almost proved fatal to him, as Dundee was thereby enabled to throw himself with a large force between Mackay’s and Ramsay’s corps, and to threaten both with annihilation.

In terms of his instructions, Ramsay, after reaching Perth, proceeded through Athole, on his way to Inverness. Though the Athole-men, many of whom he found armed, offered no opposition to his march, yet as every thing around him assumed a warlike appearance, and as reports were continually brought to him that Dundee had placed himself between him and Mackay, with a very large force, he grew alarmed, and so strong had his fears become when within a dozen of miles of Ruthven in Badenoch, that he resolved to return to Perth. He had previously despatched a letter to Mackay, informing him of his advance, and appointing a meeting at Ruthven on a given day, but he neglected to send another express acquainting Mackay of his design to return to Perth. The retreat of Ramsay was disorderly, and some of his men deserted. The Athole-men, who kept hovering about him, were desirous of attacking him, but they were prevented, though with difficulty, by the gentlemen of the district. Mackay having received Ramsay’s despatch, was so anxious to form a speedy junction with the latter’s detachment, that he left Inverness the following (Sunday) morning, taking with him only two days’ provisions. When about half-way between Inverness and Ruthven, he received an express from the governor of the castle, informing him of Ramsay’s retreat, and that Dundee acting on information contained in an intercepted despatch of Mackay’s, had entered Badenoch on Sunday morning, (the morning of Mackay’s march from Inverness,) with an immense force, and was within a few miles of the castle.

The first person who had met Dundee in Lochaber on the appointed day was Glengary, who had with him a body of between 200 and 300 men. He was followed by Macdonald of Morer, at the head of nearly 200 of Clan Ranald’s men, and by Appin and Glencoe, with about the same number. Dundee had been subsequently joined by Lochiel (now 60 years of age), who had 600 men under him, and by Keppoch, at the head of 200; but Sir Alexander Maclean, who had promised also to attend, failed to appear.

The intelligence communicated by the commander of Ruthven castle was exceedingly perplexing to Mackay, who must have felt keenly the disappointment of Ramsay’s flight. He saw himself with a handful of men surrounded by a warlike and hostile population, and within a short march of a powerful force, which he could not singly resist--with few friends on whom he could place much reliance. He had, in the unfortunate situation in which he was placed, only a choice of evils before him. To have proceeded on his march with the view of cutting his way through the enemy, would have been, even if practicable, an imprudent and very dangerous step, and to have taken up a position in a district where he would have been exposed to be surrounded and cut off from his resources, would have been equally rash. He had, therefore, no alternative which he could prudently adopt, but either to fall back upon Inverness, or retire down the vale of the Spey. He preferred the latter course; for, although such a movement would leave Inverness quite exposed to Dundee’s army, that disadvantage would be more than counterbalanced by the protection which would be thereby afforded to the laird of Grant’s lands, near the borders of which Dundee was now hovering, and by the obstruction which the interposition of Mackay’s troops would present to any attempt on the part of Dundee to recruit his army in the Duke of Gordon’s country. Besides, by making Strathspey the scene of his operations, Mackay expected to be able to keep up a communication with the south through Angus and Aberdeenshire, and the adjoining parts of Moray, which he could not maintain if he returned to Inverness.

Accordingly, after despatching an express to Inverness, apprising the garrison of his intentions, and promising assistance, should Dundee venture to attack the town, Mackay began a rapid march towards Strathspey, which he continued during the night, and did not halt till he had descended a considerable way down that vale. Dundee, who had closely pursued him, afraid of exposing his men to the attacks of Mackay’s cavalry, did not follow him after he had gained the flatter part of the Strath, but kept aloof at the distance of some miles in a more elevated position where he encamped. Notwithstanding his inferiority in point of numbers, the revolutionary general determined to endeavour to allure Dundee from his stronghold by offering him battle, and having refreshed his men, wearied by a long march of twenty-four hours, he advanced next morning to within a mile of Dundee’s camp, and, after reconnoitring the position of the enemy, made preparations for receiving them; but Dundee, secure from danger, by the nature of the ground he occupied, showed no disposition to engage. It is probable that, in acting thus passively, he was influenced by the conduct of the Highlanders, who were averse to engage with cavalry, and some of whom (the Camerons, according to Mackay,) fled to the neighbouring hills on Mackay’s approach. Seeing no hope of drawing the viscount out of his trenches, Mackay returned in the evening to his camp, which he removed the following day to Colmnakill, about six miles lower down the Spey, where he considered himself more secure from any sudden surprise or attack, and where he was speedily joined by two troops of Livingston’s dragoons from Dundee. The ground occupied by Mackay was a spacious plain, bounded on the south by the Spey, which effectually protected his rear, whilst his front was covered by a wood and some marshes which skirted the plain on the north. The right of Mackay’s position was protected by a small river with a rough and stony bottom. The general himself took up his quarters at Belcastle, a summer-house in the neighbourhood belonging to the laird of Grant, whence he despatched ten or twelve of Grant’s tenants, selected by Grant himself as the most intelligent and trustworthy, to watch and bring him notice of Dundee’s motions. These scouts kept up a constant communication with Mackay, who received a report from one or other of them almost every alternate hour. In the meantime, he kept his whole army under arms, and to prevent surprise, small parties of horse and dragoons patrolled the neighbouring woods, and some foot were stationed along the banks of the little river on the right. But these precautions would probably have been unavailing, if the government general had not timeously been made acquainted with the fact, that there were enemies in his camp who were watching an opportunity to betray him.

For some time, a report had been current that Livingston’s regiment of dragoons was disaffected to the government; but as Mackay could not trace the rumour to any authentic source, he disbelieved it, and to mark his confidence in its fidelity, he had ordered the two troops which were stationed at Dundee to join him in the north. But two days after two deserters from Dundee’s camp informed Mackay that, with few exceptions, all the dragoon officers had entered into a conspiracy to betray him. They said that they had heard Dundee frequently assure the chiefs of the clans that he could depend upon the dragoons, and heard him inform the chiefs, that till he saw a favourable opportunity for requiring the services of the dragoons, he would allow them to remain in the enemy’s camp, where they might be useful to him. The deserters likewise informed Mackay that they had not left Dundee’s camp altogether of their own accord, but partly at the instigation of the lairds of Blair and Pollock, who had been carried about by Dundee as prisoners ever since their capture at Perth, and who were anxious to prevent Mackay from engaging, under these circumstances, with such a small party of troops as he then had.

This information, though calculated to shake the general’s confidence in the fidelity of these dragoons, was too vague and unsatisfactory to be relied upon. Mackay appears at first to have had some doubts of the truth of the statement; but his unwillingness to believe the accusation gave place to an opposite impression when, after ordering the deserters to be confined in Belcastle, and threatening them with exemplary punishment should it turn out that they were spies sent by Dundee, they expressed themselves quite satisfied to abide the result of any investigation he might institute.

Mackay, though now satisfied that there were traitors in his camp, took no steps to secure them, but continued to remain in his position waiting for the arrival of Barclay’s dragoons and Leslie’s foot from Forfar and Couper Angus. Mackay might have retreated down the river, but he was advised to remain at Colmnakill by Sir Thomas Livingston and the laird of Grant; because by retaining his ground, his expected succours would be every day drawing nearer to him, and every day thus spent would be lost to Dundee, who was prevented, by his presence, from communicating with those places in the low country from which he expected reinforcements, particularly in horse, of which he stood in most need. Besides, by retiring, Mackay considered that he might probably be forced to recross the Grampians before the two regiments could join him, in which case he would leave the whole of the north exposed to Dundee, who would probably avail himself of the opportunity to raise a force too formidable to be encountered.

In the meantime, Dundee sent a detachment of his army to lay siege to the old castle of Ruthven, in which Mackay, on his arrival at Inverness, had placed a garrison of about 60 of Grant’s Highlanders, under the command of John Forbes, brother to Culloden. The garrison being in want of provisions, capitulated on the condition that their lives should be spared, and that they should be allowed to return to their homes on their parole. While conducted through Dundee’s camp, Forbes observed all the horses saddled, and his army preparing as if for an immediate march. In proceeding towards Colmnakill, he met, at the distance of about a mile from Dundee’s lines, two men on horseback, one in a red, the other in a blue uniform. The latter immediately challenged him with the usual parole, “Qui vive?” on which Forbes returning the “Vive le Roi Guilleaume,” as indicative of his loyalty to the existing government, the man in red informed him that they had been despatched from Mackay’s camp to obtain intelligence of the enemy. Captain Forbes then cautioned the men of the risk they would run if they proceeded farther, but regardless of his advice, they rode forward in the direction of Dundee’s camp. Forbes having mentioned this occurrence to Mackay the same day, the latter immediately suspected that the officers of dragoons were in communication with Dundee, as he had given no such order as the man clothed in red had pretended. He, thereupon, desired inquiry to be made if any dragoons had been sent out, and by whom; and as blue was the uniform of Livingston’s men, he desired them to be instantly mustered to ascertain if any were absent; but the general had scarcely issued these instructions, when some of his scouts brought him intelligence that Dundee’s army was moving down the Strath towards Colmnakill. This movement, combined with the information which had been communicated to him by Forbes, left no doubt of the treachery of the dragoons.

Under these circumstances, Mackay had no alternative but an immediate retreat. Calling, therefore, his commanding officers together, he ordered them to put their men under arms, and to form them upon the plain in marching order. He next addressed himself to the laird of Grant, and after expressing his regret at the step he was about to take, by which Grant’s lands would be left for a short time exposed to the ravages of Dundee’s army, he requested him to order his tenants to drive their cattle down the country out of the reach of the enemy, who would probably overlook them in their anxiety to follow him in his retreat. Grant listened to this advice with becoming attention, but to show how little he regarded his own personal interest, as opposed to what he conceived his duty to his country, he observed, that though he might lose every thing by Dundee’s invasion of his country, he would not take one step prejudicial to the government.

In fixing the order of his retreat, Mackay adopted the plan he had been accustomed to follow, that he might not excite the jealousy of the dragoons, or make them suspect that he was distrustful of them. Accordingly, as was his usual practice, he divided the dragoons into two bodies, one of which, consisting of Major and Captain Balfour’s companies, he placed in the rear, and the other four companies commanded by the disaffected officers he placed in the front, that he might overawe them by his own presence. Immediately before the two troops of dragoons which formed the rear-guard, Mackay placed 200 foot, chiefly grenadiers of the three Scoto-Dutch regiments, and next to them the English horse, then scarcely 70 men strong, and between those horse and the four companies of dragoons which were led by Sir Thomas Livingston, he posted 200 of Lord Reay’s and Balnagowan’s Highlanders, having previously dismissed Grant’s men, whom he had informed their chief he would leave behind to protect their own country from Dundee’s stragglers.

There were three ways by which Mackay could retreat,--either towards Inverness, or through Strathdown and Glenlivet, a movement which would bring him near his expected reinforcements, or down Strathspey. Of these routes Mackay would have preferred the southern; but as the population of Strathdown and Glenlivet was Catholic, and of course hostile to him, and as the ground in those districts was unfavourable to the operations of cavalry in case of attack, he resolved to march down Strathspey. But as he was desirous to conceal his route from Dundee, he did not begin his march till nightfall, at which time Dundee was within three miles of his camp. In his course down Speyside he passed by the house of Grant of Ballindalloch, who was serving under Dundee, and arrived early the following morning at Balveny, where he halted to refresh his men and procure a supply of provisions. There he met Sir George Gordon of Edinglassie, from whom he obtained some men to act as intelligencers. Some of these he despatched back in the direction he had come, to ascertain if Dundee still remained in the Strath; but apprehensive that Dundee would take a southerly course, by crossing the Strath, with the view of throwing himself between Mackay and his reinforcements, he sent off others in that direction. These scouts soon returned with intelligence that Dundee was still in Strathspey. This information was satisfactory to Mackay, and relieved him from a state of the most painful anxiety; but he was still greatly perplexed by the want of provisions, which, though hourly expected, had not yet arrived.

Desirous, however, to wait for supplies as long as consistent with safety, he again despatched some of Gordon’s men in the direction he supposed Dundee would take, and at the same time sent a sergeant with a party of 12 dragoons back by the course he had marched, to bring him notice of Dundee’s motions. Mackay waited with the greatest impatience till about five o’clock in the evening for the return of the dragoons, without any signs of their appearance, a circumstance which alarmed him so much, that although a quantity of provisions and oats had just reached his camp, he would not allow time for baking bread or feeding the horses, but gave orders for an immediate march. Accordingly, the whole party moved off in the same order as before, and passed a small river about a mile above the place where they had been encamped; but they had scarcely advanced half a mile when Sir Thomas Livingston, who happened to be a little behind, observed the enemy on the other side of the river they had just passed, marching towards the ford by which Mackay’s men had crossed. On being informed of this, Mackay, after ordering Lieutenant-colonel Livingston, who was at the head of the vanguard, to continue at a pretty quick pace; galloped to the rear, and having despatched Sir Thomas Livingston to the front to lead the party, with instructions to keep up a constant pace, but without wearying the troops, he posted himself upon a rising ground with about 50 or 60 horse and dragoons in view of Dundee’s army, where he was joined by the Master of Forbes with about 50 horse.

When Dundee observed the party of dragoons drawn up on the hillock he immediately halted, drew in his stragglers, and marshalled his men into battalions, keeping up the usual distinction of the clans. In the meantime Mackay sent off his nephew, Major Mackay, to a hill which lay about a quarter of a mile to his left, from which he could obtain a nearer and more correct view of Dundee’s force and his motions. The viscount’s horse immediately passed the river, and drew up along the bank to protect the passage of the foot, who in their turn also formed till the baggage was brought over. It was now after sunset, but the viscount continued to advance. Mackay, who was nearly two miles behind his rear; thereupon began to ride off with his party, but he had not proceeded far when a cry of “halt!” met his ears. On turning round he observed galloping after him, Major Mackay, who, having observed a party of horse which he supposed to belong to Dundee, moving along the face of a hill to the General’s left, and which from the twilight appeared more numerous than it really was, had hastened to acquaint the General of the circumstance. It turned out, however, that this party which had occasioned such alarm was no other than the sergeant with the 12 dragoons of Livingston’s regiment which had been sent out by Mackay in the morning to reconnoitre. It was afterwards ascertained that this sergeant was concerned in the plot, and that he was the same individual in blue, whom Captain Forbes had met with within a mile of Dundee’s camp. This man pretended, however, that he had run great danger of capture; and that he had taken such a round-about way merely to avoid the enemy, though he and his party had been with Dundee the whole day, and had conducted him over the ground which Mackay had passed on the preceding day. The government forces continued their march all night till they crossed the river of Bogie, where, from pure exhaustion, they halted at four o’clock in the morning. The General then ordered the provisions which had reached the camp previous to his retreat, to be distributed among his troops, and desired the horsemen to lead their horses into an adjoining corn-field and feed them. When the men were refreshing themselves Mackay received the agreeable intelligence that Barclay and Leslie’s regiments would join him that day, but “to play sure game,” as he himself says, after allowing his men two hours’ rest, he marched three miles further down towards his succours, and took up a position at the foot of Suy-hill upon the common road from the south to the north, by which he expected the two regiments would march.

Having sent a pressing order to Barclay and Leslie to hasten their march, Mackay had the satisfaction of being joined by the former at twelve o’clock noon, and by the latter at six o’clock in the evening, after a long and fatiguing march. Resolved that no time should be lost in turning the chase upon Dundee before he should be aware of these reinforcements, Mackay put his army in marching order, and advanced towards him after ten o’clock at night. But his designs were made known to Dundee by two dragoons who had been despatched by their officers. These men, on the departure of Dundee, were discovered in a wood, and the general being satisfied that the sergeant before mentioned had had a conference with Dundee, and the two dragoons having confessed nearly as much themselves, he immediately put Lieutenant-colonel Livingston and the other suspected officers under arrest. He thereupon continued his march, and arrived at Balveny that night; and on the following day reached Colmnakill, which he had left only five days before. Here having received notice that a party of Dundee’s men was on the other side of the adjoining river, he sent orders to Sir Thomas Livingston to cross with 200 dragoons and drive them away; but Sir Thomas having been previously informed that the laird of Grant was sorely pressed by the retiring forces of Dundee, had anticipated the general’s orders, and had advanced two miles beyond the river with a greater force, in pursuit of a body of Highlanders. These were, according to Balcarras, Sir John Maclean’s men, who were on their way to join Dundee, and who, alarmed at the appearance of such a large number of dragoons, threw away their plaids and betook themselves to an adjoining hill, where they formed. They are stated by the last-mentioned author to have amounted only to 200 men, but Mackay, in his memoirs,[562] states the number at 500. Mackay observes, that but for the indiscretion of Livingston’s adjutant, who by riding a quarter of a mile in advance, gave the Highlanders timeous notice of the approach of the dragoons, not one of them would have escaped, but being thereby enabled to gain the top of the hill before the dragoons came up with them, they sustained a loss of only 80 or 100 men. In this skirmish, a captain of Barclay’s regiment and six dragoons were killed, and some wounded.

Having been joined by Ramsay’s detachment, which during the occupancy of Strathspey by the hostile armies, had, unknown to Mackay, penetrated through Athole and Badenoch and reached Inverness, Mackay continued to pursue Dundee into Badenoch; but as the latter retired into Lochaber, Mackay gave over the pursuit on learning that Dundee had dismissed the greater part of his forces. Mackay, thereupon, marched to Inverness with Livingston’s dragoons, Leslie’s foot, and a party of Leven’s and Hastings’ regiments, and 200 Highlanders, and sent Barclay’s regiment to Strathbogie, and the three Dutch regiments to Elgin. From Inverness, Mackay despatched an express to the Duke of Hamilton, urging upon him the necessity of placing “a formidable garrison” at Inverlochy, and small ones in other places in the north, without which he considered that it would be utterly impossible to subdue the Highlanders, who, on the approach of an army, for which a fortnight’s subsistence could not be found in their mountainous regions, could easily retire to difficult passes and other places inaccessible to regular troops. He, therefore, requested that his grace and the parliament would consider the matter before the season was farther spent, and provide the necessary means for carrying such a design into effect against his arrival in the south, whither he intended to proceed in a few days.

On his way to the south, Mackay despatched 50 horse, as many of Barclay’s dragoons, and 60 foot, to take possession of the house of Braemar, into which he intended to place a garrison to keep the Braemar men in check, and to cover the county of Aberdeen; and he ordered the captain of dragoons, after putting 20 of his men into the house, to march forward, without halting, before break of day, to the house of Inverey, about three miles farther off, for the purpose of seizing Inverey and some other gentlemen who had lately been with Dundee. But, fortunately for Inverey and his guests, the officer trifled off his time in Braemar house, refreshing his horses, till the dawn of the morning, and the approach of him and his party being perceived, Inverey and his friends escaped in their shirts to a neighbouring wood. Disappointed of their prey, the party retired to the house of Braemar, where, after setting their horses loose to graze, they laid themselves down to repose; but they were soon wakened from their slumbers by some firing from a party on a rock above, which had so alarmed the horses that they were found galloping to and fro in the adjoining fields. As soon as the dragoons had caught their horses, which they had some difficulty in doing, they galloped down the country. The party on the rock was headed by Inverey, who had collected a number of his tenantry for the purpose of expelling the dragoons from his bounds, and who, on their retreat, set fire to Braemar house, which was consumed.

The party of foot, which, having charge of a convoy of provisions and ammunition for the intended garrison, had not yet arrived, on hearing of the retreat of the dragoons, shut themselves up in a gentleman’s house, to secure themselves from attack, and the commanding officer sent an express after Mackay, who was then on his way to the south, acquainting him with the failure of the enterprise. On receiving this intelligence, Mackay, although he had not a day’s bread on hand, and was in great haste to reach Edinburgh, “to put life in the design of Inverlochy,” turned off his course and crossed the hills towards Braemar, with his foot, after giving directions to Barclay’s dragoons to march up Deeside. Finding Braemar house destroyed, and the vaults of it incapable of holding a garrison, Mackay, after burning Inverey’s house and laying waste all his lands, descended the river to Abergeldie, where he left a detachment of 72 men as a check upon the Farquharsons. And having placed the other troops which he had brought from the north in quarters farther down the Dee, he posted off to Edinburgh, where he arrived in the beginning of July, about a fortnight after the surrender of the castle of Edinburgh, which capitulated on the 14th of June, after a siege of three months.

On his arrival at Edinburgh, Mackay was exceedingly mortified to find that no steps whatever had been taken by the government for putting his design into execution, of erecting a fort at Inverlochy. As the season was now too far advanced to collect materials for such an erection, he proposed that a body of 1,500 pioneers should be levied in the northern counties, each of whom should be obliged to carry a spade, shovel, or pickaxe, along with him, and that a month’s provisions of meal, with horses to carry it, should be furnished, along with a force of 400 men. But this plan, the general himself confesses, “considering the inability, ignorance, and little forwardness of the government to furnish the necessary ingredients for the advance of their service, was built upon a sandy foundation, and much like the building of castles in the air.”[563] As an instance of the slowness and irresolution of government, Mackay mentions, that after his return from the north, they took three weeks to deliberate upon the mode of conveying a fortnight’s provisions for 400 men; by which delay he says he lost the opportunity of preventing Dundee from occupying Athole, Badenoch, and other parts of the southern Highlands.

The return of Mackay to the capital, after a fruitless and exceedingly harassing series of marches and countermarches, seems to have abated the ardour of some of the supporters of the government, who, disappointed in their expectations, and displeased at the preference shown by the court to others they considered less deserving than themselves, had become either indifferent about the result of the struggle, or secretly wished for a restoration. That such an event might occur was indeed far from improbable. James was already in possession, with the exception of two cities, of all Ireland, and William was by no means popular in England. To give, therefore, a decided and favourable turn to James’s affairs in Scotland, nothing was wanting but to aid Dundee immediately with a few thousand men from Ireland; but although the necessity of such a step was urged by Dundee in his communications with the exiled monarch, the latter did not, unfortunately for himself, consider the matter in the same light. The expectation of such a reinforcement, which they confidently looked for, had, however, its due effect upon the minds of the Highlanders, who gladly endured during the recent campaign all those painful privations which necessarily attend an army scantily provided with the means of subsistence. No man was better fitted by nature than Dundee for command under such difficulties, and at the head of such troops. Whilst by his openness, frankness, and disinterestedness he acquired an ascendency over the minds of the chiefs, he was equally successful by attending personally to their wants, by mixing frequently among them, and by sharing their privations and fatigues, in securing the obedience of the clans. But valuable and important as the services were of such a bold and devoted band, it was evident that without a sudden and powerful diversion from Ireland, or a considerable rising in the lowlands, it would be impossible for Dundee, from the paucity of his forces, and the want of cavalry, to carry the war into the south with any possible chance of success.

As the Irish reinforcements were daily expected, Dundee enjoined the chiefs of the clans, who, with their men, had taken a temporary leave of absence on the departure of Mackay, to rejoin him as soon as possible, and from his head-quarters at Moy, in Lochaber, he sent expresses to the other chiefs who had not yet joined him to hasten to the approaching muster.[564]