381 period has been already described in a previous chapter; but the reign of James saw some changes in that of the horse. Though the king wore a terrible precipice that the traveller who dared to venture thither had need of a firm foot and a steady eye; and with all the beauty of its scenery, no Saxon, says Macaulay, deemed a visit to Killy-helmet, it was almost laid aside in the field, and the 66 crankie "a pleasure till experience taught the English Government that the weapons by which the Celtic clans would be most effectually subdued were the pickaxe and the spade." On one side of this perilous path was the bare acclivitous ascent of the hills, with masses of grey rock towards their summits, and here and there tufts of dark verdure or silver birch. On the other lay, and still lies, the Garry, hoarse and tumultuous, foaming and storming on its way to seek the Tummel, in many places its current invisible by the profusion of birches, which tenaciously cling to the clefts of the rocks, and so shroud it that the presence of the stream is only made known by the roar of its descent; and when it does come in view it appears rolling headlong over a precipice, and lashing the waters of a dark pool into snow-white foam. Here, then, amid the most wild and magnificent scenery in Scotland, the last of her great Cavaliers awaited with his slender force the approach of General Mackay. Ten days after Dundee had halted there, in the Pass of Rin Ruari, as the clans name it, the drums of the enemy were heard wakening the echoes of the Athole woods. With Mackay came three Scottish regiments, all veterans, who had served in Holland, and were called after their respective colonels, Mackay himself, Balfour, and Ramsay. With these he had Buchan's regiment, the Royal Scots Fusileers (21st Foot), and also two new corps recently raised in the Lowlands. One of these was commanded by Alexander Gordon, Viscount Kenmure. The other was the regiment of Lord Leven. The latter, as we have stated, with that of the Earl of Angus, had both been raised in one day, out of a force of 6,000 Cameronians, who came to assist at the siege of Edinburgh Castle. Leven's corps, which still carries the arms of Edinburgh on its colours, was, during the last century, in consequence of a petty quarrel with the Lord Provost of that city, designated "The King's Own Borderers." full flowing wig fell somewhat incongruously over the red coat and steel cuirass. The carabineers, formed at this time, wore back and breast-plates, with steel skull-caps sewn into their beaver hats, with long black leather boots reaching to the thigh. The large square cuffs of all officers were usually turned well-up, to display the delicate sleeves of white lawn and deep point lace below, for there was a curious mixture of the civil and the military in the costume of our troops at the epoch of the Restoration; and as a sample of the mode of drill in those days, when our fashions were borrowed from the ponderous Dutch, we may extract from a book of 1689, entitled, "Perfection of Discipline; or, the Industrious Souldier's Golden Treasury of Knowledge," the following twenty-six words of command for firing one volley : " "Musketeers, have a care of the exercise, and see that you carry your arms well!" "Lay your right hands on your muskets." "Rest your muskets." "Cock your muskets." "Guard your muskets." "Present." " Fire." "Recover your arms.' "Half bend your muskets." "Clean your pans." 'Handle your primers." "Prime." "Shut your your pans." "Blow off your loose corns " (i.e., powder). "Order In the field these words must have been greatly reduced and simplified. A Treasury Minute of November in this year fixes the price of an English soldier's kit at £2 15s. 6d., so his Scottish comrade's must have been much about the same. On the morning of Sunday, the 27th of July, 1689, the troops of Mackay began to approach the tremendous ravine of Killycrankie. He had quitted Perth on the preceding day, and halted at DunMackay had with him two corps of Scottish horse keld, so celebrated for the romantic grandeur of its -one led by Hamilton of Biel, Lord Belhaven ; the scenery. There, at midnight, he received an express other by William, Earl of Annandale-and he had from Lord Tullybardine, announcing that the fiery one solitary regiment of English infantry, Ferdinand and impatient Dundee had entered Athole, in conHastings' Foot, under Colonel Leslie, now the 13th sequence of which event he informed him that he of the Line, and in 1786 first styled the "York- had retreated from the Royalist castle of Blair, shire East Riding." which he-Tullybardine-had for some time blockThe equipment of the British infantry at this aded; and that though he had left the strait and difficult pass of Killycrankie open to Dundee, he had posted a guard of his clan at the lower extremity, to secure a free entrance to Mackay's troops through the pass, of which he feared those of Dundee were already in possession. Mackay seems to have doubted the latter event, and his suspicions were confirmed by the fact that Lieutenant-Colonel Lauder, whom he dispatched instantly with a party to secure the entrance to the pass from the vale of Blair, could not see a single Highlander on his arrival there. Discouraging as all this intelligence was, for one of his chief objects was to reach the little garrison in Blair Castle, Mackay resolved to persevere in his march; and having dispatched orders to Perth to hasten the arrival of six troops of horse which he had left there, he put his troops in motion, and by ten o'clock on Sunday morning he was at the mouth of the pass. On this morning General Stewart mentions a singular instance of the desertion of a Highland chief by his people. "Lord Tullybardine, eldest son of the Marquis of Athole, had collected a numerous body of Athole Highlanders, together with 300 Frasers, under the command of Hugh, Lord Lovat, who had married a daughter of the marquis. These men believed they were destined to support the abdicated king, but were in reality assembled to serve William. When in front of Blair Castle, their real destination was disclosed to them by Lord Tullybardine. Instantly they rushed from their ranks, and filling their bonnets with water from the adjoining stream of of Banavy, drank to the health of King James; and then, with colours flying and pipes playing, 1,500 of the men of Athole, as reputable for arms as any in the kingdom, put themselves under the command of the Laird of Ballechin (Stewart), and marched off to join Lord Dundee," to whom they no doubt proved a welcome accession. This successful revolt was managed by Simon Fraser, of Lovat, then a youth, and who, fifty-eight years after, was fated to lose his head on Tower Hill for the House of Stuart. Tullybardine with only 400 men, now moved down into the pass, where he was joined by Colonel Lauder with 200 of the Royal Scots Fusiliers, sent forward by Mackay to secure its entrance; and the rest of the Lowland army soon followed. The idea that no opposition would be offered to their passage through that terrific defile, which seemed to forbid approach, may have afforded some consolation to the troops of Mackay as they entered it; but when they found themselves fairly within its gorge, even as Lowland Scotsmen they must have been impressed by the savage nature of the mountain solitude around them. But they marched steadily on, and finally cleared it, with the loss of a single horseman, who, according to Athole tradition, was shot by an intrepid Highland marksman and scout, named Ian Beg Mac Ran, who, by a single shot fired across the Garry, brought his victím down near a spring still named from that circumstance, "Fuaran u Trupar," or "The Well of the Horseman." On learning that Mackay was actually threading the pass of Killycrankie, Dundee found prompt measures necessary, and summoned a Council of War in the castle of Blair. His Lowland officers were averse to fighting at that juncture, not so the fiery Celtic chiefs, Glengarry and Sir Evan Cameron, of Lochiel, whose Memoirs have appeared in a handsome quarto. 66 Fight, my lord," said he, "and fight instantly. Fight, if you have only one to three. Our men are in heart, and their only fear is lest the enemy should escape. Give them their way, and be assured that they will either gain a complete victory or perish. But if you restrain them, if you compel them to remain on the defensive, I answer for nothing. If we do not fight, we had better break up, and retire to our mountains." The speaker was a man of undoubted valour; and his portrait represents him as very handsome, with an aquiline nose, and wig curling to his breastplate. "You hear, gentlemen," said Dundee to the Lowlanders, as his countenance brightened and his dark eyes sparkled; "you hear the opinion of one who understands the mode of Highland war better than any of us." There was no further dissent, and in high spirits, with all their pipes playing, the loyal clans set forth to meet the enemy. It is doubtful if Dundee's forces could have held much longer together, as the Earl of Balcarris, in his Memoirs, published at Edinburgh in 1754, tells us that by this time "many of the best gentlemen, who had followed him for several weeks, had seen neither bread nor salt, nor any drink except water." King William's Scottish troops were meanwhile toiling up the pass by the old Fingalian road. The foot generally went by twos or threes, the horse by single files; and 1,200 animals laden with baggage made thus a long and straggling line. By the time the head of the column emerged on the table-land the rear-guard had not yet entered the pass; and when the whole were through, and began to close up into battalion and squadron, they found themselves in a small glen ; the hills rose on their right flank, on the left foamed the Garry; and they threw themselves on the heather to take some rest and refreshment between the bells of arms-the last rest on earth it proved to many. Noon was barely past when tidings came that the Highlanders were near. The drums beat to arms; the pikes and muskets were unpiled, and all stood to their colours; and soon after the whole slope in their front seemed alive with bonnets and plaids-with fluttering tartans and the glitter of steel-as clan after clan came fast into position. Dundee rode to the front to reconnoitre the force on the result of the encounter with which so much depended; and afterwards formed his men with as much skill as their peculiar wishes and tactics permitted him to exert. There could be no formation of regiment or brigade; each clan had to be kept apart, with a space between it and the rest. The men of one tribe could not be mixed with those of another. Three ranks deep was the usual formation. In the centre of the front rank was the chief, surrounded by his leine chrios (ie. mail shirt), the nearest in blood to himself. On the right were the clan Gillian, under Sir John Maclean; on the left was another body of Macleans, with the Macdonalds of Sleat. In the immediate centre were 300 men who had recently come in under Colonel Cannon, with the Camerons under Sir Evan, the Macdonalds of the clan Ranald, and the Macdonells of Glengarry, a tall and stately chief, who was very conspicuous, as he bore the royal standard of James VII. The covering force was a small party of horse, already mentioned, under Sir William Wallace. Their cattle looked lean and worn, having been ill-fed and ill-tended among the Grampians. Mackay's formation was thus:-On the right of his line was the regiment of the Earl of Leven, lately colonel of infantry under the Elector of Brandenburg. On the left were the Royal Scots Fusiliers. In the centre were the three battalions of the Scots Brigade, and Colonel Leslie's English regiment. In the immediate centre lay a piece of marshy ground, in rear of which he placed the horse of Belhaven and Annandale, to succour each flank as required. 383 rifles shining in the summer sun; on the other, the steady and precise array of the Lowland regiments, whose pikes and bright steel barrels gleamed steadily as the men stood with their arms ordered. The Fusiliers and the Edinburgh and Hastings regiments wore the scarlet uniform, which was yet to become so famous; but those of Balfour, Buchan, and Ramsay wore the uniform of the Scots in the Dutch service. The cavalry had coats of yellow buff, and caps of polished steel. It is related that as the practised eye of Mackay reconnoitred the position of his old brother-officer Dundee, he pointed out the Camerons to young Lochiel, a captain in the Scots Fusiliers, who rode near him, and said— 66 Behold your father and his wild savages! How would you like to be with him?” "It matters little," replied the young man, haughtily, and not a little disgusted to hear Mackay, himself a Highlander, speak thus; "but I recommend you to be well prepared, or my father and his 'wild savages' before night may be nearer you than you wish." In the Highlands war was not yet a science, hence personal prowess was the first requisite of a commander. Old Lochiel, aware how much the cohesion of their little army and its ultimate success depended on the life of Dundee, besought him not to peril it rashly. "Your lordship's business," said he, with reference to this, "is to overlook everything, and to issue your orders. Ours is to execute them bravely and promptly." "There is much in what you say, but I must establish my character for high courage. Your people expect to see their leader in the thickest of the battle, and to-day they shall see me there. I promise you on my honour that in future fights I shall take more care of myself." But, alas for Dundee ! he stood on the last of his battle-fields. While speaking, he exchanged his scarlet coat for one of buff, richly laced with silver, and over it he tied a scarf of green, which the Highlanders considered ominous of evil, and as he leaped on horseback a shout of impatience burst from their His artillery, which consisted of small field- ranks. pieces, proved of very little use. For two hours the hostile armies faced each other. On the one hand were the Highlanders, arrayed each in the glaring tartans of their native tribes, with their kilts belted tightly about them, their brass-studded targets, long claymores, ponderous Lochaber axes, and long-barrelled Spanish In this battle, and some others yet to be detailed, it will be well to keep in mind the Highlanders' mode of charging. There were five motions. Ist, To fix the bonnet firmly on his head; 2nd, To stoop behind his target, and to rush within fifty paces of the enemies' line; 3rd, Then fire and drop his musket; 4th, To dart forward, fire, and fling his steel pistols among them; 5th, Draw dirk and claymore, The Macleans cut the left wing literally to and close at once in battle. The manner of pieces. The regiment of Balfour was broken handling the pistol and dirk was a great part of through and through, and he himself was cloven the Highland Manual Exercise, which, Sir Walter down; that of Ramsay, though trained long in the Scott says, in the Notes to "Waverley," he had seen Dutch wars, faced about and threw away its arms; practised by men who had learned it in their youth. that of Mackay was swept away by the Camerons, As the lines drew nearer, Sir Evan went along and vainly did his brother and nephew seek to the front of his clan, and every Cameron gave rally the soldiers. The former was slain by one him a promise "to conquer or die" ("Memoirs of stroke of a broadsword, and the latter in a Lochiel"). moment received no less than eight wounds, yet he fought his way through the tumult and carnage by the side of his uncle. The answer to the fierce shout of the Highlanders was so feeble that Sir Evan said, exult ingly, "We will do it now; that is not the cry of men who are going to win." A fire of musketry had begun; the smoke lay thick between the two hosts, and many Highlanders were dropping killed and wounded. At half-past seven o'clock, when the sun was dipping behind the mountains, Dundee gave the word to charge; and throwing aside their plaids, the clans advanced firing in line, and when within fifty paces of the Lowlanders they tossed aside their muskets, drew their claymores, and with a united yell rushed amid the smoke upon the foe. The bayonets of the latter were barely plugged into the muzzles of their firelocks ere the latter were struck up by the targets; and a living flood of Camerons, Macdonalds, Macleans, and Stewarts, hewing with axe and sword, or stabbing with the dirk, overbore on all sides the triple ranks of Mackay. In two minutes the battle was lost and won! In vain did the latter order up the horse as supports. Belhaven is said to have behaved gallantly; but his men were appalled by the sudden and disastrous rout of their infantry, and wheeling about, galloped away, followed by those of the Marquis of Annandale. Then all indeed was over, and through that wild ravine, when the shadows of evening were deepening, and when every sound reverberated with a hundred echoes, went surging madly down a mingled mass of flying red-coats and infuriated Highlanders, who were cheering, shouting, and almost raving in their triumph. The Cavalier historians allege that Lord Leven was among the first who fled. Accompanied by one trusty servant, General Mackay spurred through the press till he gained an elevated point from where he could view the field; and found that his whole army had disappeared, with the exception of the English regiment, and some of that of Angus, |