DA 814 
 .A5M3 
 
^o-^*V V--". 4 *6* V*^* 
 
 
 
 4 o 
 
 °o 
 
 
 *°-v 
 
 ^ 
 

 
 ^P- * • » • ' .«* o_, '.,,•' ,0-' 
 
Though not another man in the Highlands should draw a sword, 
 I will die for you."— Page 15 
 
I The Story or 
 
 uny 
 
 O^LD 
 
 •WMrs. McCann 
 illustrated 
 
 NEW YORK 
 MeLOUGHLIN BROTHERS 
 

 Tush^Y of CONGRESS? 
 
 Ilwu 0'»ules Received 
 SEP 12 i90r 
 i ,„ Ceoynrtrt Bntry 
 
 Lcuss n XXc 
 l3f 7*1 
 
 NOi 
 
 COPY B. 
 
 Copyright, 1907, 
 By McLoughlin Brothers 
 New York 
 
Boyhood of Prince Charles Edward Stuart 
 
 II 
 
 The Landing of Prince Charlie 
 
 III 
 
 The March South 
 
 Edinburgh . 
 
 Prestonpans 
 
 The March to Derby 
 
 The Retreat 
 
 IV 
 
 V 
 
 VI 
 
 VII 
 
 VIII 
 
 12 
 
 20 
 
 40 
 
 63 
 
 In the Highlands 74 
 
 IX 
 
 Culloden 
 
 82 
 
' '/'I 
 
 BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
BOYHOOD OF PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD STUART 
 
 IN 1734 the city of Gaeta, in the kingdom of 
 Naples, was held by an Austrian force, and 
 was besieged by a mixed army of French, Wal- 
 loons, Spaniards, and Italians, commanded by 
 the Duke of Liria. Don Carlos, a Spanish 
 prince, was doing his best, by their aid, to con- 
 quer the kingdom of Naples for himself. There 
 is now no kingdom of Naples: there are no 
 Austrian forces in Italy, and there is certainly, 
 in all the armies of Europe, no such officer as 
 was fighting under the Duke of Liria. This 
 officer, in the uniform of a general of artillery, 
 was a slim, fair-haired, blue-eyed boy of thirteen. 
 He seemed to take a pleasure in the sound of 
 the balls that rained about the trenches. When 
 the Duke of Liria' s quarters had been destroyed 
 by five cannon shots, this very young officer was 
 seen to enter the house, and the duke entreated, 
 but scarcely commanded, him to leave. The 
 boy might be heard shouting to the men of his 
 very mixed force in all their various languages. 
 He was the darling of the camp, and the favor- 
 
6 BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 ite of the men, for his courage and pleasant 
 manners. 
 
 This pretty boy with a taste for danger, 
 Charles Edward Stuart, was called by his friends 
 ' the Prince of Wales. ' He was, indeed, the 
 eldest son of James VIII. of Scotland and Third 
 of England, known to his enemies as 'the 
 Pretender.' James, again, was the son of James 
 II., and was a mere baby when, in 1688, his 
 father fled from England before the Prince of 
 Orange. 
 
 The child (the son of James II.) grew up in 
 France : he charged the English armies in Flan- 
 ders, and fought not without distinction. He 
 invaded Scotland in 1715, where he. failed, and 
 now, for many years, he had lived in Rome, a 
 pensioner of the Pope. James was an unfor- 
 tunate prince, but is so far to be praised that he 
 would not change his creed to win a crown. He 
 was a devout Catholic — his enemies said 'a 
 bigoted Papist ' — he was the child of bad luck 
 from his cradle ; he had borne many- disappoint- 
 ments, and he was never the man to win back a 
 kingdom by the sword. He had married a 
 Polish princess, of the gallant House of Sobieski, 
 and at Gaeta his eldest son, though only a boy, 
 showed that he had the courage of the Sobieskis 
 and the charm of the Stuarts. The spies of the 
 English Government confessed that the boy was 
 more dangerous than the man, Prince Charles 
 than King James. 
 
 While Charles, at Gaeta, was learning the art 
 
BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 7 
 
 of war, and causing his cousin, the Duke of 
 Liria, to pass some of the uneasiest moments of 
 his life, at home in Rome his younger brother 
 Henry, Duke of York, aged nine, was so indig- 
 nant with his parents for not allowing him to go 
 to the war with his brother, that he flung away 
 his little sword in a temper. From their cradle 
 these boys had thought and heard of little else 
 but the past glories of their race; it was the 
 dream of their lives to be restored to their own 
 country. In all he did, the thought was always 
 uppermost with Charles. On the way from Gaeta 
 to Naples, leaning over the ship's side, the 
 young Prince lost his hat ; immediately a boat 
 was lowered in the hope of saving it, but Charles 
 stopped the sailors, saying with a peculiar smile, 
 ' I shall be obliged before long to go and fetch 
 myself a hat in England. ' 
 
 Every thought, every study, every sport that 
 occupied the next few years of Charles' life in 
 Rome, had the same end, namely, preparing 
 himself in every way for the task of regaining 
 his kingdom. Long days of rowing on the 
 lake of Albano, and boar-hunting at Cisterna, 
 made him strong and active. He would often 
 make marches in shoes without stockings, 
 hardening his feet for the part he played after- 
 wards on many a long tramp in the Highlands. 
 Instead of enjoying the ordinary effeminate 
 pleasures of the Roman nobility, he shot and 
 hunted; and in the Borghese Gardens practised 
 that royal game of golf, which his ancestors had 
 
8 BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 played long before on the links at St. Andrews 
 and the North Inch of Perth. His more serious 
 studies were, perhaps, less ardently pursued. 
 Though no prince ever used a sword more gal- 
 lantly and to more purpose, it cannot be denied 
 that he habitually spelled it ' sord, ' and though 
 no son ever wrote more dutiful and affectionate 
 letters to a father, he seldom got nearer the 
 correct spelling of his parent's name than 'Gems. ' 
 In lonely parts of Rome the handsome lad and 
 his melancholy father might often have been 
 seen talking eagerly and confidentially, plan- 
 ning, and for ever planning, that long-talked-of 
 descent upon their lost kingdom. 
 
 If his thoughts turned constantly to Britain, 
 many hearts in that country were thinking of 
 him with anxious prayers and hopes. In Eng- 
 land, in out-of-the-way manor-houses and parson- 
 ages, old-fashioned, high-church squires and 
 clergymen still secretly toasted the exiled family. 
 But in the fifty years that had passed since the 
 Revolution, men had got used to peace and the 
 blessings of a settled government. Jacobitism 
 in England was a sentiment, hereditary in certain 
 Tory families; it was not a passion to stir the 
 hearts of the people and engage them in civil 
 strife. It was very different with the Scots. 
 The Stuarts were, after all, their old race of 
 kings ; once they were removed and unfortunate 
 their tyranny was forgotten, and the old national 
 feeling centered round them. The pride of the 
 people had suffered at the Union (1707); the old 
 
BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 In the Borghese Gardens practised that royal game of golf." — Page 7 
 
10 BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 Scots nobility felt that they had lost in im- 
 portance; the people resented the enforcement 
 of new taxes. The Presbyterians of the trading- 
 classes were Whigs; but the persecuted Episco- 
 palians and Catholics, with the mob of Edin- 
 burgh, were for 'the auld Stuarts back again.' 
 This feeling against the present Government and 
 attachment to the exiled family were especially 
 strong among the tierce and faithful people of the 
 Highlands. Among families of distinction, like 
 the Camerons of Locheil, the Oliphants of Gask, 
 and many others, Jacobitism formed part of the 
 religion of gallant, simple-minded gentlemen 
 and of high-spirited, devoted women. In many 
 a sheiling and farmhouse old broadswords and 
 muskets, well-hidden from the keen eye of the 
 Government soldiers, were carefully cherished 
 against the brave day when ' the king should 
 have his own again. ' 
 
 In 1774 that day seemed to have dawned to 
 which Charles had all his life been looking for- 
 ward. France, at war with England, was pre- 
 paring an invasion of that country, and was glad 
 enough to use the claims of the Stuarts for her 
 own purposes. A fleet was already on ship- 
 board, but the English admiral was alert. A 
 storm worked havoc among the French ships, 
 and it suited the French Government to give up 
 the expedition. Desperate with disappointment, 
 Charles proposed to his father's friend, the exiled 
 Lord Marischall, to sail for Scotland by himself 
 in a herring-boat, and was hurt and indignant 
 
BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE II 
 
 when the old soldier refused to sanction such an 
 audacious plan. 
 
 Charles had seen enough of hanging about for- 
 eign courts and depending on their wavering pol- 
 icy; he was determined to strike a blow for him- 
 self. I n Paris he was surrounded by restless spirits 
 like his own; Scots and Irish officers in the 
 French service, and heart-broken exiles like old 
 Tullibardine, eager for any chance that would 
 restore them to their own country. Even pru- 
 dent men of business lent themselves to Charles's 
 plans. His bankers in Paris advanced him 
 180,000 livres for the purchase of arms, and of 
 two Scottish merchants at Nantes, Walsh and 
 Routledge, one undertook to convey him to 
 Scotland in a brig of eighteen guns, the 
 'Doutelle,' while the other chartered a French 
 man-of-war, the ' Elizabeth, 9 to be the convoy, 
 and to carry arms and ammunition. To provide 
 these Charles had pawned his jewels, jewels 
 which ' on this side I could only wear with a 
 very sad heart,' he wrote to his father; for the 
 same purpose he would gladly have pawned his 
 shirt. On June 22 he started from the mouth 
 of the Loire in all haste and secrecy, only writ- 
 ing for his father's blessing and sanction when 
 he knew it would be too late for any attempt to 
 be made to stop him. The companions of his 
 voyage were the old Marquis of Tullibardine, 
 who had been deprived of his dukedom of Athol 
 in the '15; the Prince's tutor and cousin, Sir 
 Thomas Sheridan, a rather injudicious Irishman; 
 
12 BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 two other Irishmen in the French and Spanish 
 services; Kelly, a young English divine; and 
 ^Eneas Macdonald, a banker in Paris, and 
 younger brother of the chieftain Macdonald of 
 Kinlochmoidart, a prudent young man, who saw 
 himself involved in the Prince's cause very much 
 against his will and better judgment. 
 
 II 
 
 THE LANDING OF PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 England and France being at war at this time, 
 the Channel was constantly swept by English 
 men-of-war. The ' Doutelle ' and her convoy 
 were hardly four days out before the ' Elizabeth' 
 was attacked by an English frigate, the ' Lion. ' 
 Knowing who it was he had on board, Walsh, 
 the prudent master of the * Doutelle, ' would by 
 no means consent to join in the fray, and sheered 
 off to the north in spite of the commands and 
 remonstrances of the Prince. The unfortunate 
 * Elizabeth ' was so much disabled that she had 
 to return to Brest, taking with her most of the 
 arms and ammunition for the expedition. At 
 night the * Doutelle ' sailed without a light and 
 kept well out at sea, and so escaped further 
 molestation. The first land they sighted was the 
 south end of the Long Island. Gazing with 
 eager eyes on the Promised Land, old Lord 
 Tullibardine was the first to notice a large Hebri- 
 dean eagle which flew above the ship as they 
 
BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 13 
 
 approached. * Sir, ' he said, ' it is a good omen ; 
 the king of birds has come to welcome your 
 royal highness to Scotland.' 
 
 Charles had need of all happy auguries, for on 
 his arrival in Scotland things did not seem very 
 hopeful. With his usual rash confidence he 
 had very much exaggerated the eagerness of his 
 friends and supporters to welcome him in what- 
 ever guise he might come. Never had fallen 
 kings more faithful and unselfish friends than 
 had the exiled Stuarts in the Highland chiefs 
 and Jacobite lairds of Scotland, but even they 
 were hardly prepared to risk life and property 
 with a certainty of failure and defeat. Let the 
 Prince appear with 5,000 French soldiers and 
 French money and arms, and they would gather 
 round him with alacrity, but they were prudent 
 men and knew too well the strength of the exist- 
 ing Government to think that they could over- 
 turn it unaided. 
 
 The first man to tell the Prince this unwel- 
 come truth was Macdonald of Boisdale, to whom 
 he sent a message as soon as he landed in Uist. 
 This Boisdale was brother of the old Clanranald, 
 chief of the loyal clan Macdonald of Clanranald. 
 If these, his stoutest friends, hesitated to join 
 his expedition Charles should have felt that his 
 cause was desperate indeed. But his mind was 
 made up with all the daring of his five-and- 
 twenty years, and all the ill-fated obstinacy of 
 his race. For hours he argued with the old 
 Highlander as the ship glided over the waters of 
 
14 BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 the Minch. He enumerated the friends he eould 
 count on, among them the two most powerful 
 chiefs of the North, Macdonald of Sleat, and the 
 Macleod. 'They have both declared for the 
 existing Government,' was the sad reply. 
 Before taking leave of the Prince, Bloisdale 
 again urged his returning * home. ' ' I am come 
 home, ' replied Charles passionately, ' and can 
 entertain no notion of returning. I am persuaded 
 that my faithful Highlanders will stand by me. ' 
 On July 19 the * Doutelle ' cast anchor in 
 Loch na-Nuagh, in the country of the loyal 
 Macdonalds. The first thing Charles did was to 
 send a letter to the young Clanranald to beg his 
 immediate presence. The next day four of the 
 chief men of the clan waited on Charles, Clanra- 
 nald, Kinloch Moidart, Glenaladale, and another 
 who has left us a lively picture of the meeting. 
 For three hours, in a private interview, Clanranald 
 tried in vain to dissuade the Prince. Then 
 Charles — still preserving his incognito — appeared 
 among the assembled gentleman on deck. k At 
 his first appearance I found my heart swell to 
 my very throat' writes the honest gentleman 
 who narrates the story. His emotion was fully 
 shared by a younger brother of Kinloch Moidart's 
 who stood on deck silent from youth and 
 modesty, but with his whole heart looking out 
 of his eyes. His brother and the other chiefs 
 walked up down the deck arguing and remon- 
 strating with Charles, proving the hopelessness 
 of the undertaking. As he listened to their talk 
 
BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 15 
 
 the boy's color came and went, his hand invol- 
 untarily tightened on his sword. Charles caught 
 sight of the eager young face, and, turning 
 suddenly towards him cried, ' Will yoti not 
 assist me ? ' 'I will, I will ; though not another 
 man in the Highlands should draw a sword, I 
 will die for you.' Indeed, years after all had 
 failed, young Clanranald prepared a new rising, 
 and had 9,000 stand of arms concealed in the 
 caves of Moidart. 
 
 The boys words were like flint to tinder, lie- 
 fore they left the ship the hesitating chieftains 
 had pledged themselves to risk property, in- 
 fluence, freedom, and life itself in the Prince's 
 cause. These gallant Macdonalds were now 
 willing to run all risks in receiving the Prince 
 even before a single other clan had declared for 
 him. Old Macdonald of Boisdale entertained 
 Charles as an honored guest in his bare but hos- 
 pitable Highland house. All the people of the 
 district crowded to see him as he sat at dinner. 
 The young Prince delighted all present by his 
 geniality and the interest he showed in every- 
 thing Highland, and when he insisted on learn- 
 ing enough Gaelic to propose the king's health 
 in their native language, the hearts of the simple 
 and affectionate people were completely gained. 
 
 Meanwhile young Clanranald had gone to 
 Skye to try to persuade Macleod and Sir Alex- 
 ander Macdonald to join the Prince. It was all 
 in vain; these two powerful chiefs were too 
 deeply committed to the Government. Next to 
 
16 BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 these two, the most influential man in the High- 
 lands was Cameron of Locheil. Indeed, such 
 was the respect felt by all his neighbors for his 
 gentle and chivalrous character, that there was 
 no one whose example would carry such weight. 
 It was all- important to gain him to the cause. - 
 No one saw more clearly than Locheil the hope- 
 lessness of the undertaking, no one was more 
 unwilling to lead his clansmen to what he knew 
 was certain destruction. He would see the 
 Prince, he said, and warn him of the danger and 
 entreat him to return. ' Write to him, ' urged 
 Locheil's brother, ' but do not see him. I know 
 you better than you know yourself. If this 
 Prince once sets eyes on you he will make you 
 do whatever he pleases. ' It was but too true a 
 prophecy. When all argument had failed to 
 move Locheil's prudent resolution, Charles ex- 
 claimed passionately, ' In a few days, with a 
 few friends, I will raise the Royal Standard and 
 proclaim to the people of Britain that Charles 
 Stuart is come over to claim the crown of his 
 ancestors, to win it or perish in the attempt. 
 Locheil, who, my father has often told me, was 
 our firmest friend, may stay at home and learn 
 from the newspapers the fate of his Prince. ' It 
 was more than the proud, warm heart of the 
 chief could stand. * No, ' he cried with emotion, 
 * I will share the fate of my Prince, and so shall 
 every man over whom nature and fortune has 
 given me any power. ' 
 
 Even before the Royal Standard was raised an 
 
BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 17 
 
 unexpected success crowned the rebel arms. 
 The Government hud troops stationed both at 
 Fort Augustus and Fort William. The latter 
 being in the heart of the disaffected district, the 
 commanding officer at Fort Augustus despatched 
 two companies of newly-raised men to its assis- 
 tance. This body, under a Captain Scott, was 
 approaching the narrow bridge winch crossed the 
 Speail some seven miles from Fort William; all 
 at once a body of Highlanders appeared, occupy- 
 ing the bridge and barring further passage. Had 
 the troops plucked up courage enough to advance 
 they would have found only some dozen Mac- 
 donalds; but the wild sound of the pipes, the 
 yells of the Highlanders, and their constant 
 movement which gave the effect of a Large body, 
 struck terror into the hearts of the recruits: they 
 wavered and fell back, and their officer, though 
 himself a brave man, had to order a retreat. 
 But the sound of firing had attracted other 
 bodies of Macdonalds and Camerons in the 
 neighborhood. All at once the steep, rough 
 hillside seemed alive with armed Highlanders; 
 from rock and bush they sprung up, startling the 
 echoes by their wild shouts. In vain the dis- 
 ordered troops hurried along tne road and rushed 
 across the isthmus to the further side of the 
 lakes; there a new party of Macdonalds, led by 
 Keppoch, met them in front, and the whole 
 body surrendered with hardly a blow struck. 
 They were carried prisoners to Locheil's house, 
 Achnacarry. In default of medical aid, the 
 
18 
 
 BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 wounded captain was sent to Fort William, in 
 that spirit of generous courtesy which character- 
 ized all Charles's behavior to his defeated 
 
 enemies. 
 
 'Go, sir, to your general; tell him what you have seen . . .' 
 
 On August 19 the Royal Standard was raised 
 at Glenfinnan, a deep rocky valley between Loch 
 Eil and Loch Sheil, where the Prince's monu- 
 ment now stands. Charles, with a small body of 
 
BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 19 
 
 Macdonalds, was the first to arrive, early in the 
 morning. He and his men rowed up the long 
 narrow Loch Sheil. The valley was solitary — not 
 a far-off bag- pipe broke the silence, not a figure 
 appeared against the skyline of the hills. With 
 sickening anxiety the small party waited, while 
 the minutes dragged out their weary length. At 
 last when suspense was strained to the utmost, 
 about two in the afternoon, a sound of pipes was 
 heard, and a body of Camerons under Locheil 
 appeared over the hill, bringing with them the 
 prisoners made at the Bridge of Spean. Others 
 followed: Stewarts of Appin, Macdonalds of 
 Glencoe and Keppoch, till at least 1,500 were 
 present. Then the honored veteran of the party, 
 old Tullibardine, advanced in solemn silence and 
 unfurled the royal banner, with the motto 
 Tandem Triumphans. As its folds of white, 
 blue, and red silk blew out on the hill breeze, 
 huzzas rent the air, and the sky was darkened 
 by the bonnets that were flung up. An English 
 officer, a prisoner taken at Spean, stood by, an 
 unwilling spectator of the scene. ' Go, sir, ' 
 cried the Prince in exultation, 'go to your 
 general ; tell him what you have seen, and say 
 that I am coming to give him a battle. ' 
 
20 BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 III 
 
 THE MARCH SOUTH 
 
 For a full month Prince Charles had been in 
 Scotland. During that time a body of men, 
 amounting to a small army, had collected round 
 him; his manifestoes had been scattered all over 
 the country (some were even printed in Edin- 
 burgh), and yet the Government had taken no 
 steps to oppose him. News travelled slowly 
 from the Highlands ; it was August 9 before any 
 certain account of the Prince's landing was re- 
 ceived in Edinburgh. One bad fruit of the Union 
 was that Scotch questions had to be . settled in 
 London, and London was three days further 
 away. Moreover, at that greater distance, men 
 had more difficulty in realizing the gravity of 
 the situation. Conflicting rumors distracted the 
 authorities in Edinburgh; now it was declared 
 that the Prince had landed with 10,000 French 
 soldiers, at another time men ridiculed the idea 
 of his getting a single man to rise for him. 
 Those who knew the country best took the 
 matter most seriously. The question of defence 
 was not an easy one. At that time almost all 
 the available British troops were in Flanders, 
 fighting the French ; the soldiers that were left 
 in Scotland were either old veterans, fit only for 
 garrison duty, newly raised companies whose 
 mettle was untried, or local militias which were 
 
BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 21 
 
 not to be trusted in all cases. If the great lords 
 who had raised and who commanded them chose 
 to declare for the Stuarts, they would carry their 
 men with them. 
 
 The commander-in-chief, Sir John Cope, was 
 not the man to meet so sudden and so peculiar a 
 crisis. He had nothing of a real general's love 
 of responsibility and power of decision. To es- 
 cape blame and to conduct a campaign according 
 to the laws of war was all the old campaigner 
 cared for. When it was decided that he was 
 to march with all the available forces in Scotland 
 into the Highlands he willingly obeyed, little 
 guessing what a campaign in the Highlands 
 meant. Almost at once it was found that -it 
 it would be impossible to provide food for horses 
 as well as men. So the dragoons under Colonel 
 Gardiner were left at Stirling. We shall hear of 
 them again. But his 1,500 infantry were 
 weighted heavily enough ; a small herd of black 
 cattle followed the army to provide them with 
 food, and more than 100 horses carried bread and 
 biscuit. Confident that the loyal clans would 
 come in hundreds to join his standard, Cope car- 
 ried 700 stand of arms. By the time he reached 
 Crieff, however, not a single volunteer had come 
 in, and the stand of arms was sent back. \ Cope 
 followed one of the great military roads which 
 led straight to Fort Augustus, and had been 
 made thirty years before by General Wade. 
 Now across that road, some ten miles short of 
 the fort, lies a high precipitous hill, called Corry- 
 
22 BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 arack. Up this mountain wall the road is carried 
 in seventeen sharp zigzags ; so steep is it that the 
 conntry people call it the * Devil's Staircase.' 
 Any army holding the top of the pass would 
 have an ascending enemy at its mercy, let alone 
 an army of Highlanders, accustomed to skulk 
 behind rock and shrub, and skilled to rush down 
 the most rugged hillsides with the swiftness and 
 surefootedness of deer. 
 
 While still some miles distant, Cope learned 
 that the Highlanders were already in possession 
 of Corryarack. The rumor was premature, but 
 it thoroughly alarmed the English general. He 
 dared not " attempt the ascent ; to return south 
 was against his orders. A council of war, hastily 
 summoned, gave him the advice he wished for, 
 and on the 28th the army had turned aside and 
 was in full retreat on Inverness. 
 
 Meanwhile, the Prince's army was pressing 
 forward to meet Cope. The swiftest- footed 
 soldiers that ever took the field, the Highlanders 
 were also the least heavily- weighted. A bag of 
 oatmeal on his back supplied each man's need, 
 Charles himself burned his baggage and marched 
 at the head of his men as light of foot and as 
 stout of heart as the best of them. On the 
 morning of the 27th they were to ascend Corry 
 arack. The Prince was in the highest spirits. 
 As he laced his Highland brogues he cried, 
 k Before I take these off I shall have fought with 
 Mr. Cope!' Breathless the Highland army 
 reached the top of the hill ; they had gained that 
 
BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 23 
 
 point of vantage. Eagerly they looked down 
 the zigzags on the further side; to their amaze- 
 ment not a man was to be seen, their roads lay 
 open before them! When they learned from 
 deserters the course Cope's army had taken, 
 they were as much disappointed as triumphant. 
 
 A body of Highlanders was despatched to try 
 to take the barracks at Ruthven, where twelve 
 soldiers, under a certain Sergeant Molloy, held 
 the fort for the Government. This man showed 
 a spirit very different from that of his superior 
 officer's. This is his own straightforward account 
 of the attack and repulse: 
 
 ' Noble General, — They summoned me to 
 surrender, but I told him I was too old a soldier 
 to part with so strong a place without bloody 
 noses. They offered me honorable terms of 
 marching out bag and baggage, which I refused. 
 They threatened to hang me and my party. I 
 said I would take my chance. They set fire to 
 the sally-port which I extinguished ; and failing 
 therein, went off asking leave to take their dead 
 man, which I granted.' 
 
 Honor to Molloy, whatever the color of his 
 cockade ! 
 
 Though unsuccessful at Ruthven, some mem- 
 bers of his party, before rejoining the Prince's 
 army at Dalwhinnie, made an important capture. 
 Macpherson of Cluny was one of the most dis- 
 tinguished chiefs in the Highlands, ruling his 
 
24 BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 clan with a firm hand, and repressing all thieving 
 amongst them. As captain of an independent 
 company, he held King George's commission; 
 his honor kept him faithful to the Government, 
 but his whole heart was on the other side. He 
 was taken prisoner in his own house by a party 
 ' hardly big enough to take a cow, ' and once a 
 prisoner in the Highland army, it was no difficult 
 task to persuade him to take service with the 
 Prince. 
 
 The army now descended into the district of 
 Athol. With curious emotion old Tullibardine 
 approached his own house of Blair from which 
 he had been banished thirty years before. The 
 brother who held his titles and properties fled 
 before the Highland army, and the noble old 
 exile had the joy of entertaining his Prince in 
 his own halls. The Perthshire lairds were almost 
 all Jacobites. Here at Blair, and later at Perth, 
 gentlemen and their following flocked to join 
 the Prince. 
 
 One of the most important of these was 
 Tullibardine's brother, Lord George Murray, an 
 old soldier who had been ' out in the '15.' He 
 had real genius for generalship, and moreover 
 understood the Highlanders and their peculiar 
 mode of warfare. He was no courtier, and un- 
 fortunately his blunt, hot-tempered, plain speak- 
 ing sometimes ruffled the Prince, too much 
 accustomed to the complacency of his Irish 
 followers. But all that was to come later. On 
 the march south there were no signs of divided 
 
BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 25 
 
 counsels. The command of the army was gladly 
 confided to Lord George. 
 
 Another important adherent who joined at 
 this time was the Duke of Perth, a far less able 
 man than Lord George, but endeared to all his 
 friends by his gentleness and courage and 
 modesty. Brought up in France by a Catholic 
 mother, he was an ardent Jacobite, and the first 
 man to be suspected by the authorities. As 
 soon as the news spread that the Prince had 
 landed in the West, the Government sent an 
 officer to arrest the young duke. There was a 
 peculiar treachery in the way this was attempted. 
 The officer, a Mr. Campbell of Inverawe, invited 
 himself to dinner at Drummond Castle, and, 
 after being hospitably entertained, produced his 
 warrant. The Duke retained his presence of 
 mind, appeared to acquiesce, and, with habitual 
 courtesy, bowed his guest first out of the room ; 
 then suddenly shut the door, turned the key and 
 made his escape through an ante-room, a back- 
 stairs, and a window, out into the grounds. 
 Creeping from tree to tree he made his way to a 
 paddock where he found a horse, without a 
 saddle but with a halter. He mounted, and the 
 animal galloped off. In this fashion he reached 
 the house of a friend, where he lay hid till the 
 time he joined the Prince. 
 
 No Jacobite family had a nobler record of 
 services rendered to the Stuarts than the Oliph- 
 ants of Gask. The laird had been ' out in the 
 '15,' and had suffered accordingly, but he did 
 
26 BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 not hesitate a moment to run the same risks in 
 '45. He brought with him to Blair his high 
 spirited boy, young Lawrence, who records 
 his loyal enthusiasm in a journal full of fine feel- 
 ing and bad spelling ! Indeed, one may say that 
 bad spelling was, like the ' white rose, ' a badge 
 of the Jacobite party. Mistress Margaret 
 Oliphant, who with her mother and sisters 
 donned the white cockade and waited on their 
 beloved Prince at her aunt's, Lady Nairne's, 
 house, also kept a journal wherein she regrets in 
 ill-spent, fervent words that being ' only a 
 woman ' she cannot carry the Prince's banner. 
 This amiable and honorable family were much 
 loved among their own people. ■ Oliphant is 
 king to us ' was a by- word among retainers who 
 had lived on their land for generations. But at 
 this crisis the shrewd, prosperous Perthshire 
 farmers refused to follow their landlord on such 
 a desperate expedition. Deeply mortified and 
 indignant, the generous, hot-tempered old laird 
 forbade his tenants to gather in the harvest 
 which that year was early and abundant. As 
 Charles rode through the Gask fields he noticed 
 the corn hanging over-ripe and asked the cause. 
 As soon as he was told, he jumped from his 
 horse, cut a few blades with his sword and, in 
 his gracious princely way, exclaimed ' There, / 
 have broken the inhibition! Now every man 
 may gather in his own. ' It was acts like this 
 that gained the hearts of gentle and simple alike, 
 and explain that passionate affection for Charles 
 
BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 27 
 
 that remained with 
 many to the end of 
 their days as part of 
 their religion. The 
 strength of this 
 feeling still touehes 
 our hearts in many 
 a Jacobite song. ' I 
 pu'ed my bonnet 
 ower my eyne, For 
 weel I loued Prince 
 Charlie, ' and the 
 yearning refrain, 
 ' Better loued ye 
 canna be, Wull ye 
 no come back 
 again ? ' On the 
 3rd Charles entered 
 Perth, at the head 
 of a body of troops, 
 in a handsome suit 
 of tartan, but with 
 his last guinea in 
 his pocket! How- 
 ever, requisitions 
 levied on Perth and 
 the neighboring 
 towns did much to 
 supply his exche- 
 quer, and it was 
 with an army in- 
 creased in numbers 
 
 Escape of the Duke of Perth 
 
28 BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 and importance, as well as far better organized 
 •—thanks to Lord G. Murray — that Charles a 
 vveek later continued his route to Edinburgh. 
 Having no artillery the Highland army avoided 
 Stirling, crossed the Forth, and marched to Lin- 
 lithgow, where they expected to fight with 
 Gardiner's dragoons. That body however did 
 not await their arrival, but withdrew to Cors- 
 torphine, a village two miles from Edinburgh. 
 
 The next halt of the Prince's army was at 
 Kirkliston. In the neighborhood lay the house 
 of New Liston, the seat of Lord Stair, whose 
 father was so deeply and disgracefully implicated 
 in the massacre of Glencoe. It was remembered 
 that a grandson of the murdered Macdonald was 
 in the army with the men of his clan. Fearing 
 that they would seize this opportunity of aveng- 
 ing their cruel wrong, the general proposed 
 placing a guard round the house. Macdonald 
 hearing this proposal, went at once to the Prince. 
 ' It is right, ' he said, ' that a guard should be 
 placed round the house of New Liston, but that 
 guard must be furnished by the Macdonalds of 
 Glencoe. If they are not thought worthy of this 
 trust they are not fit to bear arms in your Royal 
 Highness' cause, and I must withdraw them 
 from your standard. ' The passion for revenge 
 may be strong in the heart of the Highlander, 
 but the love of honor and the sense of loyalty 
 are stronger still. The Macdonalds, as we shall 
 see, carried their habit of taking their own way 
 to a fatal extent. 
 
BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 29 
 
 IV 
 
 EDINBURGH 
 
 Meanwhile nothing could exceed the panic 
 that had taken possession of the town of Edin- 
 burgh. The question of the hour was, could the 
 city be defended at all, and if so, could it, in 
 case of siege, hold out till Cope might be ex- 
 pected with his troops ? That dilatory general, 
 finding nothing to do in the North, was return- 
 ing to Edinburgh by sea, and might be looked 
 for any day. There could be no question of the 
 strength of the Castle. It was armed and 
 garrisoned, and no army without large guns 
 need attempt to attack it. But with the town 
 it was different. The old town of Edinburgh, 
 as everybody knows, is built along the narrow 
 ridge of a hill running from the hollow of Holy- 
 rood, in constant ascent, up to the Castle rock- 
 On each side narrow wynds and lanes descend 
 down steep slopes, on the south side to the 
 Grassmarket and Cowgate, on the north — at the 
 time of which we write — the sides of the city 
 sloped down to a lake called the Norloch, a 
 strong position, had the city been properly forti- 
 fied. More than two hundred years before, in 
 the desolate and anxious days that followed 
 Flodden, the magistrates of the city, hourly ex- 
 pecting to be invaded, had hastily built a high 
 wall round the whole city as it then was. For 
 
30 BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 the time the defence was sufficient. But the 
 wall had been built without reference to artillery, 
 it had neither towers nor embrasures for mount- 
 ing cannons. It was simply a very high, solid, 
 park wall, as may be seen to this day by the 
 curious who care to visit the last remnants of it, . 
 in an out-of-the-way corner near the Grass- 
 market. 
 
 If the material defences were weak, the human 
 defenders were weaker still. The regular sol- 
 diers were needed for the Castle; Hamilton's 
 dragoons, stationed at Leith, were of no use in 
 the defence of a city, the town guard was merely 
 a body of rather inefficient policemen, the 
 trained hands mere ornamental volunteers who 
 shut their eyes if they had to let off a firearm in 
 honor of the king's birthday. As soon as it 
 seemed certain that the Highland army was ap- 
 proaching Edinburgh, preparations, frantic but 
 spasmodic, were made to put the city in a state 
 of defence. 
 
 The patriotic and spirited Maclaurin, pro- 
 fessor of mathematics, alone and unaided, tried 
 to mount cannons on the wall, but not with much 
 success. The city determined to raise a regi- 
 ment of volunteers; funds were not lacking; it 
 was more difficult to find the men. Even when 
 companies were formed, their ardor was not 
 very great. Rumors and ignorance had ex- 
 aggerated the numbers and fierceness of the 
 Highland army; quiet citizens, drawn from desk 
 or shop, might well shrink from encountering 
 
BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 31 
 
 
 1 In many a panelled parlor * 
 
 them in the field. Parties were divided in the 
 town; the Prince had many secret friends among 
 the citizens. In back parlors of taverns 'douce 
 writers,' and advocates of Jacobite sympathies, 
 discussed the situation with secret triumph; in 
 many a panelled parlor high up in those wonder- 
 ful old closes, spirited old Jacobite ladies re- 
 
32 BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 called the adventures of the '15. and bright-eyed 
 young ones busied hemselves making knots of 
 white satin. 'One-third of the men are Jaco- 
 bite/ writes a Whig citizen, 'and two-thirds of 
 the ladies.' 
 
 On Saturday, 14th, the news reached Edin- 
 burgh that the Prince had arrived at Linlithgow, 
 and that Gardiner had retired on Corstorphine, 
 a village two miles from Edinburgh. Consterna- 
 tion was general ; advice was sought from the law 
 officers of the Crown, and it was found that they 
 had all retired to Dunbar. The Provost was 
 not above suspicion. His surname was Stuart; 
 no Scotsman could believe that he really meant 
 to oppose the chief of his name. 
 
 On Sunday, as the townsfolks were at church 
 about eleven o'clock, the firebell rang out its note 
 of alarm, scattering the congregation into the 
 streets. It was the signal for the mustering of 
 the volunteers. The officer in command at the 
 Castle was sending the dragoons from Leith to 
 reinforce Gardiner at Corstorphine, and the 
 volunteers were ordered to accompany them. 
 They were standing in rank in the High Street, 
 when the dragoons rattled up the Canongate at 
 a hard trot; as they passed they saluted their 
 brothers in arms with drawn swords and loud 
 huzzas, then swept down the West Port. For a 
 moment military ardor seized the volunteers, but 
 the lamentations and tears of their wives and 
 children soon softened their mood again. A 
 group of Jacobite ladies in a balcony mocked 
 
BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 33 
 
 and derided the civic warriors, but had finally to 
 close their windows to prevent stones being 
 hurled at them. 
 
 One of the volunteer companies was com- 
 posed of University students. Among them was, 
 doubtless, more than one stout young heart, 
 eager for fame and fighting, but most were more 
 at home with their books than their broad- 
 swords. 'Oh, Mr. Hew, Mr. Hew,' whispered 
 one youth to his comrade, * does not this remind 
 you of the passage in Livy where the Gens of 
 the Fabii marched out of the city, and the 
 matrons and maids of Rome were weeping and 
 wringing, their hands?' 'Hold your tongue,' 
 said Mr. Hew, affecting a braver spirit, * you'll 
 discourage the men.' 'Recollect the end, Mr. 
 Hew,' persisted his trembling comrade; 'they all 
 perished to a man !' This was not destined to be 
 the fate of the Edinburgh volunteers. On the 
 march down the West Bow, one by one they 
 stole off, up the narrow wynds and doorways, 
 till by the time they reached the West Port, only 
 the students corps remained, and even its ranks 
 were sadly thinned. The remnant were easily 
 persuaded that their lives were too precious to 
 their country to be rashly thrown away, and 
 quietly marched back to the college yards. 
 
 There was no alarm that night. At one 
 o'clock the Provost, accompanied by a few of 
 the city guard, carrying a lantern before him, 
 visited the outposts and found all at their 
 places. In the narrow streets of Edinburgh the 
 
34 BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 Eeople were accustomed to transact all their 
 usiness out of doors. Next morning (Monday, 
 16th,) the streets were already crowded at an 
 early hour with an anxious, vociferous crowd. 
 At 10 o'clock a man arrived with a message from 
 the Prince, which he incautiously proclaimed in 
 the street. If the town would surrender it 
 should be favorably treated ; if it resisted it must 
 expect to be dealt with according to the usages of 
 war. Greatly alarmed, the people clamored for 
 a meeting, but the Provost refused ; he trusted to 
 the dragoons to defend the city. A little after 
 noon, the citizens looking across from the Castle 
 and the northern windows of their houses, saw 
 the dragoons in retreat from Coltbridge. As 
 they watched the moving figures, the pace 
 quickened and became a regular flight; by the 
 time the dragoons were opposite the city on the 
 other side of the Norlocn, they were running 
 like hares. They made at first for their bar- 
 racks at Leith, but the distance still seemed too 
 short between them and the terrifying High- 
 landers; they never drew rein till they had 
 reached Prestonpans, nor did they rest there 
 longer than an hour or two, but galloped on, and 
 were at Dunbar before nightfall. And yet they 
 had not exchanged a blow with their foes! At 
 the first sight of a reconnoitering party of horse- 
 men, panic had seized them and they had fled. 
 This was the celebrated 'Canter of Coltbridge.' 
 The effect on the city was disturbing in the 
 extreme. A tumultuous meeting was held in 
 
BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 35 
 
 council chamber, the volunteers were drawn up 
 in the streets. As they stood uncertain what to 
 do a man on horseback — it was never known who 
 he was — galloped up the Bow, and as he passed 
 along the ranks, shouted 'The Highlanders are 
 coming, sixteen thousand strong.' 
 
 It was too much for the volunteers, they 
 marched up to the Castle and gave in their arms! 
 Meanwhile, a packet was handed into the 
 council chamber signed C. P., and offering the 
 same terms as in the morning, only adding that 
 the town must open its gates by two o'clock next 
 morning. The cry was unanimous to surrender, 
 but to gain time deputies were sent to the Prince 
 at Gray's Mill, two miles from Edinburgh, to 
 ask for further delay. Hardly had the deputies 
 gone when, in through the opposite gate gal- 
 loped a messenger from Dunbar, to say that Cope 
 had landed there with his troops. Opinion 
 now swung round the other way, and men's 
 courage rose to the point of speaking about 
 resistance. The deputies returned at ten at 
 night; Charles, they said, was inexorable and 
 stuck to his conditions. To cause a delay, a 
 new set of deputies were sent forth at a very late 
 hour, and went out by the West Bow in a 
 hackney coach. 
 
 To gain time, and then steal another march on 
 Cope, was even more important to the Prince 
 than to his enemies. There were weak points in 
 the wall that might be attacked. The chief 
 gate of the city, the Netherbow, lay midway up 
 
36 BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 the High Street, dividing the real borough of 
 Edinburgh from the Canongate; on each side 
 of this gate the wall descended sharply down 
 hill, running along Leith Wynd on the north side 
 and St. Mary's Wynd on the south. The 
 houses of the latter — Edinburgh houses number- 
 ing their ten or twelve stories — were actually 
 built on to the wall. By entering one of these, 
 active and determined men might clear the wall 
 by a fire of musketry from the upper windows, 
 and then make an escalade. Another weak 
 point was at the point of Leith Wynd, where the 
 wall met the Norloch. About midnight Locheil 
 and five hundred of his men started to make a 
 night attack. They were guided by Mr. Murray 
 of Broughton (the Prince's secretary, afterwards 
 a traitor,) who had been a student in Edinburgh 
 and knew the town well. To avoid chance 
 shots from the guns of the Castle, they made a 
 wide circle round the town, but so still was the 
 night that across the city they could hear the 
 watches called in the distant fortress. Swift and 
 silent as Red Indians, the Highlanders marched 
 in the shadow cast by the high, dark houses of 
 the suburbs without arousing the sleeping in- 
 mates. They could see cannons on the walls, 
 but no sentinels were visible. They determined 
 to try fraud before resorting to force. Twenty 
 Camerons placed themselves in hiding on each 
 side of the gate, sixty stood in the dark recess of 
 he Wynd, the rest were at the bottom of the 
 lope. One of the number, disguised as the 
 
BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 37 
 
 servant of an English officer of dragoons, 
 knocked loudly at the gate, demanding admission. 
 The watch refused to open and threatened to 
 fire. So this stratagem was not successful. 
 Already the dawn was beginning to break, and a 
 council was held among the leaders of the band 
 in low hurried whispers. They were deliberat- 
 ing whether they should not retreat, when all at 
 once a heavy rumbling noise from within the 
 city broke the silence of the night. The hackney 
 coach before mentioned had deposited its load 
 of deputies at the council chamber and was 
 returning to its stable-yard in the Canongate. A 
 word to the watchman within and the gates 
 swung on their heavy hinges. In rushed the 
 body of Camerons, secured the bewildered 
 watchmen, and in a few minutes had seized the 
 city guard-house and disarmed the soldiers. 
 Then they struck up the wild pibroch 'We'll 
 awa' to Sheriff muir to haud the Whigs in order,' 
 and startled citizens rushing to their windows 
 saw in the dim twilight the streets filled with 
 plaids and bonnets. The conquerors visited all 
 the outposts as quietly as if they were troops re- 
 lieving guard. A citizen strolling along by 
 the wall early next morning found a Highland 
 soldier astride on one of the cannons, 'Surely 
 you -are not the same soldiers who were here 
 yesterday?' 'Och, no!' was the answer with a 
 grave twinkle, 'she be relieved.' 
 
 At noon Prince Charles rode to Holyrood by 
 way of Arthur's Seat and Salisbury Crags. He 
 
38 BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 was on foot as he approached the ancient home 
 of his race, but the large and enthusiastic crowd 
 which came out to meet him pressed so closely 
 upon him in their eagerness to kiss his hand, that 
 he had to mount a horse, and rode the last half 
 mile between the Duke of Perth and Lord 
 Elcho. A gallant young figure he must have 
 appeared at that moment — tall and straight and 
 fresh-colored, in a tartan coat and blue bonnet, 
 with the cross of St. Andrews on his breast. As 
 he was about to enter the old palace of Holyrood, 
 out of the crowd stepped the noble and vener- 
 able figure of Mr. Hepburn of Keith. He drew 
 his sword, and, holding it aloft, with grave 
 enthusiasm marshalled the Prince up the stairs. 
 It was surely a good omen; no man in Scotland 
 bore a higher character for learning, goodness, 
 and patriotism than Mr. Hepburn; he was 
 hardly less respected by the Whigs than the 
 Jacobites. 
 
 That same afternoon, at the old Cross in the 
 High Street, with pomp of heralds and men-at- 
 arms, James VIII. was proclaimed king, and his 
 son's commission as regent was read aloud to the 
 listening crowd. Loud huzzas almost drowned 
 the wild music of the bagpipes, the Highlanders 
 in triumph let off their pieces in the air, and 
 from every window in the high houses on each 
 side ladies fluttered their white handkerchiefs. 
 Beside the Cross, beautiful Mrs. Murray of 
 Broughton sat on horseback, a drawn sword in 
 one hand, while with the other she distributed 
 
BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 39 
 
 white cockades to the crowd. Even grave Whig 
 statesmen like the Lord President Forbes were 
 disturbed by the enthusiastic Jacobitism that 
 possessed all the Scottish ladies. More than one 
 followed the example of the high-spirited Miss 
 Lumsden, who let her lover clearly understand 
 
 'Och no! she be relieved' 
 
 that she would have nothing more to say to him 
 unless he took up arms for the Prince, and 
 doubtless more young gallants than Robert 
 Strange joined the rebels for no better reason 
 than their ladies' command. 
 
 A ball was given at Holyrood that same even- 
 ing, and surrounded by all that was bravest and 
 most beautiful and brilliant in Scottish society, it 
 
40 BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 was no wonder that Charles felt that this was but 
 the beginning of a larger and more complete 
 triumph. 
 
 PRESTONPANS 
 
 In less than a month Prince Charles had 
 marched through a kingdom, and gained a 
 capital, but he felt his triumph insecure till he 
 had met his enemies in fair fight. Nor were his 
 followers less eager for battle. In a council of 
 war held at Holyrood, Charles declared his in- 
 tention of leading the army against Cope, and of 
 charging in person at its head. ThaU however, 
 the chiefs would not hear of; the Prince's life 
 was all-important to their cause, and must not 
 be rashly exposed to danger. The arms that 
 the Edinburgh trained bands had used to so little 
 purpose — about a thousand muskets — had fallen 
 into the hands of their enemies; but even with 
 this addition, the Highland soldiers were in- 
 sufficiently accoutred. The gentlemen, who 
 marched in the front ranks, were, it is true, 
 completely armed with broadsword, musket, 
 pistol, and dirk, but in the rank and file many an 
 unkempt, half-clothed, ill-fed cateran carried 
 merely a bill-hook or scytheblade fixed into a 
 long pole, It was the swiftness and splendid 
 daring of their onset that made these ill-armed, 
 untrained clansmen the equals or more than the 
 equals of the regular army that opposed them. 
 
BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 41 
 
 In the meantime Cope, with his army of 2,000 
 foot, reinforced by the fugitive dragoons, some 
 600 men under Gardiner were marching from 
 Dunbar. Gardiner, as brave a soldier as he 
 was a good and devout Christian was full of 
 
 Mrs. Murray of Broughton distributes cockades to the crowd 
 
 foreboding. The 'canter of Coltbridge' had 
 broken his heart; a 'most foul fight,' he called 
 it, and added, to a friend who tried to comfort 
 him, that there were not ten men in his troop 
 whom he could trust not to run away at the 
 first fire. No such misgiving seems to have 
 disturbed Sir John Cope. On Friday the 20th 
 the Hanoverian army reached Prestonpans, and 
 formed its ranks on a plain between the sea on 
 the north and the ridge of Carberry Hill on the 
 
42 BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 south. The road from Edinburgh to Hadding- 
 ton passed through this and this simple old 
 general argued that the advancing army would 
 be sure to take the easiest road. Fortunately 
 Lord George Murray knew better where -the 
 the peculiar strength of the Highlanders lay. 
 
 Early on Friday morning the Prince's army 
 broke up from their camp at Duddingstone. 
 Charles himself was the first man on the field. 
 As the troops began their march, he drew his 
 sword and cried: 'Gentlemen, I have thrown 
 away the scabbard;' high-spirited words which 
 found an echo in the hearts of all the brave men 
 present. 
 
 The army marched in column, three abreast, 
 the various clans holding together under their 
 own chiefs. Two miles short of Prestonpans 
 Lord George learned the position of Cope's army, 
 and at once led his light-footed soldiers up the 
 slopes that commanded the plain. The English 
 general was hourly expecting to see his enemies ap- 
 proach from the west by the road, and he was 
 fully prepared to meet them at that point. At 
 two in the afternoon, to his amazement, they 
 suddenly appeared from the south, marching 
 over the ridge of the hill. 
 
 The Hanoverian soldiers had enough spirit 
 to receive them with cheers, to which the High- 
 landers responded by wild yells. They longed 
 ardently to sweep down the slope and give in- 
 stant battle, but the nature of the ground made 
 this impossible even to a Highland army. Inter- 
 
BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 43 
 
 secting the hillside were high stone walls, which 
 would have to be scaled under a hot fire from 
 below, and at the bottom was a swamp, a wide 
 ditch, and a high hedge. A certain gentleman 
 in the Prince's army — Mr. Ker of Gordon — 
 rode over the ground on his pony to examine its 
 possibilities. He went to work coolly as if he 
 were on the hunting-field, making breaches in 
 the wall and leading his pony through, in spite 
 of a dropping fire from the Hanoverians. He 
 reported that to charge over such ground was 
 impossible. The Highlanders were bitterly dis- 
 appointed; their one fear was that Cope should 
 again slip away under cover of darkness. To 
 prevent this Lord Nairne and 600 Perthshire men 
 were sent to guard the road to Edinburgh. See- 
 ing that nothing more could be done that night, 
 both armies settled down to rest; General Cope 
 lay in comfort at Cockenzie, Prince Charles on 
 the field ; a bundle of peastraw served for his pil- 
 low; a long white cloak thrown over his plaid 
 for a covering. 
 
 Among the volunteers who had recently joined 
 the Prince was an East Lothian laird called 
 Anderson. He had often shot over the fields 
 about Prestonpans. During the night he sud- 
 denly remembered a path which led from the 
 heights, down through the morass on to the plain, 
 slightly to the east of Cope's army. He sought 
 out Lord George and told him of this path, and 
 he, struck with the possibility of making imme- 
 diate use of the information, took him without 
 
44 BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 delay to the Prince. Charles was alert on the 
 instant, entered into the plan proposed, and the 
 next moment the word ot command was passed 
 along the sleeping lines. A few moments later 
 the whole army was moving along the ridge in 
 the dim starlight. But here a difficulty occurred. 
 At Bannockburn, and in all great battles after- 
 wards, except Killiekrankie, the Macdonalds had 
 held the place of honor on the right wing of the 
 army. They claimed that position now with 
 haughty tenacity. The other clans, equally 
 brave and equally proud, disputed the claim. 
 It was decided to draw lots to settle the question. 
 Lots were drawn, and the place of honor fell to 
 the Camerons and Stewarts. An ominous cloud 
 gathered on the brows of the Macdonald chiefs, 
 but Locheil, as sagacious as he was courteous, 
 induced the other chiefs to waive their right, and, 
 well content, the clan Macdonald marched on in 
 the van. 
 
 Up on the hill the sky was clear, but a thick 
 white mist covered the plain. Under cover of 
 this the Highlanders passed the morass in the 
 one fordable place. In the darkness the Prince 
 missed a stepping-stone and slipped into the 
 bog, but recovered so quickly that no one had 
 time to draw a bad omen from the accident. A 
 Hanoverian dragoon, standing sentinel near 
 this point, heard the march of the soldiers while 
 they were still invisible in the dusk, and galloped 
 off to give the alarm, but not before the Highland 
 army was free from the swamp and had formed 
 
BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 45 
 
 in two lines on the plain. Macdonalds and 
 Camerons and Stewarts were in the first line; 
 behind, at a distance of fifty yards, the Perth- 
 shiremen and other regiments led by Charles 
 himself. 
 
 Learning that the enemy was now approaching 
 from the east side of the plain, Cope drew up 
 his men to face their approach. In the centre 
 was the infantry — the steadiest body in his nrniy 
 — on his left, near the sea and opposite the Mac- 
 donalds, Hamilton's dragoons, on the right, the 
 other dragoons under Gardiner, and in front of 
 these the battery of six cannon. This should 
 have been a formidable weapon against the High- 
 landers, who, unfamiliar with artillery, had an 
 almost superstitious fear of the big guns, but 
 they were merely manned by a half-a-dozen 
 feeble old sailors. There was a brief pause as 
 the two armies stood opposite each other in the 
 sea of mist. The Highlanders muttered a 
 short prayer, drew their bonnets down on their 
 eyes, and moved forward at a smart pace. At 
 that moment a wind rose from the sea and 
 rolled away the curtain of mist from between 
 the two armies. In front of them the High- 
 landers saw their enemy drawn up like a hedge 
 of steel. With wild yells they came on, their 
 march quickening to a run, each clan charging 
 in a close compact body headed by its own 
 chief. Even while they rushed on, as resistless 
 as a torrent, each man fired his musket deliber- 
 ately and with deadly aim, then flung it away and 
 
46 BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 swept on, brandishing his broadsword. A body 
 of Stewarts and Camerons actually stormed the 
 battery, rushing straight on the muzzles of the 
 guns. The old men who had them in charge 
 had fled at the first sight of the Highlanders; 
 even the brave Colonel Whiteford, who alone 
 and unassisted stood to bis guns, had to yield to 
 their furious onset. Gardiner's dragoons stand- 
 ing behind the battery were next seized by the 
 panic; they made one miserable attempt to ad- 
 vance, halted, and then wheeling round, dashed 
 wildly in every direction. Nor could Hamilton's 
 dragoons on the other wing stand the heavy 
 rolling fire of the advancing Macdonalds. Mad 
 with terror, man and horse fled in blind confu- 
 sion, some backwards, confounding their own 
 ranks, some along the shore, some actually 
 through the ranks of the enemy. 
 
 Only the infantry in the centre stood firm and 
 received the onset of the Highlanders with a 
 steady fire. A small band of Macgregors, 
 armed only with scythe blades,charged against 
 this hedge of musketry. This curious weapon 
 was invented by James More, a son of Rob Roy 
 Macgregor. He was the leader of this party, 
 and fell, pierced by five bullets With undaunted 
 courage he raised himself on his elbow, and 
 shouted, 'Look ye, my lads, I'm not dead; by 
 Heaven I shall see if any of you does not do his 
 duty. ' In that wild charge, none of the clansman 
 failed to 'do his duty.' Heedless of the rain 
 of bullets, they rushed to close quarters with the 
 
BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 47 
 
 Hanoverian infantry, who, deserted by the 
 dragoons, were now attacked on both sides as 
 well as in front. A few stood firm, and the 
 gallant Colonel Gardiner put himself at their 
 
 James More wounded at Prestonpans 
 
 head. A blow from a scytheblade in the hands 
 of a gigantic Macgregor ended his life, and 
 spared him the shame and sorrow of another 
 defeat. The Park walls at their back prevented 
 the infantry from seeking ignoble security in 
 flight, after the fashion of the dragoons, and 
 they were forced to lay down their weapons and 
 
48 BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 beg for quarter. Some 400 of them fell, struck 
 down by the broadsword and dirks of their enemy, 
 more than 700 were taken prisoners, and only a 
 few hundreds escaped. 
 
 The battle was won in less than five minutes. 
 Charles himself commanded the second col- 
 umn, which was only fifty yards behind the 
 first, but, by the time he arrived on the scene of 
 action, there was nothing left to be done. Noth- 
 ing, that is, in securing the victory, but Charles 
 at once occupied himself in stopping the carnage 
 and protecting the wounded and prisoners. 
 'Sir,' cried one of his staff, riding up to him, 
 there are your enemies at your feet.' 'They, 
 are my father's subjects,' answered Charles 
 sadly, turning away. 
 
 In vain did Sir John Cope and the Earl of 
 Home try to rally the dragoons. Holding pis- 
 tols to the men's heads, they succeeded in collect- 
 ing a body in a field near Clement's Wells, and 
 tried to form a squadron; but the sound of a 
 pistol-shot renewed the panic and off they 
 started again at the gallop. There was 
 nothing for it but for the officers to put them- 
 selves at the head of as many fugitives as they 
 could collect, and conduct the flight. Hardly 
 did they draw rein till they were safe at Berwick. 
 
 There the unfortunate general was received 
 by Lord Mark Ker with the well-known sarcasm 
 — 'Sir, I believe you are the first general in 
 Europe who has brought the first news of his 
 own defeat.' 
 
BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 49 
 
 In the meantime, the wounded they had left 
 on the field were being kindly cared for by the 
 victorious army. Charles despatched a mes- 
 senger to bring medical aid — an errand not 
 without danger to a single horseman on roads 
 covered with straggling bodies of dragoons. 
 But the adventure just suited the gallant spirit 
 of young Lawrence Oliphant. At Trannet the 
 signt of him and his servant at their heels sent 
 off a body of dragoons at the gallop. Single 
 fugitives he disarmed and dismounted, sending 
 the horses back to the Prince by the hands of 
 country lads. Once he had to discharge his 
 pistol after a servant and pony, but for the most 
 part the terrified soldiers yielded at a word. 
 
 Entering the Netherbow, he galloped up the 
 streets of Edinburgh shouting, 'Victory! vic- 
 tory ? Yrom every window in the High Street 
 and Luckenbows white caps looked out, while 
 the streets were crowded with eager citizens, 
 and joyful hurrahs were heard on every side. 
 At Lucky Wilson's, in the Lawn Market, the 
 young gentleman alighted, called for breakfast, 
 and sent for the magistrates to deliver his 
 orders that the gates were to be closed against 
 any fugitive dragoons. Hat in hand, the magi- 
 strates waited on the Prince's aide-de-camp, 
 but at that moment the cry arose that dragoons 
 and soldiers were coming up the street. Up 
 jumps Mr. Oliphant and out into the street, 
 faces eight or nine dragoons, and commands 
 them to dismount in the Prince's name. This 
 
50 BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 the craven Hanoverians were quite prepared to 
 do. Only one presented his piece at the young 
 officer. Mr. Oliphant snapped his pistol at 
 him, forgetting that it was empty. Immediately 
 half a dozen shots were fired at him, but so 
 wildly that none did him any harm beyond 
 shattering his buckle, and he retreated hastily 
 up one of the dark steep lanes that led into a 
 close. 
 
 The commander of the Castle refused to 
 admit the fugitives, threatened even to fire on 
 them as deserters, and they had to gallop out 
 at the West Port and on to Stirling. Another of 
 the Prince's officers, Colquhoun Grant, drove a 
 party of dragoons before him all the. way into 
 Edinburgh, and stuck his bloody dirk into the 
 Castle gates as a defiance. 
 
 Sadder was the fate of another Perthshire 
 gentleman, as young and as daring as Lawrence 
 Oliphant. David Thriepland, with a couple of 
 servants, had followed the dragoons for two 
 miles from the field; they had fled before him, 
 but, coming to a halt, they discovered that 
 their pursuers numbered no more than three. 
 They turned on them and cut them down with 
 their swords. Many years afterwards, when 
 the grass was rank and green on Mr. Thriep- 
 lands' grave, a child named Walter Scott, sitting 
 on it, heard the story from an old lady who had 
 herself seen the death of the young soldier. 
 
 The next day (Sunday) the Prince held his 
 triumphant entry up the High Street of Edin- 
 
BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 5 1 
 
 He galloped up the streets of Edinburgh shouting, "Victory! victory! 
 
52 BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 burgh. Clan after clan marched past, with 
 waving plaids and brandished weapons; the 
 wild music of the pipes sounded as full of 
 menace as of triumph. From every window, in 
 the dark, high houses on each side, fair faces 
 looked down, each adorned with the white 
 cockade. In their excitement the Highlanders 
 let off their pieces into the air. By an unfortun- 
 ate accident one musket thus fired happened to 
 be loaded, and the bullet grazed the temple of a 
 Jacobite lady, Miss Nairne, inflicting a slight 
 Wound. 'Thank God that this happened to 
 me, whose opinions are so well known,' cried the 
 high-spirited girl. 'Had a Whig lady been 
 wounded, it might have been thought that the 
 deed had been intentional. ' 
 
 VI 
 
 THE MARCH TO DERBY 
 
 A successful army, especially an insurgent 
 army, should never pause in its onward march. 
 If Prince Charles could have followed the flying 
 dragoons over the Border into England he 
 would have found no preparations made to 
 resist him in the Northern counties. Even after 
 the King and Government were alarmed by the 
 news of the battle of Preston, a full month was 
 allowed to pass before an army under General 
 Wade arrived at Newcastle on the 29th of 
 October. Dutch, Hessian, and English troops 
 
BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 53 
 
 were ordered home from Flanders and regiments 
 were raised in the country, though at first no 
 one seems to have seriously believed in anything 
 so daring as an invasion of England by Prince 
 Charles and his Highlanders. 
 
 So far there had come no word of encourage- 
 ment from the English Jacobites. Still, Charles 
 never doubted but that they would hasten to 
 join him as soon as he crossed the Border. On 
 the very morrow of Prestonpans he sent messen- 
 
 fers to those whom he considered his friends in 
 Ingland, telling of his success and bidding them 
 be ready to join him. In the meantime he 
 waited in Edinburgh till his army should be 
 large and formidable enough to undertake the 
 march South. After the battle numbers of his 
 soldiers had deserted. According to their cus- 
 tom, as soon as any clansman had secured as 
 much booty as he could conveniently carry, he 
 started off home to his mountains to deposit his 
 spoil. A stalwart Highlander was seen stagger- 
 ing along the streets of Edinburgh with a pier 
 glass on his back, and ragged boys belonging to 
 the army adorned themselves with gold-laced 
 hats, or any old finery they could pick up. 
 
 Many new adherents flocked to join the 
 Prince. Among these was the simple-minded 
 old Lord Pitsligo. He commanded a body of 
 horse, though at his age he could hardly bear 
 the fatigues of a campaign. In Aberdeenshire 
 — always Jacobite and Episcopalian — Lord 
 Lewis Gordon collected a large force; in Perth- 
 
54 BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 shire Lord Ogilvy raised his clan, though neither 
 of these arrived in time to join the march South. 
 Even a Highland army could not start in mid- 
 winter to march through a hostile country with- 
 out any preparations. Tents and shoes were 
 provided by the city of Edinburgh, and all the 
 horses in the neighborhood were pressed for the 
 Prince's service. 
 
 On the first day of November the army, 
 numbering 6,000 men, started for the Border. 
 Lord George led one division, carrying the 
 supplies by Moffat and Annandale to the West 
 Border. Charles himself commanded the other 
 division. They pretended to be moving on 
 Newcastle, marched down Tweedside and then 
 through Liddesdale. 
 
 On the 8th they crossed the Border. The 
 men sheathed their swords and raised a great 
 shout. Unfortunately, as he drew his claymore, 
 Locheil wounded his hand, and his men, seeing 
 the blood flow, declared it to be a bad omen. 
 
 But fortune still seemed to follow the arms of 
 the adventurer. Carlisle was the first strong 
 town on the English Border, and though insuffi- 
 ciently garrisoned, was both walled and de- 
 fended by a Castle. The mayor, a vain-glorious 
 fellow, was ambitious of being the first man to 
 stay the victorious army, and published a pro- 
 clamation saying that he was not 'Patterson, a 
 Scotchman, but Pattieson, a true-hearted Eng- 
 lishman, who would defend his town against all 
 comers.' 
 
BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 55 
 
 A false report that Wade was advancing from 
 the West made Charles turn aside and advance to 
 Brampton in the hope of meeting him, but the 
 roads were rough, the weather was wild and cold, 
 the Hanoverian general was old, and again, as 
 at Corryarack, Charles prepared to meet an 
 enemy that never appeared. 
 
 In the meantime a division of the army had 
 returned to Carlisle and was laying siege to it 
 with great vigor. Lord George Murray and 
 the Duke of Perth worked in the trenches in 
 their shirt sleeves. The sound of bullets in 
 their ears, the sight of formidable preparations 
 for an assault, were too much for the mayor and 
 his citizens; on the 13th, the 'true-hearted Eng- 
 lishmen' hung out a white flag, and the Prince's 
 army marched in and took possession. It was 
 another success, as sudden and complete as any 
 of the former ones. But there were ominous 
 signs even at this happy moment. The com- 
 mand of the siege of Carlisle had been given to 
 the Duke of Perth, and Lord George Murray, the 
 older and abler general, resented the slight. He 
 sent in his resignation, but the idea of losing the 
 one general of any experience they had, 
 created consternation among the chiefs. The 
 crisis would have become serious but for the 
 generous good sense and modesty of the Duke 
 of Perth, who sent in his resignation also to 
 the Prince. A more ominous fact was that they 
 had been almost a week in England and no one 
 had declared for them. Charles refused to let 
 
56 BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 anything damp his hopefulness Lancashire, 
 was the stronghold of Jacobitism. Once in 
 Lancashire, gentlemen and their following would 
 flock to join him. 
 
 The road between Carlisle and Preston lies 
 over bare, stony heights, an inhospitable country 
 in the short, bleak days and long nights of Nov- 
 ember. Charles shared every hardship with 
 his soldiers. He had a carriage but he never 
 used it, and it was chiefly occupied by Lord 
 Pitsligo. With his target on his shoulder he 
 marched alongside of the soldiers, keeping up 
 with their rapid pace, and talking to them in 
 scanty Gaelic. He seldom dined, ate one good 
 meal at night, lay down with his clothes on, and 
 was up again at four next morning. No wonder 
 that the Highlanders were proud of a Prince who 
 could eat a dry crust, sleep on pease-straw, 
 dine in four minutes, and win a battle in five.' 
 Going over Shap Fell he was so overcome by 
 drowsiness and cold that he had to keep hold of 
 one of the Ogilivies by the shoulderbelt and 
 walked some miles half asleep. Another time 
 the sole of his boot was quite worn out, and at 
 the next village he got the blacksmith to nail a 
 thin iron plate to the boot. 'I think you are 
 the first that ever shod the son of a king,' he 
 said, laughing as he paid the man. 
 
 Still entire silence on the part of the English 
 Jacobites. The people in the villages and towns 
 through which they passed looked on the un- 
 couth strangers with ill-concealed aversion and 
 
BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 57 
 
 Going over Shap Fell 
 
 fear. Once going to his quarters in some small 
 town the 'gentle Locheil' found that the good 
 woman of the house had hidden her children 
 in a cupboard, having heard that the High- 
 landers were cannibals and ate children ! 
 
 The town of Preston was a place of ill omen 
 to the superstitious Highlanders. There, thirty 
 years before, their countrymen had been dis- 
 astrously defeated. They had a presentiment 
 that they too would never get beyond that point. 
 To destroy this fear, Lord George Murray 
 marched half his army across the river and en- 
 camped on the further side. 
 
58 BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 Manchester was the next halting-place, and 
 there the prospects were rather brighter. An 
 enterprising Sergeant Dickson hurried on in front. 
 He marched about the streets recruiting, and 
 managed to raise a score of recruits. In Man- 
 chester society there was a certain Jacobite 
 element; on Sunday the church showed a crowd 
 of ladies in tartan cloaks and white cockades, 
 and a nonjuring clergyman preached in favor 
 of the Prince's cause. Among the officers who 
 commanded the handful of men calling itself 
 the Manchester Regiment, were three brothers 
 of the name of Deacon, whose father, a non- 
 juring clergyman, devoted them all gladly to 
 the cause. Another, Syddel, a wig-maker, had 
 as a lad of eleven seen his father executed as a 
 Jacobite in the '15, and had vowed undying 
 vengeance against the house of Hanover. Man- 
 chester was the only place in England that had 
 shown any zeal in the Prince's cause, and it 
 only contributed some few hundred men and 
 3,000/. of money. 
 
 The situation seemed grave to the leaders of 
 the Prince's army He himself refused to re-, 
 cognise -any other fact than that every day 
 brought him nearer to London. On October 31 
 the army left Manchester. At Stockport they 
 crossed the Mersey, the Prince wading up to the 
 middle. Here occurred a very touching incident. 
 A few Cheshire gentlemen met Charles at this 
 point, and with them came an aged lady, Mrs. 
 Skyring. As a child she remembered her mother 
 lifting her up to see Charles II. land at Dover. 
 
BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 59 
 
 Her parents were devoted Cavaliers, and des- 
 pite the ingratitude of the royal family, loyalty 
 was an hereditary passion with their daughter. 
 For years she had laid aside half her income and 
 had sent it to the exiled family, only concealing 
 the name of the donor as being of no interest to 
 them. Now, she had sold her jewels and plate, 
 and brought the money in a purse as an offering 
 to Charles's hand, and gazing at his face said, 
 'Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in 
 peace.' 
 
 The Highland forces were in the very centre 
 of England and had not yet encountered an 
 enemy, but now they were menaced on two sides. 
 General Wade — ' Grandmother Wade' the Jaco- 
 bite soldiers called him — by slow marches 
 through Yorkshire had arrived within three 
 days' march of them on one side, while, far 
 more formidable, in front of them at Stafford 
 lay the Duke of Cumberland with 10,000 men. 
 He was a brave leader, and the troops under 
 him were seasoned and experienced. At last 
 the English Government had awakened up to 
 the seriousness of the danger which they had 
 made light of as long as it only affected Scotland. 
 When news came that the Scots had got beyond 
 Manchester, a most unmanly panic prevailed in 
 London. Shops were shut, there was a run on 
 the Bank, it has even been asserted that George 
 II. himself had many of his valuables removed 
 on to yachts in the Thames, and held himself 
 in readiness to fly at any moment. 
 
60 BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 The Duke of Cumberland and his forces were 
 the only obstacles between the Prince's army and 
 London. Lord George Murray, with his usual 
 sagacity, determined to slip past this enemy 
 also, as he had already slipped past Wade. 
 While the Prince, with one division of the army, 
 marched straight for Derby, he himself led the 
 remaining troops apparently to meet the Duke 
 of Cumberland. That able general fell into 
 the snare and marched up his men to meet the 
 Highlanders at Congleton. Then Lord George 
 broke up his camp at midnight (of December 2), 
 and, marching across country in the darkness, 
 joined the Prince at Leek, a day's journey short 
 of Derby. By this clever stratagem the High- 
 land army got a start of at least a day's march 
 on their way to London. 
 
 On the 4th, the Highland army entered Der- 
 by, marching in all day in detachments. Here 
 Charles learned the good news from Scotland 
 that Lord John Drummond had landed at 
 Montrose with 1,000 French soldiers and supplies 
 of money and arms. Never had fortune seemed 
 to shine more brightly on the young Prince. He 
 was sure now of French assistance, he shut his 
 eyes to the fact that the English people were 
 either hostile or indifferent; if it came to a battle 
 he was confident that hundreds of the enemy 
 would desert to his standard. The road to 
 London and to a throne lay open before him! 
 That night at mess he seriously discussed how 
 he should enter London in triumph. Should it 
 
BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 61 
 
 be in Highland or English dress? On horse- 
 back or on foot ? Did he notice, one wonders, 
 that his gay anticipations were received in omin- 
 ous silence by the chiefs? At least the private 
 soldiers of his army shared his hopes. On the 
 
 * Many had their broadswords and dirks sharpened * 
 
 afternoon of the 5th many had their broadswords 
 and dirks sharpened, and some partook of the 
 Sacrament in the churches. They all felt that 
 a battle was imminent. 
 
 Next morning a council of war was held. 
 Charles was eager to arrange for an immediate 
 advance on London. Success seemed to lie 
 within his grasp. Lord George Murray rose as 
 spokesman for the rest. He urged immediate 
 
62 BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 retreat to Scotland! Two armies lay on either 
 hand, a third was being collected to defend 
 London. Against 30,000 men what could 5,000 
 avail ? He had no faith in a French invasion, he 
 was convinced that nothing* was to be looked for 
 from the English Jacobites. 'Rather than go 
 back, I would I were twenty* feet underground,' 
 Charles cried in passionate disappointment. 
 He argued, he commanded, he implored; the 
 chiefs were inexorable, and it was decided that 
 the retreat should begin next morning before 
 daybreak. This decision broke the Prince's 
 heart and quenched his spirit; never again did 
 his buoyant courage put life into his whole army. 
 Next morning he rose sullen and enraged, and 
 marched in gloomy silence in the rear. 
 
 All the private soldiers and many officers be- 
 lieved they were being led against the Duke of 
 Cumberland. When returning daylight showed 
 that they were retreating by the same road on 
 which they had marched so hopefully two days 
 before, they were filled with grief and rage. 
 * Would God,' writes a certain brave Macdonald, 
 'we had pushed on though we had all been cut 
 to pieces, when we are in a condition for fighting 
 and doing honor to our noble Prince and the 
 glorious cause we had taken in hand.' The dis- 
 trust caused in the Prince's mind by Lord 
 George's actions had, later, the most fatal effect. 
 
BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 63 
 
 VII 
 
 THE RETREAT 
 
 Never, perhaps, in any history was there a 
 march more mournful than that of the Highland 
 army from Derby. These soldiers had never 
 known defeat, and yet there they were, in full 
 retreat through a hostile country. So secret 
 and rapid were their movements that they had 
 gained two full days' march before the Duke of 
 Cumberland had any certain news of their re- 
 treat. Though he started at once in pursuit, 
 mounting a body of infantry on horses that they- 
 might keep up with the cavalry, and though all 
 were fresh and in good condition, it was not till 
 the 18th that he overtook the Prince's army in 
 the wilds of Cumberland. Lord George Mur- 
 ray, looking upon himself as responsible for the 
 safety of the army, had sent on the first division 
 under the Prince and himself brought up the 
 rear with the baggage and artillery. In the 
 hilly country of the North of England, it was no 
 light task to travel with heavy baggage. The 
 big wagons could not be dragged up the steep ill- 
 made roads, and the country people were sullenly 
 unwilling to lend their carts. The general was 
 reduced to paying sixpence for every cannon 
 ball that could be carried up the hills. The 
 Prince was already at Penrith on the 17th, but 
 -Lord George had been obliged to stop six miles 
 
64 BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 short of that point. Marching before daybreak 
 on the 18th, he reached a village called Clifton 
 as the sun rose. A body of horsemen stood 
 guarding the village; the Highlanders, exhilar- 
 ated at meeting a foe again, cast their plaids and 
 rushed forward. On this the Hanoverians — a 
 mere body of local yeomanry — fled. Among a 
 few stragglers who were taken prisoner was a 
 footman of the Duke of Cumberland, who told 
 his captors that his master with 4,000 cavalry 
 was following close behind them. Lord George 
 resolved to make a stand, knowing that nothing 
 would be more fatal than allowing the dragoons 
 to fall suddenly on his troops when they had 
 their backs turned. He had a body of Mac- 
 donalds and another of Stuarts with him; he 
 found also some two hundred Macphersons, 
 under their brave commander Cluny, guarding a 
 bridge close to the village. The high road here 
 ran between a wall on one side, and fields en- 
 closed by high hedges and ditches on the other. 
 On either side he could thus place his soldiers 
 under cover. As evening fell he learned that 
 the Hanoverian soldiers were drawn up on the 
 moor, about a mile distant. He sent some of 
 his men to a point where they should be partly 
 visible to the enemy over a hedge ; these he caused 
 to pass and repass, so as to give a delusive idea of 
 numbers. When the night fell the Highland 
 soldiers were drawn up along the wall on the 
 road, and in the enclosures behind the hedges; 
 Lord George and Cluny stood with drawn swords 
 
BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 65 
 
 on the highway. Every man stood at his post on 
 the alert, in breathless silence. Though the 
 moon was up the night was cloudy and dark, 
 but in a fitful gleam the watchful general saw 
 dark forms approaching in a mass behind a 
 hedge. In a rapid whisper he asked Cluny what 
 was to be done. * I will charge sword in hand if 
 you order me,' came the reply, prompt and 
 cheery. A volley from the advancing troops de- 
 cided the question. 'There is no time to be lost; 
 we must charge,' cried Lord George, and raising 
 the Highland war cry ' Claymore, Claymore,' he 
 was the first to dash through the hedge (he lost 
 his hat and wig among the thorns, and fought 
 the rest of the night bareheaded!). The dra- 
 goons were forced back on to the moor, while 
 another body of horse was similarlv driven back 
 along the high road by the Stuarts and Mac- 
 donalds of Glengarry. About a dozen High- 
 landers, following too eagerly in pursuit, were 
 killed on this moor, but the loss on the other 
 side was far greater. Nor did the Duke of 
 Cumberland again attack the retreating enemy; 
 he had learned, like the other generals before 
 him, the meaning of a Highland onset. 
 
 A small garrison of Highlanders had been left 
 in Carlisle, but these rejoined the main army as 
 it passed through the town. There was an 
 unwillingness among the soldiers to hold a fort 
 that was bound to be taken by the enemy. 
 Finally the Manchester regiment consented to 
 remain, probably arguing, in the words of one 
 
66 
 
 BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 of the English volunteers, that they 'might as 
 well be hanged in England as starved in Scot- 
 land.' 
 
 The Esk was at this time in flood, running 
 turbid and swift, But the Highlanders have a 
 peculiar way of crossing deep rivers. They 
 
 'The Prince eaught him by the hair' 
 
 stand shoulder to shoulder, with their arms 
 linked, and so pass in a continuous chain across. 
 As Charles was fording the stream on horse- 
 back, one man was swept away from the rest and 
 was being rapidly carried down. The Prince 
 caught him by the hair, shouting in Gaelic, 
 'Cohear, cohear!' 'Help, help!' 
 
BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 67 
 
 They were now again on Scottish ground, and 
 the question was, whither were they to go next ? 
 Edinburgh, immediately after the Prince's de- 
 parture, had gladly reverted to her Whig alle- 
 giance. She was garrisoned and defended; 
 any return thither was practically out of the 
 question. It was resolved that the army should 
 retire to the Highlands through the West 
 country. 
 
 Dumfries, in the centre of the Covenanting 
 district, had always been hostile to the Stuarts. 
 Two months before, when the Highland army 
 marched south, some of her citizens had des- 
 poiled them of tents and baggage. To revenge 
 this injury, Charles marched to Dumfries and 
 levied a large fine on the town. The Provost, 
 Mr. Carson, was noted for his hostility to the 
 Jacobites. He was warned that his house was 
 to be burned, though the threat was not carried 
 out. He had a daughter of six years old at the 
 time ; when she was quite an old lady she told 
 Sir Walter Scott that she remembered being 
 carried out of the house in the arms of a High- 
 land officer. She begged him to point out the 
 Pretender to her. This he consented to do, after 
 the little girl had solemnly promised always to 
 call him the Prince in future. 
 
 An army which had been on the road con- 
 tinuously for more than two winter months, 
 generally presents a sufficiently dilapidated 
 appearance; still more must this have been the 
 case with the Highland army, ill-clad and ill- 
 
68 BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 shod to begin with. The soldiers — hardly more 
 than 4,000 now — who on Christmas day marched 
 into Glasgow, had scarcely a whole pair of 
 boots or a complete suit of tartans among them. 
 This rich and important town was even more 
 hostile than Dumfries to the Jacobites, but it 
 was necessity more than revenge that forced 
 the Prince to levy a heavy sum on the citizens, 
 and exact besides 12,000 shirts, 6,000 pairs of 
 stockings, and 6,000 pairs of shoes. 
 
 At Stirling, whither the Prince next led his 
 army, the prospects were much brighter. Here 
 he joined was joined by the men raised in Aber- 
 deenshire under Lord Lewis Gordon, Lord 
 Strathallan's Perthshire regiment, and the 
 French troops under Lord John Drummond. 
 The whole number of his army must have 
 amounted to not much less than 9,000 men. 
 
 The Duke of Cumberland had given up the 
 pursuit of the Highland army after Carlisle; an 
 alarm of a French invasion having sent him 
 hurrying back to London. In his stead General 
 Hawley had been sent down to Scotland and 
 was now in Edinburgh at the head of 8,000 men. 
 He was an officer trained in the Duke of Cum- 
 berland's school, severe to his soldiers and re- 
 lentlessly cruel to his enemies. A vain and 
 boastful man, he looked with contempt on the 
 Highland army, in spite of the experience of 
 General Cope. On the 16th he marched out of 
 Edinburgh with all his men, anticipating an 
 easy victory. Lord George Murray was at 
 
BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 69 
 
 Linlithgow, and slowly retreated before the 
 enemy, but not before he had obtained full in- 
 formation of their numbers and movements. 
 On the nights of January 15 and 16, the two 
 armies lay only seven miles apart, the Prince's 
 at Bannockburn and General Hawley's at Fal- 
 kirk. From the one camp the lights of the 
 other were visible. The Highland army kept 
 on the alert, expecting every hour to be attacked. 
 
 All the day of the 16th they waited, but there 
 was no movement on the part of the English 
 forces. On the 17th the Prince's horse recon- 
 noitered and reported perfect inactivity in Haw- 
 ley's camp. The infatuated general thought so 
 lightly of the enemy that he was giving himself 
 up to amusement. 
 
 The fair and witty Lady Kilmarnock lived in 
 the neighborhood at Callender House. Her 
 husband was with the Prince, and she secretly 
 favored the same cause. By skilful flattery and 
 hospitablity, she so fascinated the English 
 general that he recklessly spent his days in her 
 company, forgetful of the enemy and entirely 
 neglectful of his soldiers. 
 
 Charles knew that the strength of his army 
 lay in its power of attack, and so resolved to 
 take the offensive. The high road between 
 Bannockburn and Falkirk runs in a straight 
 line in front of an old and decaying forest called 
 Torwood. Along this road, in the face of the 
 English camp, marched Lord John Drummond, 
 displaying all the colors in the army, and mak- 
 
70 BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 ing a brave show with the cavalry and two regi- 
 ments. Their advance was only a feint. The 
 main body of the army skirted round to the 
 south of the wood, then marched across broken 
 country — hidden at first by the trees and later 
 by the inequalities of the ground — till they got to 
 the back of a ridge called Falkirk Muir, which 
 overlooked the English camp. Their object 
 was to gain the top of this ridge before the enemy 
 and then to repeat the manoeuvres of Preston- 
 pans. 
 
 Meanwhile, the English soldiers were all un- 
 conscious, and their general was enjoying him- 
 self at Callender House. At eleven o'clock 
 General Huske, the second in command, saw 
 Lord John Drummond's advance, and sent an 
 urgent message to his superior officer. He, 
 however, refused to take alarm, sent a message 
 that the men might put on their accoutrements, 
 and sat down to dinner with his fascinating 
 hostess. At two o'clock, General Huske, looking 
 anxiously through his spy-glass, saw the bulk of 
 the Highland army sweeping round to the back 
 of the ridge. 
 
 A messenger was instantly despatched to 
 Callender House. At last Hawley was aroused 
 to the imminence of the danger. Leaving the 
 dinner table, he leaped on his horse and arrived 
 in the camp at a gallop, breathless and bare- 
 headed. He trusted to the rapidity of his cavalry 
 to redeem the day. He placed himself at the 
 head of the dragoons, and up the ridge they rode 
 
BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 71 
 
 at a smart trot. It was a race for the top. The 
 dragoons on their horses were the first to arrive, 
 and stood in their ranks on the edge of the hill. 
 From the opposite side came the Highlanders 
 in three lines; first the clans (the Macdonalds, 
 of course, on the right), then the Aberdeenshire 
 and Perthshire regiments, lastly cavalry and 
 Lord John Drummond's Frenchmen. Undis- 
 mayed, nay, rather exhilarated by the sight of 
 of the three regiments of dragoons drawn up to 
 receive them, they advanced at a rapid pace. 
 The dragoons, drawing their sabres, rode 
 at full trot to charge the Highlanders. With 
 the steadiness of old soldiers, the clans % came on 
 in their ranks, till within ten yards of the enemy. 
 Then Lord George gave the signal by presenting 
 his own piece, and at once a withering volley 
 broke the ranks of the dragoons. About 400 fell 
 under this deadly fire and the rest fled, fled as 
 wildly and ingloriously as their fellows had done 
 at Coltbridge or Prestonpans. A wild storm of 
 rain dashing straight in their faces during the 
 attack added to the confusion and helplessness 
 of the dragoons. The right and centre of 
 Hawley's infantry were at the same instant 
 driven back by the other clans, Camerons and 
 Stewarts and Macphersons. The victory would 
 have been complete but for the good behavior 
 of three regiments at the right ofHawley's 
 army, Price's, Ligoniers', and Barrel's. From 
 a point of vantage on the edge of a ravine they 
 poured such a steady fire on the left wing of the 
 
11 BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 Highlanders, that they drove them back and 
 forced them to fly in confusion. Had the vic- 
 torious Macdonalds only attacked these reg- 
 iments, the Highland would have been vic- 
 torious all along the line. Unfortunately they 
 had followed their natural instinct instead of 
 the word of command, and flinging away their 
 gUns, were pursuing the fugitive dragoons down 
 the ridge. The flight of the Hanoverians was 
 so sudden that it caused suspicion of an ambush. 
 The Prince was lost in the darkness and rain. 
 
 The pipers had thrown their pipes to their 
 boys, had gone in with the claymore, and 
 could not sound the rally. It was not a complete 
 victory for Charles, but it was a sufficiently 
 complete defeat for General Hawley, who lost 
 his guns. The camp at Falkirk was abandoned 
 after the tents had been set on fire, and the 
 general with his dismayed and confused soldiers 
 retired to make light of his defeat and to ex- 
 plain it away, though to Cumberland he said 
 that his heart was broken; but the news of the 
 battle spread consternation all over oyer Eng- 
 land, and it was felt that no one but the Duke 
 of Cumberland was fit to deal with such a stub- 
 born and daring enemy. 
 
 The Prince's army did not reap so much ad- 
 vantage from their victory as might have been 
 expected ; their forces were in too great confusion 
 to pursue the English general, and on the 
 morrow of the battle many deserted to their 
 own homes, carrying off their booty. A more 
 
BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 73 
 
 serious loss was the defection of the clan Glen- 
 garry. The day after the battle a young Mac- 
 donald, a private soldier of Clanranald's com- 
 pany, was withdrawing the charge from a gun 
 he had taken on the field. He had abstracted 
 
 MIL--! 
 
 K-4 
 
 The poor boy fell, mortally wounded 
 
 the bullet, and, to clean the barrel, fired off the 
 piece. Unfortunately it had been double loaded, 
 and the remaining bullet struck Glengarry's 
 second son, (Eneas, who was in the street at the 
 time. The poor boy fell, mortally wounded, in 
 
74 BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 the arms of his comrades, begging with his last 
 breath that no vengeance should be exacted for 
 what was purely accidental. It was asking too 
 much from the feelings of the clansman. They 
 indignantly demanded that blood should atone 
 for blood. Clanranald would gladly have saved 
 his clansman, but dared not risk a feud which 
 would have weakened the Prince's cause. So 
 another young life as innocent as the first was 
 sacrificed to clan jealousy. The young man's 
 own father was the first to fire on his son, to 
 make sure that death should be instantaneous. 
 Young Glengarry was buried with all military 
 honors, Charles himself being the chief mourner ; 
 but nothing could appease the angry pride of the 
 clan, and the greater part of them returned to 
 their mountains without taking any leave. 
 
 VIII 
 
 IN THE HIGHLANDS 
 
 On January 30 the Duke of Cumberland arrived 
 in Edinburgh. His reception was a curious 
 parody of Charles's brilliant entry four months 
 before. The fickle mob cheered the one as 
 well as the other; the Duke occupied the very 
 room at Holyrood that had been Charles's; 
 where the one had danced with Jacobite beau- 
 ties, the other held a reception of Whig ladies. 
 Both were fighting their father's battle; both 
 were young men of five-and-twenty. But here 
 
BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 75 
 
 likeness gives way to contrast; Charles was 
 graceful in person, and of dignified and attractive 
 presence; his cousin, Cumberland, was already 
 stout and unwieldly, and his coarse and cruel 
 nature had traced unpleasant lines on his face. 
 He was a poor general but a man of undoubted 
 courage. Yet he had none of that high sense of 
 personal honor that we associate with a good 
 soldier. In Edinburgh he found many of the 
 English officers who had been taken prisoner at 
 Prestonpans. They had been left at large on 
 giving their word not to bear arms against the 
 Prince. Cumberland declared that this ' parole' 
 or promise was not binding, and ordered them to 
 return to their regiments. A small number — 
 it is right that we should know and honor their 
 names — Sir Peter Halket, Mr. Ross, Captain 
 Lucy Scott, and Lieutenants Farquharson and 
 Cumming, thereupon sent in their resignations, 
 saying that the Duke was master of their com- 
 missions but not of their honor. 
 
 On the 30th the Duke and his soldiers were at 
 Linlithgow, and hoped to engage the Highland 
 army next day near Falkirk. But on the next 
 day's march they learned from straggling High- 
 landers that the enemy had already retired be- 
 yond the Forth. They had been engaged in a 
 futile siege of Stirling Castle. The distant 
 sound of an explosion which was heard about 
 midday on the 1st, proved to be the blowing up 
 of the powder magazine, the last act of the High- 
 landers before withdrawing from Stirling. This 
 
76 BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 second, sudden retreat was as bitter to the 
 Prince as the return from Derby. After the 
 battle at Falkirk he looked forward eagerly and 
 confidently to fighting Cumberland on the same 
 ground. But there was discontent and discus- 
 sion in the camp. Since Derby the Prince had 
 held no councils, and consulted with no one but 
 Secretary Murray and his Irish officers. The 
 chiefs were dispirited and deeply hurt, and, as 
 usual, the numbers dwindled daily from de- 
 sertion. In the midst of his plans for the 
 coming battle, Charles was overwhelmed by a 
 resolution on the part of the chiefs to break up 
 the camp and to retire without delay to the 
 Highlands. Again he saw his hopes suddenly 
 destroyed, again he had to yield with silent rage 
 and bitter disappointment. 
 
 The plan of the chiefs was to withdraw on 
 Inverness, there to attack Lord Loudon (who 
 held the fort for King George) ; to rest and recruit 
 each clan in its own country, till in the spring 
 they could take the field again with a fresher and 
 larger army. Lord George Murray led one 
 division by the east coast and Aberdeen, to the 
 rendezvous near Inverness, Charles led the other 
 by General Wade's road through Badenoch and 
 Athol. Cumberland with his heavy troops and 
 baggage could not overtake the light-footed 
 Highlanders; by the time he reached Perth he 
 was six days' march behind. He sent old Sir 
 Andrew Agnew to garrison the house of Blair, 
 and other small companies to occupy all the 
 
BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 77 
 
 chief houses in Athol. He himself retired with 
 the main body to Aberdeen, and there waited 
 for milder weather. 
 
 In the neighborhood of Inverness lies the 
 country of the Mackintoshes. The laird of 
 that ilk, was a poor-spirited stupid man. It was 
 his simple political creed that that king was the 
 right one who was willing and able 'to give a 
 half-guinea to-day and another to-morrow/ 
 That was probably the pay he drew as officer in 
 one of King George's Highland companies. Of 
 a very different spirit was his wife. Lady 
 Mackintosh was a Farquharson of Invercauld; 
 in her husband's absence she raised a body of 
 mixed Farquharsons and Mackintoshes, several 
 hundred strong, for the Prince. These she 
 commanded herself, riding at their head in a 
 tartan habit with pistols at her saddle. Her 
 soldiers called her ' Colonel Anne.' Once in a 
 fray between her irregular troops and the militia, 
 her husband was taken prisoner and brought 
 before his own wife. She received him with a 
 military salute, 'Your servant, captain;' to 
 which he replied equally shortly, 'Your servant, 
 colonel.' 
 
 This high-spirited woman received Charles as 
 her guest on February 16 at the castle of Moy, 
 twelve miles from Inverness. 
 
 Having learnt that Charles was staying there 
 with a small guard, Lord Loudon conceived the 
 bold plan of capturing the Prince, and so putting 
 an end to the war once for all. On Sunday the 
 
78 BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 16th, at nightfall, he started with 1,500 men with 
 all secrecy and despatch. Still the secret had 
 oozed out, and the dowager Lady Mackintosh 
 sent a boy to warn her daughter-in-law and the 
 Prince. The boy was both faithful and saga- 
 cious. Finding the high road already full of 
 soldiers, he skulked in a ditch till they were past, 
 then, by secret ways, over moor and moss, run- 
 ning at the top of his pace, he sped on, till, 
 faint and exhausted, he reached the house at 
 five o'clock in the morning, and panted out the 
 news that Loudon's men were not a mile away! 
 The Prince was instantly aroused, and in a few 
 minutes was out of the house and off to join 
 Locheil not more than a mile distant. As it 
 happened, Lord Loudon's troops had already 
 been foiled and driven back by a bold manoeuvre 
 of some of 'Colonel Anne's' men. A black- 
 smith with men — two pipers amongst them 
 — were patrolling the woods near the high 
 road, when in the dim morning twilight they 
 saw a large body of the enemy approaching. 
 They separated, planted themselves at intervals 
 under cover, fired rapidly and simultaneously, 
 shouted the war cries of the various clans, 
 Locheil, Keppoch, Glengarry, while the pipers 
 blew up their pipes furiously behind. The 
 advancing soldiers were seized with panic, and 
 flying wildly back, upset the ranks of the rear 
 and filled them with the same consternation. 
 The 'Rout of Moy' was hardly more creditable 
 to the Hanoverian arms than the 'Canter of 
 
BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 79 
 
 The 'Rout of Moy* 
 
 Coltbridge' In this affair only one man fell 
 MacRimmon, the hereditary piper of the Mac- 
 leods. Before leaving Skye he had prophesied 
 his own death in the lament, 'Macleod shall 
 return, but MacRimmon shall never/ 
 
 The next day, February 18, Charles at the 
 
80 BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 head of a body of troops, marched to besiege 
 Inverness. He found that town already evac- 
 uated: Lord Loudon had too little faith in his 
 men to venture another meeting with the enemy. 
 Two days later Fort George also fell into the 
 Prince's hands. 
 
 During the next six weeks the Highland 
 army was employed in detachments against the 
 enemies who surrounded them on all 
 sides. Lord John Drummond took Fort Au- 
 gustus, Locheil and others besieged — but in 
 vain — the more strongly defended Fort William. 
 Lord Gromarty pursued Lord Loudon into 
 Sutherland. But the most notable and gallant 
 feat of arms was performed by Lord George 
 Murray. He marched a body of his own Athol 
 men, and another of Macphersons under Cluny 
 — 700 men in all — down into his native district 
 of Athol. At nightfall they started from Dal- 
 whinnie, before midnight they were at Dalna- 
 spidal, no one but the two leaders having any 
 idea of the object of the expedition. It was the 
 middle of March; at that season they might 
 count on five hours of darkness before daybreak. 
 It was then explained to the men that they were 
 to break up into some thirty small companies, 
 and each was to march to attack one of the Eng- 
 lish garrisons placed in all the considerable 
 houses in the neighborhood. It was necessary 
 that each place should be attacked at the same 
 time, that the alarm might not spread. By 
 daybreak all were to reassemble at the Falls of 
 
BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 81 
 
 Bruar, within a mile or two of Castle Blair. One 
 after the other the small parties moved off 
 swiftly and silently in the darkness, one march- 
 ing some ten miles off to the house of Faskally, 
 others attacking Lude, Kinnachin, Blairfettie, 
 and many other houses where the English gar- 
 risons were sleeping in security. Meanwhile 
 Lord George and Cluny, with five-and-twenty 
 men and a few elderly gentlemen, went straight 
 to the Falls of Bruar. In the grey of the morn- 
 ing a man from the village of Blair came up 
 hastily with the news that Sir Andrew Agnew 
 had got the alarm, and with several hundred 
 men was scouring the neighborhood and was 
 now advancing towards the Falls! Lord 
 George might easily have escaped up the pass, 
 but if he failed to be at the rendezvous, each 
 small body as it came in would be surrounded 
 and overpowered by the enemy. The skilful 
 general employed precisely the same ruse as 
 had been so successful at the Rout of Moy. 
 
 He put his followers behind a turf wall at 
 distant intervals, displayed the colors in a con- 
 spicious place, and placed his pipers to advan- 
 tage. As Sir Andrew came in sight, the sun 
 rose, and was flashed back by brandished broad- 
 swords behind the turf wall. All along the line 
 plaids seemed to be waving, and heads appeared 
 and disappeared as if a large body of men were 
 behind; while the pipes blew up a clamorous 
 pibroch, and thirty men shouted for three hun- 
 dred. Sir Andrew fell into the snare, and 
 
82 BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 Eromptly marched his men back again. One 
 y one the other parties came in: some thirty 
 houses had yielded to them, and they brought 
 three hundred prisoners with them. 
 
 After this success Lord George actually at- 
 tempted to take the House of Blair. It was a 
 a hopeless enterprise ; the walls of the house were 
 seven feet thick, and Lord George had only 
 two small cannons. 'I daresay the man's 
 mad, knocking down his own brother's house,' 
 said the stout old commander, Sir Andrew, 
 watching how little effect the shot had on the 
 walls. Lord George sent to Charles for rein- 
 forcements when it began to seem probable that 
 he would be able to reduce the garrison by 
 famine, but Charles, embittered and resentful, 
 and full of unjust suspicion against his general, 
 refused any help, and on March 31 Lord 
 George had to abandon the siege and withdraw 
 his men. The Prince's suspicions, though unjust, 
 were not unnatural. Lord George had twice 
 advised retreat, where audacity was the only 
 way to success. 
 
 IX 
 
 CULLODEN 
 
 In the meantime the weeks were rolling on. 
 The grey April of the North, if it brought little 
 warmth, was at least lengthening the daylight, 
 and melting the snow from the hills, and lower- 
 
BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 83 
 
 ing the floods that had made the rivers im- 
 passable. Since the middle of February the 
 Duke of Cumberland and his army of eight 
 thousand men — horse and infantry — had been 
 living at free quarters in Aberdeen. He bullied 
 the inhabitants, but he made careful provision 
 for his army. English ships keeping along the 
 coast were ready to supply both stores and am- 
 munition as soon as the forces should move. 
 With the savage content of a wild animal that 
 knows that his prey cannot escape, the duke 
 was in no hurry to force on an engagement till 
 the weather should be more favorable. 
 
 To the Highland army every week's delay 
 was a loss. Many of the clansmen had scattered 
 to their homes in search of subsistence, for funds 
 were falling lower and lower at Inverness. 
 Fortune was treating Charles harshly at this 
 time. Supplies had been sent once and again 
 from France, but the ships that had brought 
 them had either fallen into enemy's hands, or 
 had been obliged to return with their errand 
 unaccomplished. His soldiers had now to be 
 paid in meal, and that in insufficient quantities. 
 There was thus discontent in the ranks, and 
 among the chiefs there was a growing feeling of 
 discouragement. Charles treated with reserve 
 and suspicion the men who were risking proper- 
 ty and life for his cause, and consulted only with 
 Secretary Murray and his Irish officers. 
 
 On April 8 the Duke of Cumberland began 
 his march from Aberdeen. Between the two 
 
84 BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 armies lay the river Spey, always deep and 
 rapid, almost impassable when the floods were 
 out. A vigilant body of men commanding the 
 fords from either bank would have any army at 
 its mercy that might try to cross the stream 
 under fire. Along the west bank Lord John 
 Drummond and his men had built a long, low 
 barrack of turf and stone. From this point of 
 vantage they had hoped to pour their fire on 
 the Hanoverian soldiers in mid-stream, but the 
 vigilant Duke of Cumberland had powerful 
 cannons in reserve on the opposite bank, and 
 Lord John and his soldiers drew off before the 
 enemy got across. 
 
 On Monday the 15th this retreating party 
 arrived at Inverness, bringing the news that the 
 Duke already at Nairne, and would probably next 
 day approach to give battle. Prince Charles was 
 in the highest spirits at the news. In the streets 
 of Inverness the pipers blew the gatherings of 
 the various clans, the drums beat, and with 
 colors flying the whole army marched out of the 
 town and encamped on the plain of Culloden. 
 
 The Prince expected to be attacked next 
 morning, Tuesday the 16th, and at six o'clock 
 the soldiers were drawn up in order of battle. 
 There was an ominous falling away in numbers. 
 The Macphersons with Cluny had scattered to 
 their homes in distant Badenoch; the Frasers 
 were also absent. [Neither of these brave and 
 faithful clans was present at the battle the next 
 day.] The Keppoch Macdonalds and some 
 
BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 85 
 
 other detachments only came in the next 
 morning. 
 
 By the most fatal mismanagement no pro- 
 vision had been made for feeding the soldiers 
 that day, though there was meal and to spare at 
 Inverness. A small loaf of the driest and 
 coarsest bread was served out to each man. By 
 the afternoon, the starving soldiers had 
 broken their ranks and were scattering in search 
 of food. Lord Elcho had reconnoitred in the 
 direction of Nairne, twelve miles off, and re- 
 ported that the English army would not move 
 that day; they were resting in their camp and 
 celebrating their commander's birthday. Charles 
 called a council of war at three in the afternoon. 
 Lord George Murray gave the daring counsel 
 that insead of waiting to be attacked they 
 should march through the night to Nairne, and 
 while it was still dark surprise and overwhelm 
 the sleeping enemy. By dividing the Highland 
 forces before reaching Nairne they might at- 
 tack the camp in front and rear at the same 
 moment; no gun was to be fired which might 
 spread the alarm; the Highlanders were to fall 
 on with dirk and broadsword. The Prince 
 had meant to propose this very plan: he leaped 
 up and embraced Lord George. It was a 
 dangerous scheme; but with daring, swiftfooted, 
 enterprising men it did not seem impossible. 
 Yes! but with men faint and dispirited by 
 hunger? At the review that morning the -army 
 had numbered about 7,000 men, but hardly 
 
86 BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 more than half that number assembled in the 
 evening on the field, the rest were still scattered 
 in search of food. By eight o'clock it was dark 
 enough to start. The attack on the enemy's 
 camp was timed for two in the morning, six 
 hours were thus allowed for covering the twelve 
 miles. The army was to march in three columns, 
 the clans first in two divisions, Locheil and 
 Lord George at the head with 30 of the Mackin- 
 toshes as guides. The Prince himself com- 
 manded the third column, the Lowland troops, 
 and the French and Irish regiments. The 
 utmost secrecy was necessary; the men marched 
 in dead silence. Not only did they avoid the 
 high roads, but wherever a light showed the 
 presence of a house or sheiling they had to make 
 a wide circuit round it. The ground they had 
 to go over was rough and uneven ; every now and 
 then the men splashed into unexpected bogs or 
 stumbled over hidden stones. Add to this 
 that the night was unusually dark. Instead of 
 marching in three clear divisions, the columns 
 got mixed in the darkness and mutually kept 
 each other back. Soon the light-footed clans- 
 man got ahead of the Lowland and French and 
 Irish regiments unused to such heavy walking. 
 Every few minutes messengers from the rear 
 harassed the leaders of the van by begging them 
 to march more slowly. It was a cruel task to 
 restrain the pace while the precious hours of 
 darkness were slipping past. At Kilravock 
 House the van halted. This was the point 
 
BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 87 
 
 where it was arranged that the army was to 
 divide, one part marching straight on the Eng- 
 lish camp, trie other crossing the river so as to 
 to fall on the enemy from the opposite. The 
 rear had fallen far behind, and there was more 
 than one wide gap between the various troops. 
 The Duke of Perth galloped up from behind 
 and told Lord George that it was necessary 
 that the van should wait till the others came up ; 
 other officers reported that the men were drop- 
 ping out of their ranks, and falling asleep by 
 the roadside. Watches were now consulted. It 
 was already two o'clock and there were still 
 four miles to be covered. Some of the officers 
 begged that, at all risks, the march might be 
 continued. As they stood consulting an aide- 
 de-camp rode up from the rear saying that the 
 Prince desired to go forward, but was prepared 
 to yield to Lord George's judgment. Just 
 then through the darkness there came from the 
 distance the rolling of drums! All chance of 
 surprising the English camp was at an end. 
 With a heavy heart Lord George gave the order 
 to march back. This affair increased the 
 Prince's suspicions of Lord George, which were 
 fostered by his Irishry. 
 
 In the growing light the retreat was far more 
 rapid than the advance had been. It was 
 shortly after five that the army found themselves 
 in their old quarters at Culloden. Many fell 
 down where they stood, overpowered with sleep ; 
 others dispersed in search of food. Charles 
 
88 BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 himself and his chief officers found nothing to 
 to eat and drink at Culloden House but a little 
 dry bread and whisky. Instead of holding a 
 council of war, each man lay down to sleep 
 where he could, on table or floor. 
 
 But the sleep they were able to snatch was 
 but short. At about eight a patrol coming in 
 declared that the Duke of Cumberland was 
 already advancing, his main body was within 
 four miles, his horse even nearer. 
 
 In the utmost haste the chiefs and officers of 
 the Highland army tried to collect their men. 
 Many had straggled off as far as Inverness, 
 many were still overpowered with sleep; all 
 were faint for lack of food. When, the ranks 
 were arrayed in order of battle, their numbers 
 amounted to 5,000 men. They were-drawn up 
 on the open plain; on the right, high turf walls, 
 enclosing a narrow field, protected their flank 
 (though, as it proved, quite ineffectually), on 
 their left lay Culloden House. In spite of 
 hunger and fatigue, the old fighting instinct was 
 so strong in the clans that they took up their 
 positions in the first line with all their old fire 
 and enthusiasm, all but the Macdonalds. By 
 extraordinary mismanagement the clans Glen- 
 garry, Keppoch, and Clanranald — they who 
 had so nobly led the right wing at Prestonpans 
 and Falkirk — were placed on the left. It was a 
 slight that bitterly hurt their pride; it was also, 
 to their superstitious minds, a fatal omen. Who 
 was the cause of the blunder? This does not 
 
 LOfC. 
 
BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 89 
 
 seem to be certainly known. On the right, 
 where the Macdonalds should have been, were 
 the Athol men, the Camerons, the Stewarts of 
 Appin, Macleans, Mackintoshes, and other 
 smaller clans, each led by their own chiefs, and 
 all commanded by Lord George. At the ex- 
 tremities of the two wings the guns were placed, 
 four on each side, the only artillery on the 
 Prince's side. The second line consisted of the 
 French, Irish, and Lowland regiments. The 
 Prince and his guards occupied a knoll at the 
 rear, from which the whole action of the fight 
 was visible. His horse was later covered with 
 mud from the cannon balls striking the wet 
 moor, and a man was killed behind him. By 
 one o'clock the Hanoverian army was drawn up 
 within five hundred paces of their enemies. The 
 fifteen regiments of foot were placed in three 
 lines, so arranged that the gaps in the first line 
 were covered by the centres of the regiments in 
 the second line. Between each regiment in the 
 first line two powerful cannons were placed, and 
 the three bodies of horse were drawn up, flank- 
 ing either wing. The men were fresh, well fed, 
 confident in their general, and eager to retrieve 
 the dishonor of Prestonpans and Falkirk. 
 
 A little after one, the day clouded over, and a 
 strong northeasterly wind drove sudden showers 
 of sleet in the faces of the Highland army. They 
 were the first to open fire, but their guns were 
 small, and the firing ill-directed; the balls went 
 over the heads of the enemy and did little harm. 
 
90 BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 Then the great guns on the other side poured 
 out the return fire, raking the ranks of the High- 
 landers, clearing great gaps, and carrying des- 
 truction even into the second line. For half an 
 hour the Highlanders stood exposed to this 
 fire while comrade after comrade fell at their side. 
 It was all they could do to keep their ranks; 
 their white, drawn faces and Kindling eyes 
 spoke of the hunger for revenge that possessed 
 their hearts. Lord George was about to give 
 the word to charge, when the Mackintoshes im- 
 patiently rushed forward, and the whole of the 
 centre and left wing followed them. On they 
 dashed blindly, through the smoke and snow and 
 rattling bullets. So irresistible was the onset 
 that they actually swept through two regiments 
 in the first line, thougn almost all the chiefs and 
 front rank men had fallen in the charge. The 
 regiment in the second rank — SempilPs — 
 was drawn up three deep — the first rank kneel- 
 ing, the third upright — all with bayonets fixed. 
 They recieved the onrushing Highlanders with 
 a sharp fire. This brought the clansmen to a 
 halt, a few were forced back, more perished, 
 flinging themselves against the bayonets. Their 
 bodies were afterwards found in heaps three or 
 four deep. 
 
 While the right and centre perished in this 
 wild charge, the Macdonalds on the left remained 
 sullenly in their ranks, rage and angry pride in 
 their souls. In vain the Duke of Perth urged 
 them to charge. * Your courage/ he cried, 
 
BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 91 
 
 'will turn the left into the right, and I will 
 henceforth call myself Macdonald,' 
 
 In vain Keppoch, with some of his kin, 
 charged alone. "My God! have the children of 
 my tribe forsaken me?' he cried, looking back 
 to where his clansmen stood stubborn and 
 motionless. The stout old heart was broken by 
 dishonor. A few minutes later he fell pierced 
 by many bullets. 
 
 In the meantime the second line had been 
 thrown into confusion. A detachment of the 
 Hanoverians — the Campbells, in fact — had 
 broken down the turf walls on the Prince's 
 right. Through the gaps thus made, there 
 rode a body of dragoons, who fell on the rear 
 and flanks of the Lowland and French regi- 
 ments, and scattered them in flight. Gillie 
 MacBane held a breech with the claymore, and 
 slew fourteen men before he fell. But the day 
 was lost. All that courage, and pride, and 
 devotion, and fierce hate could do had been 
 done, and in vain. 
 
 Charles had, up to the last, looked for victory. 
 He offered to lead on the second line in person; 
 but his officers told him that Highlanders would 
 never return to such a charge. Two Irish 
 officers dragged at his reins; his army was a 
 flying mob, and so he left his latest field, unless, 
 as was said, he fought at Laffen as a volunteer, 
 when the Scots Brigade nearly captured Cum- 
 berland. He had been eager to give up Holy- 
 rood to the wounded of Prestonpans; his 
 
92 
 
 BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 
 
 The end of Culloden 
 
 wounded were left to die, or were stabbed on the 
 field. He had refused to punish fanatics who 
 tried to murder him; his faithful followers were 
 
BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE 93 
 
 tortured to extract information which they 
 never gave. He lost a throne, but he won 
 hearts, and, while poetry lives and romance 
 endures, the Prince Charles of the Forty-Five 
 has a crown more imperishable than gold. This 
 was the ending of that Jacobite cause, for 
 which men had fought and died, for which 
 women had been content to lose homes and 
 husbands and sons. 
 
 It was the end of that gifted race of Stuart 
 kings who, for three centuries and more of 
 varying fortunes, had worn the crown of Scot- 
 land. 
 
 But it was not the end of the romance of the 
 Highland clans. Crushed down, scattered, and 
 cruelly treated as these were in the years that 
 followed Culloden, nothing could break their 
 fiery spirit nor kill their native aptitude for 
 war. In the service of that very government 
 which had dealt so harshly with them, they were 
 to play a part in the world's history, wider, 
 nobler, and not less romantic than that of 
 fiercely faithful adherents to a dying cause. 
 The pages of that history have been written in 
 imperishable deeds on the hot plains of India, 
 in the mountain passes of Afghanistan, in Egypt, 
 in the fields of Waterloo and Quatre Bras, and 
 among the snows of the Crimea. And there 
 may be other pages of this heroic history of the 
 Highland regiments that shall be read with 
 proud emotion in days that are to be. 
 
H 79-79 
 

 
 V ^ 
 
 
 ^ ** 
 
 
 
 
 .* 
 
 > ■ -o 
 
 "oV* 
 
 «* 
 
 
 
 * w .... 
 
 
 vv 
 
\ 
 
 A v c° HO 
 
 o > 
 
 g°\C^ °o 
 
 
 ' # • « 
 
 
 1^ 
 
 
 C v ♦ 
 
 °o 
 
 
 3~ • <"\ 
 
 ** ** * jiS^ "V <* Vo % *+ ;\ 
 
 ; v-s ^v ^v ^ 
 
 
 
 JA>I 79 
 
 N. MANCHESTER, 
 
 JS*^ INniAWA AfiQ«9