|
Part I
A Sketch of the
Moral and Physical Character, and of the Institutions and Customs of the
Inhabitants of the Highlands of Scotland
Sketches of the Highlanders
Section IV
Arms of the Clans.
In attempting to explain
how a people living within their mountains, in an uncultivated and
sequestered corner of a country, should, as warriors, prove a ready and
efficient support to their friends, and formidable to their enemies, it
may be proper, first of all, to describe their arms. These consisted of a
broadsword girded on the left side, and a dirk, or short thick dagger, on
the right, used only when the combat was so close that the sword could be
of no service. [See Appendix, I.] In ancient times they also carried a
small short-handled hatchet, or axe, to be used when they closed upon the
enemy. A gun, a pair of pistols, and a target, completed their armour.
[Rea, in the History of the Rebellion of 1715, describing the march of a
party along the side of Lochlomond, says, "That night they arrived at Luss,
where they were joined by Sir Humphrey Colquhoun of Luss, and James Grant
of Pluscarden, his son-in-law, followed by forty or fifty stately fellows
in their hose and belted plaids, armed each of them with a well-fixed gun
on their shoulders, a strong handsome target, with a sharp pointed steel,
of about half an ell in length screwed into the navel of it, on his arm, a
sturdy claymore by his side, and a pistol or two, with a dirk and knife in
his belt."] In absence of the musket, or when short of ammunition, they
used the Lochaber axe, a species of long lance, or pike, with a formidable
weapon at the end of it, adapted either for cutting or stabbing. This
lance had been almost laid aside since the introduction of the musket; but
a ready substitute was found, by fixing a scythe at the end of a pole,
with which the Highlanders resisted the charge of cavalry, to them the
most formidable kind of attack. In 1745 many of the rebels were armed in
this manner, till they supplied themselves with muskets after the battles
of Prestonpans and Falkirk. Thus, the Highlanders united the offensive
arms of the moderns with the defensive arms of the ancients. Latterly, the
bow and arrow [See Appendix, K.] seem to have been but rarely used. This
is the more remarkable, as these weapons are peculiarly adapted to that
species of hunting which was their favourite amusement; I allude to the
hunting of deer, or what is commonly called "deer-stalking," where the
great art consists in approaching the animal unobserved, and in wounding
him without disturbing the herd. It is evident that the use of the bow and
arrow must have ceased long before the disarming act, as we find in it no
mention made of them, nor do we learn that the Highlanders ever availed
themselves of the omission.
In addition to the weapons already mentioned,
gentlemen frequently wore suits of armour, and coats of mail. With these,
however, the common men seldom encumbered themselves, both on account of
the expense, and because they were ill adapted to the hills and steeps of
their country, and to their frequent, long, and expeditious marches.
Thus armed, the Highlanders were arrayed for
battle, in that order which was best calculated to excite a spirit of
emulation. Every clan was drawn up as a regiment, and the companies in
every regiment were formed of the tribes or families of the clan. The
regiments, thus composed, were under the control of the head or chief of
the whole, while the smaller divisions were under the immediate command of
the chieftains of whose families they were descended, or of those who,
from their property, assumed the feudal rights of chieftainship. Thus, the
Athole Brigade, which was sometimes so numerous as to form two, three, or
more regiments, was always commanded by the head of the family of Atholl,
in person, or by a son or friend in his stead. At the beginning of the
last century, as we learn from the Lockhart Papers, "the Duke of Atholl
was of great importance to the party of the Cavaliers, being able to raise
6000 of the best men in the kingdom, well armed, and ready to sacrifice
their all for the king's service."
In 1707, his Grace took the field, with 7000
men of his own followers, and others whom he could influence, to oppose
the Union with England. [A friend of mine, the late Mr Stewart of
Crossmount, carried arms on that occasion, of which he used to speak with
great animation. He died in January 1791, at the age of 104, having been
previously in perfect possession of all his faculties, and in such full
habit of body, that his leg continued as well formed and compact as at
forty. He had a new tooth at the age of ninety-six. Mrs Stewart, to whom
he had been married nearly seventy years, died on the Tuesday preceding
his death. He was then in perfect health, and sent to request that my
father, who lived some miles distant, would come to him. When he arrived
the old man desired that the funeral should not take place for eight days,
saying, that he had now out-lived his oldest earthly friend, and prayed
sincerely that he might be laid in the same grave. He kept his bed the
second morning after her death, and died the following day, without pain
or complaint. They were buried in the same grave on the succeeding
Tuesday, according to his wish.] With this force he marched to Perth, in
the expectation of being joined by the Duke of Hamilton, and other
noblemen and gentlemen of the South; but as they did not move, he
proceeded no farther, and, disbanding his men, returned to the Highlands.
In 1715, the Atholemen were commanded by the Marquis of Tullibardine, and
in 1745, by his brother, Lord George Murray; but the smaller divisions and
tribes were under the command of gentlemen, who had the entire direction
of their own followers, yielding obedience to the superior only in general
movements. In consequence of this arrangement, each individual was under
the immediate eye of those he loved and feared. His clansmen and kindred
were the witnesses of his conduct, and ready either to applaud his
bravery, reproach his cowardice, or observe any failure of duty.
Before commencing the attack, they frequently
put off their jackets and shoes, that their movements might not be
impeded. Their advance to battle was a kind of trot, such as is now, in
our light infantry discipline, called double-quick marching. When they had
advanced within a few yards of the enemy, they poured in a volley of
musketry, which, from the short distance, and their constant practice as
marksmen, was generally very effective; then dropping their muskets, they
dashed forward sword in hand, reserving their pistols and dirks for close
action. "To make an opening in regular troops, and to conquer, they
reckoned the same thing, because, in close engagements, and in broken
ranks, no regular troops would withstand them." [Dalrymple's Memoirs.]
When they closed with the enemy, they received the points of the bayonets
on their targets; and thrusting them aside, resorted to their pistols and
dirks, to complete the impression made by the musket and broadsword. It
was in this manner that the Athole Highlanders and the Camerons, who were
on the right of Prince Charles Edward's followers at Culloden, charged the
left wing of the royal army. After breaking through Barrell's and Munroe's
(the 4th and 37th regiments), which formed the left of the royal army,
they pushed forward to charge the second line, composed of Bligh's and
Semple's (the 20th and 25th regiments). Here their impetuosity met an
effectual check, by the fire of those corps, when they came within a few
yards, and still more by Wolfe's (the 8th foot), and Cobham's and Lord
Mark Kerr's (the 10th and 11th Light Dragoons), who had formed en potence
on their right flank, and poured in a most destructive fire along their
whole line. At the same moment they were taken in rear by the Argyle, and
some companies of Lord Loudon's Highlanders, who had advanced in that
direction, and had broken down an old wall that covered the right of the
rebels. By this combination of attacks in front, right flank, and rear,
they were forced to give up the contest, and to charge back again, sword
in hand, through those who had advanced and formed on the ground they had
passed over in charging to their front. In this desperate conflict they
left half their number dead on the field. The same kind of charge was made
by the Stewarts of Appin, Frasers, and Mackintoshes upon the regiments in
their front. These were the Scotch Fusileers and Ligonier's (the 21st and
48th regiments,) which they drove back upon the second line, but, being
unable to penetrate, numbers were cut down at the mouths of the cannon,
before they gave up the contest.
[Home in his History of the
Rebellion, says that the "Athole brigade, in advancing, lost thirty-two
officers, and was so shattered that it stopped short, and never closed
with the king's troops." The Athole brigade had not so many officers in
the field; nineteen officers were killed, and four wounded. Many gentlemen
who served in the ranks were killed, which might occasion the mistake. I
have conversed with several who were in the battle, and among others, with
one gentleman still alive (1821) in my neighbourhood, all of whom differed
from Mr Home's account.
Mr Home, during some years, spent part of
every summer in the Highlands, ostensibly for the benefit of his health
and for amusement, but actually in collecting materials for his history.
The respectability of his character, and the sauvity of his manners,
procured him everywhere a good reception. But his visits were principally
made to Jacobite families, to whom the secret history of those times was
familiar. They told him all they knew with the most unreserved confidence;
and nothing could exceed their disappointment when the history appeared,
and proved to be a dry detail of facts universally known, while the rich
store of authentic and interesting anecdotes, illustrative of the history
of the times, and of the peculiar features of the Highland character, with
which they had furnished him, had been neglected or concealed, from an
absurd dread of giving offence to the Royal Family by a disclosure of the
cruelties wantonly practised, or by relating circumstances creditable to
the feelings and character of the unfortunate sufferers. It is now very
well known with what generous sympathy the late King viewed the sacrifice
to mistaken loyalty, and the countenance and protection which he afforded
to such individuals as lived to see him on the throne, and which he
extended to their descendants. It is equally well known that there is not
one individual in his family who would not listen with deep interest to
the details of the chivalrous loyalty, the honourable sacrifices' and the
sufferings sustained with patience and fortitude by those who are long
since gone to their account, and who are no more objects of dislike or
hostility to them than Hector or King Priam.
The only way in which the meagreness of this
long meditated history can possibly be accounted for, in reference to the
high name of the author, and the expectations entertained by the public,
is the circumstance of an accident which befel Mr Home a few years before
the publication of this work. In travelling through Ross-shire, his
carriage was overturned, and he received a severe contusion on the head,
which had such an effect upon his nerves, that both his memory and
judgment were very considerably affected ever after.]
The Reverend Dr Shaw, in his manuscript
History of the Rebellion, says, "The enemy's attack on the left wing of
the royal army was made with a view to break that wing, to run it into
disorder, and then to communicate the disorder to the whole army. This
could not easily be effected, when a second and third line were ready to
sustain the first. But it must be owned the attack was made with the
greatest courage, order, and bravery, amidst the hottest fire of small
arms, and continued fire of cannon with grape-shot, on their flanks,
front, and rear. They ran in upon the points of the bayonets, hewed down
the soldiers with their broad-swords, drove them back, put them into
disorder, and possessed themselves of two pieces of cannon. The rebels'
left wing did not sustain them in the attack, and four fresh regiments
coming up from the Duke's second line under General Huske, they could not
stand under a continual fire both in front, in flank, and rear, and
therefore they retired. It was in this attack that Lord Robert Kerr,
having stood his ground, after Barrell's regiment was broke and drove
back, was killed." And farther we learn from the Lockhart papers, that
"Lord George Murray attacked, at the head of the Atholemen, who had the
right of the army that day, with all the bravery imaginable, as the whole
army did, and broke the Duke of Cumberland's line in several places, and
made themselves masters of two pieces of cannon,—though they were both
fronted and flanked by them, who kept a close firing from right to
left,—and marched up to the points of their bayonets, which they could not
see for smoke till they were upon them." Such were the strength and
dexterity with which these people used their arms, if not always to
conquer, at least to amaze and confound regular troops. |
