Although
the MacDonalds of Glencoe frequently raided Rannoch and on other occasions
joined with the Rannoch MacGregors and Camerson in Spreachs and battles,
they did not settle here. The MacDonalds who did take up residence here
were a branch of the MacDonalds of Keppoch. They built their keep at
Dalchosnie and there they lived for two hundred years, bringing great fame
to the area. Each one, with out exception, was a soldier of bravery and
renown, first in support of the Stewart kings, and on that line,
transferring their allegiance to the House of Hanover.
The first
MacDonald of Dalchosnie was Alastair and he came to Rannoch after killing
a government soldier in Lochaber. It was during a clan battle over the
possesson of land between the MacDonalds and the Mackintoshes.
Government soldiers were sent in to settle the dispute and the commander
of troops, called Captain MacKenzie of Suddie killed Alastair’s brother,
Donald. He then prepared to charge Alastair with pike at the ready.
Although greatly provoked at the loss of his brother, Alastair knew that
to kill the officer would bring the wrath of the government on his head
and on that of his clan so he hurled his empty pistol at the charging
man. The blow took effect, the skull was fractured and MacKenzie was
carried off the field. Unfortunately he died. Alastair had not been
Rannoch long when the government forces attacked Dalchosnie (1692).
Whether this was because of the killing of Captain MacKenzie or whether it
was because of his part in the Battle of Killicrankie is not clear.
Troops under Campbell of Glen Lyon turned out the inhabitants at night,
including Mrs MacDonald who had to watch her house and her goods burning.
She seemed to bear the calamity calmly until she noticed the mahogany
dining table (a very rare article in Rannoch at that time) blazing, when
her equanimity deserted her and turning to Campbell she exclaimed.
“Wretch! many a good dinner have you eaten off that table’. You can be
sure that she said a good deal more than this, for MacDonald does not take
insult or injury without strong retaliation.
Alastair
was not there at the time of the attack. He was of course a wanted man
and he would be hiding hereby. However, he rebuilt his house and passed
over his estate to his son, Allan. He also handed over the gun with which
he had killed Captain MacKenzie. The gun was carried into battle by his
successors and was supposed by the Dalchosnie family to have supernatural
qualities. It became known as the ‘Gunna Breac’.
Although
Allan did not take part in the Battle of Killiecrankie, it is recorded
that he had 100 Rannoch men with him in the attack on Dunkeld. The
Highlanders were defeated but Allan returned unscathed to Rannoch. Here
he acquired Tollochroisk and gave it to his son, Donald. Donald was
unlucky. Perhaps he did not have the ‘Gunna Breac’. Like his ancestors
he was ‘out’ in the Stewart Cause in the 1715 rising. He marched into
England with the Earl of Mar’s army under the command of his best officer,
MacKintosh, but he was taken prisoner at Preston, and executed there in
November, 1715.
His
brother John was luckier. He had taken over Dalchosnie some time before
the ‘15 rebellion. He joined Lord Nairn’s Athole Highlanders as a
lieutenant and took part with them in the Battle of Sheriffmuir. When he
returned home he found the Dalchosnie house and lands occupied by
government troops. They were there to see that the former rebels were
subdued. It seems that he suffered their many insults patiently. One day
the officers of the detachment were arousing in his house when they sent
for him. When he arrived they taunted him and one of them threw a sword
down saying ‘That sword belonged to a MacDonald but MacDonalds now are
brave enough to take it’. It was, of course, an offence punishable by
death for a ‘rebel’ to be caught with arms after the ‘15 rebellion. John,
being alone, took no notice of the insult but later consulted his friend
Alister MacWalter and they devised a plan.
The next
day he was called in and the same insult was uttered but this time he
grabbed the sword. Unfortunately he had hold of the blade and the officer
had the hilt, but he hung on with all his might and twisted the blade in
the handle. The officer shouted for help but with his men and cause the
officer to surrender, leaving John with the twisted sword. This, together
with the ‘Gunna Breac’ is said to be part of the Dalchosnie armory still.
John was
succeeded by his eldest son, Alexander MacDonald of Dalchosnie, born in
1696. He was captain in the Athole Highlanders with whom he was at
Vladimir (Prestonpans): on the march into England to Derby, the capture of
Falkirk and at the Battle of Culloden, where he fell. Before the last
desperate charge made by the Athole Highlanders, he handed his gun, the
‘Gunna Breac’ to a gillie, directing him to carry it back to Dalchosnie,
which he himself was to see no more. Then, rushing sword in hand to the
charge, he fell which thirty officers of the same brigade.
Taking
part in the rebellion with him were his two sons. Allan, his eldest son,
died of wounds received in 1745, and John, the youngest, escaped from the
field of Culloden and for a long time was in hiding from the king’s troops
in Rannoch. With him were many other officers of the Highland army and
many are the adventures and hairbreadth escapes they had. Barbara, his
sister, snowing the same bravery and sense of duty as the Dalchosnie men,
habitually walked unattended at night distances of several miles taking
provisions to them.. She had to return before dawn to escape the vigilant
watch kept by the king’s troops quartered at Dalchosnie, Innerhadden and
the other gentlemen’s houses. Legends have grown around the exploits of
Barbara and her brother.
John,
because of his immense stature was called Big John (Ian Mor). He was a
true Jacobite to the end, in fact the last of the Jacobites, for his son
joined the Hanoverian army; 73rd Regiment of George III. Big
John in his old age, never failed each night to drink a loyal toast to the
last of the Stewarts. However, one day he surprised his son by saying,
after his usual toast, ’Now Alexander, we will drink your king’s health’.
He continued to drink the two toasts until he died.
The
remaining MacDonalds of Dalchosnie continued to bring great honour to
their family. One Captain John MacDonald was shot through both legs in
the Peninsular War in 1811 and amputation was propsed as the only means of
saving his life but he produced a brace of pistols and threatened to blow
the brains of the first surgeon who attempted to amputate them. His
suffering do not seem to affected him for he was shortly after this in
action at Waterloo. He was highly decorated for his bravery. His
superior officers had been either killed or wounded so that he was left
commanding 230 men. In spite of immense odds against him he led a charge
which caused 3000 of the enemy to run tail and flee the field.
His two
successors continued the fighting tradition of the Dalschosnie MacDonalds
for both were Generals in the British Army. Sir John MacDonald of
Dalchosnie, Kinloch Rannoch and Dunalastair, was born in 1788 and he
succeeded to the estate in 1809. In the district he was known as ‘Iain
Dubh nan Cath’ (Black John of the Battles). His army commitments took him
to many theatres of war in which he behaved with great distinction. In
spite of leading this busy life he yet had left behind a reputation in the
district of a man who cared for his tenants. A write of his time tells us
that on his thriving estates he would have raised hundreds of volunteers
who have died for this gallant soldier.
His son
Alastair MacIan MacDonald of Dalchosnie, Kinloch Rannoch, Dunalastair, and
Crossmount, obtained his commission in the army at the age of 16 in 1846.
He distinguished himself in the Crimean Campaign when he was wounded in
two famous battles. Like his father he traveled all over the world to
fight his country’s battles and he held the highest position in the army.
He became Major-General Commanding the Forces in Scotland.
He was an
enterprising estate manager, but he is chiefly remembered in the district
for the introduction to Loch Rannoch of the ill-fated S.S. Gitana. He had
this made in sections and transported to Rannoch and launched in 1881. It
was 90 feet long and powered by a strong steam engine capable of driving
the vessel at speed. The advent of this powerful craft was not
appreciated by the other landowners n the district and he was not allowed
to erect a pier at Bridge of Gaur. Neither was he offered safe anchorage
and so he had to moor it in the exposed east end of the Loch. In the
gales of January 1882 the saloon windows stoved and she was swamped and
sank to the bottom. There she lay in the murky depths, 100 feet down.
There she lay for a hundred years until she was raised with great
excitement. She was repaired and refitted but alas to tell, the same fate
befell her. Anchored in the same exposed part of the Loch the severe
gales of December, 1983 caused her to drag her moorings and she was
battered to pieces against the shore until there was nothing to see of her
but pathetic pieces of smashed timber and flotsam.
It is sad
that in the last dying hours of 1983 the final remnant of the MacDonalds
of Dalchosnie should end its days in this way. Although the family has
disappeared from Rannoch now, their record is a proud one as they have
maintained the best ideals of their clan which boasts on its badge to give
service ‘Per Mare Per Terras’. The MacDonalds of Dalchosnie certainly did
that.
Electric Scotland Note: We got in an
email from Ruth Watson saying:-
Part way down the article it says one
Captain John MacDonald was shot through the legs etc
and that he later led his regiment at Waterloo. The fact that the
author of that booklet could not fit this John MacDonald into the
family is relevant because both these incidents related to Major,
(later Lt-Colonel), Donald MacDonald who was
Sir John MacDonald's uncle (and my three times great grandfather). The
fact that the 92nd regiment was led by Donald MacDonald at
Waterloo can be confirmed at the Gordon Highlanders Museum in
Aberdeen. Donald was born in 1769, 5th son of Big John, and died in
1829.
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