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Pursuant to the plan of march fixed upon at crossing the
Esk, the Highland army separated, and Lord George Murray, at the head of the low country
regiments, proceeded to Ecclefechan where he arrived on the night of
the 20th, and marched next day to Moffat. The prince, at the head of the
clans, marched to Annan, where he passed the night of the
20th. The horse of the prince's division under Lord Elcho were, after a short halt, sent
to take possession of Dumfries, which they accomplished early
next morning, and the prince with the clans, came up in the evening. In no town in
Scotland had there been greater opposition displayed to the restoration of the house of
Stuart than in Dumfries, from the danger to which the inhabitants supposed their religious
liberties, as presbyterians, would be exposed under catholic sovereign. This feeling,
which was strongly manifested by them in the insurrection of 1715, had now assumed even a
more hostile appearance from the existence of the new body of dissenters called
"Seceders," which had lately left the bosom of the established church of
Scotland, and which professed principles thought to be more in accordance with the gospel
than those of their parent church.
A body of
dissenters has volunteered for the defence of Edinburgh shortly after Charles had landed,
and, on his march for England, a party of them had taken up arms, and had captured and
carried to Dumfries thirty waggons belonging to the Highland army, which had been left at
Lockerby by the escort appointed to protect them. To punish the inhabitants for their
hostility, Charles ordered them to pay £2,000 in money, and to contribute 1,000 pairs of
shoes. About £1.100 only were raised; and, in security for the remainder, Mr. Crosbie,
the provost, and a Mr. Walter Riddel, were carried off as hostages. The prince also levied
the excise at Dumfries, and carried off some arms, horses, &c. Some outrages were
committed in the town by the Highlanders, who told the inhabitants that they ought to
think themselves gently used, and be thankful that their town was not burned to ashes.
After halting a day at Dumfries, the prince proceeded with his division up Nithsdale on
the evening of the 23rd, and passed the night at Drumlanrig, the seat of the Duke of
Queensberry. Next day he entered Clydesdale, and halted at Douglas. The prince slept that night in
Douglas castle. He reached Hamilton on the 25th, and took up his
residence in the palace of the Duke of Hamilton. Next day the Chevalier occupied himself
in hunting, an amusement of which he was uncommonly fond, and to which he had been
accustomed from his youth.
The division under Lord George Murray, after halting a day at Moffat, where, being Sunday,
his men heard sermon in different parts of the town from the episcopal ministers who
accompanied them, proceeded by Douglas and Hamilton, and entered Glasgow
on Christmas Day. On the evening
of 26th the prince also marched into Glasgow on foot at the head of the clans. Here he
resolved to halt and refresh his men for a few days after their arduous march, and to
provide them with clothing, of which they stood greatly in need. In passing through
Douglas and Lesmahago, the Highlanders pillaged and burnt some houses, in revenge for the
capture of Macdonald of Kinlochmoidart, who, in his way south from the Highlands, had been
seized on Brokencross moor, near Lesmahago, by the country people, headed by a student of
divinity named Linning, and carried to Edinburgh castle.
Before noticing Charles's proceedings at Glasgow, it is necessary to give a short summary
of those of his friends in the north, up to the period of his arrival in that city. When
intelligence of the Chevalier's march into England, and his unexpected success at Carlisle
was received in the north, the zeal of the Jacobites was more and more inflamed. Whilst
the Frasers, headed by the Master of Lovat, blockaded Fort Augustus, Lord Lewis Gordon was busily
employed in raising men, and levying money by force and threats of military execution, in
the shires of Bamff and Aberdeen. Of two battalions which his lordshop raised, one was
placed under the command of Gordon of Abbachie, and the other under Moir of Stonywood.
To relieve Fort Augustus, the Earl of Loudon left Inverness on the 3rd of December with 600
men of the independent companies, and passing through Stratherrick during a very severe
frost, reached Fort Augustus without opposition, and having supplied the garrison with
every thing necessary for its defence, returned to Inverness on the 8th, after notifying
to the inhabitants of Statherrick the risk they would incur should they leave their houses
and join the insurgents.
As the future progress of the insurrection in the Highlands
depended much upon the Frasers, Lord Loudon, in conjunction with Lord President Forbes,
resolved to march to Castle Downie, the seat of Lord Lovat, and to obtain the best
satisfaction that could be got for the peaceable behaviour of that powerful clan. For this
purpose, two companies of the Mackenzies, which had been posted near Brahan, were called
into Inverness on the 9th of December, and after allowing the detachment, which had been
at Fort Augustus, one day's rest, his lordship left Inverness on the 10th, taking along
with him that detachment and the two companies, amounting together to 800 men, and
proceeded to Castle Downie.
The earl prevailed upon Lord Lovat to go with him to
Inverness, and to live there under his own eye, until all the arms of which the clan were
possessed, (and of which he promised to obtain the delivery,) were brought in. But instead
of delivering the arms on the day fixed, being the 14th of December, he made excuses and
fresh promises from the day to day till the 21st, when Lord Loudon, thinking that he was
deceived, placed sentries at the door of the house where Lord Lovat resided,intending to
commit him to the castle of Inverness next morning; but his lordship contrived to escape
during the night through a back passage, and, being very infirm, was supposed to have been
carried off on men's shoulders.
Next in importance to the keeping down of the Frasers, was
the relief of the shires of Banff and Aberdeen from the sway of Lord Lewis Gordon. To put
an end to the recruiting and exactions of this nobleman, the laird of Macleod was sent the
same day that Lord Loudon proceeded to the seat of Lord Lovat with a body of 500 men,
composed of 400 of his own kindred, and 100 of the Macleods of Assint, towards Elgin and
these were to be followed by as many men as could be spared from Inverness, after
adjusting matters with Lord Lovat. Accordingly, on the 13th, 200 men were detached under
Captain Munro of Culcairn, to follow Macleod to Elgin and Aberdeen, and these were again
to be followed by other small bodies, and by Lord Loudon himself, as soon as matters were
finally settles with Lovat. The escape of that wily old chief, however, put an end to this
part of the plan, as it was considered dangerous to reduce the force near Inverness any
further, while Lord Lovat was at large. |
