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From the characteristic bravery of the
Highlanders, and their contempt of death, it is not improbable that some of those who
perished, as well on the field after the battle as in the flight, did not yield their
lives without a desperate struggle; but history has preserved one case of individual
prowess in the person of Golice Macbane, which deserves to be recorded in every history
relating to the Highlanders. This man, who is represented to have been of the gigantic
stature of six feet four inches and a quarter, was beset by a party of dragoons. When
assailed, he placed his back against a wall, and though covered with wounds, he defended
himself with his target and claymore against the onset of the dragoons, who crowded upon
him. Some officers, who observed the unequal conflict, were so struck with the desperate
bravery of Macbane, that they gave orders to save him; but the dragoons, exasperated by
his resistance, and the dreadful havoc he had made among their companions, thirteen of
whom lay dead at his feet, would not desist till they had succeeded in cutting him down.
According to the official accounts published by the government, the
royal army had only 50 men killed, and 259 wounded, including 18 officers, of whom 4 were
killed. Lord Robert Kerr, second son of the Marquis of Lothian, and a captain of
grenadiers in Barrel's regiment, was the only person of distinction killed; he fell
covered with wounds, at the head of his company, when the Highlanders attacked Barrel's
regiment. The loss on the side of the Highlanders was never ascertained with any degree of
precision. The number of the slain is stated, in some publications of the period, to have
amounted to upwards of 2,000 men, but these accounts are exaggerated. The loss could not,
however, be much short of 1,200 men. The Athole brigade alone lost more than the half of
its officers and men, and some of the centre battalions came off with scarcely a third of
their men. The Mackintoshes, who were the first to attack, suffered most. With the
exception of three only, all the officers of this brave regiment, including Macgillivray
of Drumnaglass, its colonel, the lieutenant-colonel, and major, were killed in the attack.
All the other centre regiments also lost several officers. Maclauchlan, colonel of the
united regiment of Maclauchlan and Maclean, was killed by a cannon ball in the beginning
of the action, and Maclean of Drimmin, who, as lieutenant-colonel, succeeded to the
command, met a similar fate from a random shot. He had three sons in the regiment, one of
whom fell in the attack, and, when leading off the shattered remains of his forces, he
missed the other two, and, in returning to look after them, received the fatal bullet.
Charles Fraser, younger of Inverallachie, the
lieutenant-colonel of the Fraser regiment, and who, in the absence of the Master of Lovat,
commanded it on this occasion, was also killed. When riding over the field after the
battle, the Duke of Cumberland observed this brave youth lying wounded. Raising himself
upon his elbow, he looked at the duke, who, offended at him, thus addressed one of his
officers: "Wolfe, shoot me that Highland scoundrel who thus dares to look on us with
so insolent a stare." Wolfe, horrified at the inhuman order, replied that his
commission was at his royals highness's disposal, but that he would never consent to
become an executioner. Other officers refusing to commit this act of butchery, a private
soldier, at the command of the duke, shot the hapless youth before his eyes. The Appin
regiment had 17 officers and gentlemen slain, and 10 wounded; and the Athole brigade,
which lost fully half its men, had 19 officers killed, and 4 wounded. The fate of the
heroic Keppoch has been already mentioned. Among the wounded, the principal was Lochiel,
who was shot in both ancles with some grape-shot, at the head of his regiment, after
discharging his pistol, and while in the act of drawing his sword. On falling, his two
brothers, between whom he was advancing, raised him up, and carried him off the field in
their arms. To add to his misfortunes, Charles also lost a considerable number of
gentlemen, his most devoted adherents, who had charged on foot in the first rank. |
