Early on the morning of 13 February 1692, in the aftermath of the Jacobite uprising of 1689, an incident known as the Massacre of Glencoe or Mort Ghlinne Comhann in Gaelic took place in Glen Coe in the Highlands of Scotland. Thirty-eight men from Clan MacDonald of Glencoe were killed by government forces billeted with them on the grounds they had not been prompt in pledging allegiance to the new monarchs, William II and Mary II. Another forty women and children later died of exposure after their homes were burned.
Video Massacre of Glencoe
Background
In March 1689, James VII of Scotland landed in Ireland in an attempt to regain his throne from William II, and John Graham of Dundee recruited a small force of Highlanders for a similar campaign in Scotland. Despite victory at the Battle of Killiecrankie on 27 July, Dundee was killed and organised Jacobite military resistance ended with defeats at the Battle of Dunkeld in August 1689 and Cromdale in May 1690.
Despite this, the continuing need to police the Highlands used resources William needed for the Nine Years' War. A peaceful Scotland was especially important since links between Irish and Scottish branches of the MacDonalds as well as Scottish and Ulster Presbyterians meant unrest in one country often spilt into the other.
The Glencoe MacDonalds were one of three Lochaber clans with a reputation for lawlessness, the others being the MacGregors and the Keppoch MacDonalds. Levies from these clans served in the Independent Companies used to suppress the Conventicles in 1678-80 and took part in the devastating Atholl raid that followed Argyll's rising in 1685. They also combined against their Maclean landlords in the August 1688 battle of Maol Ruadh putting them in the unusual position of being considered outlaws by both the previous Jacobite administration and the new Williamite one.
Maps Massacre of Glencoe
Oath of allegiance to William
After Killiecrankie, the Scottish Government held a series of negotiations with the Jacobites, with terms varying based on events in Ireland and Scotland. In March 1690, Lord Stair, Secretary of State for Scotland offered the chiefs a total of £12,000 for swearing allegiance to William. They agreed to do so in the June 1691 Declaration of Achallader, with the Earl of Breadalbane signing for the government. The Battle of Aughrim in July then ended the War in Ireland and immediate prospects for a Restoration.
On 26 August, a Royal Proclamation offered a pardon to anyone taking the Oath prior to 1 January 1692 with severe reprisals for those who did not. Two days later, secret articles supposedly added to the Declaration were leaked which cancelled it in the event of a Jacobite invasion and were signed by all attendees including Breadalbane. The alleged source was one of the signatories, the MacDonald chief Glengarry; Breadalbane claimed they were a forgery but Stair's letters reflect his belief that forged or not, none of the chiefs would keep their word. Enforcement became a key concern.
In early October, the Highland chiefs asked James for permission to take the Oath unless he could mount an invasion before the deadline, a condition they knew to be impossible. His approval was sent on 12 December, received by Glengarry on 23 December but not shared until 28 December. Glengarry was leader of the minority Catholic faction and one suggestion is these delays were caused by factional intrigue between Jacobite Non-Compounders and Protestant Compounders.
Late receipt meant MacIain of Glencoe only left for Fort William on 30 December to take the Oath from the governor, Lieutenant Colonel John Hill. Since he was not authorised to accept it, Hill sent MacIain to Inverary with a letter for the local magistrate, Sir Colin Campbell. The letter confirmed MacIain's arrival before the deadline and asked Sir Colin to administer the Oath. He did so on 6 January and MacIain returned home. Glengarry himself did not swear until 4 February with others doing so by proxy but only MacIain was excluded from the indemnity issued by the Scottish Privy Council.
Stair's letter of 2 December to Breadalbane show the intention of making an example was taken in early December but as a much bigger operation; ...the clan Donell must be rooted out and Lochiel. Leave the McLeans to Argyll... In January, he wrote three letters in quick succession to Sir Thomas Livingstone, military commander in Scotland; on 7th, the intention was to ....destroy entirely the country of Lochaber, Locheal's lands, Kippochs, Glengarrie and Glenco...; on 9th ...their chieftains all being papists, it is well the vengeance falls there; for my part, I regret the MacDonalds had not divided and...Kippoch and Glenco are safe. The last on 11 January states; ...my lord Argile tells me Glenco hath not taken the oaths at which I rejoice....
In 1690, Parliament had passed a Decree of Forfeiture depriving Glengarry of his lands but he continued to hold Invergarry Castle whose garrison contained several senior Jacobite officers, including Alexander Cannon and Thomas Buchan. MacIain's son John MacDonald told the 1695 Commission the soldiers came to Glencoe from the north '...Glengarry's house being reduced.' This suggests the Episcopalian Glencoe MacDonalds only replaced the Catholic Glengarry as the target on 11 January and explains the large number of troops (over 900) available for what was a minor operation.
Motives varied. After two years of negotiations, Stair was under pressure to ensure the deal stuck; Argyll was competing for political influence with his kinsman Breadalbane who found it expedient to go along with the plan. He had quarrelled with MacIain over compensation for damage done to his property and on 15 February sent his steward to offer MacIain's sons help in return for swearing he was not involved. Glengarry was pardoned, his lands returned while maintaining his reputation at the Jacobite court by being the last to swear and ensuring Alexander Cannon and Thomas Buchan received safe conduct to France in March 1692. In summary, the Glencoe MacDonalds were a small clan with few friends and powerful enemies.
Massacre
In late January 1692, two companies or approximately 120 men from the Earl of Argyll's Regiment of Foot arrived in Glencoe from Invergarry. Their commander was Robert Campbell of Glenlyon, a local landowner whose niece was married to one of MacIain's sons; he carried orders for 'free quarter,' an established alternative to paying taxes in what was a largely non-cash society. The Glencoe MacDonalds themselves were similarly billeted on their reluctant Campbell hosts when serving with the Highland levies employed in 1678 to control restive areas in Argyll.
Highland regiments were formed by first appointing Captains, each responsible for recruiting sixty men from his own estates. The Argyll's muster rolls from October 1691 show the vast majority came from Argyllshire, including Cowal and Kintyre, areas settled by Lowlander migrants and badly hit by the Atholl raids of 1685 and 1686. While there is no evidence to support later allegations the Massacre was related to a clan feud, the men involved were not outsiders.
Stair's letters to Lieutenant Colonel Hamilton and Colonel Hill of 30 January express concern the MacDonalds would escape if warned and the need for secrecy. This correlates with evidence from James Campbell, one of Glenlyon's company, stating they had no knowledge of the plan until the morning of 13 February. Hill issued orders to Hamilton on 12 February, instructing him to take 400 men from Hill's regiment and block the northern exits from Glencoe at Kinlochleven. Another 400 men from Argyll's Regiment under Major Duncanson would join Glenlyon's detachment in the south and sweep northwards up the glen, killing anyone they found, removing property and burning houses.
On the evening of 12 December, Glenlyon received written orders from Duncanson carried by another Argyll officer, Captan Thomas Drummond; the tone shows doubts as to his ability or willingness to carry them out.
See that this be putt in execution without feud or favour, else you may expect to be dealt with as one not true to King nor Government, nor a man fitt to carry Commissione in the Kings service. Expecting you will not faill in the full-filling hereof, as you love your selfe...
Drummond was Captain of the Argylls' Grenadier company, making him senior to Glenlyon; John MacDonald, MacIain's son, later claimed he had detained his father on 30 December when travelling to Inverary. It seems likely Drummond was to ensure the orders were enforced; several witnesses gave evidence he shot two people who asked Glenlyon for mercy.
The first to die was Duncan Rankin, shot down as he tried to escape by crossing the River Coe near the chief's house. Alasdair MacIain was shot twice and killed in his house but his sons escaped. In all, 38 men died either in their homes or as they tried to flee the glen, including nine who were first tied up and then shot; details of the killings were given to the Commission in 1695. Another 40 women and children died of exposure after their homes were burned.
Casualties would have been higher but whether by accident or design Hamilton and Duncanson only arrived after the killings. Duncanson joined Glenlyon at the southern end two hours late at 7:00 am, then advanced up the glen burning houses and removing livestock. Hamilton was not in position at Kinlochleven until 11:00; his detachment included two lieutenants, Francis Farquhar and Gilbert Kennedy who often appear in anecdotes claiming they 'broke their swords rather than carry out their orders.' This differs from the evidence they gave to the Commission in 1695 and in any case seems unlikely since they arrived hours after the killings which were carried out at the opposite end of the glen.
In May, fears of a French invasion resulted in the Argylls being posted to Brentford in England and to Flanders in early 1693; they fought in the Nine Years' War until it ended in 1697 and the regiment disbanded. No further action was taken against the officers involved; Glenlyon died in Bruges in August 1696, Duncanson became a Colonel and was killed in May 1705 in Spain while Drummond was to feature prominently in another famous Scottish disaster, the Darien Scheme.
Inquiry
The killings first came to public attention when a copy of Glenlyon's orders allegedly 'left' in an Edinburgh coffee house was smuggled to France and published in the Paris Gazette of 12 April 1692. While it led to criticism of the Scottish government, there was little sympathy for the MacDonalds. In a letter to Lord Hamilton, Sir Thomas Livingstone commented; 'it's not that anyone thinks the thieving tribe did not deserve to be destroyed but that it should have been done by those quartered amongst them makes a great noise.' The primary driver was political; Stair had been a senior member of James VII's Scottish administration and thus unpopular both with Jacobite loyalists and supporters of the Williamite regime.
In 1695, the massacre re-appeared in a pamphlet written by Charles Leslie, a Non-Juring Church of Ireland Episcopalian priest who moved to London in 1690 and produced pro-Jacobite articles until his death in 1721. While the focus was William's alleged complicity in the 1672 death of Dutch Republican leader Johan de Witt, the tract included Glencoe with a number of other crimes.
A Parliamentary Commission was set up to determine whether there was a case to answer under the charge of 'Slaughter under trust.' This 1587 law was intended to reduce endemic feuding by requiring opponents to use the Crown to settle disputes and applied to murder committed in 'cold-blood' ie once articles of surrender had been agreed or hospitality accepted. It was subject to interpretation; in 1597, James MacDonald was charged under the law for assembling 200 men outside his parents' house, locking them inside and setting fire to it but this was later judged 'hot-blooded' and excluded.
As both a capital offence and treason, it was an awkward weapon with which to attack Stair, as William himself signed the orders and the intent was widely known in government circles. The Commission therefore focused on whether participants exceeded their orders, not their legality; it concluded Stair and Hamilton had a case to answer but left the decision to William. While Stair was dismissed as Secretary of State, he remained an influential politician who returned to government in 1700 and was made an earl by William III's successor, Anne. An application by the surviving Glencoe MacDonalds for compensation was ignored; they rebuilt their houses and participated in both the 1715 and 1745 Jacobite risings.
Aftermath
Why Glencoe remains so well-known is complex since despite what is often suggested it was a savage but not particularly unusual crime. Similar examples involving MacDonalds include the 1578 Battle of the Spoiling Dyke or the 1647 Dunaverty Massacre. Breach of hospitality was less common but the very existence of the charge of 'Slaughter under trust' shows not unknown; the first prosecution was of Lachlan Maclean in 1588 whose objections to his new stepfather John MacDonald led him to murder 18 members of the MacDonald wedding party in their sleep. The Dunaverty killings would also have been in this category since they allegedly took place after the garrison of 200 surrendered on terms.
The Jacobites used the Massacre as a symbol of post-1688 oppression; in 1745, Charles Stuart ordered Leslie's pamphlet and the 1695 Parliamentary minutes to be reprinted in the Caledonian Mercury published in Edinburgh. After the collapse of the Jacobite cause, the event faded from view until 1859 when it appeared in Macaulay's History. Macaulay's purpose was to exonerate William of every charge made by Leslie, including Glencoe and he is the origin of the claim it was simply part of a Campbell-MacDonald feud. The timing was important; Queen Victoria's liking for Balmoral popularised Scottish traditions while Victorian Scotland developed values that were pro-Union and pro-Empire but uniquely Scottish.
Historical divisions between Highlands and Lowlands and the Jacobite rebellions meant this was expressed through a shared cultural identity and the study of Scottish history virtually disappeared from universities. Glencoe took its place in a general preference for ...the emotional trappings of the Scottish past...bonnie Scotland of the bens and glens and misty shieling, the Jacobites, Mary, Queen of Scots, tartan mania and the raising of historical statuary. The impact of this can be seen by comparing the wild and empty landscape in Horatio McCulloch's 1864 work 'Glencoe' with Peter Graham's 1889 'After the Massacre' depicting the survivors seeking shelter.
When the study of Scottish history did re-emerge, Leslie's perspectives continued to shape views of William's reign as particularly disastrous for Scotland, with Glencoe part of a series of incidents like the Darien scheme, the famine of the late 1690s and ultimately Union in 1707. Modern Scottish historiography means this is less true but the Scottish Republican Socialist Movement still holds an annual event portraying Glencoe as a colonialist action of the London government. Although the SRSM is a tiny group, sectarian divides within modern Scottish politics mean that view is not uncommon.
The Massacre is the centre of an annual ceremony initiated in 1930 by Mary Rankin from Taigh a' phuirt, Glencoe, and continued by her family. On 13 February each year the Clan Donald Society holds a wreath-laying ceremony attended by members from around the world at the Upper Carnoch memorial; this is a tapering Celtic cross designed in 1883 by MacDonald of Aberdeen and located at the eastern end of Glencoe village, formerly known as Carnoch.
In popular culture
Glencoe was a popular topic with 19th century poets, the best known work being Sir Walter Scott's Massacre of Glencoe. It was used as a subject by Thomas Campbell and George Gilfillan, whose main claim to modern literary fame is his sponsorship of William McGonagall, allegedly the worst poet in British history. Other poetic references include T. S. Eliot's "Rannoch, by Glencoe" and "Two Poems from Glencoe" by Douglas Stewart.
Examples of its appearance in literature include 'The Masks of Purpose' by Eric Linklater and the novels 'Fire Bringer' by David Clement-Davies, 'Corrag' by Susan Fletcher and Lady of the Glen' by Jennifer Roberson. William Croft Dickinson references Glencoe in his 1963 short story 'The Return of the Native.'
The Mad Men episode "Time & Life" references the massacre when headmaster Bruce MacDonald in the year 1970 still holds a grudge against Pete Campbell.
The Glencoe massacre and murder of the Douglasses at the Black Dinner of 1440 allegedly inspired the event known as 'The Red Wedding' in George R. R. Martin's novel A Storm of Swords and the HBO series Game of Thrones.
See also
- List of massacres in the United Kingdom
- Betrayal of Clannabuidhe, a similar incident in Ireland
- Achallader Castle, where the chiefs gathered together to meet John Campbell
Notes
References
Sources
- Ash, Marinell; The Strange Death of Scottish History, 1980;
- Buchan, John; Massacre of Glencoe, 1931;
- Goring, Rosemary; Scotland, the Autobiography - 2,000 Years of Scottish History by Those Who Saw it Happen, 2014;
- Harris, Tim; Rebellion: Britain's First Stuart Kings, 1567-1642, 2015;
- Hopkins, Paul; Glencoe and the end of the Highland Wars, 1998;
- Howell, Thomas Bayly; A Complete Collection of State Trials and Proceedings for High Treason, 2017 ed;
- Hunter, James; Glencoe and the Indians, 2011;
- Kennedy, Allan; Governing Gaeldom: The Scottish Highlands and the Restoration State, 1660-1688, 2014;
- Love, Dane; Jacobite Stories, 2007;
- Lenman, Bruce; The Jacobite Risings in Britain 1689-1746, 1980;
- Lenman, Bruce & Mackie JL; A History of Scotland, 1991;
- Levine, Mark (editor); The Massacre in History (War and Genocide), 1990;
- Prebble, John; Glencoe: The Story of the Massacre, 1966;
- Szechi, Daniel; The Jacobites: Britain and Europe, 1688-1788, 1994;
External links
- Glencoe Massacre on In Our Time at the BBC.
- History - Massacre of Glencoe 1692--BBC: brief account of the massacre
- Macaulay's History of England, chapter XVIII Includes a well written and moderately detailed account of the massacre in its political context, with footnotes to original source documents. However, it should be read with caution as Macaulay had a very specific perspective.
- Glen Coe Massacre Detailed account of the events leading up to the massacre and the massacre itself.
- Glencoe Very detailed and balanced account of the plot and massacre.
- Medieval Scottish Calendar and Holidays Discussion of the need for care in discussing historical dates as they apply in Scotland, due to change of New Year in 1600 and general adoption of Gregorian Calendar.
- The Vale of Glencoe Radio episode from the series Quiet, Please. Poor sound quality, but the radio script may be found below.
- The Vale of Glencoe Radio Script OTR Plot Spot--plot summaries, scripts and reviews of Old Time Radio shows, including "The Vale of Glencoe", above.
Source of article : Wikipedia
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