Scotland: A History from Earliest Times by Moffat Alistair

Author:Moffat, Alistair [Moffat, Alistair]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Birlinn
Published: 2015-09-21T16:00:00+00:00

10

Rebellious Scots

WHILE INTERNATIONAL politics played out in London, Paris and the Netherlands, as new kings came and old kings fled and the balance of power in Europe shifted, it seemed that little had changed for the local politics of the Highlands. Since the fall of the Lordship of the Isles at the end of the 15th century, disorder had flared, often beyond the Highland Line, as clans fought each other with undimmed spite. Coll MacDonald, the Chief of the MacDonalds of Keppoch, had studied at the University of St Andrews and, although he probably had a keen sense of history, he could not have known that he would lead his men in what would be the last clan battle in Scotland.

At issue, as always, was land and title. The Clan Chattan Confederacy claimed an ancient right to lands in Lochaber but, these being distant from their core territory on the southern shores of the Moray Firth, they had been unable to prevent MacDonalds from occupying their property. In 1688, Lachlan Mackintosh, Chief of Clan Chattan, sought a commission of fire and sword from the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh – that is, the right to remove the MacDonalds by force. It was not only granted but a detachment of government soldiers, commanded by Captain Kenneth Mackenzie, was added to the forces of Clan Chattan. In July, they marched unopposed into Lochaber. Where Coll MacDonald was waiting for them.

Keppoch had been joined by contingents sent by his kinsmen of Glengarry and Glencoe and by the MacMartins, a sept of Clan Cameron who had probably taken possession of Mackintosh land. With about 800 men at his back, Coll MacDonald deployed on Maol Ruadh, a low hill at the mouth of the glen, not far from Spean Bridge. They were outnumbered two to one but the MacDonald captains would employ a simple tactic – one that would help determine the course of British politics over the following 60 years. Lachlan Mackintosh should have known better when his men and Captain Mackenzie’s government soldiers, probably believing that their numbers would prevail, made the cardinal mistake of advancing uphill against a force of Highlanders. One of Mackenzie’s recruits was Donald MacBane. As a civilian, he had been a tobacco spinner in Inverness and he left a frank, funny and fascinating record of what happened next. It is a rare memoir of what it was like to face a Highland charge:

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