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Massacre of Glencoe 1692
On the night of the 12-13 February, Captain Thomas Drummond of Argyll's Regiment of Foot delivers orders from Major Robert Duncanson to Captain Robert Campbell of Glenlyon who is quartered in #Glencoe with a detachment of Argyll's regiment... /1
On the night of the 12-13 February, Captain Thomas Drummond of Argyll's Regiment of Foot delivers orders from Major Robert Duncanson to Captain Robert Campbell of Glenlyon who is quartered in #Glencoe with a detachment of Argyll's regiment... /1
“You are hereby ordered to fall upon the rebells, the McDonalds of Glenco, and put all to the sword under seventy. you are to have a speciall care that the old Fox and his sones doe upon no account escape your hands, you are to secure all the avenues that no man escape"... /2
Glenlyon and his detachment had arrived in #Glencoe on 1 Feb with orders for quartering. 120 men were quartered in settlements in the glen. The rest of the regiment remained at Ballachulish under Major Duncanson .../3
Glenlyon assured the MacDonald chief, MacIain, that he intended no harm. Indeed it is probable that Glenlyon and his men had no idea what they would be ordered to do in two weeks time. The lack of accommodation at Fort William was one possible excuse to explain the move... /4
Englishman Colonel John Hill, an old Cromwellian and commander at Fort William, was horrified when the orders to attack the MacDonalds came through from Scottish high command. Major Duncanson and Lt Col James Hamilton did not have the same reservations.../5
The commander-in-chief of the Scots Army, Thomas Livingstone, felt that Colonel Hill's mildness towards highlanders was a liability and begins to write orders to Lt Col Hamilton, effectively bypassing Hill, who in the end capitulates and lets Hamilton take over the operation.. /6
Although the MacDonalds had raided Glenlyon's lands in 1689 and helped to put him in debt, there was no open animosity between himself and MacIain. Glenlyon's niece had married one of MacIain's sons and was living in the glen at the time... /7
Concerned that the Scottish government troops might begin to disarm his clan, MacIain had most of the clan's weapons moved to his summer house in Gleann Leac na Muidhe.../8
The operation against the Macdonalds of #Glencoe was not an isolated event but part of a larger move by Scottish government forces against Jacobite clans in the West and explains the large number of troops available in Fort William for the operation... /9
On 12-13 February, while Glenlyon is quartered in Glencoe, and Major Duncanson is waiting at Ballachulish, Lt Col Hamilton leads 400 men of Colonel Hill's regiment out of Fort William to Kinlochleven, ready to cut off the eastern end of the glen.../10
Hamilton orders Duncanson to move in from the west and begin the massacre at 0500. He instructs him not to take prisoners. Duncanson then writes his own orders to Glenlyon instructing him to fall upon the MacDonalds at 0500 and not to wait for him... /11
Blizzard conditions sweep the glen when Captain Drummond of the grenadier company arrives with the orders for Glenlyon. Getting orders to the troops scattered through the glen would be difficult and Glenlyon made no attempt to secure escape routes... /12
Glenlyon musters his men at Inverrigan and sends orders to his soldiers in the other settlements in the glen. MacIain, suspicious of the sudden movements, is assured by Glenlyon that the troops are only getting ready to march off... /13
It is now shortly after 0500 on 13 February 1692 and the Massacre of #Glencoe is about to begin... /14
The plan for the operation against the MacDonalds of Glencoe... /15
At the settlement of Polveig, Lieutenant Lindsay and Ensign Lundie and their troops enter MacIain's home on the banks of the River Coe. He greets them and is met with a musket volley - he falls dead instantly... /16
Two of MacIain's servants are also killed. A third man present is wounded but not killed as he is not a Glencoe man. MacIain's wife is stripped naked and cast out into the snow. Lt Lindsay's party now moves off in search of MacIain's sons... /17
MacIain's sons have been warned by their servants and are able to escape. At Achnacone, a sergeant and his party open fire on a group of men, killing MacDonald of Achtriochtan and 4 others. Another 4 are wounded but allowed to escape... /18
The musket fire is alerting people nearby, giving them time to escape, perhaps on purpose. At Inverrigan, Glenlyon has 9 men lined up and shot. He finishes them off personally with a bayonet. Afterwards, he is alleged to be frozen in despair... /19
Glenlyon attempts to spare two young boys, but Captain Drummond came and had them shot claiming that "a nit, if spared, would grow into a louse". In the glen most of the able-bodied men have been able to flee, the only targets left are the old... /20
The soldiers begin setting fire to the houses as the fleeing MacDonald's attempt to make their way to neighbouring Stewart and Campbell lands to seek refuge. Many will die in the freezing conditions before they can reach safety... /21
Major Duncanson and his troops move into Glencoe at around 0700 and find that most of the inhabitants have escaped. Lt Col Hamilton reaches Kinlochleven at 1100 and sends out detachments towards Glencoe, but he has failed to effectively seal off the eastern end of the glen... /22
A group of survivors from Glencoe reaches Castle Stalker, the former Stewart of Appin stronghold now held by the Campbells. Despite the fact that Campbell of Airds' company was operating against the MacDonalds the Airds family at the castle give them food and shelter.../23
After burning some homes and barns, Hamilton leads his troops back to Fort William, driving some 400 cows along with sheep and goats with them. The MacDonalds would later claim the loss of 900 cows and 200 horses... /24
Colonel Hill later reported that MacIain, MacDonald of Achtriochtan and thirty-six other men were directly killed in the massacre... /25
What made the massacre so infamous was the troops turning on their hosts after spending two weeks quartered with them. The plan to quarter the troops in the glen appears to have been Lt Col Hamilton's idea... /26
So as not to arouse suspicion, Glenlyon was chosen to lead the troops into Glencoe as his own niece was living in the glen, married to one of MacIain's sons. He was also heavily in debt and would be unwilling to risk his commission by disobeying orders... /27
The Macdonalds of Glencoe were a small and unpopular clan, notorious for raiding and stealing cattle from their neighbours and presented the perfected target for Dalrymple's policy. The late taking of the Oath of Allegiance to William and Mary was all the excuse he needed. /28
