The 1715 Jacobites

[Cameronian]

The Jacobites of 1715.
I found a folder of Jacobite letters during my last visit to the National Archives which were all directed to, or held by John Earl of Mar. Commander in Chief of his Majesties forces in Scotland….. It has always impressed me in the many conflicts that our ancestors found surrounding them, that it was those in Command that the storyline covered, not the men who, marched, supported and in the main, died along with them, therefore the manner in which these decisions were made and the men who made them is always of interest…… these are some of these letters all covering the month of October 1715.

October 5 1715

Sir,
Yours I had the favour of late last night, tho threatening of this Garrison hinders my men much from rising, I shall make all possible dispatch, and will be, as yet by all good and ready to join you as the McLeans, I hear there is some debates betwixt him and Lochbouy who will not join him nor allow one of his men to join which hath put a stop all this time to Sir John’s foray. I wrote to Sir John some days ago to lay aside all debates and to forray with such as he hath in readiness.
I met Clanranald on his March and told him it was the General’s express order to him to join you at Glenorchy yet I am informed he hath taken the Badonch road Appin how soon he joins you will acquaint you with paper betwixt him, Lochnell, and me having met them in order to have their positive answer which you will be informed of by Appin. McDonnall is marched and Frazordale , it will be Monday or before I can march, but will then with all expedition march towards you. Appin is to begin his march this day being in haste with my humble favour to Glengarry and please receive the same.

Much honoured, your affectionate servant. J Camerone

All my friends and myself have received threatening letters from the Governor of Fort William showing that he hath express orders to fall upon and destroy all how soon we rise, which letters I’ll show you at meeting

10 October 1715
(marked, this must be to Keppoch)

Sutherland and I doubt not they have engaged by this time, the design of this express is that Lochyeal and you would march down this way at least through Strathorick and if your people be not ready that you would come with two or three hundred men. I expect a reinforcement will be here with me before you can be here and then I might march to your concurrence with a good part and so overawe those that they would do no great harm till my Seaforth come over who when the McLeods have joined will be very near 4000 men. I see no better assistance you could at this time do to the King’s service, for if Lochyeal and you join to Seaforth you might leave all the North in peace behind you and March freely to the General’s assistance, take this to your serious consideration, dispatch the bearer to me and send another with this letter to Lochyeal but haste your own march hither as you tender your King’s interest. I am your humble Servant, John McKenzie

[Alans]

great research Bhal a charaid!
The anxiety and uncertainty-and hope of the '15 expressed in a few letters. What hard decisions needed to be made by those who were in the middle!

Dia duit a Bhal an Seannachie mhor na Camshronaich!

[Cameronian]

Thank you Allan for those kind remarks, however I should have taken more time in assembling what I had, so now in the hope of setting the scene.

The 1715 Jacobite rising.

I guess what I should have done, and what would not be inappropriate, is to set the scene and put onto centre stage the owner and/or writer of these letters……John Erskine 6th Earl of Mar

The rising in 1715 was by far the biggest of the rising and had a better chance of success, not only were the Jacobites in Scotland out, but there had been a rising in the North of England, Sir Ewen Cameron was by then too old to take the field and was represented by his son John (later Lochiel XVlll and father of Gentle Lochiel ) In October 1715 John 6th Earl of Mar had sent out two striking forces to the west and south. The soundness of which will forever be questioned, General Alexander Gordon of Auchintoul was sent off to dispatch Argyll and capture Inveraray, then march on to Dumbarton and Glasgow….. the Campbell’s defended what was their Clan capital and Gordon’s Jacobite force knew that they were wasting time in the wrong place.

When Mar finally recalled General Gordon, and Brigadier William Mackintosh of Borlum who by the 12th October had taken Inverness, crossed the Forth with 2000 men and instead of moving against Argyll was directed against Edinburgh were he was repulsed…. It was all too late. Mar had waited until he had a force superior to Argyll, which finally occurred, the margin so large that Mar did not need to defeat Argyll, all he had to do was fight and Argyll could probably not have replaced a day’s losses to allow a serious stand on the second day, but he failed to concentrate these forces and by the 13 Nov the fate of this Jacobite Rising was decided and settled by an indecisive battle of Sheriffmuir, only weeks before James Francis Edward Steuart landed at Peterhead on 22 December 1715.

And so it starts:

By John Earl of Mar
Commander in Chief of his Majesties Forces ins Scotland

To the Rt Hon Major General Gordon
To the King’s Forces in Argyllshire.

These are ordering and empowering you that when you have joined in Argyllshire conform to the order which you had from me of the first of this August to march to the House and town of Inveraray and to surround those now in possession of them in the King’s name to surrender them to you and in case of a refusal to take possession of them by force of arms and thereafter you are to put a Garrison into the said house to keep it for his Majesties use and to have the town in the hands of those who are well affected to his Majesty for the doing of which their shall be to you a sufficient warrand, given at Brae Mar the ninth day of September one Thousand seven hundred and fifteenth …………Mar

[Alans]

The other side of the coin is that people may well be too hard on Mar and ignore the opponent he faced, Red John Campbell the Duke of Argyll. I have no Campbell blood, except from those who married into the Camerons before 1745; but I do admire his bold counter attack at Sheriffmuir when vastly outnumbered( about 3 to 1 ) and his fighting retreat into Dunblane, which really gave the Jacobites pause. This was coupled with the fact that many of the foot soldiers on the Stuart side were "relectant" recruits who departed the battle once it was sufficently confused.
This very able man also changed the landholding system in the highlands, some would say for the worse; but all eventually followed him.
There is no doubt in my mind that Sheriffmuir was the real beginning of the UK despite the "official" Act of Union; and Red John for good or ill the man who made it happen. At least his arguments for a moderate response were heeded at that time; unlike a generation later.
It would have been very interesting if someone as able as Lord George Murray had been at the Old pretender's service in the '15.

Dia duit a Bhal na Camshronaich!

[Cameronian]

Alan, I don’t think that I can agree re The Earl of Mar, from the letters here and from the way he has passed on down through history (and through the actions of our own Clan) Mar was neither popular nor trusted.’ Bobbing John’ had been one of the Commissioners sent to London to treat for the Union, he had actively supported repressive measures after the failure of the French invasion and was Secretary of State for Scotland when Anne died. Offering his loyalty to her successor he was rejected and before he had returned to his home in Deeside he was a zealous Jacobite.

From his encampment in Perth he sent off demands, orders and contradictions to previous instructions,

To read these letters puts substance to why the role played by the Clan Cameron was not noteworthy, John Cameron of Lochiel did not want to bring out his men. They were aware that the moment they made a move, Fort William would descend upon their Clan lands, the Clan in Morvern and Sunart knew that should they join, they would leave their land and families to the mercy of the Campbells,

As I transcribe these letters I will post them on the site, not all Cameron material, but perhaps a reason why the Clan could seen a better option that following Mar.

As for Argyll, he was under siege on his own land, he had no where to go other than against the Jacobites.

As you can see, it was not only John Cameron that was threatened……

To General Gordon

Honourable Sir,

I had the honour of your line and tho I am most anxious to join you I cannot as yet be positive how soon I can do it, the Country people being terrified by the Garrison of Fort William who threatens to destroy all the country how soon as ever we leave it. However, I resolved to endeavour to get a party of them to march with me that the most should stay from me at this occasion but how soon this can be done I cannot as yet determine only it shall be how soon I can, in the mean time I am.
Honourable Sir, your most humble and obedient servant Macdonell

Keppoch 3rd October 1715

[Cameronian]

As the Scottish historian Prof Bruce Lenman comments " It required real talent for Mar to lose the game, but he proved equal to the challenge".

Two dispatches on the same day to General Alexander Gordon of Auchintoul:

Sir
I had the favour of yours of the 30th last night and am very glad you expect to be joined so soon by those who ought to have been with you long ago

I have ordered as you desired Glenglyle. Rob Roy , Balhaldie and the MacGrigors with them to join you and to follow the orders you give them.

Your Chief his Highland men were last night in Stratharle, but it will be the end of the week before he with his Low country people and his Horse can be here and longer I’m afraid before Seaforth can by reason of some interruptions he finds in those parts from the enemy, Sutherland the Munros, Rosses etc but I have wrote to him to day and I hope he’ll be with us soon with good numbers and yet not leave that country entirely open to the enemy.

This and some other things will make it longer ‘for I can march from this place than I intended, but I’ll loose no time and during my stay we shall not be idle as the bearer can tell you we have not been already. We have found a new use for horse, a part of them two nights ago took a ship in the road of Bruntisland with arms and ammunitions, this is a good beginning and ere long I hope to give you account of something more considerable.

The service you are going about when once the rest join you is of great consequence and the more because of the arms Glendaruel writes me are lately put into Inveraray therefore you are to loose no time in going about it with all expedition , but you would take care that you be sufficiently able to execute it and out of danger of being affronted. I will not bog in with burning houses so I hope you will have no occasion of doing that to the house of Inveraray and tho you may threaten it, you most not put it in execution till you acquaint me and have my return , let care also be taken of the Policy (as they call it) about the house of that it receives no damage, and every thing else as little as possible.

After you have done the work at Inveraray, which upon resistance I think you had better do by a blockade that storm you may precede westward conform to the former orders but by reason of my not marching from hence so soon as I intended you would not march so far that way, but that you can join us upon occasion nearer than Monteith if there should be mood for it, tho I scarce believe there will, or that we can send you a reinforcement from here if they should think of acquiring you not any considerable force from Stirling

Let me hear from you accounts of you procedure from time to time, I hope the 50 bolls of meal I sent you are there and that you will make shift with that, the carriage from hence being so far.

My services to Glengary and Glendaruel which is all I now have time to say, but that I am Sir, your most obedient humble servant Mar.

From the Camp of Perth Oct 4th 1715



Sir,

I wrote to you this morning so fully that I did not think of writing again for several days, but your of the 3rd together with Glengary’s and Glendaruel’s of the same date, which I had tonight does so surprise me with those to join you not being yet come up nor that you expect them till Thursday that I could not but review your former orders and that the loss of time may be made up in diligence and dispatch after they join you.

The delay has made their work more difficult by it allowing Finnab to get some men at Inveraray and those that came not up to you conform to their orders and appointment have themselves to blame for it, but there’s an absolute necessity to dispose those people with Finnab when you must immediately after your folk come up to you get about it, conform to you former orders make yourselves masters of Inveraray This had been a easy work had people come to Glengary in time and since they area by their delays the occasion of any difficulty that, now in it , I think it byes upon them to be most active and forward in removing it, which I am persuaded they will not disappoint me in as you may tell them from me with my complements to them,

The army here is now on a regular foot of pay at threepence a day and three loaves or that quantity of meal in place of the bread, which is fully as good as the pay of the soldiers at Stirling. I hope you will easily find provisions for suggesting the armies with you , till we meet and you would keep an account of this pay till that time which shall be made up then to each of the men with you I suppose the men with you will not be over well armed but what they want of that can be well supply’d at Inveraray where I know a goodly number are lately come and tho Highland men will not let the affront by on them of their being left there.

Pray return my thanks to Glendaruel for what he has provided you with , which I hope shall be no loss to him in a little time and give my humble service to Glengary of whom I see every day now proof of honour and worth which his King and country cannot be over mindful of.

I’ll trouble you no more now, but I’ll long to hear from you and I am in all esteem Sir, your most obedient humble servant Mar

From the Camp of Perth Oct 4th 1715

[Alans]

Again a very interesting document. I certainly agree with Lenman's assessment of Mar's effort in the '15, but I would also argue that he faced very resolute opposition ( even heroic?)indeed at Sherriffmuir. The '45 was an entirely different affair until Bonnie Prince Charles invaded England and really frightened the powers of the day.
It is again interesting to speculate on what might have happened in Scotland in 1715 had Argyll not checked Mar at Sherriffmuir. I suspect many waverers would have joined in the rising, and perhaps the recent union may well have been reversed. I still can't see how James 3rd (Or the Old Pretender) could have ultimately triumphed in Scotland due to his stubborn adherence to Catholicism.
He must have been reasonably impressed with Mar's efforts to have taken him into exile following his own belated landing.
If we could only go back in time even as observers only!!

Dia duit a bhal na Camshronaich!

[Cameronian]

Alan said……If we could only go back in time even as observers only!!

Well I guess as we read these letters, that is exactly what we do….. so now we have introduced the subject of intrigue……. Just at the time when the King is about to arrive

This note is unsigned and attached to a later note from Mar
A person who was at Stirling yesterday (whose report I have ground to credit) informs me that Finnab had writ to the Duke of Argyle that Lochiel, Appin and Lochnell offers to come in under protection of the Government and that his Grace had writ to Finnab to receive them and assure them of Protection…
Oct 5

And now from Mar
This note I had just now from a good hand near Stirling, but I hope his information is not true, for I cannot believe it possible that those Gentlemen have so little honour and Honesty, however I thought it fit to send it you and you may show it to Glengary and Glendaruel if you think fit to the Gentlemen themselves
Mar ……Oct 5


Mar to Gordon.
Sir,
Ogilvy of Boyn came to me last night from our Majesty the King with my new commission and letters. The letters are all in cypher which is a hard one, so they are not yet got decyphered.

There is a letter too in the same decipher from Allan to Lochiel which as soon as it is Deciphered shall be sent by another express but I would not delay sending the inclosed note of the signals that no time may be lost in case of the Kings coming on the west coast. I hope Lochyeal is with you oór now, you would consult with him Glengarry and Glendaruel and what other of the Gentlemen with you , you think fitt how to place trusty people along that coast for receiving and answering the signal and doing what also is necessary upon that occasion and be sure there be no times lost in it.

I understand from Boyn before Lochyeal’s letter is deciphered that it is desiring him to leave some of his men about his place of the country to expect a ship with arms so this he would take care of and when I send his letter deciphered which will be in a few hours, he’ll know this more particularly .

I’m now assured your arms are not strong enough and if you and the Gentlemen with you think so you may call for Lord Breadalbane’s two Battalions who were to have marched here and I have sent orders to them to halt until they hear from you, therefore you must write to them whether they should join you or me, which ever they will and according as you order them.

Earl Marshall with 200 horse is just coming in and Lt. Huntly is to be with us tomorrow, This is all I have time to say but that I am you most obedient humble servant……..Mar
From Camp of Perth October 7th afternoon

[Cameronian]

It is very wrong to start a thread and not complete the subject, even though we know the outcome.

Perhaps we do not fully understand the reason that it all failed, and perhaps these letters which passed between Mar and his followers will not provide all the insight required to assign the clear blame, but as with those previously read, the delay, the indecision, the lack of stores, and the non delivery of same are all sitting there with no clear indication that any were being attended to, so let’s bring it to an end with a report that was sent to both Clanranald and Glengarry on 5th November 1715 by a young John McLean Trumpet from Stirling Camp. (Sadly within days of this Clanranald would be dead.)

He appears quite young, as his rank would suggest, quite cheeky and self-assured and one wonders if it were lads like him that were employed as the Intelligence gathers on other such occasions……

To Clanranald and Glengarry
5 Nov 1715

I, John McLean Trumpet went by order of the Right Hon The Earl of Mar to the camp of Stirling from Perth the 30th of October and on the 31st about nine in the morning as I came near to the Bridge of that place I sounded two calls and a Sergeant with five men were sent to me and carrying me to the office of the Guard asked me several questions and particularly what my purpose there with my Trumpet was.

I answered that I had brought a letter from the Earl of Mar to his Grace the Duke of Argyle which I showed to the officer, and this officer left me a little and retuned, and then carried me to the Duke’s Lodging and from that to the Guard, about an hour there after the Captain of the Guard took the letter from me to the Duke and a little after the delivery of the letter I was carried up to a room above the Guard and two Continolls put upon the door, the Captain of the Guard staying with me alone for about half an hour asked me several question, particularly who commanded immediately under the Earl of Mar, what were the number of his rebels, what was their daily pay, how near the Earl of Seaforth was and when the Army intended to march from Perth, to which I answered, I did not know Officers names, but there were many of them.. That the foot were upward of 15,000 the pay was 4 pence a day, and bread and meal, that the Earl of Seaforth was at Dunkeld with 4000 men and 1000 horse and that at Perth and Auchtorardor there were upward of 1500 horse and that I heard within a day or two the Army was to march from Perth and surround the Duke and take him and his Army prisoners.

The officer left me and I was shut up, the person who had this conversation with me was Major Cathcart, sometime thereafter the Captain of the Guard came along with a Continol who brought me my dinner viz roast beef and a bottle of wine and in the afternoon a second bottle of wine and at night a third in the evening, a Gentleman came to me with a paper in his hand, out of which he read the names of a great many Gentlemen that were wounded near town and particularly Mr George McKenzie shot through the neck and lying mortally sick, to which I answered that the evening I came from the Earl of Mar’s quarters I saw Mr McKenzie perfectly well. The next day about 12 o’clock the Captain of the Guard came up to me and desired me to take up the Trumpet and come along with him and when I came to the Guard General Whotham was there and spoke to me this, you are to acquaint the Earl of Mar that no prejudice is done to his Lodgings, Plantings or Gardens, nor shall it be for the country’s good and the King’s advantage that the prisoners were all well used you as well as any – the Duke was concerned for the loss of Dumferling and that what was done there, was to prevent thieving and robbing and to keep the country quiet. Whotham went off and I was conveyed out of the Garrison by the Sergeant and four Soldiers, before I came off I saws Dr Gordon in a room off from the Guards and spoke to him, Dr Gordon desired me to tell the Marquis of Huntley that he was most mercifully treated and that the Duke’s own Surgeon dressed his wounds twice a day. I saw also several officers asking him kindly how he was.

Before I came off I was directed to return by the way of the muir to be safe from the scouts, the Army is still encamped in the Park, there is no fortifications on the Bridge nor from the Gate within to the Guard, I saw no Continol.

Mr Cathcart showed me his embroidered vest and asked me if I saw any Gentlemen at Perth with a vest such as his was, I said I saw thousands of braw men with embroidered coats and vests.

What is above is true matter of fact…….. John McLean

(Mr Cathcart was Major General Cathcart who a Shriffmuir on the 13th November, only a couple of days after this meeting, charged at the Jacobites at the head of the Scots Greys, and contributed materially to the overthrow of the left wing of Mar’s army. His Majesty rewarded him and later he became Lord Cathcart

[Cameronian]

And so to the end..... and I hope the permission of Bob Hoare a dedicated Jacobite scholar, much more sympathetic of Mar than I, and whose notes I have heavily leaned on to finish off this thread........Val

The Earl of Mar, John Erskin, will not be found in the Pantheon of Jacobite Heroes. He was not cut from the same cloth as Montrose, Dundee, Sarsfield, Murray, or even Charles Edward Stuart but he was not the duplicitous incompetent he has been often portrayed.

Slightly crippled and hump-backed Mar was then as he is now vilified by friend and foe alike both for what he did and what he failed to do. Mar should be judged, however, in the context of the all of the events of the period as well as in relation to the other primary players and their responsibilities for the failure of the '15.

After the Union of 1707 Mar along with other Scottish nobles and gentry had to re-educate themselves politically when called to attend the Parliament in Westminster. There his political instincts served him well and he soon became one of the more politically adept Scots in Parliament. His reputation as being duplicitous has always been linked to his flattering letters and petitions through other Scottish Nobles (some of whom later joined Mar) What has not been fully appreciated, however, is the development of party politics during Anne's regime which was continuing to evolve and the notion of a loyal "constitutional" opposition to the King's government was understood by some as a reasonable way of participating in government.

In fact between 1711 and 1715 there were somewhere between 30 to 50 Jacobites acting within the Tory Parliamentary Party and a few scattered among the more moderate Whigs. Led by William Shippen.

Many of these supporters of the Stuart claim truly believed that restoration could be achieved by non-violent, parliamentary means. Shippen had an unsullied reputation for honesty,and his colleagues saw Anne's reign as an interregnum after which Anne would probably name James Edward as her successor. Unfortunately, the Whigs were in Anne's bedchamber while her dead body was still warm destroying any and all documents that would refute or at least call into question the Hanoverian ascendancy. Nevertheless, Shippen and his colleagues would persist in their constitutional approach as Mar and others
tested the Elector to see how inclusive his government would be.

It did not take long to see the Electors intentions. He personally refused to recognize Mar and other Scots when he landed at Greenwich and by this action, the Elector made it perfectly clear that the Tories and some moderate Whigs, whether English or Scots, were to be excluded from any office or consideration of any kind. In effect, he came to England to head up the Whig party where the Whigs would be rewarded with offices so that English arms and blood would protect the interest of Hanover on the continent.

If however, the politicians could not sort out their problems in Westminster, the countryside was making itself heard. During the year's time between Anne's death and the outbreak of the '15 there were many Jacobite demonstrations and riots in all English counties except for the Home Counties and puritan East Anglia. "No Hanover and Marlborough but a Stuart and a Berwick" was the oft-uttered refrain during these disturbances according to many newspaper reports of the time. Even more significant was the passive response to these incidents by local authorities. So passive were the justices and magistrates that a very concerned House of Commons passed a resolution in July 1715 calling for an investigation and punishment of all the magistrates who failed to suppress rebelliousness.

With country-side was awash with largely uncontested Jacobite activity, warrants were quickly issued and many prominent politicians and nobility were arrested and jailed. The Brigade of Guards was even suspect. One of its Colonels was arrested immediately and charged with recruiting soldiers for King James. While the arrested officer was later cleared other lesser officers were cashiered because they were suspected of being Jacobites.

The Jacobites had a reasonably well conceived strategy in 1715. The rising in Scotland under the Earl of Mar was to be a diversionary one and was not considered central to the main thrust. Mar was to hold Scotland and provide the border force with additional soldiers which he did..

The Western rising was quickly tripped up from the beginning by extremely good English intelligence both at home and in Paris where the English Ambassador, the Earl of Stair, sometimes knew what the Jacobites were up to before King James did. As late as November the energetic Earl sent assassins to intercept James who was en route to the French coast. Their attempt was thwarted by a local French post mistress who found their inquiry about the whereabouts of the "Pretender" peculiar to say the least for men who presented themselves as Jacobites. (It seems that the Jacobites did not have a monopoly on stupidity during the '15).

While Mar appeared to be wandering aimlessly around Scotland with a force of between 5000 to 10,000 men from mid September to early November, the northern insurgents, against advice and allowed themselves to get bottled up in Preston where they were quickly surrounded by two English columns.

By now the western rising had failed and could not be resuscitated. The Plan of Campaign was altered so that the main thrust would be made in Scotland. And so we now come full circle….

The Earl of Mar was foremost a politician and a not without successes. No Jacobite but probably more "Tory" than anything else. Mar carried most of the Scottish Nobility with him. An examination of the Attainder List of Scottish nobles after the '15 support this view of Mar's influence.

Earls: Airlie, Carnwath, Linlithgow, Marischal, Nithsdale, Perth, Seaforth, Sinclair, Southesk and Wintoun.
Viscounts: Kenmure, Kilsyth, Kingston.
Barons: Balfour of Burleigh, Dingwall, Duffus, Nairne.

It was The Duke of Argyll who chose the battle field at Sheriffmuir. The topography supported Argyll's one advantage. It was well suited for cavalry of which he was numerically stronger. To achieve victory, Argyll only had to stop Mar but Mar had to destroy Argyll's force.

Both forces lined up in the traditional battle formations. However, unbeknownst to both commanders their respective right flanks overlapped. After a musket volley, Mar ordered his left flank to attack. Argyll believing that this was the main thrust drew off part of his middle line and with his cavalry broke and drove back the attacking force.

Again, with knowing the disposition of his left Mar, who had positioned himself on his front right centre front to lead the attack swept forward with his right and centre breaking and driving the Argyll's left flank almost as far back as Sterling.

But it was more than excellent English intelligence which doomed the '15 in West. Twenty seven years earlier on the plains before the city of Salisbury, King James' father was attended by an extraordinary group of soldiers mustered to oppose a foreign invasion: John Graham of Claverhouse, Patrick Sarsfield, James FitzJames and John Churchill known to posterity respectively as Dundee, Lucan, Berwick and Marlborough. Only Marlborough cut and ran when King James II vacillated on that fateful day. His son, on the other hand, had to content himself with the leadership of Ormond, Bolingbroke, Mar and Forster of whom Mar may have been the most substantial of this latter group.

The goal of the Jacobites was to change a dynasty. Dynastic change, forcible or negotiated, requires a broad spectrum of military, political, economic, and social conditions being brought to the fore…Each Jacobite rising reflected some combination of these attributes. If the '45 was driven by force of the Prince Regent's personality and the absolute loyalty of his private men, both Highland and Lowland, the '44 promised the most significant foreign military commitment ever imagined by Jacobites (10,000 battle-hardened French and Irish soldiers under the leadership of Marshal Saxe, a leading French Protestant military hero), the '15 was initially driven by wide spread disapproval of the new regime in England and Scotland among all strata of society.

That all of these failed is the history we now live with, every American, Australian, Canadian, New Zealander who carry the Scottish Ancestry of those who were there, touched by, actively involved with, or lost in the cause can only read and question the leadership of these risings… and wonder … What if?…..

[Alans]

I personally have no problem liviing with the History of Sherriffmuir. Obviously with the benefit of Hindsight you could list all the Historical advantages to World History, and Canada, Australia and New zealand in particular with respect to our wonderful British Heritage and I am a republican in Australian terms. I even suspect US History may well have been different had the united british of the post Culloden era not broken french power in North America just prior to their revolt against George 3rd.
The saddest thing about the first 50 years of C18th Scots History is the second major Jacobite rebellion and the intense suffering that engulfed many ordinary Scots. After the 15 the Government was relatively restrained following the advice of Argyll and other magnates.
It is always so easy to forget the agonies endured by the ordinary folk of gaeldom and the North East after BPC's rebellion. All classes suffered but for the poor it was undoubtedly worse.. One example alone will suffice of the Grants of Glenmoriston sold out by their own Chief to enhance his standing with the authorities.
Much is also made of the harshness of government policy after the '45. Policy was without doubt severe but perspective can be lost too I think. The treatment of presbyterian dissidents in the C17th by Cromwellian forces and the last Stuarts was not gentle. Dundee the Jacobite hero, an able and very brave man, was also extremely harsh in the suppression of religious dissidents .
The relatively mild reaction to the 15 was not all that typical of governments anywhere in Europe at that time to major rebellions.
The amazing loyalty of many highland emigrants and their children to the hanoverian monarchy during the American revolution, indicates to me that they were very accepting of the result of Culloden, possibly being relieved that the dynastic struggle was finally over.
The '45 was a major event in Scots History but the '15 really was the more interesting rebellion- its good that a thread like this has explored its significance. Val's excellent research sheds a lot of light on this much neglected event. Your point of view may be different along with one's perspective; but its easy to get carried away by dramatic events that attract gifted writers. My own opinion is that Sherriffmuir, Bannockburn and Flodden are the battles that really affected scots history in profound way after 1000AD..
Wallace as a subject is often preferred by historians and their readers to the Bruce for reasons both romantic and ideological, and Culloden to Sherriffmuir for much the same reasons. I'm much more drawn to the Bruce's career and to the '15 because there's more complexity in the associated History within these topics..

[billcam]

A Jacobite's letter home from America 1717.

As long as we are reading lettters here is one I found this past winter published in Maryland Historical Magazine Vol. 1 1906.

Letter from Donald MacPherson, a young Lad who was sent to Virginia with Captain Toline, in the year 1715 on account of his having joined his Chieftain in the Cause of his King and Country; he was born near the House of Colloden, where his father then lived.

(easier if you read it aloud)

Portobago in Marylan, te 2d June 1717.

Deer lofen ant kynt Fater,

Dis is to lat you ken I am in guid Healt, plissed bi God for dat, houpin to heer de lyk frae you. As I am you hane Sinn, I wad a bine ill-leart gin I had na latten you ken tis by Kaptin Rogir's Skip dat geas te Inverness, per cunnan I dinna ket sik a anitter Apertunitie dis Towmon agen. De Skip dat I kam in was a lang Tym o de See cummin oure heir : bat plissit bi Got for a Ting, wi a kipit our Heels unco weel pat Shonie Mag Willivray, dat hat ay a sair Heet. Dere was saxty o's a kame inte te Quintry hel a Lit and Lim, and nane o's a dyit pat Shonie Mag Willivary and a nitter Ross Lad dat kam oure wi's; and may pi dem Twa wad a dyt tey hed biden at hame, gin tey hed bin hangit be Cukil Shordie, or kilt be he his cursed Red-Cuits; tey tuik frae me my pony Cun, Pestil, Turk and Pled, and left me neting. Pe my Fait I kanna komplin for kumin to dis Quintry, for Mestir Nicols, Lort pliss him, pat mi till a pra Mestir, dey ca Shon Bayne, and hi lifes in Marylant, in de Rifer Potomak, hi nifer gart mi wurk ony Ting pat fat I lykit myself; de meast o a Wark is waterin a pra stennt Hors, and pringin Wyn and Pread ut o de Sellir to my Mestir's Tebil. Sin efer I kan til him , I nefer wantit a Potte of petter Ele nor is in a Shon Glass Hous; for I ay sit toun wi de Pairns te Dennir. My Mester seys til me, Fan I kan speek lyk de Fouk hier, dat I sanna pi pidden di nating pat gar his Plackimors wurk; for desvt Foulk hier dinna ise te wurk pat te first Yeer efter dey kum in te de Quintry : Tey speek lyke de Sogers in Inerness.

Lofen Fater, Fan de Servants hier he deen wi der Mestirs they grou unco rich, and its ne wonder, for dey mak a hantil o Tombako, and de Switis and Apels, and de Shirries, and de Pires, grou in de wuds wantin Tyks aput dem; de Swynes, de Teuks, an Durkies gangs in de Wuds wantin Mestirs; de Tumbako grous shust lyke de Dokins at de Bak o de Lairts Yart; an de Skips kum frea ilk a Plece, and bys dem, and gies a hantel of Siller and Gier for dem. My nane Mastir kam til de Quintry a Servant, and weil I wat hes now wort mony a Tusan Punt. Fait ye mey pelive mi de pirest Plantir hire lifes amest as weil as de Lairt o Collottin. Mey pi fan my Tym is ut I wol kom herm and sie yow, pat not for the first nor de neest Yeer, til I gatir somting o my nane; for I ha deen wi my Mestir, hi maun gi mi a Plantashion, and set me up, its de Quistum hier in dis Quintrie; and syn I houp to gor yow trink Wyn instead o Tippeni in Inerness. I wiss I het kum owr heir twa or tri Yeirs seener nor I dit, syn I wad ha kum de seener hame; put Got bi tankit dat I kam as seen as I dit. Gin ye koud sen mi owr be ony o yur Ineress Skips ony Tiny te mi, anit war so mukle Crays as mak a Queit, it wad mey pe gar my Mestir tink te mare o mi : Its tru, I ket Clais aneu frea him, bat ony Ting frae yu wad luk weil and pony. And plese Got, git I life, I sall pey pu pack agen.

Lofen Fater, De Man dat vryts dis Letir fo mi. is van Shames Mackeyne, he lifes shust a myl frea mi ; he peen unco kyn te mi sin efer I kam te de Quintrie ; hi was porn in Petie, and kam owr a Servant frea Klescou, and he peen his nane Man twa Yeirs, and hes sex Plakimors wurkin til him alrety, makin Tumbako ilk a Tay ; heil win him shortly, and a te Geir dat he hes wun heir, and py a Lortskip at hem. Luik dat ye dinna forket te vryt til mi ay fan ye ket ony Ocashion. Got Almighte pliss you, Fater, and a de leve o de Hous, for I hena forkoten nane o yu, nor dinna yu forket mi. For pliss Got I sal kum hem wi Gier aneuch to di yu a and my nanesal guid. I weit ye will bi veri vokic fan ye si yur nane Sin's Fesh agen, for I heve leart a hatil hevins sen I sau yu, and I am unco Buik leirt. I houp tey he shest me ti me Crace. Got blis our ain King Shames yet nu, I'm verie sire te Lord wul sent him pack agen to Skotlan, to I sud niver see de Tay. Got seve him, I wull prey tat a me Tays.

A tis is frea yur nane lofen and opedient Sin,

Tonal Makaferson

Directed, for Shames Makaferson, neit te Lairt of Collottin's House neir Inerness, in de Nort o Skotlan