DONALD CAMERON OF LOCHIEL, CHIEF OF CLAN CAMERON (PART TWO)

On 19^th August 1745, Prince Charles Edward Stuart sailed to Glenfinnan at the head of Loch Shiel with the 300 men of Clanranalds, which at that moment comprised the whole of the Jacobite Army. He waited there for over two nailbiting hours, before he finally heard the skirl of the pipes heralding the arrival of 300 Keppochs and 700 Camerons, led by Lochiel himself. With him were two of his brothers, Dr Archie, and the priest Alexander, who acted as chaplain.  Prince Charles gave a short but inspiring speech, and a toast was given with brandy from the Du Teillay.

Glenfinnan, where Prince Charles raised his standard (author’s photo)

The rising had begun.

In fact the Camerons had been involved in fighting before that, when along with a group of MacDonalds they ambushed and killed a number of the enemy under Captain Scott, taking Scott and several more prisoner. Lochiel allowed the wounded Scott to return to Fort William under parole.

Lochiel admitted at the outset that he was not accustomed to armies and had no military experience, but seems to have been a quick learner.  By the end of August his regiment had already suffered casualties in the unsuccessful attempt to storm Ruthven barracks.

Recognising that it was vital to keep good discipline in his clan, it’s said that Lochiel shot and wounded one of his own men when he discovered him to be taking a sheep without permission.

The Jacobites headed south, taking first Perth and then continuing to Edinburgh, where they found the town gates closed to them. Whilst emissaries from Edinburgh were going backwards and forwards trying to negotiate terms, Lochiel and his men approached the city in the early hours of the morning, hoping to find an opportunity to force an entry.

Edinburgh, Parliament Close, late 18th Century

By sheer good luck, just at daybreak a guard opened the Netherbow Port to let in a coach and Lochiel seized his chance, dashing through with his men and overpowering the guard. In this way Edinburgh fell to the prince without a shot being fired.

The first pitched battle of the ’45 was fought at Prestonpans. Prince Charles had given the honour of the command of the right wing to the Camerons, not knowing that by tradition the honour belonged to the MacDonalds. Wisely Lochiel agreed to let the MacDonalds take the right, realising that it could have a significant impact on the outcome of the battle if he did not. The Jacobites won a resounding victory.

Advance of the Highlanders to Prestonpans

From there the army carried on southwards, crossing into England. The Camerons were with the army throughout and took part in all the action, but there is not much mention of Lochiel in person at this time, except for one incident when, having been assigned lodgings at a house in the north of England, he heard a strange noise coming from a cupboard. The landlady then fell to her knees, begging him to kill her, but not to harm her two children. Whig propaganda had stated that Highlanders killed and ate children, and no doubt she believed it! Lochiel managed to reassure her that he had no intention of harming anyone at all, after which she brought the children out of a cupboard they’d been hiding in.

The Jacobites continued as far as Derby, before the council voted, against the will of the prince, to retreat. I have written another blog post about Derby, so won’t elaborate on that here except to say that Lochiel was in favour of the retreat, all the more so because the news had come that the first help from France had arrived, not in England, but Montrose in Scotland, encouraging some 2000 more Highlanders to rise for the Jacobites there.

There are a few stories about Lochiel’s humanity during the campaign, including him thwarting a suggestion by some other chiefs to attack Campbell of Inverawe’s tenants, and to destroy the Earl of Breadalbane’s house. But perhaps the best is the account of him saving Glasgow from being plundered.

Glasgow was a predominantly Whig town and the Jacobites were greeted in a very unfriendly manner by the citizens. The Highlanders were so annoyed by this that they were going to loot the town. Lochiel persuaded them not to, and the people were so grateful that they resolved that in future they would ring the bells whenever a Lochiel came to Glasgow.

Glasgow Cathedral

This sounds like a tall tale, but in fact this tradition has persisted, and the bells were in fact rung for Lochiel’s grandson when he visited the city before leaving for the American Wars and have been rung for later visiting Cameron chiefs too.

In March 1746, Lochiel and his clan returned to his lands to lay siege to Fort William, which sat in the middle of Cameron country. It was at this time that the normally taciturn Lochiel, incensed by the barbarity of the neighbouring Campbells against his tenants, in which they burned houses, stripped women and children and destroyed their means of livelihood, wrote a letter to them. I’ll quote part of it, because it sums up his fairness, and possibly partially explains his later nickname of ‘The Gentle Lochiel’. After saying that the Highland Army has never waged war on civilians although it had the power to, he states;

“It’s barbarous enough to exert it, when courage fails, against men. It betrays cowardice to a degree to vent their spleen against brutes, houses, women and children, who cannot resist.”

Fort William

On 6^th April Lochiel received a letter from the prince asking him to return urgently to Inverness. He had just heard that Cumberland’s forces were in the area.  Lochiel gathered his men together as quickly as possible, and marched fifty miles in two days, arriving in Inverness on 14^th. Although very tired, they had no chance to rest, but had to assemble for battle, expecting Cumberland’s troops to arrive. This did not happen, but instead of resting, on the night of 15^th Lochiel, along with most of the Jacobite Army, walked the twelve miles to Nairn where the redcoats were based, hoping to launch a surprise attack. When it became apparent that they would not arrive before daybreak, they returned to Culloden, reeling with fatigue and hunger, only to have to fight after all, just a few hours later.

I won’t write about the Battle of Culloden; I’ll only say that Lochiel led his clan at the left of the battle, and the Camerons were among those who succeeded in breaking through the Hanoverian fire and engaging in fierce hand-to-hand fighting. A Hanoverian officer, James Wolfe later described the Camerons at ‘the bravest clan among them’.

Lochiel was wounded in both ankles towards the end of the battle, and was carried off the field by four of his men. In spite of his wounds, the following month, having refused to take ship to France, he attempted to continue the fight, as I describe in Pursuit of Princes. It was at some point during this time that the Duke of Cumberland offered him very favourable terms if he were to come over to him. Lochiel rejected this offer with disdain, and instead raised a number of men, hoping to continue the fight in a more guerrilla fashion until help came from France.

This attempted continuation was thwarted by a huge number of redcoats being sent to Lochaber in a pincer movement. Lochiel and his men managed to escape, but Lochiel’s house and the houses of his tenants were destroyed. Cumberland’s vicious retribution against the Camerons is a testament to how bravely they had fought against him, and perhaps how angered he was by Lochiel’s refusal to submit to him. In fact at one point Cumberland proposed that the entire Cameron Clan (along with the MacGregors) should be transported to the West Indies. This proposal was not taken up; but it shows the level of threat the Camerons were deemed to be to the Hanoverians, not least because of the integrity of Lochiel.

The fireplace – all that remains of Donald Cameron’s house at Achnacarry, after the British burnt it to the ground in 1746. (author’s photo)

In September, in the company of Prince Charles, and his brother Dr Archie, Lochiel finally sailed for France, recognising that he could be of no further use to his clansmen by staying in Scotland, and in fact might invite further retribution by his presence.

There was an amusing moment when, back in France, Prince Henry greeted his brother Charles, throwing his arms around him. Lochiel, not knowing who the stranger was, and fearing an assassination attempt, drew his sword. Charles identified Henry, preventing a possible tragedy!

Lochiel encouraged Charles to attempt another landing in Scotland, which King Louis said he would support, and was dismayed that the prince would accept nothing less than a full invasion of England.

Lochiel was desperate to return to Scotland with an army, fully aware of the consequences to his clan of his decision to come out in the ’45. It has to be stressed that neither Lochiel nor Prince Charles himself could have foreseen the terrible vengeance Cumberland would take on the Highlanders if they failed. No one could have envisaged that the result would be the complete dismantling of the clan system.

Once settled in France, Prince Charles petitioned King Louis repeatedly to get a regiment for his devoted follower, and finally this was granted, in October 1747, when he was made Colonel of Le Regiment d’Albanie.  Lochiel, along with his wife and family and several other exiled chiefs, tried to accept their situation, and make the best of things in France.

But it soon became apparent that relations between the French king and the Stuart prince were deteriorating rapidly, and this, along with the imminent peace treaty between France and Britain, cast the future of the exiled Jacobites into doubt again. In the autumn of 1748, the leading Jacobites met in Paris to discuss how to encourage the prince not to alienate Louis completely. Lochiel, being considered to be the only man that Charles might listen to, was charged with the task of meeting him and trying to persuade him to act cautiously.

King Louis XV by Quentin de la Tour

We will never know what the outcome of such a meeting might have been, because before it could take place, Lochiel died suddenly, probably of meningitis, on 26^th October 1748.

I think I’ve made it clear in the Jacobite Chronicles that I hold Lochiel in very high regard. His loyalty and integrity both to his clan and his prince were outstanding; but he never lost sight of his humanity, even in the most trying circumstances. He was respected by friend and foe alike, and although many other leaders of the rising were vilified by the press and the public, Lochiel was not, and this is surely due to his high sense of honour, which must always command respect, even from an enemy.

In December of 1748 a poem was printed in the Scots Magazine – at the time a Hanoverian-leaning periodical. I will end by quoting some of the lines. There is no memorial stone marking Lochiel’s grave, but these lines would surely not be out of place on one:

Firm to his word and faithful to his trust,

He bade not others go, himself to stay,

As is the pretty, prudent modern way,

But, like a warrior, bravely drew his sword,

And raised his target for his native lord.

Humane he was, protected countries tell,

So rude a host was never ruled so well.