Macpherson of Strathmashie's Account of Clifton-battle, some Attacks in Athol, and of burning Cluny's House

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890 (890)
Tuesday, May 10th, 1748, I had
a Visit of Mr Duncan MacPher-
son, presbyterian Preacher at
Laggan in Badenoch, who had
come up to the General As-
sembly. He delivered to me
a Paper, inclosedenclosed în a sealed Co-
ver without any Direction u-
pon it, from Captain ✝ John
MacPherson of Strathmashie,
who had writ it all with his
own Hand. Here follows an
exact Copy of yethe said Paper, qchwhich
has no Date or Subscription.

Sir

As you desire me give
as full and CircumstantiallCircumstantial ane
account of the affair of Clifton
&cetc as I possibly can, Notwithstand-
ing that I know there were many
Engaged, that could to much bet-
ter purpose Satisfy you, Yet as I
take it to be the duty of every
oneeveryone who love truth, of those who
had the Honour to follow the for-
tunes of The young Gentleman
you mention (which and the good of

✝
Vol: 4 pag: 799, ~~[]6~~ 854. Vol: 7. pag:
1544, 1545, 1546, &cetc.
891 (891)
of their Country ImI’m perswadedpersuaded was
What all the thinking part of them
had at heart To show their wil-
lingness at least) Especially when
you take the trouble to require it
of any one of them, Rather than
Suffer any Reproach on that head
I have in obedience to your desire,
presumed to offer you an account
(such as it is) of that affair be-
ing myself therein ImmediatlyImmediately
concerned.

Please know then Sir That on
the ✝ 18th DecerDecember 1745 Our RegtRegiment (I
mean that commanded by Cluny
Mcpherson) Being at Penrith pre-
paring to be Reviewed with the
rest of the Army, excepting the
Glengarry Regiment and the Huz-
ars who had not come up with
the Army, But were Escorting a
part of the Train &and some cover-
ed WaggonsWagons that were obliged
to fall behind, There arrived an
Express from them CertifieingCertifying, that
if they were not Speedily Succour-ed

✝
In this Vol: pag: 974, 1100.
892(892)
ed They would be all Destroyed
On which alarm Appin’s with Lo-
chiel’s RegimtRegiment and ours were or-
dered to their ReleifRelief, In obedi-
ence to that Order we all march-
ed from the Town of Penrith to
the Bridge betwixt that and Clif-
ton Where we were met by the
WaggonsWagons and told that all was
quite Safe and calm in yethe Rear,
and that the Escort would be up
ImmediatlyImmediately; Being thus StopedStopped
and there being a fine plain
Piece of ground The ColonellsColonels
sent back to the Army to ask
to be Reviewed on that Ground
However this was not granted,
And we were Ordered back to Be
Reviewed with the Army, who
were ConveenedConvened on the Carlisle
Side of Penrith, On which we
ImmediatlyImmediately Directed our march
to Penrith, On our Beginning
to enter which, There came ane
HuzarHussar up with us at the Gallop,
who told, that if those of the Es-
cort lately mentioned were not Im- 893 (893)
ImmediatlyImmediately Supported they would
be Infallibly cut to pieces, To
prevent which (if it could be)
Our Colonel Instantly ordered
his RegtRegiment to Front from the Rear
and march directly towards
Clifton, To which Place I can-
not Say we marched, but run
like hounds, But on our arrivallarrival
to our great contentment found
the Glengary RegtRegiment safe, At the
Same time that we observed
The main Army of the Enemy
all drawn up in form, on a Small
Eminence about Cannon Shot of
us: Lord George Murray who all-
wise Since the Beginning of the
Retreat from Derby commanded
in the Rear was alsoealso in Clif-
ton — However when the Glen-
garrie RegtRegiment &and we met &and that all
was Safe, thinking as it was soeso
late that there would be noeno play
till the morning, and that the whole
Army Join’dJoined, We Begun a march to-
wards Penrith again The Glengarry RegtRegiment 894 (894)
RegtRegiment then taking the Front Stew-
arts of Appin the Center and ours
the Rear, But this march was not
much more than begun when there
came Express Orders to us, from
Lord George, to return to Clifton
ImmediatlyImmediately, He himself haveinghaving
Remain’dRemained there all the time, By
the position we were then in, In
marching back towards to Clifton
Our RegimtRegiment had the Front The
Stewarts Commanded by Ard-
sheall the Center as formerly
&and Glengary the Rear, and thus
we marched till we Joined His
Lop/Lordship at Clifton, When we found ytthat
the Enemy continued in the same
order as when we had the first
view of ymthem, Only My Lord, it
seems Judged they meaned to
advance towards Clifton, Upon
which He on foot together with
The Colonel at The head of our
RegimtRegiment marched from Clifton to-
wards the Enemy, a little to the
Left UntillUntil he planted us at the back 895 (895)
back of ane hedge not quite a Gun-
shot I think from Clifton, The Ap-
pin Battalion in the Center betwixt
us, &and GlengarriesGlengarrie's, who lined a Stone
Dyke to the Right of Appin’s, In
this posture we continu’dcontinued for some
minutes, prepared to receavereceive the
Enemy And by this time it was
quite Night upon us And the Ge-
nerallGeneral finding it proper that we
should break our then Situation
by penetrating through our Hedge
and advancing therefrom to ano-
ther that was situate in a Hollow
half way betwixt us and the E-
nemy, we being both on Eminen-
ces and this hollow Interjected,
ThoroughThrough the hedge we made our
way wtwith the help of our DurksDirks, The
priclesprickles being very uneasy I assure
you to our loose tail’dtailed lads; But
before we broke thoroughthrough his Lop/Lordship Sus-
pecting that we might be met with
in our way to the other hedge, Said
to our Colonel; Cluny if such will
“happen I’ll attack on the Right of
“your Reg.tRegiment and doedo you the same on the 896 (896)
“the left of it and we’ll advance
“soeso If you approve of it, to Which
“Cluny readily Answered he was
“very well Satisfied to attack when
“His Lop/Lordship pleased; The Disposition
thus made, when with great Rapi-
dity we were making our way
towards the other Hedge The ad-
vanced parties of the Enemy be-
ing Dismounted Dragoons met
us full in the teeth, Who fired
upon us, which they Scarcely
did, when they were answered
with the little we had, without e-
ver as much stopingstopping to doedo
it, But goeinggoing on in our Rapid
way, By which it soeso happened
they soon turned their backs to us,
The General how soon we had giv-
en our little fire, ordered us to
Draw our broad Swords which was
readily done, and then we Indeed
fell to pell mell with them, But
the poor Swords suffered much,
as there were noeno less than 14 of
them Broke on the Dragoon’s Skull- caps 897 (897)
caps, (which they all had) before
it seems the better way of doing
their business was found out, A-
mong those swords There was one,
given by the K—[in]g in 1715 to a
Gentleman X of this Country, with
this Inscription,

With this good Sword thy cause I will maintain,

And for thy Sake O James I’ll breathe each Vein.

The Gentleman’s ✝ Son who got it left
it at Clifton Excepting the hilt
and less than a foot of the Blade
Which I beleivebelieve he takes care
Still to keep for the Sake of the
giver1 — However as for Broad
Swords we got plenty as in place
of the 14 broken ones our men
took noeno less than 50 from the
Dead Dragoons in their Return
which it seems was all the Plun-
der they Regarded What the num-
ber of their Slain might have been
I cannot really Say that any of
our Side can with any Exactness
account for, as the affair happen’dhappened
upon the Night, And that the Ene-
my themselves and their FreindsFriends were
X
Macpherson of Dalraddy.

✝
Lewis MacPherson.
898 (898)
were the only persons, who had access
to See the field afterwards, But
this I can Say, and will avouch
that we Saw them in great Plen-
ty flat, as Dead, in our Return
after putingputting the Survivors in to
the heart of the main Body of
their Army. I can assure you
there lay heaps of them in a Ditch
they were made to pass and as
for the field it was pretty well
Covered, And at the time we
beleivedbelieved the Carnage to have
been pretty considerable, However
they have their own way of tell-
ing Stories, and even let them
be doeingdoing with — On our
Side Indeed we may Say That
God Almighty himself covered
our heads, haveinghaving lost none but
one SerjeantSergeant and two private
men, it’s true that among the hedg-
es or some howsomehow or other that we
cannot account for 10 or ii11 of our
men lost us that were next Day
taken up by the Country people as
we are told And Delivered up to the Enemy, 899 (899)
Enemy, who sent them to York Castle
where they Remained prisoners for
many months, and were in end
sent to the plantations and are
now in France. What I think in-
deed must naturally have contri-
buted much to this our Safety
was the great hurry with which
we went down towards the hol-
low upon them By which means
they were soeso suddenly mistaken
of us, that much of their fire
went over our heads, and were
at their muzlesmuzzles with our Swords
Before they got all their fire
given, which thereafter they got
noeno time to give, and with their
Swords, tho’though they were all appoint-
ed with such they did not in the
least annoy us, as heels seemed
then to be of more use to them
ynthan hands. There was also a De-
tachment of them, sent from their
main Body in order to have fla^nk-
ed us on the Right, But it haveinghaving
been their luck to pass by the Stone
dyke which the Glengarrie RegtRegiment lined, 900 (900)
lined, They got such a Smart fire
from that brave Corps that such
as outlived it were fain to make
the best of their way back to their
Army, by which means we got none
of their trouble, and to which,
our Safety was in a very great
measure oweingowing. After we had chac-
edchased the Swiftest of those with whom
we had to doedo in amongst the heart
of their friends, we Retired, to our
our first hedge, where we charged
our pieces, meaning to maintain
that post till day light, when we
Expected the whole Army, would
have been up with us for dis-
puting the main point, But soon
we ReceavedReceived orders by ane AidAide
de camp from the Army to return
to Penrith to Join them there,
Which was accordingly done, And
from thence all marched for Car-
lisle, where we arrived by Day-
light being the 19th of DecerDecember. I ob-
served to you before that we had
got NoeNo less than Fifty of their
Swords, (and I assure you we might have 901 (901)
have taken many more, had it been
adverted to) In the morning we
found they belonged not to those
of one RegimttRegiment but to Detachments
from all the Dragoon RegtsRegiments there,
And Cluny himself was possessed
of one, that was really a very
valuable pretty Sword, Who the
master of it was noeno one of us
can tell, But Sure I am that he
that brought it there, was left
there, as I’m Sorry the Gentle-
man ✝ you mention, it to have
belonged to, was not, or if he was,
it seems to be he found a way To speak
of, when all was quiet, as I
make noeno doubt but more of them
have done. This, Sir, please
accept of as the most circum-
stantiallcircumstantial account, (according
to how my memory Just now
Serves) I can give of the affair
of Clifton, Only as I am very cer-
tain our brave highland lads
when it came to action did their
parts most manfully our General and
Colonel charged &and acted with Conduct
prudence valour and Resolution.
As

✝
Vol: 4. pag: 801.
902 (902)
As to The Battle of Falkirk, you
are noeno Doubt well Informed allrea-
dyalready of all the circumstances and
of how ane opportunity, was lost
by some fatal mistakes, that might
really be termed NoeNo less ynthan the
very ruineruin of the cause; Howe-
ver in case it may be otherwise
I have Recommended to a freindfriend
to Inform you of some particulars—
Mean time I think it will not
be impertinent to let you know
Some things relative to the De-
sign you have taken, that may
more probably be yet unknown to
you, which are The particulars of
Some attacks made by our Regi-
ment in concert with the Athole
men upon SeverallSeveral garrisons at
that in the Country of Athole.
First then it’s proper to Inform you
that when the rest of Army mar-
ched to Inverness, we were left in
✝Badenoch to Intercept or prevent
any Incursions of the Enemy the
highland way, Which if not taken
care of might be of bad Conse-quence,

✝
Vol: 4 pag: 652.
903(903)
quence, Sometimes after The Army
lay at Inverness, Lord George
Murray wrote from thence, to Cluny,
Showing that he ✝ Intended to Sur-
prise the Athole Garrisons, and in
order thereto would march to Ba-
denoch, with the Athole men, from
Which Joined by Cluny’s RegtRegiment he
was Resolved to make his Attacks;
Upon Receipt of this Letter, Cluny
^found a very principalprincipal obstacle likely to
obstruct. The Success of the Enter-
prise Which was the Communi-
cation betwixt Athole and Bade-
noch &and which if not Secured soeso
as to Stop the least Notice from
goeinggoing to Athole the whole design
must prove abortive, And to se-
cure that communication for noeno
less ynthan a fortnight, that must have
been taken, before The design
cou’dcould be ripe for Execution, seem’dseemed
noeno less ynthan Impracticable, Consider-
ing the long wide and open tract of
hill that lay Interjected betwixt
both Countries, and as noeno Country
sure enough wanted yrtheir Achans, The

✝
Vol: 4. pag: 652.
904 (904)
The matter was Still the more im-
practicable. However to work he
(I mean Cluny) went in planting
of his Guards and takeingtaking all pos-
sible precautions he cou’dcould think
of, And he verily had need of all
his prudence and vigilance in
manageingmanaging his affair, let him
have what numbers he might. At
length Lord George arrived in
Badenoch, where they must have
been two nights, (which rendered
what I have Said with Respect
to the Security of the communica-
tion Still the more Difficult) To-
wards Athole on the Second day
after Lord George with the Athole
men arrived in Badenoch, He with
them and us marched, and that
Same night, after travelling most
of us Thirty miles thoroughthrough hill,
and Storm being regularly Divid-
ed &and Detached The Athole men &and
we mixed in every party at one
&and the Same time If I well Re-
member betwixt 12 at night &and
2 in the morning made our Attacks, at 905 (905)
at ✝ five Different places Namely
Bun=rannoch, Kynachan, Blair-
phettie, Lood And Mr McGlash-
en in Blair his house, betwixt
which &and Bun=rannoch there is noeno
less ynthan 10 miles. Kynachan will be
Six from it, &and Blairphettie’s 3, In
all which attacks we had the good
Fortune to Succeed to our minds,
Excepting Mr McGlashen’s house,
those yrintherein haveinghaving deserted it be-
fore our party ordered there had
come up, we killed and wounded
many, I doedo not indeed now Re-
member their Number, and made
above 300 prisoners without loseinglosing
one man Tho’Though briskly fired upon
at the three first mentioned pla-
ces In Short they were all to
â man taken dead or alive Tho’Though
well covered &and fortified This was
indeed a cheap, &and not to be expec-
ted Success considering their ad-
vantageous Situation besides ours,
and was noeno doubt principally ow-
ing to the extraordinary care taken,
in Securing the Communication I
have been Speaking of before, by which

✝
Vol: 4. pag: 652. Vol: 3. p: 567, 568.
906 (906)
which means ~~indeed~~ we took them in-
deed much at unawares, All the pri-
soners were of the Campbell Mili-
tia &and Loudoun’s RegtRegiment excepting a
few of the Regulars that were
taken at Lood; I must Observe
to you that amongst Some papers
found with the offHrsofficers at Kynachan
there was ane✝ Order Subscrived
(if I well Remember) by Gene-
ral or Colonel Campbell SetingSetting
furth that it was the D—Duke of
C—dCumberland’s peremptorX orders if
they could meet any party of
the Rebels whom they could at all
expect to overcome, to Engage ymthem
and to give them noeno
quarter as they would be answerable,
That of Kynachan was the at-
tack assigned me, And this or-
der I saw, Upon the word of ane
honest man, and coppiedcopied, Which
CoppyCopy I kept, but had the bad luck
Since to lose it by the iniquity of
the times as I did many more
things, But it’s possible it may come
to my hands yet, The prinllprincipal Clu-ny

✝X
Vol: 3. p: 567, 568.
907(907)
ny kept. The only attack now
remaining was that of Blair-Cas-
tle, Which we proposed to Besiege
but ✝ two pieces of Cannon we had:
being noeno more ynthan 3 or 4 pound-
ers could not make the least im-
pression on it’sits Strong walls, SoeSo
that we manâged only by Blockade,
for about two weeks, In end we
were called to Inverness with the
Army On which we left it, and
marched back to Badenoch, where
our X RegtRegiment was left, for the Reasons
formerly given Till the MundayMonday
next before the fatallfatal Wednesday,
on the evening of which MundayMonday
we ReceavedReceived Orders, by Express from
our Colonel who was at Inverness,
to Repair with outmost Expedition
to the Army anâs an Engagement
wtwith the D—Duke of C—dCumberland was hourly
expected, ThoThough this Express arrived
only on MundayMonday and the men were
quite Scatter’dScattered, we got together &and
marched with Such Expedition as
to arrive at Dullmaggery be 12 a
✝
Vol: 4 p: 653.
X
Vol: 4. p: 654. Vol: 6.
pag 1264.
908 (908)
a Clock yethe 16th April with 2 or
300 more of a force ynthan we brought
to the field since the Commence-
ment of that affair, This Dull-
magerry being noeno more than
‘twixtbetwixt 5 &and 6 miles from the fa-
tallfatal Culloden; There we met
our Colonel, who had prepar-
ed a Refreshment for the men,
After takeingtaking of which, and be-
ginning to march forward The
Dismal news of the fate of that
Day met us—

Oh Heavens! In what Characters
will what followed be writ,✝ mur-
ders, XBurnings,Π Ravishings, plun-
derings; Ane Army of Fiends let
loose from Hell with Lucifer
himself at their head, Barbari-
ties unheard of —noeno Distincti-
ons of Sex or Age, Cruelties ne-
ver as much as named among
any people who made profession
of or pretended to Christianity,
And all not only with Impunity but
by Command Oh! —
But

✝
Vol: 4. pag: 707, 708. Vol: 3. p: 421, 422.

X
Vol: 1. p: 166. Vol: 2. p: 305. Vol: 5. p: 873.
Π
Vol: 5. p: 874, 875.
909 (909)
But to Resume, as you Desired
I shou’dshould give you a particular
account of The ✝ Burning of Clu-
nie’s house, Know ynthen that in June
1746, after all was quiet of our
Side, Arms Delivered, And Sub-
mission to the prevailing power
given, The Earl of Loudoun,
who lay at Shirroemore (a place
about 3 miles distant from Clu-
ny) with 1000 Militia, Detached a-
bout 300 of them under the Com-
mand of CaptsCaptains Hugh X &and George
McKays with orders to burn the
House &cetc of Cluny, which or-
ders they did faithfully Exe-
cute, for they not only burntburned the
house itself with such office hous-
es as were near it, But all the
houses that they apprehended be-
longed to it at a good Distance
from it. It was a most pretty re-
gular well contrived house, as
any benorth the River of Tay,
Double, built in the new way, only

✝
Vol: 4. p: 802, 803.
X
Lord Rae’s Sons.
910 (910)
only about two years before Pa-
vilion Roof’dRoofed with two pretty Pa-
vilions Joined to it by ColonadesColonnades,
and Consisted of Eighteen fire
rooms — I’m afraid by the
time you have read thus far
you’ll be wearied of such Stuff
as I have put together And of
peruseingperusing Such a Confused Scri-
bleScribble However if by a Letter I
Soon Expect from you, owning
the Receipt of this I find it will
be agreeable shall trouble you
by the next sure hand with ac-
counts of Some Sufferings in
these times, in this and the
Neighbouring Countries I am
with great Regard

Sir

Your most obtobedient Servant

N: B: The Original of the Above
in Strathmashie’s Hand-writ-
ing is to be found among my
Papers.
Robert Forbes, AM:

Saturday,

Date	10 May 1748
Person	Captain John MacPherson
Place	Leith