Narrative by him of the skirmish at Keith

AttAt your desire
the underwritten is A True &and distinct
Account of the SkirmisSkirmish at Keith
fought betwixt a DetatchmentDetachment of the 1139 (1139)
the Prince Regent's Men, &and a De-
tachment of yethe DuckeDuke of Cumber-
land’s upon the 20th of March 1746

Alexander Campbell Bro-
ther of Bircalden[] having marched
from Strathbogie in the Evening
upon of March 1746 for Keith
being guided by Mr Campbell Hel-
per at Kirk of Karnie with 70
Campbells &and 30 of Kingston’s LeightLight
Horse all Choice men &and horses, as
an Advance Guard, having come yethe
length of the Burn of Karnie 3.
Miles, &and half wayhalfway to Keith (that
being a very hollow burn with a good
dale1 of Planting in it) The Minister
thought proper to plaintplant that men
in AmbuishAmbush there to remain till he
Shou’dShould go to Keith &and see if any of
yethe Prince’s men was there which
According was done &and forward he
went, Betwixt that &and Morning the
Minister returned with ane Account
ytthat they Might Advance forward for
there were none of yethe Prince’s men
before them at Keith, Cap.tCaptain Campbell
then at beginning his March gave
his Men precise Orders In case ane
Action Should happen That they Shou’d 1140 (1140)
Shou’dShould Neither give nor take Quar-
ters Then forward they Marched &and
Enter’dEntered yethe Town about Day-lightDaylight
with brakingbreaking open of ShopesShops &and Plundering &cetc.
The Prince’s Men at Spey ytthat Day
having passed yethe water about 10
o Clock to Fochabers to RefraishRefresh
themselves, about 12, o Clock an
AlermAlarm was rumeredrumored through Fo-
chabers, That CumberlandsCumberland's Army
was upon them ComeingComing down yethe
Burn of Ault-chace &and wou’dwould Cut ymthem
all to picespieces (that is a burn which
comes betwixt two hills &and they Could
be within 2 or 3. MusquetMusket ShoteShot
to Spey before they Cou’dCould be obser-
ved) Lord John Drummond who
ComandedCommanded then at Spey ordered
yethe Pipes to play &and Drums beat to
AarmsArms &and after drawing up at his
Order they began their March
down yethe back of yethe Toun to yethe
Water Side to take up ground for
Action (providing they had yethe least
prospect for Victory for upon yethe 17th
there had come about 3000 of Cum-
berlands Men Commanded by
General to Strathbogie 12
Miles from Spey or Fochabers &and dis-
posesseddispossessed Roy Stewart &and Abachie Gor-don’s1141(1141)
don’s BatallionsBattalions a part of Lord El-
cho’s Troop of Guards &and a few of yethe
Hussars amounting in whole to a-
bout 500 men who formed the
Princes's Advance Guard &and Made
a Safe Retreat without yethe loseloss
of one Man after they were with-
in MusquetMusket ShoteShot of yethe 3000, men) and
when they joined Lord John Drum-
mond at Spey yethe whole of them
wou’dwould not have been above 900, or
1000 men at ytthat time but to return
to the Subject again, The Day being
a little MistieMisty &and SorroundedSurrounded with hills
they Could not See far about them,
at last Cumberland’s LeightLight horse
appeared within less nor a MilleMile
upon the hill of Fochaber’s Pa-
trolling that Ground upon which
yethe Hussars Sent out a Patrolling
to Observe if any Body of men was
at hand &and returning with Accounts
that they Could See none, The whole
returned to Fochabers again for a
2dsecond Refreshment after they had stand-
ed about 2 or, 3 hours under Arms,
a DetatchmentDetachment of Roy Stewart’s Men
was order’dordered to take yethe Guard under
yethe Command of Capt.Captain Lodowick Stew-
art Representative of Sir Walter
Stewart of Strathdown &and Glenlivet who 1142 (1142)
who Examined very Stricklyall
Passengers that passed &and Repass-
ed, about an hour after yethe Pipes
playdplayed &and Drums beat to Arms to
march to yethe BerracksBarracks on the oyrother
Side of yethe Spey, At passing the
water Major Glasgow Came to
CollColonel Stewart by order of Lord
John Drummond &and demanded a
DetatchmentDetachment of his men to go on
an Expedition with him The CollColonel
Refused by reason they had under-
gone a great dale2 of Fatigue by
forming yethe Rear Guard on yethe Re-
treat from Stirling &and had neavernever
been relivedrelieved from yethe Advance
Guard &and out post’soutposts Since they Came
to that Country &and that it was hard
they Should undergo so much fatigue
&and yethe Rest having LynLain at more Ease,
The Major returned to Lord John
with this Accounts &and Obtained a
Second Order &and in half an hourshour's
time he was at yethe CollColonel again &and
told that he had Lord John’s Ex-
press Order and would not Ruske3
yethe Expedition unless he got his
DetatchmentDetachment (the Regiment being un-
der a prettiepretty good Character) Then
the CollColonel gave Orders for 5, men of a 1143 (1143)
a Company to be turned out The
whole Fifty (which Accordingly was
Done) to be Commanded by Capt.Captain
Robert Stewart,4 younger Represen-
tative of the said Sir Walter Stew-
art of Strathdown &and Glenlivet,
and upon his ExaminenExamining the Men’s
Arms &and Ammunition found them
in a very indifferent Order, was
obleigedobliged to disperse the most of
all his own Powder &and ShoteShot (who
keeptkept himself always well provid-
ed on all OcceasionsOccasions,) Then throw-
ing away his Plaid he desired
that every oneeveryone Might doedo the like
&cetc then Order’dOrdered by the CollColonel to march
his partieparty to the Cross of Focha-
bers there to wait for further Or-
ders from Major Glasgow who was
to Command yethe whole partieparty in
Chief, Upon his marching back to
the Cross again, The Inhabitants
Seem’dSeemed a little Surprised, But to
prevent further Conjectures Capt.Captain
Stewart Called out prettiepretty loud to
get yethe Keys of the Guard house for
he was come to take yethe Guard of yethe
Town that Night, But at the same time
disereddesired his SholdiersSoldiers quaitlyquietly if
they inclined to take any small Re-
freshment by half DuzonsDozens they might, he 1144 (1144)
he had not been a Quarter of an
hourehour at yethe Cross when a Small
body of Hussars came RiddingRiding down
the Street on heasthaste &and told him that
CumberlandsCumberland's LeightLight horse was in
yethe Fir Park within RiglengthRig length of
the Toun that they had been fireingfiring
on one another for some time
that they wanted a partieparty of his
men to line the horse &and wou’dwould go
in to the Park &and attack them, The
Cap.tCaptain told them they behivedbehooved to go
to Major Glasgow &and on getting his
order for that Effect as he com-
manded above him they Shou’dShould
have them but not oyrwiseotherwise upon
which they went off, This Detatch-
mentDetachment had waited upon the Street a-
bout three Quarters of an hour when
in the Duskish of the EviningEvening the
Major came up with a DetatchmentDetachment
of Lord OgilvesOgilvy's Men about 16. of
the French &and about 20, or 30, horses
of Different CoresCorps upon seingseeing the
partieparty before them the French Of-
ficer ChallancedChallenged howwho was there
Capt.Captain Stewart Answered it was CollColonel
Stewart’s Men, the French Officer
replied he was well pleased to
See ymthem there, that was the brave
Men, The Major called Captain Stew-
art told him to allow yethe French to go 1145 (1145)
go in the fro^untfront &and they wou’dwould ShewShow
them the way, that Lord OglivesOgilvy's
was to follow him in the Rear,
which Accordingly was done, away
they Marched &and entered yethe Fir
Park, the horse Commanded by
Lieutenant Simpson SorroundingSurrounding
the Same &and Searching it out to
the oyrother End finding none of yethe
EnamieEnemy then Sat down very QuiteQuiet
till Such time as the horse had
patrolled yethe whole bounds &and
returned[] again finding none of
the Leight-horse, Then they be-
gan their March again towards
Keith at yethe Same time Major
Glasgow told Cap.tCaptain Stewart that
yethe French was to form yethe Ad-
vance Guard with the horse That
he was to march at a hunderedhundred pa-
ces Distance (which was pointedly
Observed) then upon their way they
got intilligenceintelligence of their EnamiesEnemy's
PatrollPatrol having passed before them,
After 5, Miles Marching they part-
ed from the Keith Road eastward
&and passed by Taremore, They Search-
ed it but found none of their Ena-
miesEnemies there, then passed yethe water
of Illa at Milln of Keith, Made a Circle 1146 (1146)
Circle round yethe Toun to yethe Tents
of Summer-eveseve's Fair as if they
hadehad been from Strathbogie, then
Capt.Captain Stewart was ordered to close
up with his partieparty to the Advance
Guard as 12 o Clock at Night Stu-
ruck they came near yethe Toun the
CampbellsCampbell's Sentry ChallancedChallenged howwho
was there it was Answered friends
the Campbells, he replied you are very
welcome we hear yethe EnamiesEnemies
at hand, on theretheir coming up to
him they SeasedSeized his Arms gripedgripped
him by yethe Neck &and threw him to the
ground then he began to CrayCry they
told him if he made any more NoiceNoise
they wou’dwould thrust a DurkDirk to his heart,
Then Lieutenant Simpson Sorround-
dedSurrounded the Toun with yethe horse the Ma-
jor with yethe Foot entered the Toun
marched down yethe Street &and up to
yethe Church-yeardyard when finding
their Guard in the SchoollSchool their
main Body in yethe Kirk yethe French
began yethe Action with a Platoon
on yethe Guard &and a GenerallGeneral HuzaHuzzah
was given with these words God
Save PrincPrince Charles, The Action con-
tinued very holewhole on both Sides about
half an hourehour (yethe fire from yethe Camp-
bells coming very hard from the windows 1147 (1147)
windows of the Kirk) Capt.Captain Stewart
turning to yethe Kirk Called out with
these words, you RebellsRebels yield
or die; about yethe MiddeMid of yethe Action,
Cap.tCaptain Stewart was Severely wounded
with a MusquetMusket Ball through both
his✝ Shoulders part of his men ob-
serving this Seem’dSeemed a little dis-
heartened but he Observing told
them Gentlemen no more Such things
take Notice but Still to Act as he
Commanded, AttAt the Surrendery of
the Kirk &and Guard, the Major Sent
to Capt.Captain Stewart desiring that he
Might come with a pertieparty of his
Men for he was like to be over
powredoverpowered in the Streets (for King-
ston’s Leight-horse was quartered
in yethe Toun Capt.Captain Stewart imme-
dietly Came down to yethe StreeetStreet
with a pertieparty where there was a
prettiepretty hot Action for some time
in yethe Street, vaankishedvanquished them &and
made the whole of them prisoners
Carried them over the Bridge &and
Sent back a partieparty to Assist bringing up 1148 (1148)
up the Rest of the Prisoners, upon
their Coming up Capt.Captain Stewart began
at yethe first End of the Prisoners &and
Ranked them two Men a Rank &and
planting his SholdiersSoldiers on each Side
of them at yethe Same time giving
his Men Strick5 Charge over them
as he went forward, By this time
with the loss of Blood that Capt.Captain
Stewart had Sustained was beginingbeginning
to turn a little wake6, was obliged
to put off his Arms &and take a horse,
but there being Accounts AmongestAmongst, ^them
that there was 700 of Cumberland’s
horse Lodged in that Country about
they were a little doubtsomdoubtsome that
they Might be attacked by the horse
&and the Prisoners taken off, for this
Reason CaptCaptain Stewart RoadRode in the
Rear keeping teatae the men &and in
due Order to prevent any of them
falling into their EnamiesEnemy's hands
providing they were attacked.

In this Action there was 9, of
Cumberland’s Men Killed a good
Number wounded about 80. taken
Prisoners &and betwixt 20, or 30, horses
which Major Glasgow with his partieparty
delivered at Spey a little before
Sun Rising.

The above is a true &and distinct
Account which at your desire I have
ingeniously8 Reported with outwithout favour
to one or an otheranother this with my
dutifulldutiful Respects I remain