“About July 17th, 1746, some Days be-
“fore we joined the prince (said Patrick
“Grant) we, coming from the Cave of Coir-
“aghoth, met with a Herd-boy upon the
“Hill of Lundy, who informed us, that
“that Day, about 12 o’ Clock, a Body of
“Red-Coats &and Militia (about 100 Men as
“the Boy conjectured) had taken away
“all Patrick Grant’s Uncle’s Cattle (viz,
“Allan MacDonald^MackDonell, Brother German to
“the late Arnaby;) &and no sooner had the
“Boy done with informing us, than the
“said Body of Men appeared in our
“View, driving the Cattle to the Hill
“of Lundy by a narrow Pass on the high
“Road leading from Fort-Augustus to
“Glenealg, &and about 8 Miles from Fort-
“Augustus. Upon which we 7 Glenmoriston-
“Men made up directly with all Speed to
“the party, till we came within Musket-
“Shot of them, &and then roared out to ymthem
“with a Valley of Oaths, that made all
“the Rocks about us resound, not to ad-vance1697(1697)
“vance one Step farther, but to leave the
“Cattle to us, &and to march off. The offic-
“ers (three in Number) immediately drew
“up their Men (being 60 Red-Coats &and 7
“Militia-Men with one Donald Fraser for
“their Guide) to engage us the said Seven
“Glenmoriston-Men, &and dispatched to us the
“Said Donald Fraser to know what we
“wanted, &and to desire us to Surrender our
“selves, &and we should have protection.
“Upon this I Patrick Grant cocked my
“Piece, &and swore by Him, that made me,
“that I should give them all protections,
“that would serve them to the Day of
“Judgement. Donald Fraser answered, I
“come to you as a Friend, &and not as a Foe.
“To this all of us join’djoined in making an ab-
“solute Answer, that we would have no
“other Terms, but that the whole party
“Should immediately retire, &and leave the
“Cattle to us; that we would die upon
“the Spot rather than Surrender, &and that
“we had a great party of Men (though by
“the bye there was really no Such Thing) in
“our Rear coming up to our Assistance. Donald
“Fraser went back to the principal Officer,
“who was upon Horseback, &and told him all
“that had pass’dpassed between himself &and us
“Glenmoriston-Men; upon which a March
“was instantly beat, &and the party advanced
“on in their way towards Glenealg, driving
“the Cattle along with them. This so irritat-
“ed us, that we ran before them, &and fired
“two Muskets (viz, Pat:Patrick Grant &and AlexrAlexander Macdo-^Mack-
“Donald^Donall) we having so ordered Matters as to keep 1698 (1698)
“keep a Street-Fire upon them two at a
“Time. This obliged the party to make
“a Halt, &and the Officer dismounted, causing
“a Man (then wounded) to be put upon the
“Horse, &and then the Officer drew up the
“Men a second Time. One of the Sol-
“diers (before Orders given) fired upon
“us; for which the principal Officer caned
“him heartily. Then the party marched on
“with the Cattle, &and we made off to ano-
“ther narrow Pass, through which the
“Party behovedbehooved to march, &and there took
“up our Ground for a second Attack; &and
“when the party came up, we fired 3
“ShotShots upon them, which so terrified the
“party, that some of them fell down u-
“pon the Ground, &and others threw away their
“Arms, &and ran off with Speed, leaving
“the Cattle to us according to our Or-
“ders, the Officers being unable to com-
“mand their Men, &and to make them to
“stand to a Defence. Upon this the
“principal Officer dispatched a second
“Message to us by one MacDonald, one
“of SrSir Alexander MacDonald’s Follow-
“ing, &and an Officer of Militia, to capitu-
“late with us; which MacDonald asked,
“what we were about, &and if we were
“mad by making such an Attempt
“being so few in Number, to resist
“the King’s Forces? To this we an-
“swered, were your King himself
“there, he should meet with the
“Quarters he deserved. Then MacDo-nald1699(1699)
“Donald1 Spoke most discreatlydiscreetly and
“kindly to us, assuring us, he was our
“fast Friend, &and that we would do
“well to keep to our Resolution, to
“die rather than surrender, because
“through protection was promised, yet
“we would meet with no such Thing,
“but would be sure to be tied Neck
“&and Heel; that if we should fire a
“third Time, he begged, we would
“mark better; for if that we shot
“the principal Officer, we would
“have all the Cattle &and the Bag-
“gage too. We thanked MacDonald
“kindly for his remarkable Friend-
“ship, &and begged, if a third Firing
“should ensue, he [MacDonald]
“would endeavour to keep himself
“&and the Militia-Men aside from
“among the Red-Coats. MacDonald
“returned to the principal Officer,
“&and assured him of our fixed Re-
“solution not to yield, but to have
“the Cattle. The Cattle having
“run away &and dispersed with the
“Firing, the principal Officer ordered
“his Militia-Men to gather the
“Cattle together, &and to give them up
“to us, we &and our Enemies (the few
“that remained with the Officer) being then 1700 (1700)
“then under a Cessation of Arms,
“&and accordingly we received all the
“Cattle (60 in Number) at the
“Hands of the Militia within half
“a Pistol-Shot of us in the Rear
“of the party. Then we demand-
“ed some Provisions to be left to
“us, keeping two of the Militia-
“Men as Hostages, till we should
“have our said Demand. The
“Officer said, he had none to spare.
“Well (said we) if you will not
“share your Provisions with us, we
“are as ready to fire for Provisi-
“ons, as we were ready to fire for
“the Cattle; &and as you have two
“Horse-Loads, you may leave us
“one of them. The Officer then
“thought fit to send us some Bread,
“&and Cheese, &and WhiskieWhiskey. Upon this
“we bade them FarewelFarewell, &and desir-
“ed them, when they should come
“that Way again, they might fetch
“more provisions with them.”
Some time in NovrNovember last the fore-
said Donald Fraser happening
to be in EdrEdinburgh, fell into Company
with 1701 (1701)
with the said Patrick Grant, Dr
John MacDonald (Brother to Ken-
lochmoydart) &and the said Donald
MacDonald, Interpreter, when they
conversed over the whole of this
surprizingsurprising Story, &and Donald Fraser
acknowledged the Truth of it,
adding withal a most comical
Incident, which was, that, as the
said Patrick Grant had taken
from Donald Fraser, when dis-
patched by the Officer to the
seven Glenmoriston-Men, a
Quarter of a Pound of Tobacco,
so Patrick Should now pay him
for it, or give him the like a-
gain. What! (said Patrick Grant)
as you waswere an Enemy then, your
Tobacco was lawful Spoil to me,
&and I will never pay you for that.
This occasioned a hearty Laugh to
all the Company. Donald Fraser
told likewise at said Interview
in EdrEdinburgh, that the principal Officer
of the party used to declare, that
the said Glenmoriston-Men were
surely not Men but Devils; &and that 1702 (1702)
that 10000 of such bold Men
would do more Service abroad than
all the British Forces abroad
had done.
Donald Fraser was, &and still is, a
Miller in North Uist, which be-
longs to the Family of SrSir
Alexander MacDonald.
Patrick Grant likewise told, that
two or three Days before the fore-
said Bickering, they, the Seven
Glenmoriston-Men, happening to
meet with one Robert Grant, a
Strathspey-Man, who had for-
merly served in the Highland
Regiment (commonly called the
Black Watch) &and who now had
become a most villainous Spy
&and Informer against all, that
had been in the Prince’s Army,
as far as he could find them
out; they therefore Shot him
dead, &and then, cutting off his Head,
they placed it upon a Tree (in a
little Wood) upon the high Road
between two Farmer-Towns in
Glenmoriston, viz, Innerwick and Downcattick 1703 (1703)
Downcattick, about three Miles
from Fort-Augustus; &and there the
Head remained about a Year, as
a Terror ^to others (as we designed it, said
Patrick Grant) not to do such
villainous Things, as the said
Robert Grant had done agtagainst
his own Countrymen, &and even his
own Flesh &and Blood; &and now the
Head still lies at the Foot
of the said Tree, to be seen
by any Traveller, that shall
happen to pass that Way.