Massacre of Glencoe
The Massacre of Glencoe was an incident in Scotland in 1692, during the era of the Glorious Revolution and the Jacobite Rebellion. Hundreds of Scottish people were killed by the army for not properly pledging allegiance to the new king, William of Orange.
In 1688, William took the throne of England and
Scotland from James VII (II of England). In 1689, John Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee, led Scottish Highlanders in the
Jacobite uprisings in an attempt to return the throne to King
James. However, James was defeated at the Battle of the Boyne in
1690.
In 1691, King William offered an amnesty to the Highlanders who
had participated in the Jacobite Uprising on the condition that they
swore allegiance to him by January 1, 1692. Nearly all did,
but Alastair MacIain, 12th Chief of Glencoe, waited until the last
day before setting out to take the oath. The MacIains of Glencoe were
a sept of clan MacDonald.
On December 31, 1691, he travelled to Fort William and
asked Colonel Hill, the governor, to administer the required oath.
Colonel Hill, however, demurred on the grounds that he was not
authorized to receive the necessary oath. He instructed MacIain to
proceed quickly to Inveraray to make his oath before Sir Colin Campbell, sheriff of Argyleshire. Colonel Hill gave MacIain a
letter of protection and a letter to Sir Colin asking that he receive
MacIain's oath since MacIain had come to Colonel Hill within the
allotted time. Colonel Hill also reassured MacIain that no action
would be taken against him without his having the opportunity to make
his case before the king or the king's privy council.
It took MacIain three days to reach Inverary through the winter
snow and then he had to wait another three days for the arrival of
Sir Colin who was absent. Upon his return, Sir Colin reluctantly
accepted MacIain's oath.
While MacIain was satisfied that he had satisfied the spirit of the
required oath, and therefore did not anticipate any action against
himself or his people, some elements within the government saw an
opportunity to use his failure to fulfill the letter of the
requirement (by missing the deadline) to at one stroke make an
example of the MacDonalds and simultaneously eliminate some
enemies.
A plot was set in motion which apparently involved John Dalrymple, Master of Stair and Lord Advocate, John Campbell, Earl of Breadalbane, Sir Thomas Livingstone, commander of the forces in Scotland, and even King William, who signed and countersigned the orders.
In late January or early February, 1692, Captain Robert Campbell entered Glencoe at the head of 120 men with the ostensible
purpose of collecting taxes instituted by the Scottish Parliament
in 1690. About one tenth of the force were Campbells. The planning
was meticulous enough that they were able to produce legitimate orders
to this effect from the very Colonel Hill who had tried to help
MacIain complete his oath in the first place, thus dispelling any
suspicion the MacDonalds might have felt, although it was also Colonel
Hill who issued the orders to begin the massacre two weeks later.
The people of Glencoe welcomed the soldiers into their homes and
entertained them according to the traditions of Highland hospitality.
Each morning for about two weeks, Captain Campbell visited in the home
of Alexander MacDonald, MacIain's youngest son, who was married to
Campbell's niece, the sister of Rob Roy.
On February 12, Captain Campbell received instructions to begin the
massacre at five o'clock the following morning. He spent the evening
play cards with his unsuspecting victims and upon retiring, wished
them goodnight and accepted an invitation to dine with MacIain, the
chief, the following day.
Another force of 400 men was to arrive early the morning of the 13th
and block the entrance of the glen to ensure that no MacDonald would
escape, but this force was delayed by bad weather so that some 200
MacDonald men, including John and Alexander, MacIain's two sons, were able to fly to the hills. In all, 38 men including MacIain himself were
murdered and another 40 women and children died of exposure after
their homes were burned.
By 1695, disgust and alarm over the tale of this massacre had
grown throughout the nation to the extent that King William deemed it
prudent to dismiss the Master of Stair from his councils and institute
a commission of inquiry to investigate the matter. The conclusion of
the commission was to exonerate the King and to place the blame for
the massacre upon Secretary Dalrymple. The Scottish Parliament, after
reviewing the commission report, declared the execution of the
MacDonald men to have been murder and delegated the "committee for the
security of the kingdom" to prepare an address to the king which
included recommendations for the punishment of the perpetrators of the
plot and compensation to be paid to the surviving MacDonalds. As far
as is known, these recommendations were never acted upon except for
the imprisonment of Lord Breadalbane for a few days in Edinburgh
castle because he had opened himself to a charge of high treason.
External Links
Referenced By
13 February | 13th February | 1692 | February 13 | February 13th | George MacDonald | Glencoe, Scotland | List of massacres | MacDonald | Massacres
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