Mackay did all it was possible for a brave man to do
to encourage his men and keep them together. But many were too
frightened to heed his words, or even the pistol with which he
threatened to shoot the first man he saw leaving his ranks. The news of
his defeat had spread with marvellous rapidity: the whole country was
up: every glen and mountain sent out its reapers to the rich harvest.
And where enemies did not exist, the fears of these poor wretches found
them. Every drover with his herd, every shepherd with his flock, was
magnified into a fresh array of the terrible Highlanders. On the evening
of Monday, the 29th, Mackay reached Stirling with barely one-fifth of
the force with which he had marched out of the town a week earlier.
The Highland loss was calculated at nine hundred men. The Macdonalds and
Camerons were the principal sufferers, their position on the left and
left-centre having brought them in contact with the battalions who had
kept their ground. Glengarry's brother was among the killed, with
Macdonald of Largo, and no less than five cousins of Macdonald of the
Isles. Among the Lowlanders fell Hallyburton of Pitcur, and Gilbert
Ramsay, Dundee's favourite officer, who had dreamed overnight of the
victory and of his death. But though the battle had been won for James,
he had suffered a greater loss than William.
Pages:
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261