Battle of Killiecrankie - The Battle

The Battle

Sir Ewen Cameron of Lochiel, Chief of Clan Cameron, had set about forming a confederation of Highland clans loyal to James as soon as William had arrived in England, and Dundee was in contact with him. When Dundee went north, he was pursued by a governmental force of about 3,500, led by General Hugh Mackay of Scourie, a Highlander who had been in Dutch service with the Scots Brigade for many years. Dundee, moving quickly, outmanoeuvered Mackay, and on 16 May arrived in Glenroy, where the clans had been summoned to meet him on 18 May. With a total of some 1800 men, Dundee marched, in hopes of meeting Mackay on grounds favourable to the Highlanders. Unable to do so, he retreated back to Glenroy, where he arrived on 11 June. Many of the Highlanders returned to their homes, but some remained.

Blair Castle was a key position that controlled access to the Lowlands. It was owned by the Marquis of Atholl; he promptly headed south to Bath to take the waters for his health. His heir, Lord Murray, was on the government's side. Dundee ordered Patrick Steuart of Ballechin, a relative of the Murrays', to hold Blair Castle for the King; Lord Murray ended up besieging his own castle. Dundee learned that Mackay was at Perth, on his way to assist in taking Blair Castle.

Dundee was determined to intercept Mackay near Blair Atholl, astride the road through the hills that Mackay would have to pass. Many of the clans had not arrived yet, but he set out anyway and ordered them to follow "with all haste." Ewen himself also had a force of about 240 Camerons with him at the time, and tried to catch up while he dispatched his sons to raise support along the path of march. Ewen overtook Dundee just before he reached Athole, where they were joined by about 300 Irish, under the command of Major-General Cannon.

Dundee held a quick war council with those clan leaders that had arrived, and then immediately set out for the field with his force, now numbering about 2,400. He arrived at the pass before Mackay and set up position on a ridge above the pass. When Mackay arrived they saw they had no hope of attacking Dundee's force, they instead deployed in a line and started firing on them with muskets.

The Jacobite line was shorter than the Government, due to the disparity in numbers, leaving Ewen in the middle with an open flank on the left. By the time all of the forces were formed up it was late afternoon and the Jacobites had the sun in their eyes, so they simply waited for sunset under the desultory fire from Mackay's forces.

At seven o'clock Dundee gave the order to advance, at which point the entirety of the Highlanders dropped their gear, fired what muskets they had, and charged. Mackay's forces, realising the battle was on, stepped up their rate of fire, however due to a shallow terrace on the hillside shielding the advancing Jacobites, this fire was partly masked. Eventually the lines met and Mackay's men in the centre were "swept away by the furious onset of the Camerons." So fast was the Jacobite charge that many Government troops had insufficient time to fix their bayonets, leaving them defenceless at close-quarters (during this period, the plug bayonet was used, which fitted into the barrel of the musket and prevented further reloading or firing - this meant that fixing bayonets was delayed till the last possible moment). The battle soon ended with the entirety of Mackay's force fleeing the field, quickly turning into a rout that killed 2,000.

However, the cost of victory was enormous. About one-third of the Highlander force was killed, and Dundee was fatally wounded towards the end of the battle. The Jacobite advance continued until being stopped by government forces at the Battle of Dunkeld.