Massacre of Glencoe - Aftermath

Aftermath

The Glencoe massacre became a propaganda piece for Jacobite sympathies, which were to come to a head in the next generation in the Jacobite Rising of 1745. In the Victorian era interest was revived and the massacre was romanticised in art and literature, such as Sir Walter Scott's "The Highland Widow". More recently Glencoe was the subject of Eric Linklater's 1957 story "The Masks of Purpose", and David Clement-Davies's "Fire Bringer", in which the region is called the "Valley Of Weeping". The massacre is also the subject of Susan Fletcher's novel Corrag (2010).

Due to the involvement of Argyll's regiment under Glenlyon's command, the massacre was regarded by many (who were schooled in the romantic 19th-century school of Scottish history) not as a government action, but as a consequence of the ancient MacDonald–Campbell rivalry. Memory of this massacre has been kept alive by continued ill feeling between MacDonalds and Campbells. Since the late 20th century the Clachaig Inn, a hotel and pub in Glencoe popular with climbers, has had a sign on its door saying "No Hawkers or Campbells" although it has been said that this is probably more for the amusement of tourists than from any lasting sense of revenge.

In 1883 Macdonald of Aberdeen sculpted the Upper Carnoch memorial to the massacre, a tapering Celtic cross on a cairn which stands at the eastern end of Glencoe village, which was formerly known as Carnoch. Each year, on 13 February, the Clan Donald Society of Edinburgh arranges an annual wreath laying ceremony at the memorial to the Massacre of Glencoe. Clansmen from Clan Donald, from across the world, attend the ceremony, along with local people. The ceremony originated in 1930 when the late Miss Mary Rankin, Taigh a’phuirt, Glencoe, decided that a wreath should be laid annually on the monument. Miss Rankin, who supplied the wreath up to the time of her death in 1944, commissioned the late Mr. Angus MacDonald to lay it on her behalf. On Mr. MacDonald’s death in 1936, his second son Robert took over the duty, the wreath being supplied after Miss Rankin's death by Robert’s sister, Miss Annie MacDonald.

General Stewart of Garth, in a footnote, relates that Prince Charles Edward Stuart was anxious to save the house and property of Lord Stair at Kirkliston during the ’45 Rising. He proposed to march the Glencoe men some distance from the scene lest they take revenge on the part played by his grandfather when ordered by William III to extirpate their clan. But, when the proposal was communicated to the Glencoe men they declared that, if that were the case, they must return home. If they were considered so dishonourable as to take revenge on an innocent man, they were not fit to remain with honourable men, nor to support an honourable cause. It was not without much explanation, and great persuasion, that they were prevented from marching away the following morning. Such was the character of the massacred MacDonalds of Glencoe and their descendants.

For several decades, the Scottish Republican Socialist Movement have held a commemoration on the Sunday closest to the anniversary which is often attended by members of other groups including Siol nan Gaidheal, Na Fir Dileas etc.

The T.S. Eliot poem "Rannoch, by Glencoe" refers to the event, and the modern ballad with the haunting refrain: "Cruel is the snow that sweeps Glencoe and covers the graves o' Donald" most famously recorded by Alastair McDonald, and probably written for him by Jim McLean. The massacre also features prominently in the novel Lady of the Glen by Jennifer Roberson. There is also a piobaireachd named after the massacre; it is still played by many solo pipers in competitions.

The massacre is featured in a radio play from the series Quiet, Please! titled "The Vale of Glencoe".