Chapter 38
Ruthven - Saturday 18th April, 1746
The next day the MacGregors parted from MacKinnon and Lochgarry. The route was now by Glen Tarff and the Corrieyaraick pass. Descending into Badenoch they headed northeastwards to Ruthven. There had been messages that a tryst had been arranged there.
Other regiments had also survived intact. Several thousand Highlanders gathered at Ruthven. Some, like the Clan Gregor had not reached Culloden in time for the battle. Cluny MacPherson had 500 men unblooded. The Duke of Perth and his brother Lord John Drummond were there with Lord George Murray. Lord Ogilvie with most of his regiment and many other commanders had arrived. The Prince had an army still in being.
The men were tired and hungry, as they had been before Culloden. Foragers cast around in search of food. More survivors of Culloden arrived. By nightfall the army was at least five thousand strong. They were well armed and still able to fight.
Detachments held the Slochd and other passes between Inverness and Badenoch against Cumberland. More survivors arrived from the North. There was no sign however, of the Prince and his escort. News came that Cromartie’s regiment had been cut to pieces by the Sutherland militia. It had happened while they were preparing to cross Ferry Oons, on the 15th. Many had been killed, few escaped capture.
The 19th dawned with still no decision. No sign of the Prince and his staff. The Jacobite Dukes were indecisive. They did not have orders from the Prince. Indeed it was not known whether the Prince had been captured. He had not been seen since leaving the battlefield along Strath-Nairn with his Irish favourites.
Finally, the order came on the 20th. The advocate Alexander MacLeod, Lord George’s aide, had located the Prince and returned with his command. ‘Let every man seek his safety in the best way he can.’
The order was clear, though heartbreaking. Everyone should fend for themselves. Return to their homes, however they may, and trust in Providence. The Prince had resolved to return to France.
The separation of the clan regiments at Ruthven was truly affecting. We bade one another an eternal adieu. No one could tell whether the scaffold would not be their fate. The Highlanders gave vent to their feelings in wild howling and lamentations. The tears flowed down their cheeks when they realised that their country ‘Duthaich nan Gaidheal’ was now at the discretion of the Duke of Cumberland, and on the point of being plundered, while they and their children would be reduced to slavery and plunged without resource into a state of remediless distress.
Glengyle and Glencarnaig rode silently side by side along the military road at Tummel Bridge. Rob and the other officers were close behind. Their force trailed dejectedly behind them. There remained almost three hundred men under their command. They had more men and better equipment than they had when they joined the army at Crieff, seven months earlier. There had been few losses during the campaign, although their numbers had waned through desertion, and waxed periodically by fresh recruiting.
At Dalnacardoch the regiment took their route to Kinloch Rannoch and along the southern shore of Loch Rannoch. Then they struck southwards over the hill pass leading to Meggernie in Glen Lyon. Having forded the Lyon they continued over the hills to Morenish on Loch Tay. Scorning precautions, for one last time, they marched past Finlarig Castle with their colours proudly aloft. Glengyle ordered the pipers to strike up. There was a garrison of the Argyll militia stationed in the castle. They did not dare emerge to challenge the march nor to follow. A few rounds of inaccurate cannon shot was all that they dared venture.
At Balquhidder, the regiment finally disbanded, with tears in every eye as they hugged and bade each other farewell.
Rob finally arrived back at his home at Stronachlachar. Jean fell into his arms and sobbed without restraint. “O, mo chridhe,” she wept, “It is glad that I am that you are returned. I had feared that we would not be together again in this world.”
“My dearest one,” Rob said, “the thought of you has borne me up. Now I am sure that it is you and this dear one in the crib that are of the greatest importance. I have pursued a dream of honour and pride and I have been obedient to the commands of my father, the chief, and to the Prince. That honour and the golden dreams have turned to ashes in my mouth. The Prince has deserted us. Only you, my dearest, and this infant matter to me from this time onwards.”
Together they looked on the tiny infant boy in his crib, who had been born since Rob had left for the North three months earlier.
“My dear,” Rob continued. “It will not be possible to remain here. Glengyle expects that the red soldiers will descend upon us like locusts, stripping us of our valuables and driving the cattle. All else they will destroy. He wishes us to move up to the shielings immediately with everything that can be carried. There are garrons aplenty to carry burdens.”
“Can we have but one night in our home, together, before we have to leave, my love?” Jean asked.
“Of course,” Rob replied as the baby woke.
MacGregor Page 40
