Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Macdonell, Alexander (d.1724)
MACDONELL or MACDONALD, ALEXANDER or ALESTAIR of Glengarry (d. 1724), surnamed ‘Dubh’ from his dark complexion, Jacobite, was the eldest son of Ranald or Reginald Macdonell, second of Scotus or Scothouse, by Flora, daughter of Alexander Macleod of Macleod. On the death in 1680, without male issue, of his relative Æneas Macdonell of Glengarry, lord Macdonell and Aros, he succeeded to the estate of Glengarry, but not to the peerage, which became extinct. With four hundred of his clan he joined Graham of Claverhouse at Lochaber in 1689. Next to Lochiel he was personally the most notable of the highland chiefs who took part in the rising. The author of ‘Memoirs of Ewan Cameron’ states that ‘with his superiors and equals he lived in constant emulation and jealousy, and governed his clan with the authority and state of an independent prince’ (p. 260). He supported the proposals for a rising in a strong speech (Philip, Grameid, Scottish Historical Society, pp. 100–5), and displayed the fiery cross from the loftiest turrets of his castle (ib. p. 100). Although respect for ‘the customs of his predecessors’ made him among his own people ‘negligent of his person,’ and addicted to simplicity in his manner of living (Memoirs of Ewan Cameron, p. 261), he on the occasion of joining Dundee appeared at the head of his clan mounted on a foaming steed, clad in glittering arms and a cloak shining with gold (Grameid, p. 123).
When General Mackay attempted to win over Glengarry to the government he ‘returned him a civil answer, but instead of heartening to his proposal proposed to him the example of General Monk to imitate, who restored King Charles’ (Mackay, Memoirs, p. 19). Glengarry's Jacobitism was of an almost fanatical type, and this answer was intended as serious and solemn counsel. The slaughter of one of his clansmen during a raid of the Camerons on the Grants, see however, to those unacquainted with his idiosyncracy, likely on one occasion to cause an outbreak between the Macdonalds and the Camerons in the camp of Claverhouse. Glengarry in simulated fury went to Claverhouse demanding summary vengeance on Lochiel and the Camerons; but Lochiel took the matter very coolly, and the biographer of Lochiel states that Glengarry really ‘meant nothing more by the great noise he made than to ingratiate himself with his people' (Memoirs, p. 256; Macaulay, Hist. ii. 581). Glengarry was the first chief to eagerly counsel an immediate attack on Mackay at Killiecrankie, and in the battle he was the leader of the first line on the right, marching in the van accompanied with thirty horse (Grameid, p. 167).
Chiefly from his strong enmity to the Campbells and the Marquis of Breadalbane, Glengarry was specially reluctant to give in his submission to William III's government, and even ‘stood out obstinately against the voice of all the other chiefs.’ On 15 May 1691 Colonel Hill reported that he was ‘fortifying his house with an earthwork and a pale, and is the most bigoted man alive' (Leven and Melville Papers, p. 613); and he succeeded in so strengthening it that it could not have been taken ‘without great cannon' (Livingstone to Melville, 4 Aug. 1691, ib., p. 1691), Still, although he declined on any account to settle with the government's intermediary, Breadalbane (ib. p. 649), he took the oath before the expiry of the period of grace on 31 Dec. 1691. On the appointment of the Glencoe commission he displayed great zeal and activity in collecting evidence against those responsible for the massacre of his kinsmen.
Glengarry alone of the Macdonalds did not sign the engagement of 7 May 1707 on behalf of the Chevalier, having resolved to be guided by the conduct of Atholl (Hooke, Correspondence, ii. 238). He was one of the highland chiefs who signed the letter to Mar promising loyalty to King George on his accession; and he was also one of the first to join Mar when he raised the standard of rebellion at Braemar, 27 Aug. 1715. At Sheriffmuir his clansmen occupied a position on the right wing. When the fall of the chief of the Clanranalds caused temporary hesitation and dismay, Glengarry, springing forward with the words ‘Revenge! Revenge! Revenge to day! Mourning to morrow!’ inspirited the battalion to a fierce onset which almost immediately put the enemy to rout. In reward for his gallant services at the battle he was created by the Chevalier a peer of parliament 9 Dec. 1716. On the suppression of the rebellion he gave in his submission to General Cadogan at Inverness. He was one of the trustees nominated in 1720 by the Chevalier, on the advice of Lockhart, for managing his affairs in Scotland. He died in 1724.
By his first wife, Anne, daughter of Hugh, lord Lovat, he had one daughter, Anne, married to Robert Mackenzie of Applecross. By his second wife, Mary, daughter of Kenneth Mackenzie, third earl of Seaforth, he had four sons: Donald Gorm, killed at Killiecrankie; John, who succeeded to the chieftaincy; Randolph of Kyles; and Alexander.
[Memoirs of Ewan Cameron, General Mackay's Memoirs, and Leven and Melville Papers (all in Bannatyne Club); Philip's Grameid (Scottish Hist. Soc.); History of the late Revolution in Scotland, 1690; Patten's and Rae's Histories of the Rebellion; Mackenzie's History of the Macdonalds, pp. 342–8; Douglas's Baronage, ed. Wood.]