turned to "Perth, whence, with an army now amounting to about 4000 men, he proceeded to Dunkeld on the 26th of July. While in the metropolis he had endeavoured to secure the Athole interest, and that the castle of Blair should be held for King William. But he was as usual outwitted by Dundee, who, after unsuccessful negotiations with Lord Murray, won over the Athole factor by the pre sentation of a commission prepared for the occasion. The castle was at once occupied, and at Dunkeld Mackay received intelligence that the design of his march was frustrated. By ten A.M. of the 27th of July 1689 he was at the entrance
to the pass of Killiecrankie.Dundee had appointed a gathering of the clans at Blair for the 29th ; and on the 27th he was at the head of at least 2000 men, including a contingent from Ireland. The reports of scouts that 400 of the enemy had already threaded the pass roused the impatience of the chiefs. But it was not until he received intelligence that the whole army of Mackay had entered the defile that he gave the order to march. With caution he disposed his troops on the hills to the right of the opposing army, which, making its exit from the gully, was forming on the haughs. On Mackay s right and beyond the narrow plain were undulating heights backed by Craig Culloch. On one of these Mackay was astonished to observe the movement of the troops of Dundee. To prevent the enemy from gaining an intervening eminence, he at once ordered a flank movement, and his army marched up the face of the hillock, leaving the Garry in the rear. For several hours the two armies faced each other, Dundee restraining the impatience of his troops, but at eight in the evening the order was given to advance. Mackay had formed his line three deep, while his opponent had arranged his men in battalions with intervals wide enough to prevent the out flanking of superior numbers. The Highlanders having dis charged their firelocks threw them on the ground, and rushed impetuously on the foe. The result was instantane ous ; Mackay s line was broken and driven helplessly into the gorge. Dundee, at the head of his cavalry, charged the enemy, but, confusion having arisen as to the leadership of the troop, he was not at once followed. The gallant soldier, waving on his men, was pierced beneath the breast plate by a bullet of the enemy, and fell dying from his horse. Dundee asked " how the day went," and, hearing the answer and the expression of sympathy, replied that " it was the less matter for him seeing the day went well for his master." He was conveyed to the castle of Blair, where within an hour or two of his death he was able to write a short account of the engagement to King James. The battle, in which the Government forces had lost 2000 men as against 900 of the enemy, was in truth the end of the insurrection. The Highland camp was broken by jealousies, for the controlling and commanding genius of the rebellion was no more.
See Memorials and Letters of Graham of Claverhouse, by Mark Napier, 1859-62, where the literature of the subject is referred to. The work itself must be read with caution.
DUNDONALD, Thomas Cochrane, Tenth Earl of (1775-1860), known during his brilliant naval career as Lord Cochrane, was born at Annsfield, in Lanarkshire, on the 14th December 1775. His father, the ninth earl, had great scientific attainments, especially in chemistry, and possessed a genius for invention which ruined his fortune without much benefiting any one. He was so poor that the education of Thomas, his eldest son and heir, was left very much to such volunteer instructors as the parish minister. At the age of seventeen Lord Cochrane joined the navy on board the " Hind," of which his uncle, after wards Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane, was at the time captain. His father had previously procured for him a commission in the 79th regiment, but his own preference for the other branch of the service was so decided that it was found necessary to gratify it. In 1795 he was trans ferred with his uncle to the frigate " Thetis," which proceeded to the North American station. Soon afterwards he received his lieutenant s commission; and in 1798 he was sent to the Mediterranean to serve in the fleet under the command of Lord Keith. He had already begun to show that rare combination of daring and prudence which pro bably no British naval officer, save Nelson, ever possessed to a greater degree. As commander of the sloop " Speedy," to which he was appointed in 1800, he performed a series of exploits in capturing vessels of immensely larger size than his own which are almost without parallel in the annals of naval warfare. The little " Speedy," with its miserably weak armament of four-pounders, became the terror of the Spanish coasts, and more than once she was honoured by a frigate being especially detached to capture her. One of the attacks she ingeniously evaded ; another she boldly met (28th February 1801), and actually succeeded in capturing her opponent, the " El Gamo," a Spanish frigate of 32 guns. Her cruise of thirteen months, during which she took upwards of fifty vessels with 122 guns and 534 prisoners, ended in her own capture by three French line of battle ships, after making so gallant a resistance that the French captain, to whom Cochrane delivered up his sword, at once returned it. After a brief imprisonment, Lord Cochrane was exchanged. The promotion to post- rank, to which he was fully entitled, came somewhat tardily in August 1801; and the persistence with which his claims had to be urged laid the foundation of the bad understand ing with the authorities at the Admiralty that caused him to be lost to the British service a few years later, while he was still in his prime. Its immediate result being that he was refused further employment, he spent the period of enforced leisure (1802) at the university of Edinburgh, where he wisely endeavoured to repair the defects of his early education. The renewal of hostilities in 1803 brought him the opportunity of such distinction as was likely to be gained in the command of the "Arab," an utterly unsea- worthy old collier purchased into the navy, in which he was sent to take part in the blockade of Boulogne. The animus against him in official circles M as clearly shown when, on his complaining that his vessel was unfit for service, he was sent to the North Sea to protect non existent fisheries ! In 1804, on the advent of Lord Melville to the head of the Admiralty, tardy justice was done by his appointment to the command of the new frigate " Pallas " (32), in which, after making several valuable prizes within ten days, he entered Plymouth harbour in charge of them with three golden candlesticks, each five feet high, at the mastheads as a sample of the spoils. Before the " Pallas " was again sent to sea her fortunate captain was returned to Parliament as member for Honiton, partly through the in fluence of his fame, but still more through the influence of his prize-money. In her second cruise the " Pallas," after convoying a merchant fleet to Quebec, returned to the coast of France, where she cut out and captured several of the enemy s corvettes, and destroyed many of the signals. In August 1806 Lord Cochrane was transfer! ed to the command of the " Imperieuse " (44), in which during the succeeding two years he did immense damage to the enemy s fleet in the Bay of Biscay and the Mediterranean. One of his most gallant exploits during this period was his defence of Fort Trinidad, near Rosas, which he held for twelve days (November 1808) against overwhelming odds. When he found further resistance impossible he blew up the magazines and returned to his ship.
relations with the Admiralty had not become more friendly.
At the general election in May 1807 he had been returned
