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The first enterprise that Charles undertook, after capturing
Fort George, was the siege of Fort Augustus. To reduce this fortress, and with the
ulterior view of laying siege to Fort William, Brigadier Stepleton was sent into
Stratherrick with the French piquets and a detachment of Lord John Drummond's regiment,
and appeared before Fort Augustus about the end of February. Without waiting for his
artillery, which consisted of a few pieces found at Fort George, he attacked the old
barrack and carried it immediately, the garrison returning to the fort. Mr Grant, who had
succeeded M. Mirabelle as chief engineer, since the siege of Stirling, opened a trench
upon the 3d of March. The garrison held out two days, when, in consequence of the
explosion of the powder magazine by the falling of a shell, the fortress surrendered, and
the garrison, which consisted of three companies of Guise's regiment, were made prisoners
of war. Leaving Lord Lewis Gordon with a few troops in command of the place, the brigadier
marched to Fort William, which he invested on the land
side.
Pursuant to his plan of operations, the prince, in the beginning of March, sent Lord
Cromarty with a detachment, consisting of his own regiment, the Mackintoshes, Macgregors,
and Barridale's men, to drive the forces under Lord Loudon out of Ross-shire. Finding that
his lordship was unable to accomplish the task which had been assigned him, Charles
despatched Lord George Murray to his assistance with the Macdonalds of Clanranald and a
battalion of Lochiel's regiment. He reached Dingwall the first night, where he found Lord
Cromarty's detachment; but his lordship had been absent two days at his own house with a
strong guard of Mackenzies. Lord George marched next day for Tain, where he understood Lord Loudon
was posted; but on the road he learned that his lordship had crossed the Dornoch Frith to
Sutherland, and had quartered his troops in the town of Dornach and the neighbourhood. Not
having any boats to carry his men across the frith, his lordship, after consulting his
officers, returned to Dingwall, where he quartered his men. The
reason of retiring a day's march farther back was to throw Lord Loudon off his guard, as
it was contemplated to bring boats along the coast and attempt the passage. There was
nothing to prevent the detachment marching round the head of the frith; but Lord Loudon
having a sufficiency of boats, might have eluded his pursuers by recrossing to Tain; and,
as Lord George would, by such a course, have been several days' march from Inverness, the
main body of the Highland army would have been in a critical situation, if the Duke of
Cumberland's army had reached the neighbourhood of Inverness, while the corps under Lord
George Murray was on the north side of the Frith of Dornoch. After sending notice to Lord
Cromarty of the disposition of his forces, and that the Duke of Perth would take the
command, Lord George returned to Inverness the following day, to execute a design he and
Macpherson of Cluny had concerted, to surprise the castle of Blair, and to beat up the
quarters of the government troops in Athole, who, from information he had received, had
committed great excesses in that district.
To carry the enterprise against Lord Loudon into execution, all the fishing boats that
could be collected on the coast of Murray were brought to Findhorn. A few gentlemen, to
whom the charge of collecting this small flotilla had been intrusted, had conducted the
matter with such secrecy and expedition, that no person in the government interest was
ware of it; but after the boats were all in readiness, a difficulty presented itself in
getting them across the Moray frith without being perceived by the English cruisers that
were continually passing along the coast. Moir of Stonywood, however, undertook to convey
the boats to Tain, and he accordingly set out one night with this little fleet, and
arrived at his destination next morning without being observed by the enemy. On the
flotilla reaching Tain, the Duke of Perth divided his force into two parts; and while,
with one of them, he marched about by the head of the frith, he directed the other to
cross in the boats. Under the cover of a thick fog this division landed without being
discovered, and the duke, having united his forces on the north side of the frith,
advanced upon Dornoch. When near that town, he came up with a party of 200 men, who were
on their march to join Lord Loudon. This party instantly fled; but Major Mackenzie, who
commanded it, with four or five officers, and sixty privates, were made prisoners. Among
the officers was a son of Mr Macdonald of Scothouse, who was taken prisoner by his own
father. The main body, under Lord Loudon, abandoned Dornoch in great consternation, and
fled north towards Glenmore, pursued by the Jacobite force. Both parties marched all
night; but the fugitives kept ahead of their pursuers. After a chase of about thirty
miles, the Duke of Perth discontinued the pursuit, and halted at the head of Loch Shin.
While following the enemy during the night, great anxiety prevailed among the Macdonalds
in the Duke of Perth's detachment, lest, in the event of an engagement, they might not be
able, notwithstanding their white cockades, to distinguish themselves from the Macdonalds
of Skye, who, like the other Macdonalds, wore heather in their bonnets. Upon reaching the
head of Sutherlandshire, Lord Loudon seperated his army. Accompanied by the lord-president
and the laird of Macleod, he marched to the sea-coast with 800 of the Macdonalds and
Macleods, and embarked for the Isle of Skye. Part of his own regiment, with
several officers, took refuge in Lord Reay's country. Finding that Lord Loudon's troops
had dispersed, the Duke of Perth returned to Inverness, leaving Lord Cromarty in
Sutherland with a sufficient force to keep Lord Sutherland and Lord Reay's people in
check. The dispersion of Lord Loudon's army was considered of such importance by Charles,
that he immediately despatched an officer to France with the intelligence. In this
expedition, several vessels in the Frith of Dornoch, having some valuable effects on
board, fell onto the hands of the insurgents. |
