| The Highland army was drawn up in three
lines. The first, or front line, consisted of the Athole brigade, which had the right, the
Camerons, Stewarts of Appin, Frasers, Macintoshes, Maclauchlans, Macleans, John Roy
Stewart's regiment, and Farquharsons, united into one regiment; the Macleods, Chisholms,
Macdonalds of Clanranald, Keppoch, and Glengarry. The three Macdonald regiments formed the
left. Lord George Murray commanded on the right, Lord John Drummond in the centre, and the
duke of Perth on the left, of the first line. There had been, a day or two before, a
violent contention among the chiefs about precedency of rank. The Macdonalds claimed the
right as their due, in support of which claim they stated, that as a reward for the
fidelity of Angus Macdonald, Lord of the Isles, in protecting Robert the Bruce for upwards
of nine months in his dominions, that prince, at the battle of Bannockburn, conferred the
post of honour, the right, upon the Macdonalds, - that this post had ever since been
enjoyed by them, unless when yielded from courtesy upon particular occasions, as was done
to the chief of the Macleans at the battle of Harlaw. Lord George Murray, however,
maintained that, under the Marquis of Montrose, the right had been assigned to the Athole
men, and he insisted that that post should be now conferred upon them, in the contest with
the Duke of Cumberland's army. In this unseasonable demand, Lord George is said to have
been supported by Lochiel and his friends. Charles refused to decide a question with the
merits of which he was imperfectly acquainted; but, as it was necessary to adjust the
difference immediately, he prevailed upon the commanders of the Macdonald regiments to
waive their pretensions in the present instance. The
Macdonalds in general were far from being satisfied with the complaisance of their
commanders, and, as they had occupied the post of honour at Gladsmuir and Falkirk, they
considered their deprivation of it on the present occasion as ominous. The Duke of Perth,
while he stood at the head of the Glengarry regiment, hearing the murmurs of the
Macdonalds, said,that if they behaved with their usual valour they would make a right of
the left, and that he would change his name to Macdonald; but these proud clansmen leant a
deaf ear to him.
The second line of the Highland army consisted of the
Gordons under Lord Lewis Gordon, formed in column on the right, the French Royal Scots,
the Irish piquets or brigade, Lord Kilmarnock's foot guards,5 Lord John Drummond's
regiment, and Glenbucket's regiment in column on the left, flanked on the right by
Fitz-James's dragoons, and Lord Elcho's horse-guards, and on the left by the Perth
squadron, under Lord Strathallan and Pitsligo, and the prince's body-guards under Lord
Balmerino. General Stapleton had the command of this line. The third line, or reserve,
consisted of the Duke of Perth's and Lord Ogilvy's regiments, under the last-mentioned
nobleman. The prince himself, surrounded by a troop of Fitz-James's horse, took his
station on a very small eminence behind the centre of the first line, from which he had a
complete view of the whole field of battle. The extremities of the front line and the
centre were each protected by four pieces of cannon. |
