| Before noticing Charles's proceedings at
Glasgow, it is necessary to give a short summary of those of his friends in the north, up
to the period of his arrival in that city. When
intelligence of the Chevalier's march into England, and his unexpected success at Carlisle
was received in the north, the zeal of the Jacobites was more and more inflamed. Whilst
the Frasers, headed by the Master of Lovat, blockaded Fort Augustus, Lord Lewis Gordon was
busily employed in raising men, and levying money by force and threats of military
execution, in the shires of Bamff and Aberdeen. Of two battalions which his lordshop
raised, one was placed under the command of Gordon of Abbachie, and the other under Moir
of Stonywood.
To relieve Fort Augustus, the Earl of Loudon left Inverness
on the 3rd of December with 600 men of the independent companies, and passing through
Stratherrick during a very severe frost, reached Fort Augustus without opposition, and
having supplied the garrison with every thing necessary for its defence, returned to
Inverness on the 8th, after notifying to the inhabitants of Statherrick the risk they
would incur should they leave their houses and join the insurgents. |
