D, Page 35. War Cries, Signals, and Distinguishing
Marks of the Clans
Of the expedients generally adopted by the Chiefs for
summoning their friends and followers, it may not be unacceptable to
afford the reader some idea. The warlike disposition of the Celtic clans,
their jealousy of wrongs, the numerous concurrent causes of irritation and
quarrel, and the nature of the country, over a large extent of which they
lived scattered and distant from one another, rendered some signal
necessary to give the alarm, and assemble the warriors. The principal
signal was the Cross Tarie, or Fiery Cross, a piece of wood burnt or
burning at one end, with a piece of linen or white cloth stained with
blood hanging from the other. This symbol served two purposes. It was sent
round the country to call the men to arms, and it was meant also to show
what were the intentions of the enemy
(that is, to burn and desolate the country), and what
would be their own fate if they did not defend their honour, their lives,
and their properties. The cross was sent round the country from hand to
hand, each person who bore it running at full speed, shouting as he went
along the war-cry of the tribe, and naming the place of rendezvous. At
each hamlet a fresh man took it up, so that an alarm was given, and the
people assembled a with celerity almost incredible. One of the latest
instances of the Fiery Cross being used happened in 1745, when, by the
orders of Lord Breadalbane, it was sent round Loch Tay (a distance of
thirty-two miles, in three hours), to raise his people, and prevent their
joining the rebels,—but with less effect than in 1715, when it went the
same round, and when five hundred men assembled the same evening under the
command of the Laird of Glen-lyon, acting under the orders of the Earl of
Breadalbane, to join the Earl of Mar.
The war-cry served as a watchword to individuals in the
confusion of the combat, in the darkness of the night, or on any sudden
alarm, when assistance was necessary. Each tribe had its own war-cry (or
slogan, as it is called in Scotch), to which every clansman
answered. The war-cry of the Grants was Craig Eila-chie, from a
large rock in the centre of the country of the Grants; that of the
Mackenzies, Tulloch-ard; of the Macdonalds, Craig-na-fioch;
of the Macphersons, Craig-dui; of the Macgregors, Ard-choile;
of the Macfar-lanes, Loch Sloy; of the Buchanans, Clairinish;
and of the Farquharsons, Carn-na-cuin. Some families in the
border Lowlands employed their names as slogans and watchwords. In
the case of the Gordons, whenever assistance was necessary, the cry of "A
Gordon! a Gordon! " was sure to be effectual. The cry of "A Forbes! a
Forbes! " was equally availing with regard to the Fortieses ; and as these
two warlike families were at feud for more than 200 years, they had
frequent occasion for their respective slogans, in their countless strifes
and rencounters. Besides these cries, they had other marks by which it
could be known to what clan, tribe, or district, individuals belonged. One
of these was the particular disposition or set of the different colours of
the tartan, in the plaid, kilt, hose, and trews. Another mark of
distinction was a tuft of heath, pine, or such plant, stuck in the bonnet,
as would not fade or cast the leaf. Thus the Macdonalds wore in their
bonnets tufts of heath; the Macgregors and Grants a bunch of pine; the
Drummonds and Mackenzies wore the holly, the former the plain, and the
latter the variegated;
[The Mackenzies occasionally assumed the deer's grass,
in allusion to the armorial bearings of the chief, viz. deer's head and
horns. In connexion with these bearings, and with the origin of the clan,
is an anecdote which will be found in the account of the Seaforth
Regiment. This distribution of the distinguishing badges must have been
well understood, otherwise interferences would occur, as our evergreen
trees and shrubs are not numerous. The Macgregors and Grants carried the
same badge, as being of the same descent. Clans inhabiting countries
distant from each other, had sometimes badges somewhat similar, although
sufficiently marked to distinguish them, as in the instance of the plain
and variegated holly of the Drummonds and Mackenzies.]
the Mackintoshes the boxwood, and so on; always taking
care, whatever the badge or mark was, that it should be permanent, and not
affected by the change of the season, and thus be equally conspicuous in
winter as in summer. This was the practice of all except the Stewarts, who
generally wore the oak; which, from losing the leaf and decaying, many
regarded as ominous of the decline of the family and name, who also
considered the oak emblematical, as the leaves, though withered and
decayed, still hang by the branches till forced off by the new leaves in
spring.
