It was after Killiecrankie and the death of bold Dundee
That the hope of James’ return was sadly ended
And so, too, were the Jacobites condemned to outlawry
When William usurped the Crown they’d loyally defended.
The wily Breadalbane who had supported Charles the Second,
For rich rewards, to William bent the knee.
For this fickle earl would go wherever wealth and power
beckoned
And his greed led him to bring about a vile atrocity.
This Campbell, of undying shame, was paid to bribe each clan
To swear the oath for William and Mary,
But they had to sign it ere the year of Ninety-two began
Before the Sheriff of Argyll, at lofty Castle Inverarry.
Some chieftains who disliked the scheme were slow to take the
oath,
And among these was McIan of Glencoe.
His sept of the Macdonald clan was loath to break their troth
To Exiled James of Scotland, so his journey thus was slow.
He signed on January the Sixth, but in default he stood,
And Breadalbane with William agreed
That the "Extirpation of that nest of thieves in Glencoe would
Serve as a lesson to the rest – a necessary deed."
For this the King gave Campbell of Glenorchy Royal Assent
To clear this clan of rebels from the glen,
And Breadalbane appointed, to apply this punishment,
Captain Campbell of Glenlyon and his troop of Campbell men.
Next day along Glen Coe they marched, into the blizzard’s
welter.
They split up into bands of threes and fours.
Then in pretence of being lost, they begged for food and
shelter
And the innocent MacDonalds welcomed them inside their doors.
The Glen Coe is an awesome place with lowering rocky walls
That o’er the narrow valley darkly loom.
And when cruel winter’s icy winds bring snow in heavy falls
The lonely glen becomes an icy vale of deathly gloom.
For two long weeks the treacherous Campbells kept up their
charade
And shared the humble crofters’ meagre fare.
Whilst round the tiny cots and crofts the howling blizzard
played
And fabled Ossian watched and waited in his rocky lair.
McIan, though suspicious, had no groundings for his fears,
And treated them with Highland courtesy
Little knowing that Glencoe would soon become a vale of tears
And his tiny clan fall victims to the vilest infamy.
The thirteenth day was yet to break, (Oh, sad unlucky number!)
When all the Campbells stealthily arose
And fell upon their hosts as they lay softly in their slumber,
With dirks and claymores – and for many ‘twas their last
repose!
Ah, what an evil dawn was that! What wickedness and shame!
What cruelty by Scot on Scot committed!
What infamy that day was branded on the Campbell name
As man and wife, and even bairns, were on their claymores
spitted!
Bemused with sleep, the crofters had small chance to make a
fight,
Nor could they any comprehension form,
As Campbells laid about them with their sword blades left and
right
And slaughtered most - though just a few escaped into the
storm.
A dull grey light suffused the bloodstained snow along the
glen
As winter’s dawn crept in to light the scene,
And revealed the dreadful carnage left by foul Breadalbane’s
men
Who skulked away like sated curs, into the blizzard’s keen.
Ah! Many a weeping woman nursed her butchered wean or man
And many a lass lay dead there in the snow –
And many a man who heard the news, cursed all the Campbell
clan
For their shameless murder of the poor MacDonalds of Glencoe!
Gearald MacDonald Forster
