The Massacre of Glencoe

In the early hours of February 13th, 1692, members of the Clan MacDonald of Glencoe were still engaged in a cosy winter’s night sleep when that night turned dark with treachery and red with blood. When they went to sleep, the MacDonalds of Glencoe hadn’t a clue that by morning, history would be made and their lives changed forever.

We love to mention the brutality associated with much of Scottish history and the massacre of Glencoe is without doubt one of the bloodiest and most brutal events to have taken place. It is said that around 30 members MacDonalds of Glencoe were murdered via bayonet and burning by Scottish government forces because they had not pledged their allegiance to the new monarchs, William III and Mary II. This might seem like a relatively small amount of deaths, but it is the legacy of the event that makes it so climactic among the great tales of Scotland’s past.

Not only was this event a turning point for Clan MacDonald, but it was crucial to the development of Jacobitism in Scotland. There had been a Jacobite Uprising just a few years prior to the massacre. In the lead up to the event, the Scottish government had agreed to pay the clans that had proven themselves Jacobites a total of £12,000 for swearing loyalty to the new monarchs. The government didn’t quite understand the clan system enough to know that there was likely to be controversy over the distribution of the lump sum. The result was that the clans had been unable to come to an agreement, forcing the government to take action against them.

It was Maclain of Glencoe who was meant to sign the allegiance and delayed until it was, unfortunately, too late. After he signed, a plot to punish him and those inhabiting Glencoe was secretly underway. Campbell of Glenlyon along with 128 soldiers took refuge with the MacDonalds for nearly half a month. We can imagine a kindred connection with nightly merriment and an easy trust between them. So when the Campbells turned on these Highland MacDonalds, an absolutely unforgivably treacherous act was taking place.

Perhaps if the clans were given more time to pledge allegiance and the massacre not to have taken place, Jacobitism would have dwindled and would have ceased to develop as it had into the 18th century. As we know, this wasn’t the case. Culloden was yet to come and before that, the massacre of Glencoe became a barbarous symbol of Highland tragedy. This only fed the romanticism of the Jacobite cause, a romanticism that’s lasted centuries to today.