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many butchers rather than an army of Christian soldiers,"* dined upon the field of battle. After his men had finished their repast, the duke of Cumberland marched forward to take possession of Inverness, and on his way received a letter, which had been addressed to General Bland, signed by six of the French officers in the insurgent army, offering in behalf of themselves and their men to surrender unconditionally to his royal highness. As he was about to enter the town he was met by a drummer, who brought him a message from General Stapleton, offering to surrender and asking quarter. On receiving this communication, the duke ordered Sir Joseph Yorke, one of his officers, to alight from his horse, who with his pencil wrote a note to General Stapleton, assuring him of fair quarter and honourable treatment. The town was then taken possession of by Captain Campbell, of Sempill's regiment, with his company of grenadiers.

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CHAPTER X.

Proceedings of the duke of Cumberland at Inverness-Execution of English deserters -Tumult in the royal army-Barbarities committed by the duke's troops-Skirmish at Golspie-Capture of the earl of Cromarty and his son Lord Macleod-Route of Charles when he left the field-Arrival of the chiefs at Ruthven-Charles, after visiting Gortuleg, Invergary, and Glenpean, arrives at Glenboisdale-Lord George Murray resigns his command-Charles sends a letter to the chiefs-Embarks at Borodale -Lands in Benbecula-Proceedings of the duke of Cumberland-Association of chiefs-The duke of Cumberland removes his head quarters to Fort AugustusDevastations committed in the Highlands by his troops-Apprehension of the Marquis of Tullibardine, Lord Lovat, Secretary Murray, and others-Charges against Macdonald of Barisdale-Escape of the duke of Perth, Lords Elcho, Pitsligo, and others-Final suppression of the rebellion.

AFTER securing his prisoners in the town, the duke of Cumberland released the soldiers who had been confined in the church of Inverness by the insurgents, and who, if the government accounts be correct, had suffered great hardships. They had indeed, about a week before the battle of Culloden, been almost stripped of their clothes by an officer of the Highland army, to clothe a new corps he had raised; but a complaint having been brought to Lord George Murray on the subject, he obtained an order from the prince, in consequence of which the clothes were restored. The duke on the present occasion presented each of these men with a guinea, and gave orders that they should be taken care of t

Besides the military prisoners, several gentlemen supposed to be disaffected to the government were apprehended by the duke's orders, shut up with the common prisoners, and were for some time denied the use of bedding. Nor did the softer sex, whose Jacobite predilections had pointed them out as objects of displeasure, escape his resentment. Several of these ladies, among whom were Ladies Ogilvy, Kinloch, and Gordon, were seized and kept in durance in the common guard, and were limited along with the other prisoners to the miserable pittance of half-a-pound of meal per day, with scarcely as much water as was necessary to prepare it for use. As the wounded prisoners were utterly neglected, many who would have recovered, if properly treated, died of their wounds; and so much were the rites of Christian sepulture disregarded by the duke and his officers, that the bodies of these unfortu

Jacobite Memoirs, p. 129.

+ Boyse, p. 161.

nate victims were carried naked through the streets by beggars, who were employed to inter them in the churchyard.*

Knowing that there were several deserters from the royal army among the insurgents, the duke ordered a strict inspection to be made of the prisoners in order to find them out. No less than thirty-six were recognised, and being brought to a summary trial, were convicted, and suffered the death of traitors. Among these was one Dunbar, who had been a sergeant in Sowle's regiment. He had taken a suit of laced clothes from Major Lockhart at the battle of Falkirk, which being found in his possession, he was dressed in them, and hanged, and his body exposed for fortyeight hours on the gibbet. A young gentleman of the name of Forbes, a relative of Lord Forbes, is also said to have perished on this occasion. He had served as a cadet in an English regiment, but, being from principle attached to the Jacobite interest, had joined the standard of the prince. An incident occurred after the execution of this unfortunate gentleman, which assumed an alarming appearance, and might have led to serious consequences had the war been continued. Before Forbes was cut down from the gibbet, an English officer, with a morbidness of feeling which seems to have seized the officers as well as the common soldiers of the army, plunged his sword into the body of Forbes, exclaiming, at the same time, that "all his countrymen were traitors and rebels like himself." This exclamation being heard by a Scottish officer who was standing hard by, the offended Scotchman immediately drew his sword, and demanded satisfaction for the insult offered to his country. The Englishman instantly accepted the challenge, and in a short time the combat became general among the officers who happened to be on the spot. The soldiers, seeing their officers engaged, beat to arms of their own accord, and drew up along the streets, the Scotch on one side and the English on the other, and commenced a warm combat with fixed bayonets. Information of this affray having been brought to the duke of Cumberland, he hastened to the scene of action, and by his persuasions put an end to the combat. He found the Scotch greatly excited by the affront offered them; but he soothed their wounded feelings by complimenting them for their fidelity, their courage, and exemplary conduct.

Notwithstanding the massacres which were committed immediately after the battle, a considerable number of wounded Highlanders still survived, some of whom had taken refuge in some cottages adjoining the field of battle, while others lay scattered among the neighbouring inclosures. Many of these men might have recovered if ordinary attention had been paid to them; but the flinty-hearted duke, considering that those who had risen in arms against his father were not entitled to the rights of humanity, entirely neglected them. But, barbarous as such conduct was, it was only the prelude to enormities of a still more revolting description

Jacobite Memoirs, p. 236.
+ Boyse, p. 164.
Johnstone's Memoirs, p. 203.

At first the victors conceived that they had completed the work of death by killing all the wounded they could discover; but when they were informed that some still survived, they resolved to despatch them. A Mr Hossack, who had filled the situation of provost of Inverness, and who had, under the direction of President Forbes, performed important services to the government, having gone to pay his respects to the duke of Cumberland, found Generals Hawley and Huske deliberating on this inhuman design. Observing them intent upon their object, and actually proceeding to make out orders for killing the wounded Highlanders, he ventured to remonstrate against such a barbarous step. "As his majesty's troops have been happily successful against the rebels, I hope (observed Hossack) your excellencies will be so good as to mingle mercy with judgment." Hawley, in a rage, cried out, "D-n the puppy! does he pretend to dictate here? Carry him away!" Another officer ordered Hossack to be kicked out, and the order was obeyed with such instantaneous precision, that the ex-provost found himself at the bottom of two flights of steps almost in a twinkling.

In terms of the cruel instructions alluded to, a party was despatched from Inverness the day after the battle to put to death all the wounded they might find in the inclosures adjoining the field of Culloden. These orders were fulfilled with a punctuality and deliberation known till then only among savages. Instead of despatching their unfortunate victims on the spot where they found them, these barbarians dragged them from the places where they lay weltering in their gore, and, having ranged them on some spots of rising ground, poured in volleys of musketry upon them. Next day parties were sent to search all the houses in the neighbourhood of the field of battle, with instructions to carry all the wounded Highlanders they could find thither and despatch them. Many were in consequence murdered; and the young laird of Macleod was heard frankly to declare, that on this occasion he himself saw seventytwo persons killed in cold blood. The feelings of humanity were not, however, altogether obliterated in the hearts of some of the officers, who spared a few of the wounded. In one instance the savage cruelty of the soldiery was strikingly exemplified. At a short distance from the field of battle there stood a small hut, used for sheltering sheep and goats in cold and stormy weather, into which some of the wounded had crawled. On discovering them the soldiers immediately secured the door, to prevent egress, and thereupon set fire to the hut in several places, and all the persons within, to the number of between thirty and forty, perished in the flames.+

Another instance of fiendish cruelty occurred the same day. Almost immediately after the battle, nineteen wounded officers of the Highland army, unable to follow their retiring companions, secreted themselves in

• Letter from a gentleman in London to his friend in Bath. Bath, 1751, reprinted in Jacobite Memoirs.

.

f Ibid.

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