"McDonnal, Laird of Cappagh, in the Highlands, ... was unjustly possessed, as most men believed, for many years, of an estate, which in right belonged to the Laird of Mackintosh.... Soon after, the Government ordered me to detach 60 Dragoons, with a Lieutenant, Cornet, and Standard, and to march with Captain Streighton, and 200 of the Foot Guards against the McDonnels.... Whereupon we, who were sent against him, continued to destroy all the houses and corn, from the time of Lammas to the 10th of September; and then we advanced towards the Borders, to join the Scotch army, at that time marching towards England, against the Prince of Orange, then intending an invasion."
[Creichton now goes on with his account of the coming of William the Third, which is, of course, a mistake in order.]
"We arrived thither October 1st, after a march of 200 miles.... The army did not reach London till about 25th October.... The Earl of Airly, when he was Lord Ogleby, had attended the great Marquess of Montrose in all his Actions, for King Charles the First and Second. But at this time being old, it was reported that he was dead, before the Scotch Forces went into England, to oppose the Prince of Orange; whereupon the King had given his troop in Dundee's Regiment to the Earl of Anandale: but the Earl having overtook the Army at Cambridge, in their march, went on to London, and there presenting himself before the King; his Majesty ... immediately restored his Lordship to his Troop, ordering him at the same time to command those 200 men who attended him down to Salisbury. When all the Forces were arrived at Salisbury, the Earl of Dunmore, with his Regiment of Dragoons, wherein I served, was ordered to a Pass 3 miles below the City, where I commanded the Guard that night.
"I now return to my Lord Dundee, and my Lord Dunmore. Their Lordships acted no longer as Colonels, when they understood that the Prince intended to place himself on the throne during his Majesty's life.... After their Lordships were gone to Scotland, I went to Watford, where my Lord Kilsythe, as Lieutenant Colonel, commanded the Lord Dunmore's Regiment of Dragoons.... Major General McCoy ordered the Lord Kilsythe to march the Regiment from place to place till they should come to Congerton, a town in Cheshire. Here they quartered, when the Prince and Princess of Orange were proclaimed King and Queen of England, &c., by the Sheriff and 3 or 4 Bailiffs. It happened to be a very stormy day; and when the Sheriff had done his Office, a crack-brained fellow, at the head of a great rabble, proclaimed the Duke of Monmouth king, to the great diversion of the Regiment; not believing he had been beheaded. When my Lord Dunmore refused to serve the Prince of Orange, Sir Thomas Levingston, of my Lord Kilsythe's family, got the Regiment. This gentleman was born in Holland, and often used to raise recruits in Scotland; upon which account he was well known to the Regiment. He came down, Post, to Congerton, and at Supper, told the officers that he was sent to know, which of them would serve King William and which would not? Now the oath of allegiance to that Prince, having not been offered to that Regiment, one of the Company answered that we having sworn Allegiance to King James, could not, in conscience and honour, draw our swords against him: Whereupon Sir Thomas, drinking an health to King James, upon his knees, answered that he wished he might be damned, whenever he should command them to break that oath: and in order to ingratiate himself further with the Regiment, added: that he would return to London next day, for a command to march them strait to Scotland, where their wives and friends were; and likewise to procure a Captain's commission for me, since Sir Adam Blair, who commanded the troop, in which I was Lieutenant, had refused to serve King William, both which he accordingly obtained. When he returned from London, he marched with the Regiment, directly through Berwick, into Scotland.
"From this period, my troubles began; for I was then sent up to Edenborough, and there imprisoned in the Tolbooth, together with my Lord Kilsythe, Captain Levingston, Captain Murray, and Lieutenant Murray, each of us in a separate dungeon; with orders that none should be permitted to speak with us, except through the keyhole; and in this miserable condition we lay for two months.... The Council, although they could force no confession from me, or my companions, that might affect my Lord Kilsythe, on whose estate their hearts were much set, yet resolved to make a sacrifice of someone among us ... the lot fell on me.... Lord Dundee, then at Blair Castle in Athole, hearing this, wrote to the Council—that if they hanged Captain Creichton, he would cut the Laird of Blair, and the Laird of Pollock, joint by joint, and would send their limbs in hampers to the Council."
The following entries are from two large folio manuscript Establishment Books in my possession. Each volume is bound in boards covered with fine white vellum, with gold tooling in Mearne's style.
The first opens with the Accession of James the Second; but the first entry that concerns us is on page 63:—
"Our Will and Pleasure is that this Establishment for our Scots Forces hereafter mentioned, do commence from the First day of November, in the 4th year of our Reigne, and continue during their stay in England."
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