“Thus baffled and out-manœuvred, MacPhadian not only failed in his object of offence, but found himself drawn into an intricate and desolate labyrinth, where his multitude encumbered themselves; the want of subsistence prevented him from remaining to blockade Sir Niel, and his ignorance of the clues of the place made it difficult to extricate himself by a retreat. In this exigence he was desirous of returning to Nether Loch-Awe, where there was abundance of cattle and game for the support of his men. At length he discovered a passage between the rocks and the water; the way was only wide enough for four persons to pass abreast; yet as they were not in danger of pursuit, they retired in safety, and effected their march to the south side of the lake.[146]
“Here we must leave Mac-Phadian, and return to Duncan of Lorn. In his youth the latter had been a school-companion of Wallace at Dundee; and he now determined to resort to him, and make use of their old acquaintance to prevail on the champion of Scotland to come to the assistance of Sir Niel Campbell. As soon, therefore, as Mac-Phadian had evacuated the Pass, Duncan descended from Craiganuni, and pursued his way for the Low country, attended only by a single follower, named Gillemichel. This faithful clansman was an aged man, but even in his age was still famous for an uncommon speed of foot,[147] and on their return performed good service for his master. When Duncan arrived in the Low country he found the Wallace at Dundaff, with Sir John the Græme. The patriot chieftain had just returned from the overthrow of the English in the Barns of Air and the city of Glasgow; and besides the friends and forces who had come to him upon those occasions, he had been joined by Malcolm, Earl of Lennox, and Richard of Lundi, who brought with them a considerable number of their followers. No sooner had Wallace heard the tidings of Duncan MacDougall, than he resolved to go to the aid of Sir Niel Campbell; and, assembling his force, he instantly set out upon his march. He directed his course by Stirling, either to gather increase of followers, or apprehensive of leaving behind him an English garrison on the threshold of the Highlands. The castle, however, was not a place to be taken in a day; and bent upon the destruction of Mac-Phadian, Wallace would not delay his march to pursue the siege in person, but, leaving the Earl of Lennox to carry on that service, he determined to push forward his expedition into Argyleshire. Having assembled his forces at the bridge of Stirling, and found them to amount to two thousand men, ‘worthi and wycht,’ he hastened forward on his way. Duncan of Lorn acted as his guide; and while they pursued their march, he sent forward his man Gillemichel to discover intelligence of the enemy. Blind Harrie proceeds to relate, that as the army proceeded, it became fatigued with its march, that a great part of the men and horses were incapable to continue their way with that speed which the urgency of the expedition required. Upon this Wallace determined to divide the weary from the strong, and to hasten forward with the latter only, and surprise the enemy before they could have the opportunity of choosing a position, where their superiority of numbers could be displayed to its advantage. For this purpose he divided his host into two bodies; the first, consisting of seven hundred men, he chose to haste forward with himself; and the second, which contained but five hundred, and which was spent with fatigue, he left in the rear to follow as well as they might. Before they continued their march Wallace again separated the first division into three companies; the first, consisting of one hundred men, his own chosen West country veterans, he led in person as the advance guard; the second, of the same numbers, he committed to Sir John the Græme; and the last, to the amount of five hundred, he gave to Richard of Lundi, with whom he joined Wallace of Richardtown, his cousin. After this disposition, the two grand divisions separated: that under the leading of Wallace hastened forward on its march, and, crossing the mountain in their front, lost sight of their feeble comrades. In Glen-Dochart they were met by Gillemichel the scout; with him came Sir Niel Campbell, who had escaped from Craiganuni, and at the head of his three hundred clansmen had hastened to join the approaching aid of Wallace.
“In this part of Blind Harrie’s poem there is an error, which throws some confusion upon the traces of the march of Wallace. It appears, however, to have been the fault of the transcriber or reciter, and I think may be satisfactorily explained. The mistake consists in the contradiction of the name of the place where the host of Wallace began to fail with fatigue, and of that in which it is said, that he afterwards met Sir Niel Campbell. The words of the poem are thus:—
“Be our party was passit Straithfulan,
Ye small fute folk began to irk ilk ane.”
Book vii. l. 763.
To which it is subsequently said,
“In Glendowchar yair spy met yaim agayne,
With lord Cambell,” &c.
Ib. l. 785.
“Straith-Phillan opens from the west end of Glen-Dochart towards the north-west; and consequently, as Wallace came from the south-east, it must have been the second of the two places in the succession of his march, and could not, as it stands in the poem, have been the first. I shall presently show, that there is every evidence from the narrative of the Minstrel, and the evidence of tradition, that Wallace did not pass through Straith-Phillan in any part of his march. The mention of the name, in this place, must therefore have been an error altogether, arising either from the carelessness of the transcriber, or from the confusion of two appellations, something similar in import. I am inclined to lean to the latter opinion. At the northern extremity of Straithearn, between the Glen and Loch-Earn, the mountains form a little amphitheatre, in the middle of which there is a small conical hill, once sacred to St Phillan, and still called by his name. Near its summit was a holy spring, distinguished also by the name of the apostle, and at its foot was a small cell of religious, formed originally by his disciples. It appears to me highly probable, that Wallace entered the Highlands by Straithearn; that it was at St Phillan’s Hill that his men became fatigued; and that it was this place which the reciter or transcriber of Blind Harrie’s poem confounded with Straith-Phillan. This supposition is much supported by the correspondence between the circumstances mentioned by the Minstrel, respecting the march of Wallace, and the route between Straith-Earn and Glen-Dochart. A few miles north of St Phillan’s Hill, the old and short track of the country emerges from the level side of Loch-Earn, and, passing over the transverse mountains at its extremity, enters into Glen-Dochart, at the foot of Bean Mòr, and near the eastern extremity of the lake.
“This was the common Pass used of old by the Highlanders, before the construction of the roads. It is a wild and pathless track, but is still used by shepherds, and is shorter than the modern ‘Rad mòr an righ’[148] by some miles. The mention which Blind Harrie makes of the march of Wallace, after the separation from his weary men, agrees very much with this path, and its direction:—