[1193] See a curious and interesting letter in the Stuart Papers, from Lord George Murray to the prince, written from Ruthven the day after the battle.
[1194] Particular Account, p. 15.
[1195] Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 510.
[1196] Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 510.—Kirkconnel MS.
[1197] These guards were originally a body of cavalry, called the horse-grenadiers, but they were dismounted, and their horses were given to the men of Fitz-James’s regiment, who had landed in Scotland without horses.
[1198] “The great object of the duke, before recommencing his march, had been to prepare his men for a firm reception of the Highland charge. He knew that on this all depended, and that the two previous disasters had been caused by the men not being rightly disciplined to receive the novel mode of attack. Some writers on military tactics had, in the meantime, proposed alterations on the complex infantry movements of the day, for the purpose of evading the Highlander’s target, by directing the bayonet against his right breast. The men were trained during the winter, in some measure, to such a change of motion, but it appears to have rather been for the purpose of giving them a confidence that might make them steady, than from any belief in the absolute efficacy of the change.”—Burton’s Scotland from Revolution, vol. ii. p. 519.
[1199] Boyse, p. 159.
[1200] Boswell’s Tour to the Hebrides, p. 228.
[1201] Kirkconnel MS.
[1202] Mr. Home says that about a hundred men were stationed in the inclosure, who were put to the sword by the dragoons when they entered; but he is certainly mistaken. Mr. Maxwell of Kirkconnel, from whom Mr. Home took his description of the battle, does not mention such an occurrence. In the memoir by a Highland officer, (Colonel Ker,) printed among the Lockhart Papers, it is stated, (p. 520,) that to guard against any attempts that might be made to break down the walls of the inclosure, there were two battalions placed facing outward, covering the right of the two lines, to observe the motions of the English; and that “when the attack began, the Campbells threw down a great part of the wall of the inclosure for the dragoons on the duke’s left, to pass to the rear of the prince’s army, which they did without receiving one shot from the two battalions that were placed to observe their motions.”—P. 521.