Lochiel with his brave Camerons lived in peace till the Restoration, and during the two succeeding reigns he remained in tranquil possession of his property. But in 1689, he joined the standard of King James, which had been raised by Viscount Dundee. General Mackay had, by orders of King William, offered him a title and a considerable sum of money, apparently on the condition of his remaining neutral. The offer, however, was rejected with disdain; and at the battle of Killiecrankie, Sir Ewen had a conspicuous share in the success of the day. Before the battle, he spoke to each of his men, individually, and took their promise that they would conquer or die. At the commencement of the action, when General Mackay’s army raised a kind of shout, Lochiel exclaimed, “Gentlemen, the day is our own; I am the oldest commander in the army, and I have always observed something ominous or fatal in such a dull, heavy, feeble noise as that which the enemy has just made in their shout.” These words spread like wildfire through the ranks of the Highlanders. Electrified by the prognostication of the veteran chief, they rushed like furies on the enemy, and in half an hour the battle was finished. But Viscount Dundee had fallen early in the fight, and Lochiel, disgusted with the incapacity of Colonel Cannon, who succeeded him, retired to Lochaber, leaving the command of his men to his eldest son.[205] This heroic and chivalrous chief survived till the year 1719, when he died at the age of ninety, leaving a name distinguished for bravery, honour, consistency, and disinterested devotion to the cause which he so long and ably supported.[206]
The character of Sir Ewen Cameron was worthily upheld by his grandson, the “gentle Lochiel,” though with less auspicious fortune. The share which that gallant chief had in the ill-fated insurrection of 1745–1746 has already been fully told, and his conduct throughout was such as to gain him the esteem and admiration of all.[207] The estates of Lochiel were of course included in the numerous forfeitures which followed the suppression of the insurrection; however, Charles Cameron, son of the Lochiel of the ’45, was allowed to return to Britain, and lent his influence to the raising of the Lochiel men for the service of government. His son, Donald, was restored to his estates under the general act of amnesty of 1784. The eldest son of the latter, also named Donald, born 25th September 1796, obtained a commission in the Guards in 1814, and fought at Waterloo. He retired from the army in 1832, and died 14th December 1858, leaving two sons and four daughters. His eldest son, Donald, succeeded as chief of the clan Cameron.
The family of Cameron of Fassifern, in Argyleshire, possesses a baronetcy of the United Kingdom, conferred in 1817 on Ewen Cameron of Fassifern, the father of Colonel John Cameron, of the 92d Highlanders, slain at the battle of Quatre Bras,[208] 16th June 1815, while bravely leading on his men, for that officer’s distinguished military services; at the same time, two Highlanders were added as supporters to his armorial bearings, and several heraldic distinctions indicating the particular services of Colonel Cameron. On the death of Sir Ewen in 1828, his second son, Sir Duncan, succeeded to the baronetcy.
Maclean.
The clan Gillean or the Macleans is another clan included by Mr Skene under the head of Moray. The origin of the clan has been very much disputed; according to Buchanan and other authorities it is of Norman or Italian origin, descended from the Fitzgeralds of Ireland. “Speed and other English historians derive the genealogy of the Fitzgeralds from Seignior Giraldo, a principal officer under William the Conqueror.” Their progenitor, however, according to Celtic tradition, was one Gillean or Gill-còin, a name signifying the young man, or the servant or follower of John, who lived so early as the beginning of the 5th century. He was called Gillean-na-Tuaidhe, i.e. Gillean with the axe, from the dexterous manner in which he wielded that weapon in battle, and his descendants bear a battle-axe in their crest. According to a history of the clan Maclean published in 1838 by “a Sennachie,” the clan is traced up to Fergus I. of Scotland, and from him back to an Aonghus Turmhi Teamhrach, “an ancient monarch of Ireland.” As to which of these accounts of the origin of the clan is correct, we shall not pretend to decide. The clan can have no reason to be ashamed of either.
MACLEAN.
Badge—Blackberry Heath.
The Macleans have been located in Mull since the 14th century. According to Mr Skene, they appear originally to have belonged to Moray. He says,—“The two oldest genealogies of the Macleans, of which one is the production of the Beatons, who were hereditary sennachies of the family, concur in deriving the clan Gille-eon from the same race from whom the clans belonging to the great Moray tribe are brought by the MS. of 1450. Of this clan the oldest seat seems to have been the district of Lorn, as they first appear in subjection to the lords of Lorn; and their situation being thus between the Camerons and Macnachtans, who were undisputed branches of the Moray tribe, there can be little doubt that the Macleans belonged to that tribe also. As their oldest seat was thus in Argyle, while they are unquestionably a part of the tribe of Moray, we may infer that they were one of those clans transplanted from North Moray by Malcolm IV., and it is not unlikely that Glen Urquhart was their original residence, as that district is said to have been in the possession of the Macleans when the Bissets came in.”