Harper's Round Table, November 17, 1896

by Various

BATTLE OF GLEN FREON.

BY THE MARQUIS OF LORNE.

This is how the country people still tell the story of the Tragedy of the Youths, an incident of the time of James VI. of Scotland and I. of England, about forty years before the sailing of the Mayflower to America:

There was great destruction brought on the MacGregors, and many lost their lives, their lands, and their name. And the cause was this: The widow of a MacGregor dwelt in a place called Tulach, at the nether part of Glen Streatha. Her house was about half a mile from the place where the abode of the chief MacGregor himself was. She had two sons, and these, when they were but young, began to be pack dealers or peddlers, going to the Lowlands to buy, and going through the Highlands to sell their wares again. Once they went on a journey to Dumbarton to buy goods, and on returning homewards they passed along the west side of Loch Lomond. But as they tramped on by the lands of Sir Humphrey Colquhoun,[1] of Luss, heavy snow fell, and the track became very difficult to travel, for there were no roads in those days in the Highlands that could be used for wheeled carriages or carts, and when the foot-track was covered with snow a man had to be very well acquainted with the district not to go astray. The two boys went on until they reached Luss, a village on the banks of the beautiful Loch Lomond. There they asked for food, tendering payment, and being asked who they were, they owned that their name was MacGregor, for they did not know how much the people whose hospitality they craved hated that name. Neither for favor nor for payment would the Luss people give the boys any food. The boys saw well how much they were disliked on account of their race, and they became anxious to go away. Up Glen Luss and through Glen-Na-Sreinge was the shortest way in those days for any one to reach the head of Loch Lomond, but the distance was great and the snow made the journey most difficult. On the east side of the loch the most numerous clans were the Curries and the MacGregors, and they occupied the country from Pollach to near the north end of Loch Lomond, through what was called the Sho's, or Slope, near to the pass of Balla-Na-Chatha. The Slope was very rough and difficult to traverse, and its inhabitants had the reputation of being very fierce. The Slope of Ben Lomond was called Croigchrosdain, and the people dwelling there were distinguished by this name from the other MacGregors. The people of Luss declared these men came frequently in their boats across the Loch to steal cattle and take whatever they could lay their hands on, and that when a raid had thus been made it was as much as a man's life was worth to go to ask for restitution.

It was therefore no wonder that the young lads were badly received, for they had not disguised their names, and no man would help them to get home. They consulted together and determined to try to get across the loch, and went to a place called the Caolaig, where a boat was kept by a man who, when payment seemed assured, undertook to ferry people over to the other side. The boys begged that they might be put across the water, but the night threatening storm and the ferryman disliking to cross, they were refused. They begged for shelter, but this was also denied them. Food there was none for them at Caolaig any more than at Luss. Left by this harsh treatment to shift for themselves, they looked around for some place where they might find refuge, and at last they found a goat shelter, and went into this, and lay down in the cold and darkness, waiting in fear until they thought every one had gone to rest before they dared try to make a fire. When they thought that they would not be seen they made search for fuel, and happened on an out-house where a farmer had left some agricultural implements. The shafts and handles of these the boys took, breaking them up for fire-wood. A plough that had a good deal of wood in it they destroyed for fuel, and lit a fire, and having caught a young goat, killed this and roasted it to satisfy their hunger. All this had been done, as they supposed, without any one having been able to notice them, for they had hidden their fire as much as they could, and the snow and storm made them think themselves secure. But some one saw the light, followed them, and seeing what they had done, went to Rossdhu, and told Sir Humphrey Colquhoun that the MacGregors were at their old work again. A band of men was quickly got together, and the two youths were caught and taken to Sir Humphrey's place, and there put in prison. A court was held, witnesses were examined, the case against them fully proved, and they were sentenced to be hanged on a day that was named. Whether any of their kindred were present at the trial is not known, but in a very short time the news spread through the country that the lads were to be executed, and the men of Glen Gyle and Croigchrosdain resolved to go in a body under their chief to the place of punishment and ask for the corpses of the lads to take them back with them for burial in their own district. When the day arrived Sir Humphrey had a large force of men besides those from his own estate. He caused the two prisoners to be brought from the prison of the House of Rossdhu to a knoll called in the Gaelic Tom-Na-Cruaich (Knoll of the Gallows), a short distance from the Light Grey Brook, by the side of the highway. The Colquhouns selected a fir-tree, which grew on the mound, to serve as a gallows, and the two lads were made to stand up to be hung. But something went wrong with the withes of the gallows, and the two lads fell as soon as their weight was on the ropes, and were not much the worse. Then a great shout went up from the MacGregors and Curries who had come over the loch. "The sentence of the law is fulfilled. Let the prisoners go." They rushed to the gallows, intending to rescue the lads, but their numbers were small in comparison to the followers of Sir Humphrey, whose men spoke insolently and contemptuously to them, while they barred the way, and prevented any nearer approach to the place where the lads lay. Meanwhile new withes or ropes had been adjusted, and the prisoners were hung up again, and left to die, amid the cries of their friends, who shouted and yelled beyond the crowd of the men Sir Humphrey had closely surrounding the mound. When it was evident that the lads were dead they were let down, and their heads were cut from their trunks, and the heads were placed on stakes, one on each side of the gate of Rossdhu. The men who had demanded their pardon went away full of anger.

The tragedy that had taken place was detailed in all its sadness and horror to the lads' clansmen wherever they could be found. Messengers went from village to village recounting the story by the peat fires in the little cottages, where under the thatched roofs and within the unmortared walls the cows and the hens and the family lived together. The messengers always began by saying that if any of the MacGregors had lost any of their young men, they should go to the gate of Rossdhu House, and see if in the features of the death heads on the posts on each side of the gate they could discern the features of their loved ones. The widow of Tulach in Glen Streatha heard the story, and anguish came on her as she thought that this cruelty might have been dealt on her children who had not returned when she expected them home. She made ready speedily, and went over the moors, travelling without pausing until she arrived near Rossdhu. She drew near to the gate and saw the heads, and even from a distance she thought she recognized the shape of her sons' heads, and coming close to the posts standing there with their trophies on them, she saw that her forebodings were too true. She took an opportunity, and had the heads taken down, and tied them up in two pieces of cloth, and walked back, carrying a head in each hand. And reaching her own glen she went to MacGregor's house, and laid down the two heads at his feet, letting them out from the cloths which hid them, and then burst into lamentation and tears, and at last told him how she had carried them away with her. Then the chief, who knew and loved the two youths, was greatly enraged with Sir Humphrey, and resolved to encounter him. Before he proceeded on his designs he went to the Earl of Argyll and asked his advice, and his counsel was that MacGregor should ask to meet Sir Humphrey with a hundred men on each side, so that an account might be given by the Colquhouns as to what had happened, and the reasons for the cruel treatment of the lads. For, said the Earl, if Sir Humphrey has no good reasons he may pay the old ransom called, from the days of the Norse invasions, "eirig," or a fine for their deaths, and all fighting be avoided. In any case, he counselled that MacGregor should not be the first to begin to shed blood, unless in self-defence. Then the chief went to Ardkinglass, where Mac Ian Riach (Campbell of Ardkinglass) advised him to go and have an interview with Sir Humphrey, saying that the MacGregors might go through the Ardkinglass lands and have a night's lodging in Ganavin at the side of Loch Long, and that the people there were to ferry the band over the loch on the day following their arrival. All was carried out as had been suggested by the Earl, and Sir Humphrey made answer that he would meet the MacGregor chief, and tell the MacGregors of the crimes of the youths at the upper end of Glen Freon on a Saturday, and that he desired to explain all that there might be peace.

As soon as this answer had been conveyed to the district where Alexander MacGregor had his followers, he assembled two hundred men, giving his brother the command over one hundred, and himself taking the leadership of the rest, and marched towards Luss. They left Glen Streatha on Friday, and went through the Caothran of Glen Fine, and arrived at Ardkinglass Castle. Then instead of going by the highway of the Highlanders up between Ben-Nan-Luibhean (Hill of the Herbs) and Ben-Tomadh, they went through the lands of Mac Ian Riach (Ardkinglass), over the moors as far as Ganavin. There they got ferried across the loch to a place called the Tmire Franyach (French Ridge). Landing, they ascended by the slant of the moor, and passed the top of Sron Mhailein, crossed the water of the Callanach at the Broad ford, and went on by the highway of the Highlanders above the place of the Man of Tom-Bhui, until they reached a brook called Alt-Na-Chle. They halted there to rest, and took special note of the situation of this place, for the burn had a very rough course, and formed the march between the land of Fionnart and Tom-Bhui. There were two fords within a short distance of each other near the Highlanders' way; but most of the bed of the torrent lay deep, and abounded in deep hollows, the burn flowing in a series of falls from a third of the distance from the top of the moor to the shore of Loch Long. Although the two fords are narrow, yet it was over them that the cattle were driven when the Highland caterans, or robbers, took spoil from the Lowlands. The MacGregors thought that this impetuous burn's course would give an excellent place where a reserve of men might be left in case the Laird of Luss should prove false to them. So the chief's brother was left there with one hundred men, while he went himself with a like number to meet Sir Humphrey.

The place where the reserve men were thus placed in ambush, or at call, was a remarkably secret one. There is a rock on the side of Fionnart of the ford of the highway of the Highlanders, which, although of no great height, is so wall-like that no one can climb up the face of it. It is on the moorland side of the track, and there is a little hillock on the top of it, and at the top of this hillock the waterfall of Alt-Na-Chle flows with a bend round it, and returns again beneath it to the Highlanders' way. The water falls steeply below this pass, and again sixty paces lower, where there is a spot where the torrent can be passed, but this is practically only at these so-called fords, for below there is no good passage. John MacGregor and the band selected to remain at the burn went up and concealed themselves behind the hillock, where they were near enough to the track to throw stones upon it, although they could not be seen where they lay. Alexander of Glen Streatha, when he had seen his brother and his men thus posted, went on to the head of Glen Freon for the tryst. The anticipated meeting with the Colquhouns had been much discussed in the country, not only on Loch Lomond side, but about the banks of Clyde. The MacGregors had the name of being a fierce people, and as the date of the conference was known, and many thought there might be fighting, a great crowd gathered to see what would come of the meeting.

In the town of Dumbarton there was a seminary, and the teachers and students, participating in the curiosity aroused by the event, went in a body to see what might happen. Many citizens of Dumbarton followed, and a hundred men of the Clan-Na-Liendaig marched from that town to help Sir Humphrey, should he need support. One of the Buchanan lairds marched also thence with a number of the Clan Cameron and Clan Walter to Glen Freon. Thus when Sir Humphrey numbered his men he found he had over four hundred, but he and his friends arranged that he should go forward with only one hundred, and that the other three hundred should be hidden behind a hill, ready to move up at a signal, and this signal should be given if the MacGregor chief did not come to terms. The hill behind which Sir Humphrey's reserve was concealed was between the hill of Glen Freon and a place called the Birch Clumps, not far from a part of the Highland way by which they supposed the MacGregors would return home. Sir Humphrey meanwhile marched on with his band of a little over one hundred men, and stood waiting at the place where he had agreed to meet MacGregor, for he was anxious to put an end to the disagreements and troubles which had been a cause of warfare and sorrow to both Lowlanders and Highlanders. MacGregor was soon seen approaching, and both bands arrayed themselves in ranks, and stood opposite to each other and not far apart. The Lowlanders wore their great flat bonnets of blue cloth, and were clad in long jackets and short hose with gray coarse stockings; the Highlanders, in bonnets also of blue, but of smaller size, and they all wore red tartan, most of them in kilts, though others had tartan tight-fitting trousers.