Thread by @Weegie_Graeme, #otd 27th July 1689, the Jacobite Army confronts the Williamite Army at [...]

#otd 27th July 1689, the Jacobite Army confronts the Williamite Army at the mouth of the Pass of Killiecrankie. Leading the latter: Major-General Hugh Mackay the senior commander of the Scots-Dutch Brigade. Here’s a thread on the Brigade’s role at the battle:
1/20

First some housekeeping, we don’t know the exact numbers of each army but the Jacobites had around 2,000. The Williamites had 3,500: some say up to 5,000 but those estimates usually come from figures who were not there like Captain John Creichton. 2/20
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Mackay and Sir Ewen Cameron of Lochiel’s estimates put the Williamite Army at 3,500: 3,000 Infantry, 100 cavalry, 300 dragoons and a 100-strong Independent Company. These are further verified by an anonymous eyewitness account.

This seems to be the closest estimate. 3/20

That anonymous account reports that there were 1,500 Scots-Dutch soldiers at Killiecrankie. They were split into battalions from each of the three regiments: Mackay’s own, Brigadier Barthold Balfour’s and Colonel George Ramsay’s (pictured)
4/20

The Scots-Dutch present at Killiecrankie made up 50% of the Scots Army overall

Ostensibly this makes their defeat all the more damning; a large contingent of veteran auxiliaries from the Dutch Army, most of whom fled!
It’s a bit more complex...
5/20

In reality, the number of veterans were severely reduced. The Brigade had entered Scotland in March 1689 with only one-third their usual strength - 1,200 instead of 3,000.

Many had been transferred to act as recruiting sergeants in Britain for William’s Dutch forces.
6/20

If we examine that further, the only identifiable officers, including subalterns & NCOs, at Killiecrankie (I.E those named or mentioned at all) only number about 22. Ferguson highlights 10.

We don’t even have names for them all or a number of the veteran rank and file! 7/20

This is a ball-park figure as the sources are fragmentary but whatever way you cut it, the Scots-Dutch veterans were severely outnumbered at Killiecrankie by inexperienced new recruits.

Each battalion had 500 men, the numbers of vets and officers was miniscule. 8/20

You might be thinking ‘oh so the 1,200 vets made up most of the Killiecrankie lot’ - it could be the case. BUT, I’ve got strong evidence to suggest the veterans of the Brigade outside the officer corps were being dispersed throughout Scotland on various duties & detachments. 9/20

Mackay noted this in his memoir, when compared to Leven’s, a Scots regiment, or Hasting’s, English dragoons, the proportion of officers to common soldiers was far smaller.

Both of those regiments performed far better than the Scots-Dutch
10/20

And the 1,500 Scots-Dutch present did not even represent the full strength of the new Brigade. A month prior Maj-Gen John Lanier reported to William Blaithwayt, Sec of War, that ‘the regiments out of Holland’ had 8,000 men in Scotland.

Most of whom were at Stirling.
11/20

The amount of recruits was one of the major factors in why the Brigade performed so absymally at Killiecrankie.

Balfour and Ramsay’s regiments almost wholesale abandoned their officers as soon as the Highland Charge hit them!
12/20

Even so, veteran Scots-Dutch officers don’t get off Scot free.
Lt-Col Lauder had been placed in charge of 200 of the ‘choice’ men of the army. Even though his men abandoned him too, he was among the first to appear in Stirling with doom filled reports of the loss.
13/20

Bc of Lauder, the Privy Council were under the impression that all the chief officers were killed: Mackay, Ramsay, Lord Belhaven, Viscount Kenmuir, Earl of Leven & Colonel Hastings.

This was not the case as all of these officers regrouped & led their men back to Stirling.
14/20

Moreover, the casualties, wounded and captured amongst the Scots-Dutch officer corps and old soldiers illustrates that many who stood paid the price. Even those who fled were killed in attempting to rally the ‘runaways’ hiding in the Pass nearby, such as Brigadier Balfour
15/20

These are the kind of nuances that have been missed when it comes to our understanding of the Brigade’s role at the battle. None of this is to excuse Mackay or the Brigade.

Both made tactical errors in very disadvantageous terrain, they underestimated their opponents
16/20

But the depiction of the Brigade as ineffectual is not entirely true: Mackay’s regiment were, by Lochiel’s own admission, very effective in keeping up their musket volleys against the advancing Highlanders. Lochiel’s own clan took 120 casualties from Mackay’s.
17/20

In conclusion, the battle of Killiecrankie remains perhaps one of the most misunderstood battles in Scottish history. It is rightly depicted as a major defeat for the Brigade, Mackay and William’s regime but the circumstances which led to that have been largely ignored. 18/20

Lastly, Mackay’s more conservative style of command (where he oversaw the battle & stayed alive) ultimately allowed him, with some help from the Cameronians at Dunkeld, to salvage the situation. Dundee’s death was a crushing blow to the Jacobites but not the end.
19/20

Thank you for reading this, if ye got this far I appreciate it! Feel free to share! 20/20
#HighlandWar #Killiecrankie #Jacobite #Jacobites #JacobiteRising #Outlander #Williamites #BonnieDundee #Mackay #twitterstorians #Britain #Scotland #Highlands #History #otd #militaryhistory

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