Blueberry Moon: Waawiiyaatanong Resurgence

 MIINI GIIZIS, Blueberry Moon 2020

 ᓃᐙᒃ ᒦᓇᐙ ᓈᓂᒥᑕᓇ ᐊᔑᓃᔥ

LVNDBVCK@gmail.com | (419) 540 8589

(with minor edits)

BIISKAABIYANG

July 4th is a symbolic colonizer ritual that weaponizes the land into a nation state for settlers to celebrate the triumph of white supremacy. The “freedom” celebrated on this day by millions of people, is a formal representation of genocide and slavery by colonists. The celebration of American independence on July 4th, signifies the ongoing oppression of African Diasporic Peoples and Indigenous Peoples of North America through a continuing legacy of stolen land and stolen labor. This settler society on occupied Turtle Island continues these traditions of violence and oppression to this day.

In other words, we will not lose our way.We will not disgrace the honor of our ancestors. Let us honor our relationships with the sacred land and not colonial infrastructures & holidays rooted in white supremacy.

MIINI GIIZIS

This action of The Waawiiyaatanong Resurgence is taking place during the blueberry moon. During this blueberry moon, the blueberries are at their sweetest. We also receive a beautiful amount of medicine from the thunderbirds moments after the recent summer solstice; as the thunder and lightning of summer storms herald us into the second half of the year with great changes.

In the sacred spirit of the story, it is said that when a young boy becomes a man he gets thunder in his voice after a blueberry becomes stuck in his throat, and this thunder medicine brings great depth and importance to his voice.

The Anishinaabe, sacred beings of the lands, and the diasporic Africans, sacred beings stolen from their land, will join together in solidarity to form spiritual bonds through ceremony to heal the land and exchange ancestral knowledge. Our ceremony today has three intentions:

Our first intention is to acknowledge the land and honor the spirits of the people who have been destroyed by colonialism and its consequences. We seek to uplift forgiveness with the spirits for not honoring our native ways and falling into the traps of assimilation and erasure. We would also bring clarity to a traumatic past, re-establish connection with the land, and ask for guidance for the future.

Secondly, we seek to acknowledge the African diaspora by uplifting and honoring Black life stolen by the colonial institutions. The displacement and enslavement of African people to work this land, is disrespectful to the land and its people. We therefore ask for healing for Black lives as they face their own ongoing battle with the colonizers. We honor Black lives as our relatives, acknowledging and helping to release the trauma the colonial structures have imposed on Black lives. Our struggles are intertwined.

We uplift prayers to our white accomplices and community members who likewise seek to destabilize colonial power and uplift indigenous resurgence.

MISI-ZAAGA’IGANI ANISHINAABEG ZIIBAASKA`IGANAGOODAYAN

The jingle dress was created by the Ojibwe people of The Mille Lacs Band of Anishinaabe during the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919. It came as a dream to a father who’s daughter was ill with the virus. His dream revealed the new dress and dance that had the power to heal. When the dresses were made, they were given to four women to perform the dance. When the little girl heard the tinkling of the jingles, she became stronger. During the big drum ceremony she was dancing again.

The healing aspect of the dance is carried through the sounds that the metal jingles make as the dancer moves. We started making jingle dresses here as soon as we lit the sacred fire, IshKode Meshkikwin, on May 30th, 2020. Our women & 2 spirits dance in these dresses to cleanse the land of energies brought to it by colonial rule and oppression. July 4th is the right moment to perform this cleansing ceremony because of its symbolism to the colonizers. We chose to cleanse the land at Campus Martius, due to its history of use for colonial power and its current ongoing symbol of gentrification, as known as settler colonialism. Our purpose is to cleanse this land to prepare it for the Anishinaabe, relative indigenous communities, and local communities to thrive on it again without being haunted by poisonous colonial legacies.

WAAWIIYAATANONG RESURGENCE

In what is commonly referred to as Detroit, Anishinaabe math & science knowledge unveils the language and the knowledge of the land here, Waawiiyaatanong, where the land bends with the water.

Since May 30, 2020, IshKode & The Aadizookaan have helped build and host the base for The Waawiiyaatanong Resurgence. This is ground zero for the Anishinaabe and other nation relatives to gather in Detroit and have access to a sacred fire to support Native ancestral technology, Black Life, and the ANCIENT FUTURE.

The goal of our resurgence is to create political and social paradigm shifts that will divert power away from the colonial patriarchy, and to an indigenous matriarchy headed by women and two-spirited people. We demand a halt to the continuous step of colonization by reinstituting indigenous names for the land, re-indigenizing traditional knowledge systems, and reestablishing sacred relationships with the land. Colonialism flourished on a diet of stolen land and stolen labor. Reviving the relationship to the land breaks the bonds of colonial power.

Waawiiyaatanong Resurgence is a movement rooted in Anishinaabe Meshkikiwiin; uplifting original native organizing structures and protocols that honor the sacred relationships to the land and creation. Ways to think of this work is Language, Land, & Legend:

The original LANGUAGE of the land, people, and creation of the Anishinaabe has had its existence threatened by the violent history of settler colonialism on Turtle Island. Restoring the language includes renaming and replacing violent colonial words, organizing our understanding of the passage of time around the moon cycle, and sharing knowledge of medicine and the land. If the language dies the people die. Restoring the language and sharing it with everyone supports native lifeways and ways of being, and shares the original connection with how people live their lives. The land speaks to Indigneous peoples differently because our creation stories have to do with the land. Working with the language in all types of ways revitalizes it, and therefore revitalizes the people and the land.

The LAND provides us with food, shelter, medicine, and self defense. Therefore, the land is a member of our community and not something to exploit. The land defends us and allows us to grow and develop and care for traditions. Without the land, we would be dead.

Our relationship with the land is extremely important. Part of our work is shifting our relationship with the land back to Indigenous lifeways. Our goal is to share community education about the land we live on as if it is a part of our community or our family, in order to shift the paradigm of how we relate to the land.

The land, furthermore, is our mother and has been exploited and abused. This exploitation and abuse has therefore leaked out to the women in our community. The patriarchy is a colonial construct. Women, who move with the moon, must lead us in repairing our relationship with the land. Empowering women & 2 spirits in leadership directly defies the patriarchy.

When we speak about “LEGEND” as a tool for the resurgence, we refer to the sacred spirit of the story. Through telling our story, we give voice to our experiences and generational trauma at the hands of the colonizers. The art being created, including poetry, music, food, visual arts, etc, are all legendary pieces of the resurgence. This is how we celebrate. We are living the legend at the moment and we celebrate our growth as we grow.

Celebrating creativity and creation allows us to share with each other in a way that’s uplifting and educational for the community. Legends provide us with political education, documentation, and synthesis of information. People have used legends for thousands of years as tools of education, in order to be passed down to future generations. This is exactly what we’re doing here.

Massacre of Glencoe. M.P.: the killing at Invercoe, Inverrigan, and Achnacon

Many thanks to the
Scottish Community
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Scottish-Community/215746851946064

Early in the morning of 13 February 1692, in the aftermath of the Glorious Revolution and the Jacobite uprising of 1689 led by John Graham of Claverhouse, a massacre took place in Glen Coe, in the Highlands of Scotland. This incident is referred to as the massacre of Glencoe, or in Scottish Gaelic Mort Ghlinne Comhann (murder of Glen Coe). The massacre began simultaneously in three settlements along the glen—Invercoe, Inverrigan, and Achnacon—although the killing took place all over the glen as fleeing MacDonalds were pursued. Thirty-eight MacDonalds from the Clan MacDonald of Glencoe were killed by the guests who had accepted their hospitality, on the grounds that the MacDonalds had not been prompt in pledging allegiance to the new monarchs, William and Mary. Another forty women and children died of exposure after their homes were burned.

In 1688, William, Prince of Orange accepted an invitation to take the throne of England, glad to enlist English help in his wars with France. The Scottish Parliament was more cautious and requested letters from him and James VII (ousted as James II of England). James's response displeased the Scots, and persuaded them to accept William as their King. In response, John Graham, 1st Viscount of Dundee, led a force of Scottish Highlanders in Jacobite uprisings in an attempt to return the throne to James. Viscount 'Bonnie' Dundee was killed at the Battle of Killiecrankie, and the Jacobites were subsequently defeated by the Scottish Cameronian forces at the Battle of Dunkeld. On their way home from this battle the MacIains of Glencoe (a sept of Clan Donald), together with their Glengarry cousins, looted the lands of Robert Campbell of Glenlyon and stole his livestock, increasing his problems with gambling debts and forcing him to take an army commission to provide for his family. In his subsequent appeal for compensation, Campbell showed he clearly believed the Glengarry men to be the more culpable, making no mention of Glencoe.

The Scottish Jacobites were heavily defeated at the Haughs of Cromdale on 1 May 1690, and James was defeated on 1 July 1690 at the Battle of the Boyne in Ireland.
On 27 August 1691, William offered all Highland clans a pardon for their part in the Jacobite uprising, as long as they took an oath of allegiance before 1 January 1692 in front of a magistrate. He also threatened them with reprisals if they did not sign. The Highland chiefs sent word to James, now in exile in France, asking for his permission to take the oath. James dithered over his decision, convinced that he was close to returning to Britain to reclaim his throne. When it became apparent that this was not going to happen before the deadline, James sent orders back to Scotland authorising the chiefs to take the oath. This message reached its recipients in mid-December, in difficult winter conditions, only a few weeks before the deadline. A few managed to comply promptly but others did not, including Alastair Maclain, 12th Chief of Glencoe, who waited until the last day before setting out to take the oath.
On 31 December 1691 MacIain travelled to Fort William to ask the governor, Colonel Hill, to administer the required oath, but Hill demurred on the grounds that he was not authorised to receive it. He instructed MacIain to proceed quickly to Inveraray to make his oath before Sir Colin Campbell, sheriff of Argyll. Hill gave Maclain a letter of protection and a letter to Sir Colin asking that he receive Maclain's oath since Maclain had come to him within the allotted time. Hill also reassured MacIain that no action would be taken against him without him having the opportunity to make his case before the King or the King's privy council.
It took Maclain three days to reach Inveraray, partly due to winter weather, partly due to his being detained for a day at Barcaldine Castle by the 1st company of the Earl of Argyll's Regiment of Foot, at the command of Captain Drummond, as a ruse to delay him. On arrival at Inveraray, he then had to wait three days for the arrival of Sir Colin, who was spending the New Year with his family across the waters of Loch Fyne. Upon his return, Sir Colin reluctantly accepted Maclain's oath.
Maclain had satisfied the spirit of the oath, and was confident there would be no action against him or his people. However, he reckoned without the Secretary of State over Scotland and Lord Advocate, John Dalrymple, Master of Stair. Dalrymple was a Lowlander who disliked the Highlanders and thought their way of life was a hindrance to Scotland, which he thought would be better served in union with England.
Copy of order to Capt. Campbell by Maj. Duncanson
You are hereby ordered to fall upon the rebells, the McDonalds of Glenco, and put all to the sword under seventy. you are to have a speciall care that the old Fox and his sones doe upon no account escape your hands, you are to secure all the avenues that no man escape. This you are to putt in execution att fyve of the clock precisely; and by that time, or very shortly after it, I’ll strive to be att you with a stronger party: if I doe not come to you att fyve, you are not to tarry for me, but to fall on. This is by the Kings speciall command, for the good & safety of the Country, that these miscreants be cutt off root and branch. See that this be putt in execution without feud or favour, else you may expect to be dealt with as one not true to King nor Government, nor a man fitt to carry Commissione in the Kings service. Expecting you will not faill in the full-filling hereof, as you love your selfe, I subscribe these with my hand att Balicholis Feb: 12, 1692.
For their Majesties service
(signed) R. Duncanson
To Capt.
Robert Campbell
of Glenlyon

According to Macaulay, John Campbell, 1st Earl of Breadalbane and Holland, a senior member of the Campbell clan, saw an opportunity for revenge in the fact that Maclain had been late in taking the oath of allegiance. While in London, Breadalbane along with his cousin Archibald Campbell, 10th Earl of Argyll, (Mac Cailean Mor) found a willing accomplice in the form of the Master of Stair. The Master of Stair was disappointed in the fact that the Jacobite clan leaders had taken the oath of allegiance. He had been hoping that they would have declined, so as to give him the opportunity to execute a plan which he had already drawn up in December to break the clan system.

Maclain’s certificate was deemed to be irregular and the Master of Stair persuaded King William in London to sign an order to "extirpate" the MacDonalds of Glencoe. Stair persuaded King William that the order was designed to root out a den of thieves in the Valley of Glencoe. The order was then passed on to Sir Thomas Livingstone, commander of the forces in Scotland.
In late January or early February 1692 the first and second companies of the Earl of Argyll's Regiment of Foot, which consisted of approximately 120 men under the command of Captain Robert Campbell of Glenlyon, were billeted on the MacDonalds in Glencoe, who received them in the hospitable tradition of the Highlands. Most of the regiment was recruited from the Argyll estates but only a minority actually bore the Campbell name. Others, including many of the officers, came from the Lowlands. Captain Campbell was related by marriage to old MacIain himself and so it was natural that he should be billeted at the Chief's own house. Each morning for about two weeks, Captain Campbell visited the home of Alexander MacDonald, MacIain's youngest son, who was married to Campbell's niece, the sister of Rob Roy MacGregor. At this stage, it is not clear that Campbell knew the nature of their mission; ostensibly they were there to collect the Cess tax, a property tax or assessment instituted by the Scots Parliament in 1690. The planning was meticulous enough for them to be able to produce legitimate orders to this effect from Colonel Hill, the man who had tried to help MacIain complete his oath in the first place, thus dispelling any suspicions the MacDonalds may have had. However, it was Colonel Hill who issued the orders to begin the massacre two weeks later.
On 12 February 1692, Captain Drummond arrived. Due to his role in ensuring MacIain was late in giving his oath, Drummond would not have been welcomed. As the captain of the 1st company of the regiment, the Grenadiers, he was the ranking officer, yet did not take command. Drummond was bearing instructions (above) for Robert Campbell, from his superior officer, Major Duncanson. He spent the evening playing cards with his unsuspecting victims and upon retiring, wished them goodnight and accepted an invitation to dine with MacIain, the chief, the following day.
Alasdair MacIain was killed while trying to rise from his bed by Lt Lindsay and Ensign Lundie but his sons escaped, as initially did his wife. In all, 38 men were murdered either in their homes or as they tried to flee the glen. Another 40 women and children died of exposure after their homes were burned. The first clansman to be killed was Duncan Rankin. He was shot down as he tried to escape by crossing the River Coe near the chief's house. Elsewhere, various members of the two companies found ways of warning their hosts. Two lieutenants, Lt Francis Farquhar and Lt Gilbert Kennedy even broke their swords rather than carry out their orders. They were arrested and imprisoned, but were exonerated, released and later gave evidence for the prosecution against their superior officers.
In addition to the soldiers who were actually in Glencoe that night, two other detachments, each of four hundred men were, according to the plan, to have converged on the escape routes. Both were late in taking up their positions. It is possible that a snowstorm made arrival on-time quite difficult—especially for those approaching over the Devil's Staircase from Kinlochleven; it is equally possible that they simply did not want to play any part in what they knew to be a heinous crime.
Inquiry
Under Scots law there was a special category of murder, known as "murder under trust", which was considered to be even more heinous than ordinary murder. The Glencoe massacre was a clear example of this, as shown by the results of the inquiry:
Though the command of superior officers be very absolute, yet no command against the laws of nature is binding; so that a soldier, retaining his commission, ought to refuse to execute any barbarity, as if a soldier should be commanded to shoot a man passing by inoffensively, upon the street, no such command would exempt him from the punishment of murder.
The challenge to the inquiry which had been established, was to apportion blame on those responsible for the massacre, and yet the orders which led to it were signed by the King himself, who could not be seen to be responsible.

The scandal was further enhanced when the leading Scottish jurist Sir John Lauder, Lord Fountainhall was, in 1692, offered the post of Lord Advocate but declined it because the condition was attached that he should not prosecute the persons implicated in the Glencoe Massacre. Sir George Mackenzie, who had been Lord Advocate under King Charles II, also refused to concur in this partial application of the penal laws but, unlike Fountainhall, his refusal led to his temporary disgrace.
The conclusion of the commission was to exonerate the King and to place the blame for the massacre upon Secretary Dalrymple. The Scottish Parliament, after reviewing the commission report, declared the execution of the MacDonald men to have been murder and delegated the "committee for the security of the kingdom" to prepare an address to the King which included recommendations for the punishment of the perpetrators of the plot and compensation to be paid to the surviving MacDonalds. As far as is known, these recommendations were never acted upon except for the imprisonment of John Campbell Earl of Breadalbane for a few days in Edinburgh Castle on a charge of high treason because he had been involved in secret talks with the Jacobite chiefs.
The Glencoe massacre became a propaganda piece for Jacobite sympathies, which were to come to a head in the next generation in the Jacobite risings of 1715 and 1745. In the Victorian era interest was revived and the massacre was romanticised in art and literature, such as Sir Walter Scott's "The Highland Widow". More recently Glencoe was the subject of Eric Linklater's 1957 story "The Masks of Purpose", and David Clement-Davies's "Fire Bringer", in which the region is called the "Valley Of Weeping". The massacre is also the subject of Susan Fletcher's novel Corrag (2010).
Due to the involvement of Argyll's regiment under Glenlyon's command, the massacre was regarded by many (who were schooled in the romantic 19th-century school of Scottish history) not as a government action, but as a consequence of the ancient MacDonald–Campbell rivalry. Memory of this massacre has been kept alive by continued ill feeling between MacDonalds and Campbells. Since the late 20th century the Clachaig Inn, a hotel and pub in Glencoe popular with climbers, has had a sign on its door saying "No Hawkers or Campbells" although it has been said that this is probably more for the amusement of tourists than from any lasting sense of revenge.

In 1883 Macdonald of Aberdeen sculpted the Upper Carnoch memorial to the massacre, a tapering Celtic cross on a cairn which stands at the eastern end of Glencoe village, which was formerly known as Carnoch. Each year, on 13 February, the Clan Donald Society of Edinburgh arranges an annual wreath laying ceremony at the memorial to the Massacre of Glencoe. Clansmen from Clan Donald, from across the world, attend the ceremony, along with local people. The ceremony originated in 1930 when the late Miss Mary Rankin, Taigh a’phuirt, Glencoe, decided that a wreath should be laid annually on the monument. Miss Rankin, who supplied the wreath up to the time of her death in 1944, commissioned the late Mr. Angus MacDonald to lay it on her behalf. On Mr. MacDonald’s death in 1936, his second son Robert took over the duty, the wreath being supplied after Miss Rankin's death by Robert’s sister, Miss Annie MacDonald.
General Stewart of Garth, in a footnote, relates that Prince Charles Edward Stuart was anxious to save the house and property of Lord Stair at Kirkliston during the ’45 Rising. He proposed to march the Glencoe men some distance from the scene lest they take revenge on the part played by his grandfather when ordered by William III to extirpate their clan. But, when the proposal was communicated to the Glencoe men they declared that, if that were the case, they must return home. If they were considered so dishonourable as to take revenge on an innocent man, they were not fit to remain with honourable men, nor to support an honourable cause. It was not without much explanation, and great persuasion, that they were prevented from marching away the following morning.
The T.S. Eliot poem "Rannoch, by Glencoe" refers to the event, as does the modern ballad by Jim MacLean with the refrain: "Cruel is the snow that sweeps Glencoe and covers the graves o' Donald"

THE MASSACRE OF GLENCOE 1692

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THE MASSACRE OF GLENCOE 1692

by Charlene McGowan

The Massacre of Glencoe has been written about, sung about and romanticized. It did, in fact happen pretty much as the song portrays.  The independent chiefs had become over powerful, some say to the point of being barbaric. They would execute members of the clan whom they felt deserved this extreme penalty, and, most irritating to their settled neighbours, they lived only for cattle raiding and plunder. Clans MacDonald and Campbell were two of the most notorious cattle reivers (thieves) and they mostly were stealing from each other.  Towards the end of 1691, William III considered the best way to establish law and order would be to grant an amnesty and let bygones be bygones. However, a condition of this amnesty was that all the clan chieftains who had not previously done so must acknowledge allegiance by January 1 1692. For some reason, pride, or otherwise, MacDonald of Glencoe (MacIan) was one of the last to comply with the terms of the government. On December 31, 1691, MacIan made his way to Fort William and presented himself to Colonel Hill, the governor, asking him to administer the required oath of allegiance. The colonel declined saying that according to proclamation, the civil magistrate alone could administer the oath. MacIan pleaded with him as to the urgency of the matter and the fact that there was no magistrate he could reach before the expiration of the day. Hill persisted in asserting his power, but advised MacIan to proceed instantly to Inverary.

He provided him with a letter to Sir Colin Campbell of Ardinglass, sheriff of Argyleshire begging him to receive MacIan as "a lost sheep" and to administer the necessary oaths. Hill also gave him a letter of protection and an assurance that no proceedings should be instituted against him under the proclamation till he should have an opportunity of laying his case before the King of the privy council.  MacIan left Fort William immediately and traveled through almost impassable mountains covered with snow. Campbell was absent when he got there and MacIan had to wait three days till his return, Sir Colin having been prevented from reaching Inverary sooner on account of the weather. Campbell, at first, declined to see MacIan as the time allowed for the proclamation had expired but MacIan threatened to protest against the sheriff should he refuse to act. Campbell yielded, administered the oath, and MacIan returned home believing himself free of danger. At the beginning of February, a company of 120 men descended on Glencoe under the command of Captain Campbell of Glenlyon, who was related by marriage to MacIan. Under the pretext of friendship and to obtain suitable quarters where they could conveniently collect the arrears of "cess and hearth-money", a new tax law laid by Scottish parliament in 1690, they received a hearty welcome. Glenlyon and his troops were entertained by MacIan and his people for over a week. On the 12th of February, the order of "fire and sword" (to put everyone to death and burn everything) was handed down to Arglye's regiment and they were ordered to proceed to Glencoe so as to reach the post by five o'clock the following morning. The instructions reached Glenlyon to "all upon the MacDonald's precisely at five o'clock the following morning and put all the sword under 70 years of age". After dinner and a card game with the sons of the chieftain, Glenlyon wished them a goodnight and even accepted an invitation by MacIan to dine with him the following day. MacIan and his sons retired at their usual hour, but early in the morning, one of the sons hearing voices about his house, grew alarmed and, jumping out of bed, went to Glenlyon's quarters to ascertain the cause of the unusual bustle which had interrupted is sleep. He found the soldiers all in motion and inquired of Glenlyon the object of these preparations. Glenlyon pretended that his purpose was to march against some of Glengarry's men and explained if he had intended any harm to the clan, he would have provided for the safety of his niece and her husband. Satisfied, young MacDonald retired to his house, but had not been long in bed when he was awakened by his servant informing him of the approach of a party of men towards the house. Seeing this company of 20 or so soldiers with muskets and fixed bayonets, he fled to a hill in the neighborhood where he was later joined by his brother who had escaped after being awakened by a servant.

The massacre commenced at five o'clock in the morning February 13 at three different places at once. Glenlyon undertook to butcher his own hospitable landlord and other inhabitants at Inverriggan. MacIan was shot while rising to receive what he thought were visitors and fell into the arms of his wife. The lady herself was stripped naked and treated so cruelly (the soldiers pulled her rings off with their teeth), that she died the next morning. A third party fired upon nine men in a house sitting before a fire. One of these men had a protection in his pocket from Colonel Hill. There were persons dragged from their beds and murdered in all parts of the glen. In all, only 38 persons out of 200 were slaughtered. They burned the houses and carried off the cattle, thus preventing the inhabitants from returning to the Glen. Those that had fled, including elderly matrons, women with child, and mothers with infants at their breasts, followed by children were left to try to find their way through the snow covered mountains, many perishing from cold, hunger and fatigue. It all aroused a great outcry in Scotland, even in the Lowlands where Highlanders were scorned. The authorities realized that they had gone too far and Stair ( the King's advisor) had to retire from the scene for a while, but he was never punished and eventually was promoted to the Earl of Stair. King William himself could not escape responsibility for he had given the orders of fire and sword on Stair's advice. Nothing was ever done in the way of punishment to anyone involved in the incident. However the Earl of Breadalbane was found guilty of High treason and he spent a few days imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle. The entire incident was hushed up and is now a part of history that is regarded as a sad and unexplainable blunder. It however has made both those that were the perpetrators and the victims forever famous. Even today, after 314 years, in some parts of Scotland it is not wise to admit you might be a Campbell especially around Glencoe. It was not so much the deed itself that brings about the continuing hatred, it was the way it was done. According to Scottish hospitality one did not wage war against the one that cared for you. If you had a grievance with your host, you left and then came back to fight with honor.

"We (the Scots) are a race of leaders. But you can't all be leaders, therefore, we tend to fight one another." - Nigel Tranter

Highland Massacre at Glencoe By Robert Gunn

NOTE:PLEASE READ - This is a perspective. - This is a very sensitive subject to Scots. Whilst I do not apologise for the essay I do understand the feelings of modern day Campbells. I do NOT hold (or blame) present day Campbells responsible for the actions of their forefathers, nor should anyone else. I am sorry if anyone takes this personally, it is simply history. I stand by this account and the history within. Now for the story......

Preface and Historical Background

Scotland was divided by its geography: to the Southeast lay the Lowland farms, big cities and the Border country. To the North lay the Highlands and Isles. Quite unfairly for the people that gave Scotland its name - the Scots (of the Irish Scotti), not everybody saw the Gaels as civilised - especially the Lowlanders. But it was from the Lowlands that from the 11th century onwards that Scotland would be ruled. This would serve to differentiate the Scottish people throughout most of their history. Whilst the Highlanders and Islanders were seen as wild and uncivilised by the Lowlands and the English, the Highlanders saw their Lowland counterparts as simply another type of English. These differences would be fuel to the upcoming heated and controversial subject of Glencoe. While the Lowlands adopted the English language and customs for various, complicated reasons, the Highlander largely spoke Gaelic and became increasingly seen as 'alien' and barbaric. A quote from King James VI of Scotland is a typical example: "As for the Highlands, I shortly comprehend them all in two sorts of people: the one that dwelleth in our mainland that are barbarous and yet mixed with some sort of civility. The other that dwelleth in the Isles and are all utterly barbarous, think no more of an goat, than wolves and wild boars." This lack of understanding would lead the Lords of the Isles (The clan Donald - MacDonald) into more and more trouble with the kings.

With no central authority in the Highlands a strong Chief was the only protection and the only law a clansman could turn to when in need. Nothing was held with higher value of this unwritten law, than the hospitality of a chief to his guests. This breech of highland hospitality plays a vital part in our understanding of the massacre of Glencoe. Reiving (cattle rustling) had become a way of life of the Highlanders. The obtaining of cattle and other animals from another clan (reiving) was an understood (if impractical) and accepted way of life and did not make the clans who participated in it "thieves" anymore than a Sioux or an Apache brave in the Western US. The young clan Chief could prove his worth with a successful raid into hostile territory. Although this led to may conflicts, 'reiving' of cattle had been done for centuries and by almost all clans. With this in mind we are nearly set for the story of the massacre at Glencoe. Of all the bloody incidents that stained the history of Highland clans, one above all, still has the power to shock, after more than 300 years. The story of the MacDonalds of Glencoe thus begins in 1692. The MacIan MacDonalds were active in many unsavory affairs including support for Montrose in his many campaigns for the Jacobite cause, and the reiving of cattle from lands to the south - Campbell lands in Argyll. In the eyes of the southern people, they were a clan to make an example of. They MacIan MacDonald's were a small clan of no more than 300-400 strong. They'd lived in these lands for centuries and felt themselves the owners of the area. In February of 1692, under government orders, a regiment of government soldiers from the Duke of Argyll's (Campbell) militia, came into the glen. Most of the troops were Campbells, or septs of the Campbells [James Hunter, Author/historian], but the strict code of hospitality required the MacDonald Chief, and his people, to give food and shelter to the unwelcomed guests. But as will be seen, this was no social visit.

Tragedy at Glen Coe (Glencoe)

In 1688, William of Orange the Dutch Prince, invited to Britain as King, for fear of the Stuarts, asked the English Parliament to oust the current King James VII of Scotland and James II of England because of James II's own rule that stated: "...attending a Covenanting (a secret meeting of Scots Presbyterians) act of worship was a capital crime", and many Scots Presbyterians paid the penalty, losing any love for James II they might have had. James II alienated all the peoples support he depended on, and he was ousted from the throne of England and Scotland in 1688, the last of the Stewart Kings. He had been ousted, primarily, by William of Orange, a Dutchman invited to England and with the strong of encouragement and support of the Parliament. Whilst James II accepted his exile, others did not, and they fought back. The intensely brutal battles went back and forth. Scots Protestants fought English Protestants, both fought the Catholics. Many Highlanders, who still had Catholic and/or Episcopalian beliefs, or at least empathy for their Irish cousins, fought with zeal against the English church and especially against the Lowland Scots Covenanters (later Presbyterians). Here is an eyewitness account of the Highland anger from battle of Killecrankie: "The regular (English and Lowland Scots governmental British) troops followed their routine of firing a musket volley and then fixing bayonets to charge. They had no time to fix the bayonets before the wild Highlanders were on them, screaming and flailing their Claymores" (6 foot 2-handed sword). "General MacKay's , (British) men were killed in the hundreds" The fierce battles went on....................... Scotland didn't quite settle down to peaceful times, despite their victories - old divisions to precarious to be thrown out. Loyal or not to William of Orange, they had a bitter sense of grievance against him. Many Scots objected to the intolerance, anti-Presbyterian intolerance, of the Stewart (or Stuart in it's French spelling) Kings. They were almost equally outraged by the tolerance of William. This is somewhat typical of the confusing Scottish/English relationship. Some Scottish legends claim William of Orange as the valiant champion of the Protestant cause against the Catholics. (Of course Highland opinions on the matter varied considerably). The "Protestant Champion" King William did rid Britain of a Catholic King -- James II and VII (of England and Scotland respectively). It was, in fact, just a political manoeuver against James II, not a religious one. William of Orange was on friendy terms with the Pope -- had Catholics in his army in highest ranking areas, and more. But, inevitably, history still sees William of Orange, as the patron saint of hardline Protestantism. It simply wasn't that simple; It simply wasn't the truth. Thankfully, at least by all appearances, the religious wars of fury, hate and blood came slowly to a halt. With religious peace or tolerance, came the need for political peace, particularly among the Highlanders, who were largely cut off from Lowland society, and who included many subjects still loyal to the deposed King James II and the different faith that many Highlanders, though not all, still clung to -- in a "Scottish way" That, is typical of Highlander stubborness and determination.

The Glencoe Tragedy

William of Orange was seen as a hero to many (mostly Lowland) Scots and Englishmen; truth was, he was simply not very interested in Scotland. His minister for Scotland , John Dalrymple "Master of Stair", who took charge of the Royal Ordinance that all Highland Chiefs of Highland clans must abandon the old Stuart (Stewart) loyalty and swear fealty to William of Orange. Highlanders swearing loyalty or fealty to any King is a diffucult thing to accomplish.During a time when a large portion of Scots Highlanders were still Catholic, due mostly to the "Auld Alliance" with Catholic France. To swear loyalty to the anti-Catholic, anti-Stuart , anti-Scots Highlander; anti-French (Scots Ally) and on top of it all, swear to an English King from Holland! Not even an English born English king, was hard to understand. The English King, William of Orange and his advisors, felt it was "necessary" to deal with the troublesome Highland Scots. The Scots had been in rebellion over King James II & VII being exiled in France, and these rebellions led to the Jacobite rebellions against England. Note that the Jacobite rebellions also included many Lowland families as well (such as the Grahams), but they were initially supported only by Highland clans. So the King of England, William of Orange sent his man, Dalyrmple, known as "Master of Stair of Scottish Affairs", to force the Highland Chiefs to swear an oath of loyalty to William and abandon exiled James II & VII. But the Stair (Dalyrmple) had a personal grudge against a small sect of MacIans of the Clan MacDonald, for participating in the rebellions and, he claimed, cattle reiving (stealing). The real motive seems to have been one of support for the Jacobites (under Dundee, who fought for the Stuart cause) ; a Catholic Stuart king. Worse still, there was a 'closing date' (deadline) for the oath, on New Years day, 1692, and what would become of this dictatorial ordinance was to be a legendary bloodbath that tainted William's reputation for all Scots and many English. Many argue, even today, that the following incident was "minor" in comparison to other atrocities in Scots/English history. In terms of numbers, yes, it is minor. But I shall let you, the reader, decide whether or not this account of Glencoe sounds minor to you .....the eyes of a first time reader of this tragedy, rarely lie to the individual. Having no real choice, the Highland Clan Chiefs did what was demanded. However, one minor chieftain MacIan of Clan MacDonald, got it wrong. He took his oath to Fort William, (as he claimed he was told -- and there is truly no reason to doubt his claim) , but upon arrival at Fort William, he was told that the proper place to take his oath was Inverarary. There is ample evidence that this was done by Dalyrmple to be sure the clan Chief would arrive late. So, in the deep of cold mid-winter, he went there but arrived a few days late due to the misdirection and deep bitterly cold winter weather. The sheriff who was to receive his fealty and oath, was also late -- later even than the Chief. When the sheriff arrived, he accepted MacIans oath. What no one suspected was that the "Master of Stair" , John Dalyrmple, had a personal grudge against the MacDonalds for their participation in the cattle reiving and supporting Jacobite causes, (the word Jacobite being a form of the word James from Jacob), but most of all, because they were supporters of exiled James II and considered Papists. William of Orange's man, John Dalyrmple (Master of Stair), took the view that the declaration (oath) was invalid because it was two (2) days late, and ordered a Campbell regiment to do a "job" for him. This Campbell was Robert Campbell of Glenlyon (Glen Lyon). He was to extirpate the MacDonald's that Dalyrmple detested.

John Dalrymple (1648-1707) was a judge. His father had held the position of first Viscount Stair (earl), a succesful Jurist and defender of Covenantor values. John, the son, had always been sensitive to the fact that his father had resigned his post rather than take the "Test Oath" and John had come to friendly terms with James II, the Catholic Stewart King, early on in his career. When James was forced into exile, and Lowland and English hate of the Catholic Stewarts had grown strong, [Collin's Scotland, 1996], Dalrymple had a switch of faiths. Like his father, he was an able but unscrupulous man. He was appointed by William of Orange to the posts of Lord Advocate and then Joint Secretary of State (over Scotland) with Melville in 1691. He was given the responsibility of controlling the rebellious Highland Jacobites, and lacking the troops to overcome them initially, he put into action, with his Campbell conspirators, and with the blessing of King William, a sinister plot. Sensitive to accusations by protestants that as a previous supporter of Catholic exile James, he still had Catholic leanings, and sharing with many other Lowlander Scots a fear and loathing of Highland clans, he determined to make an example of the "worst of the worst" of clans - the small reiving, and Jacobite supporting clan of MacIan MacDonalds. The clan Campbell had been working with the King's for almost two centuries, policing other clans in the name of the Throne; reporting other clans to the king; massacring rival clans ( i.e. the Lamonts) and taking their lands as their own; and ocassionally wiping out clans the Scottish and later the British government didn't want to deal with any longer. The Campbell's were not always willing pawns of the English. The Campbells, such a proud and powerful clan - in the days of Wallace and Bruce and over two centuries after Bannockburn (1314) , had aligned themselves solely with the Scottish Kings against, initially, the Lords of the Isles who saw themselves as independent. This eventually led to alignment or loyalty to the British - (Union of the Crowns, 1603, Union of Parliaments 1707). They became the eyes and ears on Highland activity for the government -- they turned traitor to Highland Scotland and with their continual feuds with the MacDonalds (amongst others) they were more than willing to do this "job" for the government forces. The horric incident that would scar King William of Orange's and the Campbell's names occured in 1692. The place was the valley Glencoe, which has a bleak and forbidding atmosphere even in bright sunlight, (and it is still that way today), as if the hills remember black treachery and blood. Glencoe is where the little community of the MacIan's, of small sect of the MacDonald clan, lived. The MacIan MacDonald's were no angels having raided cattle of their southern neighbours before. But their biggest crime, in the eyes of the Protestant British Government, was being Jacobite sympathisers. In early winter, 2 February 1692, the small clan of the MacIan of MacDonald's, generally, simply referred to as MacDonalds, were visited by the detachment of Campbells (the majority of the soldiers were Campbells by marriage or sept - [from James Hunter, "Battle of the Highland Clans", Scottish historian in Scotland], and their Highland mercenaries. From all accounts, they were received with hospitality. The Chieftain's were related by marriage. The Campbells and their troops stayed for nearly two weeks and were on friendly terms with their hosts.

At this time it needs to be pointed out that the regiment sent to deal with the MacDonalds were not only of Campbell members or clans. They had various names in their ranks from all over Scotland, but it was clear they were under the direction of the Campell commander, Robert Campbell, and he was under clear direction of Dalrymple - thus also William of Orange. To look at this incident as a clan feud or a Clan Campbell versus the Clan MacDonald would be incorrect and misleading. Despite the fact that they did and were often at odds with each other, and did indeed feud, this was a military operation of ruthless severity ordered by British government stooges. I have referred several times in the following article to the perpetrators of the barbarous crimes as the Clan Campbell, which is not 100% factual, but almost all Scottish experts that write on Glencoe, including the highly respected authors John Prebble, Fitzroy Maclean, Tom Steele, etc, refer to the perpetrators as members of Clan Campbell because (1) a majority of the garrison were from the various branches of the Campbell clans (and septs), and (2) the real Campbell involvement was the Earl of Breadalbane who was involved from the outset in the planning and organisation of the massacre. Also involved in this planning was the Earl of Argyll (Campbell). If I could in good conscience call the guilty parties by some other name -- I would. But the fact remains it was a major incident in Campbell and Scottish history. To back up this claim, one needs only to look at the conspirators of the planned massacre, who after Dalrymple and Duncanson, were heads of the Breadalbane and Argyll branches of the Campbell clans in confederation with the Master of Stair, and his boss, King William of Orange. A quote from Dalyrmple, the main organiser, shows he feelings regarding the MacDonald's: "[The] Glencoe [Chief] had not taken the oath [he did but late] , at which I rejoice! It will be a proper vindication of public justice to extripate that sect of thieves. It must quietly done. Let it be secret, and sudden." -- Master of Stair, Dalyrmple. At least by all appearances, the visit from the Campbells was a good one. There was much drinking, feasting, dancing and harmony. The guests stayed for two weeks. But in the still dark early morning, 13 February 1692, the guests arose and systematically set about viciously murdering their hosts. Women and children were not spared.

The Campbell's orders from King William's man in Scotland, John Dalyrmple --- "Master of Stair" , were quite brutal and clear. The orders were snt to Major Duncanson who relayed them to Robert Campbell of Glenlyon and carried the kings personal authority in a sealed order.

The Note read such: To Captain Robert Campbell of Glenlyon ' For Their Majesties' Service' (In old English, exactly as it appeared) Sir, You are hereby ordered to fall upon the rebels, the M'Donalds, of Glencoe and putt all to the sword under seventy. You are to have special care that the old fox and his sons doe upon no account escape your hands. You are to secure all the avenues, that no man may escape. This you are to putt in execution at five o'clock in the morning precisely, and by that time, or very shortly after it, I'll strive to be att you with a stronger party. If I doe not come to you att five, you are not to tarry for me, but to fall on. This is by the King's special command, for the good of the country, that these miscreants be cutt off root and branch. See that this be putt in execution without feud or favour, else you may expect to be treated as not true to the king's government, nor a man fitt to carry a commission in the king's service. Expecting you will not faill in the fulfilling hereof as you love yourself, I subscribe these with my hand. (John Dalyrmple) via Duncanson.

The "old fox" was the clan Chief of the MacDonalds. The "king" referred to was William, Prince of Orange. This writer isn't trying to make a judgement on either clan, both had their heroes and demons. All clans did. But the Campbells of Breadalbane, led by Sir Robert Campbell and with his men, stayed with the gracious and generous MacDonalds of Glencoe for nearly two weeks, drinking, making hay among other things, generally having a spontaneous ceilidh (kâ´lê), [an Irish or Scottish social gathering with traditional music, dancing, and storytelling]. Then suddenly, without provocation or warning, the Campbell guests stirred into action at five o'clock in the morning. They set about slaughtering all the defenseless, unarmed and helpless MacDonald's they could find, in the darkness of a black early morning of despair. In a sudden snowstorm, many of the shocked MacDonalds escaped into the pitiless bitter cold snow and many perished from exposure. About forty members of the small clan of Ian of MacDonald , including Ian, the Chief and his family were ruthlessly slain in cold blood. Among the foully murdered were also two children and two women. After killing the MacDonald Chief, the murderers had ruffed up and possibly violated his wife, and in the process a soldier bit the finger off her hand to get her gold ring, because she would not give it up to them. She was left to die in the cold. A child of six, trying to hide behind a soldier, was bayoneted without remorse. We are often told of the 38 that died at the hand of the Campbell regiment, but as many as one hundred more may have died of exposure to the snow and cold after fleeing from their would-be murderers. The numbers could be as high as 100 dead. [Battle of the Clans.]

The Proof is in the Conspirators.

However, some did survive, despite serious injuries. The Massacre of Glencoe enraged Scotland with its treachery and lead to years of feuding in the Highlands. England's King William III's agent John Dalrymple, 44, Earl of Stair, suppressed news of the oath taken six days late, by Ian MacDonald, chieftain of the MacDonald Clan at Glencoe, and conspired against MacDonald with Archibald [Campbell] Argyll, 41, and with John Campbell, 57, first Earl of Breadalbane. The actual massacre was led by Sir Robert Campbell of Glenlyon. If ever more proof were needed, the above mentioned names and their involvement in this slaughter, is an indictment itself. Just a quick glance at the above named conspirators and the man who led the fatal expedition, Sir Robert Campbell of Glenlyon, a drunken aging soldier who had had run-ins with branches of the MacDonalds previously. It is clear from the names, that even if the whole of the Clan Campbell was not involved, enough of the leadership of the clan(s) were, that the blame rightfully does fall on their shoulders despite their denial of doing anything wrong, to this very day. The claim of "We were just following orders" or "it was stricltly a military operation" has a fascist sound that does not let the clan off the hook so easily. This atrocious slaughter carried out upon the a small clan of MacIan MacDonalds, was initiated by the King of England himself, despite his denial, his man, John Dalyrmple (Master or Earl of Stair) and the Campbell conspirators proved beyond any doubt to the Highlanders, that England and portions of Lowland Scotland had been behind the slaughter. At least the leaders of these areas. It isn't the number of casualties that is so shocking, rather, the manner of it, and the treachery of it. The MacDonalds opened their doors of rather modest homes, and generously let the Campbells inside their abodes. The Campbells said they were lost in the snow and asked to stay for a while, warm themselves and rest. Graciously, the MacDonald's agreed to let all the Campbell men and their Highland allies into their humble dwellings, trusting in God, that they were doing the right thing. They fed them their winter preserved meat, their wine, ale, friendship and by some accounts blossoming love among the younger folk. The role of the Goverment and the monarch were debated for a long time. As stated in the Encyclopedia in the late 18th century: "In various acts of the privy council of Scotland, the clan Gregor is denounced (proscribed) in the above terms, and was visited with all the terrors of "fire and sword". "their habitations were destroyed. They were hunted down like wild beasts. Their very name was proscribed." We have already referred to, in its proper place, a mandate from King James V in 1583, against the clan Chattan, in which he charges his lieges to invade the clan "to their utter destruction by slaughter, burning, drowning, and otherways; and leave no creature living of that clan, except priests, women and bairns." Less than one hundred years later, the Highlanders was still be dehumanished and villified. Even Captain Burt, in the beginning of the next century writes of the Highlanders as if they were an interesting race of semi-barbarians, many of whom would cut a man's throat for the mere sake of keeping their hands in practice. Far from having regret at his involment in the massacre, Dalrymple stated this after the fact: "All I regret is, that any of the sort got away; and there is a necessity to prosecute them to the utmost." Again, writing to Colonel Hill in April of the same year, he tells him that "as for the people of Glencoe, when you do your duty in a thing so necessary to rid the country of thieving, you need not trouble yourself to take the pains to vindicate yourself. When you do right, you need fear nobody. All that can be said is, that, in the execution, it was neither so full nor so fair as might have been." -- From a letter of 5 March, 1692, after referring to the universal talk in London about the transaction. Had the clan been proceeded against in open and legitimate warfare, resulting in its utter extinction, the affair might have occupied no more than a short paragraph in this and other histories. There can be no doubt that what gives the deed its nefarious stamp, is the fiendishly deliberate and deceitful way in which it was accomplished, in violation of laws of hospitality which are respected even by cut-throat Arabs. And after all it was a blunder. (Encyclopedia Britannica, 1785).

Punishment?

No active measures in the way of punishing either principals or subordinates, however, were taken in consequence of the findings of the commission and the recommendations of parliament, except that Breadalbane, who they found had laid himself open to a charge of high treason, was imprisoned for a few days in Edinburgh castle. A curious and interesting incident came out during the sitting of the commission, tending to show that Breadalbane was conscious of a very large share of guilt, and was fully aware of the heinous and nefarious character of the bloody transaction. Some days after the slaughter, a person sent by Breadalbane's steward waited upon Glencoe's sons, and told them that if they would declare that his lordship had no concern in the slaughter, they might be assured that the earl would procure their "remission and restitution." The claim has been made that even the drunken Robert Campbell of Glenlyon died honourably in battle. But in fact he died a natural death - or as natural a death as can be had from liver failure due to toxicity from alcohol. Glencoe is known by most people now, as the site of the massacre. Glencoe was once was a quiet, serene place. The actions of the Campbells involved, as well as the other men fighting with them, the involvement of Breadalbane, Argyll and Dalrymple is inexcusable, even by the often brutal standards of the day.

The late Campbell Chief tried to explain the massacre .....(paraphrasing) "...We did what we were supposed to do. If you receive an order from a superior commander -- you do it, and we did.....we were just obeying orders." That type of black-hearted remark is exactly what keeps some names, forever cast in a dark evil world, full of inhuman things. A world of disrespect, total irregard or indifference to innocent human life. It makes for nauseous reading, but it is part of Scotland's history, therefore, a valid topic. It is even more so because the current attitude amongst the clans involved now want to bury the issue by claiming it was just a minor incident and that only 38 people really died. True, only 38 died ( by the hands of the Campbell soldiers - more by exposure) because they botched the operation and many members of the clan did escape - else the death tally would have run over two hundred. As many as 50 - 100 did die of exposure, no one is quite certain of the number. But add that to the 38 killed outright, and over 100 were killed. Ironically, there is now a "Glen Coe Centre" which was funded, for the most part by the Clans Campbell and MacDonald to both put aside the old image of brutal slaughter (bad for tourism and bad for the clans' images) and to make a hefty profit from unsuspecting Scottish descendants coming to visit only to be told it was just a minor incident and that the past is the past now and we should just forget and move on. I had a member of Clan Campbell (a high ranking one) write to me from my website asking I take down the story as it was totally inaccurate. I challenged him to tell me the "real" events. He was unable to deny the clans involvement in the end but insisted it was strictly a military maneuver, that it wasn't a personal bloodfeud and it was very long ago. I suppose the fact it was a military operation to annihilate innocent civlians under direct orders from a British king is alright by some. But not to this author - never. I will continue to write the truth of Scottish history and sometimes that includes the ugly facts such as Glencoe. This conclusion is supported by a quote from Scottish historian and Author, James Hunter, who recently said: "What particularly distinguishes this act from others, and why it resonates today, was the absolute betrayal of the [tradition of] Highland hopitality by the Campbell forces. And the other was the hand of the government in it - the government had ordred it. It was a genocidal act." -- James Hunter, Scottish historian The black treachery of this horrible incident has inspired many songs and stories. I have included one of my favourite Scottish songs -- originally known to this author as the "MacDonald's Lament" or now more commonly known as "Massacre at Glencoe" or "Glencoe". These are the words to the song "Massacre at Glencoe", sum up the way many still feel about the horribe deed. These words are below: Members of Clan Campbell, under orders from King of England - William of Orange's men, were sent to kill all of a small family of MacDonald's under the age of seventy. No one else was to be spared. The Campbells and allies, carried out this horrific act after spending nearly two weeks living at the modest MacDonald's home in Glencoe. These are the words to a song, immortalizing the black deed that some members, under Robert Campbell of Clan Campbell of Breadlabane, carried out on the helpless MacDonalds. The year was 1692.

A Scottish lament

{ CHORUS } Oh cruel as the snow that sweeps Glencoe, and covers the graves o' Donald (Donnell), Oh cruel was the foe that raped Glencoe, and murdered the house of MacDonald. They came in a blizzard, we offered them heat, a roof for their heads, dry shoes for their feet, we wined them and dined them, they ate all our meat, and they slept in the house of MacDonald. Repeat Chorus ---- They came from fort William, with murder in mind, the Campbell had orders, King William had signed, put all to the sword, these words underlined, leave no one alive called MacDonald. Repeat Chorus ---- They came in the night, while our men were asleep, this band of Argylls, through snow soft and deep, like murdering foxes, among helpless sheep, they slaughtered the house of MacDonald. Repeat Chorus ---- Some died in their beds, at the hands of the foe, some fled in the night, and were lost in the snow, some lived to accuse him, who struck the first blow, but gone was the house of MacDonald. Oh cruel as the snow that sweeps Glencoe, and covers the graves o' Donald, Oh cruel was the foe that raped Glencoe, and murdered the house of MacDonald, and murdered the house of MacDonald. Words: J. McLean

Fortunately some MacDonalds escaped to tell of the slaughter. Yet before we condemn the Campbells for this horrifying act, this is the same clan, several centuries earlier that helped an outlaw named Robert the Bruce, who was hiding from the English and enemy Scots alike, shortly after being made king of Scotland. It is easy to look at the Highland Clans now, and make judgements against or for them. It was not so black and white then. Of course, what the Campbells did was terrible, and for that single act, they are remembered by many, many Scots for this incident, in a bad light. No present day person is responsible for any crime against the Glencoe MacDonalds. Nor are they responsible for the crimes of their distant relatives. I am simply telling history, on this ONE article, from a Scottish Highland perspective. Not all Scottish history is full of proud moments and ALL clans have their ugly sides. This one stands out because of the nature of the crime, and the fact that it was endorsed, nay, encouraged by the king himself. RM GUNN, MA Author, Medieval Historian

This article may be freely shared and distributed for use by various clan organsiations and Scottish societies, with permission and consent of the author so long as the link to the author's page is included.

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© Paisley Tartan Army 2008-09

Yahoo Falls -- An Historic Overview of a Tall Tale

Yahoo Falls -- An Historic Overview
by Samuel Perry

Located in McCreary County, Kentucky, Yahoo Falls is considered to be
Kentucky's highest waterfall, although it is believed that a similar
waterfall in the Red River Gorge exceeds Yahoo Falls in height by a
few inches. It is a very scenic waterfall and is surrounded by
magnificent vistas and natural arches. In the gorge into which Yahoo
Falls plunges there exists a rarity in Kentucky, a sizeable tract of
virgin timber, protected from harvest over the years by the
inaccessibility of the gorge.

When the Cumberland National Forest was created in 1937,
ownership of the Falls and surrounding second-growth timberland
passed to the Federal government and management of it was entrusted
to the U.S. Forest Service, an agency of the Department of
Agriculture. Always off the beaten track, so to speak, the Yahoo
Falls area languished for more than twenty years as the Forest
Service gave the land an opportunity to heal itself after decades of
high-grade logging abuse, uncontrolled burning, and erosion.
In 1953, supervision of the Cumberland National Forest was
assigned to Robert F. Collins, a professional forester, sportsman,
and far-sighted manager of natural resources. Collins was also a
history buff and admirer of the Kentucky explorer and pioneer, Daniel
Boone. So much so, that in 1966, he was almost solely responsible for
having the name of the Cumberland National Forest changed to that of
Daniel Boone National Forest. In his seventeen-year tenure as Forest
Supervisor, Collins made a name for himself as a progressive land
manger and undertook many innovative projects that transformed the
Forest from a virtual wasteland into a haven for lovers of outdoor
recreation and a sustainable source of wood products.

Collins had a sincere interest in the history of the region
that became the Daniel Boone National Forest and sought to establish
sites on the Forest where that history could be used to attract
visitors and educate the general public. As a Boone enthusiast, he
was, naturally, attracted to the northern reaches of the Forest where
Boone had spent most of his time while in Kentucky. However, the
southern districts could not be ignored and Collins began to look
around for something he could use as a basis for interpreting the
history of that region. He found it in an obscure booklet entitled
LEGION OF THE LOST MINE, published in 1958 by a Scott County,
Tennessee resident, Thomas Harlan Troxel.

LEGION OF THE LOST MINE is a short collection of stories
based upon the traditions of the Troxel family and centers around an
intriguing person in the history of the Cherokee, Chief Doublehead.
In the book, Troxel creates additional characters to supplement the
Doublehead story. Big Jake, Princess Cornblossom, Hans Blackberne,
and the romantic Brave Tuckahoe all romp through the pages of LEGION
OF THE LOST MINE like characters in a Walt Disney drama. Although
Thomas H. Troxel was careful to note in the foreword to his book that
the names of some of the characters are fictitious, many well-meaning
persons have used his work as a framework upon which to build a
fraudulent history of the region drained by the Big South Fork of the
Cumberland River. Robert Collins used it to create the Yahoo Falls
Recreation Area on the Stearns Ranger District.

Knowing that it would be cost-prohibitive to attempt to
extract the mature timber from within the Yahoo Creek gorge, the
decision was made to turn Yahoo Falls into a scenic attraction and
lure visitors to the Stearns Ranger District. An all-weather road was
built from the Alum Ford road to the top of the gorge and a picnic
area was established with sources of potable water, fire pits, and
toilets. Trails were constructed and a long flight of steel stairs
led visitors down into the gorge past towering cliffs and nearly
vertical slopes lush with mountain laurel, rhododendron, and not a
few threatened and endangered species of plants. For the history
buffs, Collins ordered the construction of a cemetery at the entrance
to the Yahoo Falls Recreation Area.

 This cemetery would contain only
one grave, that of a Jacob Troxel, one of the major players in LEGION
OF THE LOST MINE. With the help of a local congressman, a government-
issued marker was acquired and installed at the head of the "grave".
The marker would identify Jacob Troxel as a veteran of the
Philadelphia County Militia in the Revolutionary War.
Today, management of the Yahoo Falls area is the
responsibility of the National Park Service and hundreds of visitors
come to stand under the immense overhang beneath the Falls and to
navigate the trails that penetrate the pristine creek gorge.
Presumably, some of these visitors also pause at the entrance and
look at the lone gravestone enclosed by a rustic fence, not knowing
that the stone stands over an empty grave, and that it honors a man
who, in all probability, never existed.

Shortly after his retirement, in 1970, Robert Collins was
commissioned by the Forest Service to write a history of the Daniel
Boone National Forest. Since its publication in 1975, A HISTORY OF
THE DANIEL BOONE NATIONAL FOREST has become the definitive work (and
the only work) on the subject, even though it has been the object of
negative criticism within the agency, itself. 

In his book, Collins
perpetuates the Big Jake-Princess Cornblossom-Chief Doublehead legend
and enhances it, going so far as to lend credence to what is,
perhaps, the most notorious of the myths, the alleged massacre of
innocent Cherokee at Yahoo Falls by Indian-hating whites. 

This grievous indictment of the non-Indian citizens of Wayne County,
Kentucky, particularly the Gregory family, is an unforgivable breach
of professional ethics by Collins or any reputable historian. By
making such charges without proof, Collins ensures that he can never
be taken seriously as a historian and leaves all of his work open to
question and debate. In his wisdom, even Thomas H. Troxel makes no
mention of a massacre at Yahoo Falls in his published writings.
For many years, I was a believer in the Big Jake-Princess
Cornblossom-Yahoo Falls Massacre legend. When I undertook the
research which culminated in the publication of my own book, SOUTH
FORK COUNTRY, I quickly learned that much of what I had believed in
my younger days about the legend was based upon pure speculation,
wishful thinking, and, as time went on, deliberate attempts to
deceive. 

After much study, I concluded that, although there was,
indeed, a Chief Doublehead (though bearing no resemblance to the
Doublehead of the legend), both Big Jake (Troxel) and Princess
Cornblossom were, both, simply, figments of Thomas H. Troxel's
imagination and that the Yahoo Falls Massacre was simply an add-on to
the legend designed to serve personal agendas.

The oft-repeated (even on the Internet) story of a mass
murder at Yahoo Falls is based, not upon empirical data, but upon
hearsay and revisionist history. It is an unconscionable smear of the
descendants of Hiram Gregory, who is charged with leading the assault
upon the Cherokees, and serves, not to unite the people of the Big
South Fork region, but to divide them.

In the past, good, but misinformed persons have sought to
create a heritage for the people living within the drainage basin of
the Big South Fork whom they regarded as having none. They used
their influence to put up historical markers and headstones, wrote
about the region in national forest histories, and, patronizingly,
tried to give what they thought was the region's due. They cannot be
faulted for this because they did what they believed was right. But,
we are at the dawn of a new era in historical research and the
citizens of Wayne, Pulaski, and McCreary counties now know that their
true heritage can be based upon real people and real events. We must
not be afraid to subject our sacred cows of tradition to the
historical method and evaluate the data objectively and responsibly.
I have done that to the Chief Doublehead-Big Jake-Cornblossom-Yahoo
Falls Massacre, and have found it to be what it always will be-a
series of fanciful stories not based upon factual evidence.

Samuel D. Perry

=================================
The Cherokee did NOT have a community there -- that is fiction.

I wrote an archaeologist employed at Daniel Boone National Forest and told him a little of my
> misgivings with Dr. Tankersley (not all of it) and here is what he
> replied.
>
> Hi Vance,
>
> Yes, I too have a problem with Dr. Tankersley claiming the massacre
> as fact without any proof or documentation. As far as I know he's
> using heresay information. He claims he has proof, but I haven't
seen
> it yet. As you said, if it was true there must be some evidence of
> the massacre somewhere and this doesn't seem to be the case. Sam
> Perry feels pretty much the same way. Sam
> Perry feels pretty much the same way. [note: he told me Sam Perry
was
> a local historian who had looked into the matter of the massacre]
>
> Regarding your question on the use of metal detecting to search for
> spent ammunition in the vicintiy of the site. No, I haven't heard
of
> anyone doing that. Nor have I heard of any stories about a huge
pile
> of bones revealed from logging. Tom Des Jean, the BSF National Park
> Service archaeologist, is also unaware of any stories of bones
either.
>
> I forwarded your e-mail to Sam Perry. [note: I asked him if he'd be
> kind enough to do that]

Sam Perry later wrote me, sent me some of the things he'd researched, and gave me permission to reprint it in an email.
Joanne, Dr. Tankersley has a lot of explaining to do.

Vance


Please note in the text..ALL of the evidence comes fronm ONE source only//.......LEGION OF THE LOST MINE is a short collection of stories based upon the traditions of the Troxel family ///   careful to note in the foreword to his book that the names of some of the characters are fictitious, many well-meaning
persons have used his work as a framework upon which to build a fraudulent history ..