Part of the Jacobite rising of 1689
56°33′54″N
3°35′06″W
/
56.565°N 3.585°W
/
56.565; -3.585
The
Battle of Dunkeld
(
Scottish Gaelic
:
Blar Dhun Chaillinn
) was fought between
Jacobite
clans supporting the deposed king
James VII of Scotland
and a regiment of
covenanters
supporting
William of Orange
, King of Scotland, in the streets around
Dunkeld Cathedral
,
Dunkeld
,
Scotland
, on 21 August 1689 and formed part of the
Jacobite rising of 1689
, commonly called Dundee's rising in Scotland. The battlefield was added to the
Inventory of Historic Battlefields in Scotland
in 2012.
[1]
Background
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]
Following the death of
Viscount Dundee
in the Jacobite victory at the
Battle of Killiecrankie
, command of the Jacobites was passed to Colonel
Alexander Cannon
, leader of the recruits from Ireland, in preference to the 60-year-old veteran Sir
Ewen Cameron of Lochiel
, one of the most formidable Highland chiefs. Cameron was so insulted at this perceived slight that he left, taking some of his clan with him.
[2]
With the
Scottish Privy Council
preparing to leave Scotland in the wake of an expected Jacobite onslaught, the Council ordered the newly formed
Cameronian regiment
under the command of Lieutenant Colonel
William Cleland
to move north from
Perth
and to hold Dunkeld at all costs.
[3]
The
Cameronian
regiment takes its name from
Richard Cameron
(1648?1680), a Scottish religious reformer and covenanting leader from the Scottish Lowlands, and was raised largely from the tenantry of the
Marquess of Douglas
, chief of
Clan Douglas
. The Cameronian regiment subsequently became the
26th (The Cameronian) Regiment of Foot
, and then the
Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)
.
[4]
Battle
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]
Dunkeld was not protected by town walls, so Cleland ordered his troops to take up defensive positions in the cathedral, because it was surrounded by an enclosing wall, and the nearby mansion of the
Marquess of Atholl
. The fighting began when the Jacobites, who outnumbered the Cameronians by more than four to one, stormed the town from all sides. They were initially successful, forcing the Cameronians back from all their outlying positions.
[5]
[
page needed
]
although in the town's narrow, winding streets there was no room for the type of
Highland charge
that succeeded at Killiecrankie.
[2]
The Cameronian regiment's 27-year-old Colonel William Cleland, a veteran of the
Covenanter
cause, died in the first hour of battle by taking one bullet in the liver and another in the head, before dragging himself out of sight so that his men would not see him fall.
[2]
Command fell to Captain
George Munro of Auchinbowie
who would lead them to victory.
[6]
For sixteen hours the battle raged, as the Cameronians were gradually forced back. Some of the Highlanders
[7]
[
full citation needed
]
who had barricaded themselves into houses were trapped inside and burned alive.
[2]
At 11pm, depleted of energy and ammunition, the Highlanders decided to call it a day and withdrew, leaving 300 of their men dead or dying in the town.
[2]
The Cameronians are reported to have stripped lead from the roof of Atholl House to keep firing because they had also exhausted their munitions. Holes caused by
musket balls
are still visible in the east gable of Dunkeld Cathedral.
[3]
With the battle over, the Cameronian
Covenanters
claimed a war-winning victory. Losses on the Williamite side are unclear, but ranged from 20 to 50. Colonel Cleland was buried in the cathedral.
[3]
References
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]
External links
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]