The Probert Encyclopaedia of Warfare

MASSACRE OF GLENCOE

The Massacre of Glencoe took place in 1692. The Master of Stair, William III's chief minister in Scotland, took the accidental late submission of the clan of Glencoe as an opportunity to teach the Highlanders a lesson. He requested of the king permission to exterminate the clan on the grounds that they had in the past been guilty of acts of brigandage and murder, and upon receiving assent, he sent to Glencoe a party of 120 soldiers whom on the 1st of February, commanded by Captain Campbell of Glenlyon, marched up the glen and arrived pretending to be friends with the clan. They proceeded to live with the clansmen, dining with them, joking with them and playing cards with them until the morning of February the 13th 1692 when, whilst it was still dark, the soldiers surrounded the clansmen's huts and dragging them from their beds murdered them, firing at those who fled - thirty-eight men were murdered at the scene and many more died in the snow, drowned in the bogs or starved fleeing. The incident caused a scandal and resulted in the dismissal of the Master of Stair, and the first public sympathy for the Highlanders from the lowland Scottish.
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