Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Macdonald, Alexander (d.1692)
MACDONALD, ALEXANDER, or MacIAN of Glencoe (d. 1692), was the chief of a sept of the Macdonalds inhabiting Glencoe, a desolate valley on the borders of Argyll and Inverness. The founder of the clan was John, surnamed Fraoch, natural son of Angus Og of Isla, and brother of John Macdonald, first lord of the Isles [q.v.] . His mother was a daughter of Dougal MacHenry, then the leading man in Glencoe, where Fraoch settled as a vassal of the Lord of the Isles. This branch of the Macdonalds was also known as the Clan Ian Abrach, probably from the fact that one of their chiefs was fostered in Lochaber (Gregory, Western Highlands, p. 67). Macdonald of Glencoe was one of the chiefs who joined Graham of Claverhouse at Lochaber in 1689, and also took part in the rising in the northern highlands under General Buchan. He is represented in the ‘Grameid’ as ‘terrible in unwonted arms, covered as to his breast with raw hide, and towering far above his whole line by head and shoulders’ (p. 124). The author of the ‘Life of Ewan Cameron’ describes him as ‘a person of great integrity, honour, good nature, and courage,’ and as ‘strong, active, and of the biggest size, much loved by his neighbours, and blameless in his conduct’ (p. 321); but the eulogy must be interpreted according to highland notions of honour. The clan were probably the most inveterate robbers in the highlands; but as those they spoiled were for the most part either Campbells or lowlanders, their thieving exploits rather elevated than lowered them in the esteem of the other highland clans. They had, however, necessarily earned the special enmity of the Marquis of Breadalbane, who, when the government began negotiations for a settlement with the clans that had been in rebellion, gave MacIan to understand that he expected reparation for their long-continued depredations. As MacIan would thus at least be deprived of any share in the money distributed to win over the chiefs, he had no interest in the success of the negotiations, and he used every effort to thwart them. It was not till he learned that every other chief but himself had succumbed to bribes or threats that he became convinced of the necessity of taking the prescribed oath and thus saving his clan. On 31 Dec. 1691, the day before the period of indemnity expired, he presented himself for this purpose at Fort William, but found no civil magistrate there to take his oath. This neglect was probably, both from a moral and legal point of view, sufficient to free him from responsibility, but on the advice of the governor, Colonel Hill [q. v.], he hastened to Inverary alone on foot through the mountain passes, then covered with snow, and ultimately, by his urgent request, induced Sir Colin Campbell of Ardkinglass, sheriff of Argyllshire, to administer to him the oath on 6 Jan. 1692. The declaration was sent to Colin Campbell, sheriff clerk of Argyll, who was then at Edinburgh, with instructions to lay it before the privy council, but Sir Gilbert Elliot, clerk of the council, refused to receive it, and other members of the council whom he consulted were of opinion that it could not be received without a warrant of the king. The matter, however, was not brought before the council, nor was MacIan informed that his declaration had not been received. It was generally known that he had subscribed the oath, but no formal notice was given to the government.
The government had taken for granted that some chiefs would refuse the oath, and such a contingency was regarded as rather desirable than not, especially in the case of the Macdonalds of Glencoe. Secretary Dalrymple wrote to Sir Thomas Livingstone: ‘Argyll tells me that Glenco hath not taken the oath, at which I rejoice’ (Papers relating to the Highlands of Scotland, p. 62). Instructions signed on 16 Jan. 1692 directed that ‘if M'Kean of Glencoe and that tribe can be well separated from the rest, it will be a proper vindication of public justice to extirpate that sect [sept] of thieves’ (ib. p. 65); and the instructions were supplemented by a letter of Dalrymple entreating that for ‘a just example of vengeance’ they should ‘be rooted out in earnest’ (ib. p. 66). To effect this purpose stratagem was necessary. It was determined to quarter on the clan 120 men of Argyll's regiment under Captain Campbell of Glenlyon. The captain declared to MacIan that his intentions were entirely friendly, and MacIan unsuspectingly received his guests with ungrudging hospitality. Campbell remained in Glencoe for a fortnight, making himself thorough master of all the peculiarities of its situation, and sending information to his superior, Lieutenant-colonel Hamilton, in regard to the best method of massacring his hosts. Hamilton committed the duty of guarding the passes to Major Duncanson, and that officer, on Hamilton's instruction, transmitted the following orders to Campbell: ‘You are hereby ordered to fall upon ye M'Donalds of Glencoe and putt all to ye sword under seventy. You are to have a special care that the old fox and his son do on no account escape yor hands; this yow are to put in execution at 5 o'clock precisely’ (Major Duncanson's Orders to Robert Campbell, 12 Feb. 1692, ib. p. 73). The morning of 13 Feb. was the time fixed for the massacre. Boisterous weather prevented Major Duncanson from arriving in time to set a guard on the passes, but Campbell's orders were imperative. The doomed clan had no opportunity of fighting, and the assassins succeeded in massacring outright thirty-eight, while many women, old men, and children perished in the snow during their flight to the hills. MacIan himself was shot through the head while rising to give directions for the reception of his unexpected guests, and his wife died next day from the cruelties received from the soldiery. But a considerable number of the clan, including the two sons of MacIan, succeeded in escaping. Gradually details of the massacre became known, and as Dalrymple [see Dalrymple, John, first Earl of Stair] had many enemies among the Hanoverians, no less than among the Jacobites, the government found it necessary to consent to a parliamentary inquiry. The report of the commission, subscribed 20 June 1695, affirmed that the execution was ‘contrary to the lawes of humanity and hospitality;’ but the ‘excess of zeal,’ of which Dalrymple was declared guilty, was afterwards ‘remitted to him,’ and none of the principal or subordinate agents of the massacre were brought to justice.
[Memoirs of Ewan Cameron (Abbotsford Club); Philip's Grameid (Scottish Hist. Soc.); Mackenzie's Hist. of the Macdonalds; Gregory's Western Highlands; Papers relating to the Highlands of Scotland (Maitland Club); Gallienus Redivivus, 1692; Massacre of Glencoe, &c., 1703, reprinted in Somers Tracts, xi. 529–47; Impartial Account, &c. ib. pp. 547–61; Macaulay's Hist. of England; Burton's Hist. of Scotland.]
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.189
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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| 27 | i | 39 | Macdonald, Alexander, of Glencoe (d. 1692): for 16 June read 16 Jan. |