McDonald Wilton family tree » Col. Alexander "Akasdair Ruadh" (Alexander "Akasdair Ruadh") Chief Mac Gillivray of Dunmaglass 8th of Dunmaglass (1718-1746)

Données personnelles Col. Alexander "Akasdair Ruadh" (Alexander "Akasdair Ruadh") Chief Mac Gillivray of Dunmaglass 8th of Dunmaglass 

• Prénom Alexander "Akasdair Ruadh".
• Il est né en l'an 1718 dans Dunmaglass, Inverness-shire, Scotland, United Kingdom.
• Il est décédé le 16 avril 1746 dans Culloden, Inverness-shire, Scotland, United Kingdom, il avait 28 ans.
• Un enfant de Farquhar MacGillivray et Elizabeth Mackintosh of Aberarder

Famille de Col. Alexander "Akasdair Ruadh" (Alexander "Akasdair Ruadh") Chief Mac Gillivray of Dunmaglass 8th of Dunmaglass

Notes par Col. Alexander "Akasdair Ruadh" (Alexander "Akasdair Ruadh") Chief Mac Gillivray of Dunmaglass 8th of Dunmaglass

Drummossie Moor, April 16, 1746. This was fought between about 14,000 English soldiers under William, the Duke of Cumberland, younger brother of King George III; and the 9000 rather ragtag troops, largely highlanders, under Charles Edward of the House of Stuart, "Bonnie Prince Charlie". The Stuarts, a Catholic family, had been British monarchs 1603 to 1689, and wanted to be so again. Charles Edward was eldest son of James III. (Latin "James"="Jacob", hence followers or supporters of James are "Jacobites") By 1746 the Hanoverian family, Protestants, had been on the English throne for over 30 years. The Stuart family, deposed from England, had been living in continental Europe, and in 1745 Bonnie Prince Charlie returned to Scotland, was able to raise a volunteer army, and successfully invaded into England, getting as far south as Derby before retreating to Scotland. Much of the success of Prince Charlie's forces seemed to be with the dreaded "Highland charge", where the seemingly fearless Highlanders would charge into the blazing guns of the opposition.
The English infantry of the time used the Brown Bess musket which weighed 11 pounds 2 ounces, had a barrel 3 ½ feet long, fired a ball which weighed 1 1/3 ounces, and had a .753 inch bore. It was said to be ineffectual at over 300 paces, and only of value within that if the aim were good. The Brown Bess therefore had a bore 2 ½ times the bore of a 30.06 modern rifle, and fired a rifle ball about 4 times as heavy. To the end of that musket the English infantryman attached a bayonet, 16 inches of fluted steel. If you had to hit a moving target with one musket at even 100 paces, you would have great difficulty, but the English infantry fired on drum beat command, perhaps 100 muskets at a time, while in formation, the men standing at 20 inch intervals. The Jacobite army, on the other hand, did have some firearms, but the standard fighting weapon of the highlander was the broadsword. As you might imagine, once a highlander with his broadsword got into hand to hand combat, he wasn't a bad match for the English infantryman, but reaching that point of hand to hand combat often involved that suicidal "highland charge".
Most of Scotland by that time was Presbyterian, and probably had little religious reason to return a Catholic family to the English throne, but Charlie seemed to have a certain charm with the clan chieftains, and when the chief directed the clansmen were obliged to follow. A number of MacGillivrays were in the Battle of Culloden near Inverness in 1746; and Clan Chattan had a large part. 500 men of Clan Chattan were right at the center of the Jacobite line, including a lieutenant-colonel Alexander MacGillivray, a Farquhar MacGillivray, and a John MacGillivray, all of whom were killed in the battle. Clan Chattan was the first to charge the English cannons and infantry, charging up the hill into the cannon grapeshot and blazing musket fire. Most of the Clan Chattan men died before even reaching the English infantry, but Big John MacGillivray was one who broke through the English line, killing twelve soldiers and was running on a solitary battalion in the rear when he took a pistol shot and was killed. Colonel Alexander, the red haired MacGillivray of Dunmaglass, is said to have been the first to pass through the infantry, leaping over the bodies of the men, when he was struck down. He was able to crawl to a spring of water in the rear where he died.
The Alexander MacGillivray marker on the battlefield is by the Well of the Dead.
[ http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~fuma/history/litchfie.htm ]

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