After King James's flight to France, England became comparatively tranquil, and the establishment of the Prince and Princess of Orange on the throne, in February, 1689, was hailed with public rejoicings. In Scotland, the Catholic clans, and other partisans of King James were numerous; and, while the chivalrous Viscount Dundee aroused the Highlanders to arms, the Duke of Gordon held the castle of Edinburgh, of which he was governor, in the interest of the Stuart dynasty.
King William sent Major-General Mackay, an experienced officer, who had served in the armies of France and Holland, to take the command of the forces in Scotland; and, while Viscount Dundee was organising a plan of co-operation among the clans, additional corps were embodied by the government.
The Earl of Annandale, who was one of the first of the Scottish noblemen to advocate the principles of the Revolution, raised a troop of horse; a second was raised by the Lord Belhaven, a nobleman distinguished for his steady opposition to the tyrannical measures of King Charles II., and King James II.; and a third troop was raised by William, Laird of Blair: independent troops of dragoons were also embodied by several gentlemen who were zealous for the interests and welfare of their country; also several regiments and independent companies of foot.
While these corps were being embodied, Viscount Dundee descended from the mountains with several bands of Highlanders, seized on the town of Perth, and took the Laird of Blair, and his lieutenant, the Laird of Pollock, prisoners. These gentlemen were carried about like felons, in an ungenerous triumph, for six weeks, and afterwards sent to the Isle of Mul, where the Laird of Blair died, in consequence of the barbarous treatment he received.
The Earl of Annandale's and Lord Belhaven's troops of horse, having been completed and equipped, took the field, and formed part of the force under Major-General Mackay, which engaged the Highlanders and Irish, under Viscount Dundee, at the pass of _Killicrankie_, on the 27th of July, 1689, and were the only cavalry corps with the army on that occasion[1]. For a short time after the commencement of the action, the advantage was on the side of Major-General Mackay. When the infantry began to give way before the superior numbers of the clans, the two troops of horse were ordered forward,--one on the right, and the other on the left,--to attack the flanks of the opposing army; but, being untrained men, instead of dashing, sword in hand, upon the adverse ranks, they halted at a short distance, and commenced a straggling fire with carbines and pistols. This mode of attacking a body of men on foot of very superior numbers, could not fail to prove disastrous; and the two troops were speedily driven from the field with loss. The army was defeated; but the ability evinced by Major-General Mackay, in conducting the retreat, and in assembling another army, with the loss of the Jacobite commander, Viscount Dundee, who was killed at the commencement of the action, occasioned the result to be less disastrous than was anticipated, and the Highlanders were forced to take refuge in their mountain fastnesses.