Post by Elly on Oct 13, 2005 19:37:34 GMT 10
Heroine or Rogue: Feisty Colonel Annie
A Jacobean Tale by Alexandra Gordon-Ingram
Young MacGillivray heard the footfall of the horse long before he saw the rider. And he didn't need "second sight" to tell him who was coming. Word had already spread throughout the countryside: Lady Anne MacIntosh was abroad, raising an army for Prince Charlie's cause. MacGillivray idly wondered what her husband, Lord MacIntosh, thought of his young bride; he, stationed in London on the King's service.
There would be no turning down young Lady Anne, MacGillivray knew. Better to take the cash she'd offer him to join the Jacobean cause than face the barrels of her pistols by refusing.
Anne Farquharson of Invercauld was born into a staunchly Jacobean family and she herself never once faltered in her intense loyalty to the Prince Pretender. In 1741, still in her teens, she married Aeneas (Angus), Chief of Clan Macintosh and twenty years her senior. Some say she was very fond of her older husband, but she did not necessarily share his politics. Agnus was a bit of a fence-sitter, it seems, ready to switch allegiance, depending on how the winds were blowing. Perhaps a prudent attitude for the times, but not one endorsed by his hot-headed young wife.
In an age when Jacobean women stayed home and made white cockades in honour of the Prince, Anne was riding across her husband's estates, raising an army of 300 MacIntoshes, MacBeans and MacGillivrays for Prince Charles and earning the nickname of Colonel Anne - not always intended as a compliment. Wearing tartan laced with trim and a Scots fighting bonnet on her head, and carrying a bag of money in one hand and a brace of pistols by her side, Colonel Anne was a force to be reckoned with. If the money couldn't persuade a tenant to the Prince's cause, no doubt the pistols would.
Her newly minted regiment first fought at the Battle of Falkirk, January 17, 1746, under the command of Alexander MacGillivray of Dunmaglass (no lady of the age could have led troupes into battle). Charlie, who admired her feisty nature, quickly named her his "belle rebelle."
Some weeks after Falkirk, Charles and a retinue of 70 stopped by Anne's home at Moy to rest before storming the nearby town of Inverness. Word reached Anne that government troupes under Lord Loudon were on their way to Moy with a force of 1500 men. Lord MacIntosh, who was under Loudon's command in Inverness at the time, might have been the one to send warning to Anne.
Regardless, Moy, with just 70 courtiers, was no garrison able to withstand an assault. So Anne sent her blacksmith Donald Fraser and four men to the peat stacks. There, under cover of darkness, the five men fired muskets, crashed through the underbrush, yelled orders at imaginary reinforcements, raised the war cries of various clans, and generally tried to convince Lord Loudon and his men that he faced the entire Jacobean army. A little fortuitous lighting and thunder that evening certainly helped the deception. It worked, too. Unable to ascertain what he faced, Lord Loudon retreated to Inverness where 200 of his men deserted the following day. Demoralized, the government troupes, led by their officers, retreated further to Kessock Ferry, there to await the Duke of Cumberland and his forces. Charlie walked into Inverness without a shot being fired.
All was not so rosy after the Jacobean defeat at Culloden on April 16, 1746. A warrant for Anne's arrest was issued the day after the battle. She was arrested, her home ransacked, and she was taken to Inverness for imprisonment. Along the way she witnessed some of the horror of her attempts to raise an army for Charlie: the bodies of 14 MacGillivray men, women and children who had been slaughtered in a raiding party.
Under arrest, Anne was eventually turned over to the care of her mother in-law, the Dowager Lady MacIntosh. Gentle women were not so badly treated as prisoners, and Anne was never even transferred to London for trial, as were so many of her compatriots.
Anne did make it to London, however, many years later and in the company of her husband. There she attended a ball, also attended by the infamous Duke of Cumberland. The Duke invited Lady Anne to dance to the pro-government "Up and waur them a', Willie." Undaunted, Anne returned the compliment, inviting Cumberland to dance to her choice of music - "Auld Stewart's back again" - a decidedly Jacobean air.
He could not refuse.
A Jacobean Tale by Alexandra Gordon-Ingram
Young MacGillivray heard the footfall of the horse long before he saw the rider. And he didn't need "second sight" to tell him who was coming. Word had already spread throughout the countryside: Lady Anne MacIntosh was abroad, raising an army for Prince Charlie's cause. MacGillivray idly wondered what her husband, Lord MacIntosh, thought of his young bride; he, stationed in London on the King's service.
There would be no turning down young Lady Anne, MacGillivray knew. Better to take the cash she'd offer him to join the Jacobean cause than face the barrels of her pistols by refusing.
Anne Farquharson of Invercauld was born into a staunchly Jacobean family and she herself never once faltered in her intense loyalty to the Prince Pretender. In 1741, still in her teens, she married Aeneas (Angus), Chief of Clan Macintosh and twenty years her senior. Some say she was very fond of her older husband, but she did not necessarily share his politics. Agnus was a bit of a fence-sitter, it seems, ready to switch allegiance, depending on how the winds were blowing. Perhaps a prudent attitude for the times, but not one endorsed by his hot-headed young wife.
In an age when Jacobean women stayed home and made white cockades in honour of the Prince, Anne was riding across her husband's estates, raising an army of 300 MacIntoshes, MacBeans and MacGillivrays for Prince Charles and earning the nickname of Colonel Anne - not always intended as a compliment. Wearing tartan laced with trim and a Scots fighting bonnet on her head, and carrying a bag of money in one hand and a brace of pistols by her side, Colonel Anne was a force to be reckoned with. If the money couldn't persuade a tenant to the Prince's cause, no doubt the pistols would.
Her newly minted regiment first fought at the Battle of Falkirk, January 17, 1746, under the command of Alexander MacGillivray of Dunmaglass (no lady of the age could have led troupes into battle). Charlie, who admired her feisty nature, quickly named her his "belle rebelle."
Some weeks after Falkirk, Charles and a retinue of 70 stopped by Anne's home at Moy to rest before storming the nearby town of Inverness. Word reached Anne that government troupes under Lord Loudon were on their way to Moy with a force of 1500 men. Lord MacIntosh, who was under Loudon's command in Inverness at the time, might have been the one to send warning to Anne.
Regardless, Moy, with just 70 courtiers, was no garrison able to withstand an assault. So Anne sent her blacksmith Donald Fraser and four men to the peat stacks. There, under cover of darkness, the five men fired muskets, crashed through the underbrush, yelled orders at imaginary reinforcements, raised the war cries of various clans, and generally tried to convince Lord Loudon and his men that he faced the entire Jacobean army. A little fortuitous lighting and thunder that evening certainly helped the deception. It worked, too. Unable to ascertain what he faced, Lord Loudon retreated to Inverness where 200 of his men deserted the following day. Demoralized, the government troupes, led by their officers, retreated further to Kessock Ferry, there to await the Duke of Cumberland and his forces. Charlie walked into Inverness without a shot being fired.
All was not so rosy after the Jacobean defeat at Culloden on April 16, 1746. A warrant for Anne's arrest was issued the day after the battle. She was arrested, her home ransacked, and she was taken to Inverness for imprisonment. Along the way she witnessed some of the horror of her attempts to raise an army for Charlie: the bodies of 14 MacGillivray men, women and children who had been slaughtered in a raiding party.
Under arrest, Anne was eventually turned over to the care of her mother in-law, the Dowager Lady MacIntosh. Gentle women were not so badly treated as prisoners, and Anne was never even transferred to London for trial, as were so many of her compatriots.
Anne did make it to London, however, many years later and in the company of her husband. There she attended a ball, also attended by the infamous Duke of Cumberland. The Duke invited Lady Anne to dance to the pro-government "Up and waur them a', Willie." Undaunted, Anne returned the compliment, inviting Cumberland to dance to her choice of music - "Auld Stewart's back again" - a decidedly Jacobean air.
He could not refuse.
