MASSACRE OF GLENCO. 80 



great and personal inconvenience could bestow. To every individual of that 

 insidious detachment they extended the hand of friendship, and treated them 

 with the warmth of a Highland welcome. But once secure in the heart of 

 the fold, these wolves soon threw off their disguise, and manifested their natural 

 thirst for blood. 



It has been inferred from various circumstances, that the leader of this detest- 

 able expedition was ignorant of the design with which he was ordered to march 

 upon Glenco ; but there can be no doubt that, in Captain Campbell, the 

 government saw an able instrument for the execution of its sanguinary measures, 

 and selected him accordingly. Independently of the warm hospitality lavished 

 upon this officer, and the troops under his command, other circumstances 

 namely, a close family connexion* rendered the service, if possible, still more 

 revolting. On the twelfth day after his arrival, Campbell received the following 

 order from his superior, Major Duncanson, then stationed at Ballahulish, the 

 ferry above named. " You are hereby ordered," says the document, " to fall 

 upon the rebels, the Macdonalds of Glenco, and put all to the sword under the 

 age of seventy. You are to have special care that the old fox and his cubs do 

 upon no account escape out of your hands. You are to secure all the avenues, 

 so that no man may escape from the glen. This you are to put in execution 

 at five o'clock in the morning precisely, and by that time, or very shortly after 

 it, I will strive to be at you with a stronger party ; but if I do not come to you 

 at that hour, you are not to tarry for me, but fall on. This is by the 

 king's special command, for the good and safety of the country, that these 

 miscreants may be cut off root and branch. See that this be put in 

 execution without feud or favour, else you may expect to be treated as 

 not true to the king, or government, nor a man fit to carry a commission in 

 the king's service." 



On receipt of this atrocious order, Campbell did not exclaim with generous 

 indignation, " We are soldiers, not assassins !" He did not spurn the infernal 

 instrument that was to brand his name with the crime of murder. He did not tear 

 the insulting document, and cast it in the bearer's face. He did not denounce the 

 infamous plot, and call upon every soldier under his command to resist the order 

 with his blood ! No ; as soon as he had read the death-warrant of his generous 

 host and a confiding people, he took instant measures for its execution. Parties 

 were distributed to every village in the glen, and at five o'clock in the morning, 

 while the inhabitants were buried in profound repose, the massacre began. An 



A son of Macdonald, chief of Glenco, was married to a niece of Campbell's. 



