The Massacre of Glencoe

Background

In 1691, King William III offered a pardon to the Highland clans who had supported the deposed King James VII. The condition: every clan chief must swear an oath of allegiance before 1 January 1692.

Alasdair MacIain, the elderly chief of the MacDonalds of Glencoe, set out to take the oath — but went first to Fort William, where he was told it must be sworn before a magistrate in Inveraray. Blizzard conditions delayed his journey. He arrived in Inveraray on 2 January and swore the oath on 6 January — six days late.

The delay was seized upon by powerful men in Edinburgh. Sir John Dalrymple, the Secretary of State, saw an opportunity to make an example of the MacDonalds — a small, vulnerable clan with few political allies. He obtained orders signed by the King himself.

The Arrival of the Soldiers

On 1 February 1692, 120 soldiers of the Earl of Argyll's Regiment arrived in Glen Coe, led by Captain Robert Campbell of Glenlyon. They claimed their visit was routine — the fort at Inverlochy was full, they said, and they needed billets.

Under the ancient Highland code of hospitality — dualchas — the MacDonalds were bound to shelter and feed them. For twelve days, the soldiers lived among the families of the glen, eating their food, warming themselves at their fires, playing cards with their hosts.

Campbell of Glenlyon even dined with MacIain himself.

The Massacre

On the night of 12 February, Campbell received his orders: "You are hereby ordered to fall upon the rebels, the MacDonalds of Glencoe, and to put all to the sword under seventy."

At 5am on 13 February, in the darkness of a winter blizzard, the killing began.

MacIain was shot in his bed as he rose to greet his guests. His wife was stripped of her rings — her fingers bitten by soldiers to remove them — and died the next day. Thirty-eight men, women, and children were murdered. The soldiers set fire to the houses.

Many more — perhaps 300 — fled into the mountains in the blizzard, where an unknown number perished from exposure. The planned encirclement by troops from Fort William failed to materialise in time, or the death toll would have been far higher.

Why It Matters

The numbers alone don't explain why the Massacre of Glencoe still resonates more than 330 years later. Larger atrocities occurred in the Highlands. What made Glencoe different was the violation of hospitality.

In Highland culture, to accept someone's food and shelter created a sacred bond. To then murder your hosts was not just a crime — it was an abomination. The Gaelic phrase mort fo thròcair — "murder under trust" — was considered a uniquely heinous act, worse than murder itself in Scots law.

The massacre was state-sanctioned. It was premeditated. And it was carried out by men who had broken bread with their victims. That is why it endures.

Aftermath

Public outrage eventually forced a parliamentary inquiry in 1695. The inquiry found the massacre to be "murder under trust" but recommended only that Dalrymple be prosecuted. He never was. No one was punished.

The surviving MacDonalds returned to the glen and rebuilt. The clan continued, diminished but unbroken.

The Memorial

A simple Celtic cross stands in Glencoe village today, erected in 1883. Its inscription reads in Gaelic and English. Nearby, the National Trust for Scotland's visitor centre tells the full story with sensitivity and scholarship.

Every year on 13 February, members of Clan Donald gather at the memorial to lay wreaths and remember. The glen falls silent. The mountains stand witness, as they have for three centuries.