he
great Lochiel, a man over seventy but miraculously athletic, Dundee
decided to let the clans fight in their old way,--a rush, a volley at
close quarters, and then the claymore. By June 28 Dundee had received no
aid from James,--of money "we have not twenty pounds"; and he was between
the Earl of Argyll (son of the martyr of 1685) and Mackay with his 4000
foot and eight troops of horse.

On July 23 Dundee seized the castle of Blair Atholl, which had been the
base of Montrose in his campaigns, and was the key of the country between
the Tay and Lochaber. The Atholl clans, Murrays and Stewarts, breaking
away from the son of their chief, the fickle Marquis of Atholl, were led
by Stewart of Ballechin, but did not swell Dundee's force at the moment.
From James Dundee now received but a battalion of half-starved Irishmen,
under the futile General Cannon.

On July 27, at Blair, Dundee learned that Mackay's force had already
entered the steep and narrow pass of Killiecrankie, where the road
skirted the brawling waters of the Garry. Dundee had not time to defend
the pass; he marched his men from Blair, keeping the heights, while
Mackay emerged from the gorge, and let his forces rest on the wide level
haugh beside the Garry, under the house of Runraurie, now called Urrard,
with the deep and rapid river in their rear. On this haugh the tourist
sees the tall standing stone which, since 1735 at least, has been known
as "Dundee's stone." From the haugh rises a steep acclivity, leading to
the plateau where the house of Runraurie stood. Mackay feared that
Dundee would occupy this plateau, and that the fire thence would break up
his own men on the haugh below. He therefore seized the plateau, which
was an unfortunate manoeuvre. He was so superior in numbers that both of
his wings extended beyond Dundee's, who had but forty ill-horsed
gentlemen by way of cavalry. After distracting Mackay by movements along
the heights, as if to cut off his communications with the south, Dundee,
who had resisted the prayers of the chiefs that he would be sparing of
his person, gave the word to charge as the sun sank behind the western
hills. Rushing down hill, under heavy fire and losing many men, the
clans, when they came to the shock, swept the enemy from the plateau,
drove them over the declivity, forced many to attempt crossing the Garry,
where they were drowned, and followed, slaying, through the pass. Half
of Hastings' regiment, untouch