o Fort William to take the oaths before
Colonel Hill, but found that he must do so before the Sheriff of the
shire at remote Inveraray. Various accidents of weather delayed him; the
Sheriff also was not at Inveraray when Glencoe arrived, but administered
the oaths on January 6. The document was taken to Edinburgh, where Lord
Stair, Dalrymple's father, and others caused it to be deleted. Glengarry
was still unsworn, but Glengarry was too strong to be "rooted out";
William ordered his commanding officer, Livingstone, "to extirpate that
sect of thieves," the Glencoe men (January 16). On the same day
Dalrymple sent down orders to hem in the MacIans, and to guard all the
passes, by land or water, from their glen. Of the actual _method_ of
massacre employed Dalrymple may have been ignorant; but orders "from
Court" to "spare none," and to take no prisoners, were received by
Livingstone on January 23.

On February 1, Campbell of Glenlyon, with 120 men, was hospitably
received by MacIan, whose son, Alexander, had married Glenlyon's niece.
On February 12, Hill sent 400 of his Inverlochy garrison to Glencoe to
join hands with 400 of Argyll's regiment, under Major Duncanson. These
troops were to guard the southern passes out of Glencoe, while Hamilton
was to sweep the passes from the north.

At 5 A.M. on February 13 the soldier-guests of MacIan began to slay and
plunder. Men, women, and children were shot or bayoneted, 1000 head of
cattle were driven away; but Hamilton arrived too late. Though the aged
chief had been shot at once, his sons took to the hills, and the greater
part of the population escaped with their lives, thanks to Hamilton's
dilatoriness. "All I regret is that any of the sect got away," wrote
Dalrymple on March 5, "and there is necessity to prosecute them to the
utmost." News had already reached London "that they are murdered in
their beds." The newspapers, however, were silenced, and the story was
first given to Europe in April by the 'Paris Gazette.' The crime was
unprecedented: it had no precedent, admits of no apology. Many an
expedition of "fire and sword" had occurred, but never had there been a
midnight massacre "under trust" of hosts by guests. King William, on
March 6, went off to his glorious wars on the Continent, probably hoping
to hear that the fugitive MacIans were still being "prosecuted"--if,
indeed, he thought of them at all. But by October they were received
into his peace.

Wil