Blair Collection > Celtic magazine > Volume 2

374 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE.
The ]\Iaster of Sinclair, and the cavaby Avho followed his example,
have been greatly 1)lamed by all writers and song makers for the inactivity
they displayed at this crisis of the engagement,* but it must be recollected
that General Witham's cavalry Avere then quite unbroken, that Huntly
and Mariischall's squadrons were then scattered, and unfit for action, so
that it is at least possible that it was the firm and imposing, though pas-
sive, attitude assumed by the Master of Sinclair, and those who followed
his example, which alone prevented General Witham from sweeping
down upon the right wing of the Jacobite infantry, when disordered by
their brilliant success.
Before proceeding further, however, it may here be mentioned that if
the site of the battle be correctly laid down, and limited as in the ord-
nance survey, it does, to a non-professional spectator at least, appear very
unaccountable how the two wings of each army should have been so long
ignorant of the movements of the other, as all accounts state them to have
been.
The ground on either side of the road which marks the posi-
tion of the two armies is quite level, and anything done at either end of
it would seem to be at once perceivable by the other, and their actual
ignorance seems therefore difficult to account for ; but the fact is too well
authenticated to admit of dispute.
If, however, the site bo extended in a westerly direction, into the
ground noAV occupied by a plantation, there may be such inequahties as
will fully explain the ignorance in which each party remained of the
manoeuvres ol' the other.
Mar having collected his victorious right, and having pursued his
antagonists for a short distance, drew up his forces upon a high ground
at the farm of Stonehill, on the estate of Kippendavie, as marked in the
ordnance plan, and the Duke of Argyll, returning from his pursuit of
Mar's left wing, came sufficiently near Mar's position to allow of the en-
gagement being renewed, and both armies seem to have contemplated the
possibility of such renewal, for the Master of Sinclair states that they
came Avitliin about 400 yards of each other, and stood at gaze for about
half an hour, when Argyll slowly and cautiously filed off towards Dun-
blane — Mar not having the resolution to attack him.
Considering how greatly the Jacobite cause Avas dependent upon a
successful engagement, and that, in his circumstances, the effect of a drawn
battle Avas equivalent to defeat, there can be no doubt but that Mar was
guilty of dther most pusillanimous or treacherous conduct in not hazard-
ing final conclusions Avith Argyll.
At the same time, if the modern idea of the superiority of disciplined
bayoneteers over SAvord and target men be correct, Argyll was equally
to blame in not having proved the superiority of his infantry by
crushing out the last remnants of the Jacobite army.t But it is per-
* The old song says : —
"Perth, Fife, and Angus, who were horse,
Stood motionless, and some did worse."
t Argyll evidently bad not the same opinion of the Highlanders that the Duke of
Cumberland afterwards expressed, viz., that they were the moat coutenaptible of all ad-