Maitland Club > Miscellany of the Maitland Club > Volume 3, Parts 1 and 2

BURNING OF AUCHTERARDER, MUTHILL, ETC.
The following documents relate to a period near the close of the civil
war of 1715-16, when the hopes of the Jacobite army, posted under the
Earl of Mar at Perth, and attended by the Chevalier in person, (then
recently arrived in Scotland,) were limited to making a successful stand
for a little time within or in front of that town, against the superior forces
of the Duke of Argyle, who was expected immediately to march against
them from Stirling, for the purpose of putting an end to the insurrection.
The country was then covered with deep snow, and it was thought ne-
cessary by the Jacobite chiefs to add to the difficulties of the Duke's
intended march, by burning all the villages, and destroying as far as
possible the grain and other provisions, lying between Stirling and Perth.
This severe measure was executed by detachments of the clans, and pro-
duced, of course, great misery to the people of the devoted district.
These papers, the composition, apparently, of a person friendly to the