GOVERNMENT EFFORTS TO FIND AND CAPTURE CLUNY

      When the Government learned of Cluny's connection with the gold, a major effort to capture him and seize it was begun. This became their preoccupation for the next decade, continuing even after Cluny had left Scotland for exile in France. After the regular government troops were withdrawn in August 1746, Lord Loudoun, based at Fort Augustus, was left with the task of suppressing any rebels that might assemble to fight and preventing any provisions from reaching the highlands from Morayshire. The intention was to starve the Highlanders and force their leaders out of their hiding places. To facilitate this programme detachments of troops of varying size from 12-30 men were stationed throughout the Highland region. Initially there were seven such detachments in Badenoch totalling 172 men plus a full company at Ruthven.

      By late September 1746, Government's intelligence sources had informed the authorities of the Prince's departure and in mid-October they knew that Cluny had chosen to stay in Scotland to perform the job of Jacobite paymaster. They also knew that Cluny's brother-in-law, Donald Macpherson of Breakachie and others were supporting his activities. By early November they had detailed knowledge of the initial payments and the expectation of many Highlanders that the Prince would soon return to renew the struggle. Of course, these expectations were unjustified but the Government didn't know it and was thus very concerned as to the possibility. Their response was to increase their efforts to capture Cluny. The folklore of Badenoch holds that a reward of £1000 was offered for information leading to that result but official records show only a vague reference to "a goodly sum" as the amount. These efforts continued into 1747 and throughout the period 1748-1755.

      Reports of the intelligence gathered are extensive and available for inspection in the State Papers Domestic and the Cumberland Papers archives at Windsor Castle. However, there is no record of any specific effort to capture Cluny other than that of Lt.-Col. James Wolfe, later the captor of Quebec but assigned to the Highland operations in 1752. In a letter to a colleague written three years later he told how in conducting the operation, he had ordered his sergeant "in case he should succeed, and was attacked by the clan with a view to rescue their chief to kill him instantly, which I concluded would draw on the complete destruction of the detachment and furnish me with a sufficient pretext . . . to march into their country . . . where I would have attacked without mercy." This Machiavellian scheme that contemplated sacrificing his own men to justify the massacre of the whole clan came to nothing except the arrest a few clansmen for wearing the kilt, a crime established in 1747 that was punishable by prison or transportation; it remained in force until 1783.

      A rich folk memory of this period has survived in the form of stories that revolve around the figure of Ensign Hector Munro whose father and uncle had, allegedly, been killed at the Battle of Falkirk in January 1746 and was seeking vengeance. One of these stories is related below and is repeated in the form of the huge silver epergne that you will find in the next room. Prof. Alan G. Macpherson in his Day's March to Ruin points out that Ensign Munro finished a long and distinguished career as General Sir Hector Munro, victor of the Battle of Buxor that won India for Britain in 1764. Other stories involve the various hiding places that Cluny used to evade the pursuing redcoats. One of these places may have survived -- a cave high on Creag Dhubh. A description of it is shown at the left below. However, some people doubt such a use.