We send, too, our very deep sympathy to the widow and family of our XXIVth Chief, Ewen George Macpherson of Cluny, who died after a long illness in Australia. He was , through no fault of his own, but by reason of distance and other circumstances, "the Chief whom the Clan knew not" -- but we remember with gratitude his constantly expressed interest in all matters that concerned the Clan which he could never lead in person.

      Some small changes will be observed in this year's Creag Dhubh. Most important, perhaps, is the fact that the pages are numbered consecutively from our issue of 1965, thus forming the basis upon which we intend to build a complete volume, to simplify binding and ultimate indexing. Advertising pages, being ephemeral, are not numbered amongst the pages of text. This innovation, approved by the Council, will, it is hoped, be welcome to the Association.

      The production of Creag Dhubh is an all-the-year-round task and preparation for next year's Journal has already begun whilst this year's magazine is with the printer. We hope, in 1967, to include a further instalment of Pitmain's account of his Sliochd and we can be sure that the Clan's historians will not let the year pass without adding more to our knowledge of our role in history. We hope, too, to be able to include an account of the Tait MacKenzie Memorial in Ontario -- this will be of great interest to all those who knew and admire his great sculpture of the Scottish-American War Memorial, "The Call" which stands nobly in Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh. A short while back we mentioned the Allan Macpherson House at Napanee. We have now a fuller account of this, which will be published for the Clan as soon as possible. We hope to continue the series of lessons on Gaelic conversation -- this will certainly be done if the response remains as enthusiastic as it has been in the past two years since it began.

      Rumours have reached us of a Macpherson who was a notable bushranger in Australia. We will welcome any information that members may be able to find for us concerning him, for he seems to have been both eccentric and chivalrous -- a rare combination in his "trade".

[Edna Macphersson Sabato contributed an article on James McPHERSON, the Bushranger known as "The Wild Scotchman", which was printed in the 1994 Edition. ]

      Can anyone, too, find information regarding a Macpherson who was a close confederate of Simon Bolivar, the Liberator, in South America?       One other article which, this year, is held over for lack of time and space will by one which deals with the Editorial Policy of Creag Dhubh. This will follow the article "Contributing to Creag Dhubh" which we printed last year. It will be approved by the Council, and we trust will give clear expression to our aims and intentions in all matters relating to the Association's Journal.       In a final note we feel that we must make reference to the only criticism that we received during the past year. This came from a member resident in the United States who has asked that we keep his anonymity. His principal theme was that Badenoch is dead and that more emphasis should be given in our pages to the work Macphersons, spread all over the world today. We hope that his criticisms will be answered in full in the course of next year's "Policy" article. We must, however, point out (as we have done already in a personal letter) that it is not possible for 'a publish accounts of people of whom we have never heard, so that it is "up to him no less to others who may feel the same as he does, to put us in the picture.

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                                                                                                     THREE GATES
                                                                                                     MORETON MORRELL
                                                                                                     WARWtCKSHIRE
                                                                                                     MORETON MORRELL 221

      I would like to offer all Clansmen my friendship and to wish them all the best of luck.

      I am very proud of my position as your Chief and will do my utmost to further the interests of the Clan, with all its history and great traditions.

      I hope, with my family, to attend the Rally this year, which will give me the opportunity to meet as many Clansmen as possible.

                                                                           (signed -- Cluny)

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Dear Chevalier Macpherson,
      Many thanks for your letter and telephone message, which were much appreciated. I will send you the abridged autobiography for which you asked -- I hope that you will edit it and that if anyone is bored by reading it they will blame you, not me!

      Somebody said to me the other day, "Macphersons at Blairgowrie! How come?" -- I shall explain that in due course. No doubt the original intention of those who inhabited our house here was to keep out the wild Highlandmen from Glenshee and Strathardle. Now, of course the situation is reversed.

      My great-great-great grandfather was William, the Purser or Treasurer of the Clan. He lived within a few miles of Garva Mor and was a nephew of Lachlan of Nuid who succeeded to the Chiefship in 1722 when his cousin, Duncan of Cluny, died without male issue. William was therefore a first cousin of Ewan of the '45.

      In 1746, William was killed at the Battle of Falkirk, his son Allan being seven years old at the time. One of Allan's first memories was that of throwing stones at the Hanoverian troops who were burning Cluny Castle. He was educated at Ruthven, as was also his cousin James, the translator of Ossian, who was four years older. An account of Allan's life and that of his brother is given in my father's book, Soldiering in India.

      Briefly, since the family fortunes were at a low ebb, Allan enlisted in the 42nd Highlanders, the Black Watch, and went with them to AmerIca; he was present at Ticonderoga, and subsequently served in the West Indies at the time of the surrender of Havana. As a matter of some interest, when in 1762 the battalion returned to the United Kingdom and landed at Bristol, they were still wearing pigtails, and the inhabitants were doubtful whether they were friend or foe!

      In 1764 Allan went to India as an Ensign in the service of the Honourable East India Company, spending twenty-five years there, and eventually rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and Quartermaster General. On retirement he commissioned his cousin, James ("Ossian"), to buy an estate for him in Inverness-shire. James bought the estates of Raitt and Phoness, afterwards known as Balavil estate -- but he liked it so much that he kept it for himself. He finally bought Blairgowrie for Allan (hinc illae lacrimae!) the vendor being Thomas Graham of

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Balgowan, later Lord Lynedoch, to whom James had been tutor. Allan was Colonel of Perthshire Volunteers from 1798 was Colonel of the 1st Battalion to 1805, retiring when Napoleon's threat of invasion no longer seemed imminent. He died in 1816.       His son, William, was born in 1784 and as a young man he went to Berbice as a planter. Later he left for Australia, and held the post of Clerk to the Legislative Council of New South Wales.

      His son, Allan, was born at Blairgowrie in 1818. As a young man he ran sheep and cattle stations in New South Wales and in Queensland. He also represented Central Cumberland in Parliament. His picture appears in several old numbers of The Sydney Punch, in fighting trim. From 1869 until the year of his death in 1891, he lived at Blairgowrie, and it was he who prepared the "tree" which now hangs in the Clan House at Newtonmore.

[The genealogical chart that is located at Panel 107 on the west wall of the Museum. The portrait of his son, William, father of the author of this article, is located next to it at Panel 106.]

      My own father [William Charles] had a distinguished career in the Indian Civil Service. He was decorated with the C.S.I., and I am quite sure that it ought to have been a "K". On his retirement, in 1911, he lived in Blairgowrie and, like his father (my grandfather) did much for the town in many ways.

      My own soldiering career started -- believe it or not -- in 1901. In that year I became a cadet in my school battalion of the Hampshire Regiment, wearing a very tight red tunic and very proud of it! After passing the exam for Woolwich (by some oversight of the examiners) I served until 1914 in the Royal Field Artillery at various home stations including Ireland which, at that time, was a very good place indeed. Then to India and, with the Lahore Division, to France.

      At the end of the Great War I was lucky enough to find myself more or less "unscarthed" (as my sergeant-major put it) except for punctures in the legs, with no bones broken. Then followed more peacetime soldiering, during which my activities included the formation of the Clan Chattan Association -- or rather with helping to form it, acting as Secretary of the Committee.

      In 1919 1 went on a "Cook's Tour" to Waziristan and there won a medal --- much to the wrath of a cousin who had borne the burden and the heat of the day there. After that home again -- where I got married and lived happily ever after.

      I was in India from 1922 to 1924, commanding a battery from which I went first to a Gunnery Course and then to be Gunnery Instructor at Malta and Abassia. Afterwards I commanded a regiment at Singapore, but luckily for me I left that place before the war began.

      In 1939 I was to have been B.R.A., Scottish Command, but quite rightly they would not change horses crossing a stream, so my first job during the war was to command the land defences in Orkney. There were only two six-inch guns at Stromness with two six-inch and a 4.7 on Flotta, so my task at first was not very arduous and I had time for trout fishing on Stennes Loch. My next assignment was to command

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an A.A. Brigade (Headquarters, Edinburgh) and then back to India as B.R.A., Eastern Command.

      The Second World War came about ten years too late for me, so I only managed to defer my first bowler hat until the end of '42, suffering some ill-health at the time. Then I entered the Home Guard as a Training Officer. At long last I was able to wear a bonnet instead of a "cheese-cutter" and became a humble member of the Highland Division, the battalion commander being a very old friend -- I mean a friend of very long standing! Next I had a difficult time with a Cadet Battalion where every boy wanted to be a piper instead of aiming at his 'Cert. A'. Finally I came back as a Second-Lieutenant into the Home Guard, when it was resuscitated in 1953, but the very next year brought me a bar to my bowler and I reverted to the rank of raspberry-grower, for which Army training had well qualified me.

      Perthshire is a lovely county and I have many good friends here; but all the same I sometimes wish that James had not kept Balavil!

      I must admit that I have only a smattering of Gaelic. Following in the footsteps of James, I have studied the old songs and speech of the countryside. But, alas, only in the Doric. I still hope to learn enough Gaelic to take an intelligent part in the Clan ceilidhean at any rate. I cannot claim to be a piper, although I used to play on the pipes until grinders ceased to hold the mouthpiece and my family could no longer pretend to put up with my amateur efforts.

      Amongst my other activities have been shooting, but I had to give that up when eyesight failed and my kind hosts could no longer tolerate my incompetence; fishing, to which I am still devoted; golf, with a very long handicap, and I'm afraid that I irritate my friends by writing doggerel verse.

      My son, William Alan, will one day fill my boots. At present he is a barrister in London. He has just finished his term of command of a Territorial Regiment of Paratroops and, having captained the London-Scottish XV, he is now their secretary. Although not up to the standard of G.P.S. -- who was, of course, the most brilliant rugger player of all that brilliant family of Newtonmore Macphersons -- Bill is still, I am told, a hooker of repute . . . even now. He is married and has a son named Alan Thomas, whom the family refer to as "The Mighty AToM" or "ATM Bomb", for at three months old he weighs twice as much as his sister did at that same advanced age. I hope he will follow in his father's footsteps on the playing field.

      Of my two daughters, the elder, Catriona, is married to Jack Scott Miller, who is well-known in Newtonmore where for three years he commanded the local Company of the Cameron Highlanders. We have three charming Sheilas in the family, and Bill's wife is one of them.

      Finally, I want again to repeat the invitation that I have extended in my "Message" -- we will be very glad indeed to welcome our Clansfolk at Blairgowrie, at any time. I only ask that anyone coming will, please, give

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some advance notice by postcard or telephone, so that I may be sure of being on the spot to greet him (or, of course, her!).

      Now, at the very beginning of the new year, I raise my glass to all Macphersons everywhere, and wish them in our old language, "Slainte mhor! A h-uile latha a chi 's nach fhaic! Buaidh agus piseach oirbh!" (Fine Health! Here's to every day we see, and to every day we don't see (each other)! Prowess and success to you!).

      The records of long-past generations in any detail are unfortunately scanty in any Highland family. In times gone by it was the Bard and the Seannachaidh who, in song and story, handed down to the rising generations the tales of their forbears' deeds and prowess. This was done during the ceilidhean which occupied the long winter evenings. Our race has been scattered to the four quarters of the earth, ever since the latter half of the 18th century. It behoves those of us who can do so to put on record what we know, so that the long history of our Clan and its families may not be for ever lost but may be preserved for posterity. I have, therefore, given fairly full accounts of the last three or four generations of my family, as being of more immediate interest to the present generation.

      The Macphersons are known as "a Right Clan", i.e., the great majority was in fact kin to the Chief or Chieftains. An actual blood relationship existed and could be traced. Even today, scattered and fragmented as we are, it is surprising and gratifying to discover many of one's long-lost kindred and cousins to the Nth degree. So we bridge the years, the oceans and the continents. The family which once had its home bounded by the 30-odd miles of Badenoch is now over the whole earth. It flourishes and maintains a uniting and a beneficial influence. Surely this last is no mean contribution to distracted age.

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      I commence my account with the general background of the Clan and its most probable origin. I touch only lightly on the relations with our great brother, the Clan Mackintosh. This is the framework into which our particular history of the Second Branch fits, and without which it could not properly be understood. Many mutually-opposing theories of our Clan's origin have been advanced. I have set forth that which I believe to be the most likely. From fairly wide study of the remote period in question, I am reasonably confident that it is the most probable solution.

      About the year 1100, the Chief of the Clan Chattan was Gilliechattan Mor -- that is, "The Great Servant of St. Catan". The seventh generation from him was Eva, who was an only child. In 1291 Eva married Angus, the sixth in descent from Shaw Macduff, son of the third Thane or Earl of Fife. From his father's title, this Shaw had adopted the name of Mackintosh, meaning "Son of the Thane" or "Son of the Leader". In 1163 he, with the King, suppressed a rebellion in Moray. For this he was rewarded with land in Strathdearn and, later in 1236, the family procured a lease of Rothiemurchus. In 1265 they went there to live. The reason for this move may be described briefly.

      Angus, 6th Chief of Clan Mackintosh, who married Eva of Clan Chattan, had been brought up by his uncle, Alexander of Isla, whose lands marched with Lochaber, the home of Clan Chattan. When Alexander died he was succeeded by another uncle, Angus Og. This latter had hoped that Eva would have married into his own family, thereby uniting Lochaber with his lands of Isla. When he was baulked of this, he made things so unpleasant for Angus and Eva that they felt it prudent to migrate from Lochaber into Rothiemurchus in Badenoch, where Angus' family had settled some years previously.

have gone on a Crusade) had been made the Parson of Kingussie and had become the Fourth Chief of Clan Chattan. Thus the Chattan Chief's family became settled partly in Badenoch whilst part remained in Lochaber, for Muriach's eldest son, Gilliechattan III, and his grandson, Dougal Dall, Sixth Chief and father of Eva, both remained there.

      Although Eva's departure removed the last of the family of the late Chief, numbers of Clan Chattan still remained in Lochaber. Notable amongst these was the Third Branch of the Clan -- later to be known as the Invereshie Branch, which held the lands of Letirfinlay in Lochaber until after the Battle of Inverlochy in 1431. They suffered badly in that battle and then migrated to Rimore in Badenoch, more than a century after Eva and Mackintosh had quitted Lochaber. Muriach's other sons appear to have remained near Kingussie. They never returned to Lochaber from the time of Muriach, Parson of Kingussie.

      What's in a name? A great deal in this case! For here we have the Cattanachs in Kingussie adopting the alias of MacMhurich, at first probably to distinguish themselves from their Cattanach kinsfolk who still lived in Lochaber. Then, when the Clan as a whole moved into Badenoch, they adopted the name of "Sons of the Parson", their Fourth Chief and the first to have lived in Kingussie. However, a few retained the ancient name of the race -- and still continue to do so -- for all Macphersons are, really Cattanachs.

      Thus we have the old Clan Chattan settling in Badenoch in the 13th to the 15th centuries, at first around Kingussie. At the same time a remnant, accompanying Eva and her Mackintosh Chief, finally founded their home in the Barony of Moy, far from the paternal Clan.

      In the course of time many of Eva's following became absorbed into the more numerous Mackintosh Clan, whilst some were even forced to assume the name of Mackintosh.

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      Kenneth's family, and those akin to him, occupied roughly the western part of Badenoch, comprised in the Cluny Estates from Loch Laggan to the area of modern Newtonmore. John and his kin settled from Newtonmore and the Monadh Liath Mountains to Kincraig, mostly north of the Spey. Gillies took the lands south of the Spey from the parts around Phoness to Glen Feshie. There were, of course, no hard and fast boundaries between the three paternal areas. Cluny had families kin to him scattered about the other two areas, e.g. Nuide, south of the Spey. Pitmain likewise, e.g. Strathmashie, in the midst of the Cluny lands. Invereshie was, apparently, the most concentrated, south of the river, although impinging upon their neighbours, the Grants, in the east. They having been the last to leave Lochaber to join up with their brethren in Badenoch.

      Eva's descendents, in the name of Mackintosh, were styled "Captain of Clan Chattan". This title is first recorded on 4th October, 1442, in a charter granted by Alexander de Setun, Lord of Gordon. It is used also in a charter of John of the Isles, later confirmed by James III and Queen Mary. This charter is dated 1466 and styles the Laird of Mackintosh as Captain of Clan Chattan. These two are the oldest deeds extant on the subject, and the last is nearly 300 years after Eva's marriage.

     The title of Captain, needless to say, is an over-all military one. It is certainly not synonymous with the title of Chief or Father of a Clan.

      Herds of wild cattle roamed the forests, of a much bigger breed than our modem Highland cattle, as is shown by the size of the horns that have been recovered. One such pair was preserved in Cluny Castle and is now in the Clan Museum. Wolves and wild boar were plentiful together with, of course, the wild cat.

      Much of the forest remained until the time of Mary, Queen of Scots. So the Forestry Commission is probably, unconsciously doing its best to give us back a bit of our 'old look'.

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      The actual strath of the River Spey was unfit for habitation, being boggy and frequently flooded. Hence settlements occurred on the lands bordering the strath, above the flood level. Indeed the name Badenoch signifies 'the drowned land'. The advent of the Hydro-Electric undertakings has tended to reduce the flood waters by diverting part of the flow of the Spey to the Aluminium Works at Fort William.

      Now to turn to that part of Badenoch which goes under the name of Pitmain. The name itself is half Pictish and half Gaelic in derivation, Pitmeadhan, meaning Middle Place or Middle Township, derives from 'Pit', which is a Pictish word and means Place, Dwelling-place or Township, being equivalent to the Gaelic Baile. The term is common throughout central and eastern Scotland. With its origin in Pictish times, the name Pitmain obviously antedates the arrival of the Macphersons.

      The actual site of the original settlement of Pitmain is about one mile west of Kingussie, on the north side of the modern main road to Newtonmore.

      Historically the site is extremely old, for it was just to the west of the present Pitmain Farmhouse that the Romans, under Severus in 208 A.D., set up a camp of a transitory nature during the passage of the Vlth Legion through the wild territory occupied by the warlike Caledonian tribes. Traces of this camp could still be seen into quite modern times and certain articles, such as jars and pottery, were found there.

      Another link with the distant past, some three or four centuries after the passage of the Legion, was a lonely grave which was said to be that of one of the Fingalian heroes. This was situated not far from where the track from the main road now leads up to Pitmain Farm. It, too, has been lost although its whereabouts were still pointed out in the early 19th century.

      Yet a further link with a much more recent past is the Toman Bean Bochd, the Grave of the Poor Women -- two of them, who both received the burial accorded to witches. The actual site was on the old road to Pitmain, now leading to the West Terrace.

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(to their Chief and to the Government, the latter, as a result of the Forfeiture, being legally entitled to collect the rents from the occupiers of the land).

      The Accounts of the Factors appointed by the Government Commissioners have been examined and show that the rents for the years subsequent to 1751 were duly paid to them by the Tenants except in certain cases of default from normal financial difficulties. The position as regards the rents for the years following the Forfeiture and prior to 1751 appears from the following Petition lodged by the Tenants with the Commissioners on 21st February 1757. It will be seen that the Tenants continued to pay their rents to Martinmas (11th November) 1751 to Lady Cluny and that there was a competition in claims for the Estate between the Commissioners under the Decree of Forfeiture and the Duke of Gordon, the Superior, from whom Cluny held the Estate in feu and who claimed that on the Attainder of his Vassal the feu reverted to him. This claim was actually upheld by the Court of Session, but appeal was made against the decision and the Crown seems ultimately to have settled the matter by a compromise and to have purchased the Duke of Gordon's rights as Superior. This left the dispute about the rents to be settled between the Crown and the Tenants. It is interesting to note that the latter state in their Petition that they were not "out" in the Rising. Also that many of the young men had joined the old 78th Fraser's Highlanders raised by Lady Cluny's brother, the heir of Lord Lovat, in 1757.

      The following is a copy of the Petition as appears in the Records:

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      THAT Evan Macpherson of Cluny having, in the Year 1745, obtained a Commission from his Majesty, appointing him a Captain in the Regiment then commanded by the Right Honourable the Earl of Loudon, did, upon the 2d of July of that Year, grant a Factory and Commission to his Wife, Mrs. Janet Fraser, Sister to Simon Fraser, Esq.; Lieutenant Colonel of a Regiment now levying in the Highlands of Scotland, to uplift, receive and discharge all Rents due out of his Estate, and which Commission proceeds upon the Narrative of his being called by his Duty from Home, and thereby unable to attend to his private Affairs.

      That the said Evan Macpherson being instigated by bad Advice, did return the Commission he had received from the King, and did join in the unnatural Rebellion, which sprung up in this Country in the Autumn 1745; in consequence of which, he was, with others, attainted by an Act of Parliament in the 17th Year of his present Majesty.

      The Petitioners, who are illiterate Country People, knowing nothing of the legal Effect of such Attainder, and believing Mrs. Macpherson to have a just Title by her Factory to uplift their Rents, did pay them to her, and received Discharges thereof.

      That in the year 1748, your Lordships having ordered the Estate of Cluny to be surveyed, we were called upon by the Persons imployed in that Service, to give up a just Account of the Rents payable by each of us; and, upon which Occasion, Appearance was made on Behalf of his Grace the Duke of Gordon, for whom it was represented, That as Superior of the Estate of Cluny, he came to have a Right to the Rents thereof, upon the Attainder of Evan Macpherson, and for which he had taken Decreet against your Petitioners.

      That for some Years the Petitioners heard no more of this Matter; Mrs. Macpherson was allowed to continue in the Possession of the Houses and whole Lands her Husband had formerly been in the natural Possession of; and as she proceeded to repair and rebuild some Houses upon her Farm that had been burnt or destroyed in the Year 1745, so the Petitioners had Reason to believe that it was meant both by the Crown, and the Duke of Gordon, that she should continue to uplift the Rents, and as she made pressing Demands upon the Petitioners for Payment of their Rents, and that they observed her in very deplorable Circumstances, and that she continued to importune them, so they made Payment of the Rents to her from time to time as they became due, she giving Allowances to the Petitioners of the Expence they had been put to in repairing or rebuilding their Houses, which had been hurt or destroyed, either by the Injuries of Time, or during the Rebellion.

      The Petitioners have been informed, that the Duke of Gordon having entered his Claim to the Estate of Cluny, as Superior, before the Court of Session, he did obtain a Decree of that Court, sustaining his Claim and Right to the Estate; but against which Decree an Appeal has been lodged on behalf of his Majesty, some Years ago; yet no Step has been taken to have the same heard or discussed.

      That in the Year 1752, and no sooner, William Ramsay, Factor appointed by your Lordships upon the Estate of Cluny, brought an Action against the Petitioners and the said Mrs. Macpherson, before the Sheriff of Inverness, concluding for Payment of the Rents of the Petitioners, their respective Possessions, from the Time of Evan Macpherson's Attainder down till Martinmas 1751, and he accordingly obtained a Decree, not only decerning the Petitioners, and the said Mrs. Macpherson, so far as she had intromitted, to pay these Rents, but also prohibiting and discharging her from uplifting or intromitting with any Part of them in Time coming.

      That in Obedience to this Decree, the Petitioners stopt in making any further Payments to Mrs. Macpherson, but have regularly paid the Rents becoming due since Martinmas 1751, to the Factors appointed for collecting and receiving their Rents; but the Rents due preceeding Martinmas 1751, were all uplifted and discharged by the said Mrs. Macpherson. And,

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      The Petitioners are informed, that Mrs. Macpherson being called upon to account for these Rents uplifted by her, she has exhibited before your Lordships certain Accounts of her Intromissions and Debursements as to these Rents; but what has been done thereupon, your Petitioners have not had Access to know.

      That James Small, the present Factor upon the Estate of Cluny, having raised a Horning upon the above mentioned Decreet, and caused lately charge your Petitioners for Payment of the Rents preceeding Martinmas 1751, he is now, in prosecution of his Office, to imprison our Persons, or poind our Effects, unless we again make Payment of these Rents to him, which we had formerly paid to Mrs. Macpherson, in the Manner above set forth.

      That the Petitioners are at no time able, or in Condition to pay, at once, so large a Sum as the Six Years Rents contained in the said Decreet, do amount to; and least of all can it be expected of them, in the present calamitous Situation the Country is in, they having scarcely wherewithal to support themselves and their Families.

      That if Diligence was to be carried into Execution either against their Persons or Effects, the only Consequence, as Things stand at present, Would be the laying the Estate waste, and the exposing the Petitioners, with their Wives and Families, to the Miseries of Famine.

      That, in these Circumstances, they have been advised to lay their Case before your Lordships, whose known Humanity and Compassion are the Sources from whence they are most likely to obtain Relief.

      And, in the first Place, your Lordships will please observe, that it was very natural for your Petitioners, who are altogether unacquainted with the Effects of Attainders, or Nature of Surveys, to pay their Rents to Mrs. Macpherson, who originally was vested with a lawful Authority for receiving them, and who, notwithstanding of either the Forfeiture of her Husband, or the surveying of his Estate, was allowed to continue not only in the natural Possession of a Farm of the Estate, but to build and repair the Houses thereon, in the same Manner as might have been expected of a Person vested with a lawful Authority for managing of the Estate, and to which Purposes Part of the Money received from the Petitioners was applied.

      2do, Your Lordships will observe, that how soon the Petitioners were interpelled by the Sheriff's Decreet from paying further to Mrs. Macpherson, they immediately stopt, and since Martinmas 1751, have paid their Rents to the Factors appointed for receiving them; and therefore, it is hoped the honourable Court will not believe that their paying their Rents formerly to Mrs. Macpherson, was owing to any other Cause than to their Belief that she had a Title to receive them, joined to her constant Importunity, since no Person, either on Behalf of the Crown or the Duke of Gordon, interpelled her from receiving, nor the Petitioners from paying, nor made any Demand upon them for these Rents, prior to the 1752. And,

      3tio, It will be particularly attended to, that the distressing the Petitioners for Payment of these Rents, would be a very great Hardship; for as the Duke of Gordon's Claim to the Property of the Estate of Cluny, has been sustained by the Court of Session, the Right to the Rents is thereby vested in him, and although it may be true that the Effect of the Judgment of the Court of Session is suspended by an Appeal being lodged, yet the Presumption is, that the Decree will rather be affirmed as reversed. And if the first, then the Petitioners are not only intitled to an Allowance from the Duke of Gordon of two Years Rents of their Possession, agreeable to Act 20th, anno primo Georgii primi, but they would be entitled in Law to plead in Defence against Payment of the other Rents to him, that he had not exerced his Right in due Time, but having allowed a Person once vested with a lawful Authority to uplift these Rents, he could only sue that Person for Payment of such.... That his Forbearance must be interpreted a Homologation or Approbation of what Mrs. Macpherson did; and therefore no Action competent against them for what Money she received.

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      So that to levy these Rents from the Petitioners at present, (were they truly able to pay them) and thereby to cut them out of their Defences against Payment in the Event of the Decree of the Court of Session in favours of the Duke of Gordon being affirmed, or the Appeal dropt from, must appear to be such a Hardship as your Lordships will always be disposed to prevent.

      But even supposing the Decree of the Court of Session was to be reversed, or that the Duke of Gordon's Claim was to be taken away by Compromise, (to which some Steps, it is believed has been taken) and Satisfaction otherwise given to him for it, so that the Estate of Cluny should become the Property of the Crown, yet,

      In the first Case supposed, it will be observed, that the Petitioners will be entitled to a Deduction of such Sums, as they have necessarily expended, in the Building or Reparation of their Houses, or so far as their Money paid to Mrs. Macpherson, has been applied to these Purposes; for to the Extent of these Meliorations, has the Estate been benefited, or increased in Value, and such Deductions would be sustained against the forfeiting Person himself, had he never been attainted.

      And was a Compromise with the Duke of Gordon to take Place. The Petitioners in accounting would not only be entitled to these Deductions, on account of Meliorations; but they would also be entitled to claim a Deduction of two Years Rent, in the Terms of the Act above taken Notice of; because, as the Duke of Gordon's Right is now ascertained, by the Decree of the proper Court; the Advantage arising to the Petitioners from such Right, being ascertained, cannot be hurt or taken away by any Act or Deed of his.

      If the Judgment of the Court of Session was reversed upon the Appeal, then no Benefit could arise to the Petitioners from the Act of the 20th Year of his late Majesty; because of that Law's being adjudged not to extend to the Estate of Cluny. But if the Duke of Gordon's Right shall be acquired in the Way of Compromise or Sale, such Compromise or Sale will be an Acknowledgment and Approbatory of the Duke's Right, ascertained to him by the Court of Session; and therefore, the Petitioners intitled to the Benefit given them by Law, as having remained peaceable Subjects, during the Rebellion of their Landlord.

      So that in whatever Light this Matter is taken, it is humbly hoped, your Lordships will see many good Reasons for staying Execution upon the Sheriff's Decree; at least, until the Question betwixt the Crown and the Duke of Gordon shall be determined one way or other.

      The Petitioners are told, that in the Accounts given in to Court by Mrs. Macpherson, she has taken Credit for the Expence of building, so far as paid out by herself, and for the Feu-duties paid to the Duke of Gordon, which are considerable. But as these were paid out of the Money received from your Petitioners, they must have Credit for them, if your Lordships at any time hereafter shall find it proper to ordain us to account for those bygone Rents; tho' it is hoped, your Lordships will find it more equitable and just, that the Lady, who was permitted to, and did receive those Rents from us, should be obliged to account for them, and who, by the Sheriff's Dccreet is decerned to pay them.

      With respect to your Petitioners Evan Macpherson in Laggan of Noid, Donald Macpherson in Balidbeg, and Janet Rattray in Noidbeg, it may also be observed, that they have heritable Bonds or Annual rent-rights upon their Farms conditioned; that the Interest or Annual rents of their Debts shall impute in Payment of their Rents; and therefore, when, or to whomsoever they shall account, they must have Allowance of these Annual rents.

      The Petitioners will beg leave to mention one Circumstance further, which it is hoped will contribute to your Lordships ordering a Stay of Execution upon the Sheriff's Decreet at this Juncture; it is this, That the Petitioners their Connexion with Colonel Fraser, from his Sister having been married to their Landlord, has induced them to prevail with many

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of the able-bodied young Men upon the Estate to inlist in his Regiment; so that were the Petitioners either now to be imprisoned, or their small Remains of Goods seized upon while they are deprived of the Help of their Children and Relations, the most able, from their Labour, to assist in supporting the more aged and infirm, they must be reduced to the lowest Degree of Misery and Ruin.

      They pay their current Rents to your Lordships Factor, and they are able to do no more; but, to answer likewise in their present Distress and Want of Bread, Six Years Arrear more, is what they are in no Capacity to effectuate.

      May it therefore please your Lordships, in respect of the Premises, to give Orders to the Factor appointed upon the Estates of Cluny, not to put the Sheriff's Decreet to further Execution, until the Question betwixt the Crown and the Duke of Gordon shall be determined, or to give such other Relief to your Petitioners as unto your Lordships in your Wisdom and Compassion shall seem proper.

      It appears from the Petition that William Ramsay, the first Factor appointed by the Commissioners on the Cluny Estates, had failed to obtain payment of rents for the years immediately following the Forfeiture to Martinmas 1751. He accordingly raised an Action against Lady Cluny and the Tenants for payment of these arrears in the Sheriff Court of Inverness in 1752 and obtained Decree thereunder. After this step had been taken the Tenants began regular payment of their rents from Martinmas 1751. The rents for the earlier period having been admittedly paid to Lady Cluny, she was called upon to account for these. The Commissioners' Order Book shows that after the receipt of a Memorial (Petition) by Lady Cluny in reply to the Factor's Action an Order was issued on 28th February 1755 to the effect that no allowance was to be made for rents paid by the Tenants to Cluny or Lady Cluny unless bona fide paid before the Chief's Forfeiture, and the Factor was instructed to prosecute Lady Cluny and the Tenants for the arrears from that date to Martinmas 1751. Defences were lodged on behalf of the Tenants, pleading the excuses set forth in detail in their subsequent Petition quoted above.

      James Small, the Factor who succeeded Ramsay in 1754, on the latter's resignation, proceeded to execute the Decree obtained by his predecessor, and this gave rise to the Petition of 21st February 1757 by the Tenants quoted above in full. The Commissioners on receipt of this Petition ordered on 23rd February 1757 that enforcement of the Decree against the Tenants should be held over until the 1st day of the next Court Term. The Commissioners called before them on 24th June 1757 both J. Montgomery, the Advocate who had prepared the Petition, and John Mackenzie, C.S., the Solicitor who had instructed him, and ascertained that these parties were acting on instructions from Paul Macpherson of Breakachy. (This seems to be an error for Donald Macpherson of Breakachy, the representative of the Chief and Lady Cluny.) Is it possible that the Loch Arkaig Fund, left in Cluny's charge by the Prince, might have supplied the means of Defence of the Tenants?

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      On 22nd June 1757, after receipt of a Report by the Factor of failure to make progress against the Tenants, the Commissioners issued an Order to him dealing with a considerable number of matters, referring to the Petition of 21st February and the stoppage of action by the Factor thereafter and now ordering the Factor to proceed against the Tenants "without prejudice to their right of relief against Lady Cluny for the proportion of rents paid to her", and "in regard to the present scarcity in the country" instructions were given to the Factor that he was at liberty to accept proper security for any of the Tenants for what might be found due by them on account of arrears, payable at a certain period not exceeding eighteen months, from the date of the Order.

      Early in 1758 the Factor wrote to the Secretary of the Commissioners (D. Moncreiffe) dealing with, among other matters, the difficulty he was having in enforcing payment of the arrears of rent. He wrote with reference to the Tenants: "These poor ignorant creatures paid their rents to Lady Cluny as no person came to ask them to do otherwise. The Tenants on the Estate are extremely poor and absolutely unable even to pay any part of these sums and the consequence of forcing it from them would be sending about all of them to begging and laying the Estate waste at once." The Factor continues that he could not convey his ideas of the Tenants in stronger terms than by saying that if he himself was to get the whole poundage of the £800 (the total Estate rental) for uplifting £200, nothing but a positive order would make him attempt it.

      In reply, the Commissioners directed the Factor to prosecute two or three of the most substantial Tenants for arrears due by them and to report the effect of this.

      The next development recorded is the following Petition by the Tenants, this time not signed by an advocate but by one of the tenants on behalf of all the Petitioners.

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Inclusive without any deduction or abatement whatever for the payments which they made to the wife of the attainted person, who was allowed to continue in possession and in the administration of the Estate, as the Petitioners understood & were made to Believe by the favour of the Duke of Gordon the Superior, whose Claim to the Property hath been sustained by the Court of Session upon the Clan: Act; and that they made such payments bona fide to Lady Cluny, will be apparent to your Lordships from a discharge of feuduties herewith produced granted by the Duke of Gordon's Factor to the Lady for the years 1744, 1745 & 1746 dated in December 1750, and by a Receipt for another years feuduty dated in April 1757, and from this additional Circumstance, that from the year 1751, when they were legally Interpelled from payment of their Rents to the Lady by Mr. Ramsay the late Factor, they have Regularly paid their Rents to the Factor appointed by your Lordships,

      They humbly Submit to the Court what Construction they or persons of their low Rank and situation in life could put upon these proceedings, other than that the Superior, out of compassion to an unfortunate Lady and her distressed young family, allowed her to Intromit with the Rents of this Small Estate, for their Support and Subsistence, when the Superiors Steward or Factor was Receiving the feuduties from her, and neither the Superior or any person in behalf of the Crown, taking any steps to Interpell the Petitioners from payment of their Rents in the manner which they actually did, by the Importunities of Mrs. Mcpherson who was allowed to Continue in the natural possession of the Mains or Mannor place of Cluny, and who took the Same care & Charge of the Estate as she was in use to do before her husband's Attainder.

      Under these circumstances the Petitioners were naturally led to Rebuild and Repair their houses so as to make them habitable, and it can be no matter of Surprise that these Repairs were made without an order of Court, as your Lordships at that time did not take this Estate under your administration; but as these Repairs were absolutely necessary and profitable to the Proprietor, whether the Crown or the Superior, the Petitioners must Submit to your Lordships, if it would not be contrary to the Principles of Law and natural Justice to deny the Petitioners Retention or allowance of these necessary and Beneficial Repairs in so far as they can be Sufficiently Instructed.

      That as the Petitioners paid their Rents to Mrs. Mcpherson, she out of these Rents paid upwards of £70 Sterling, in part of the feuduty due to the Superior, which in all events was a real Charge or Lyen upon the Estate, and so far as these feuduties will go, the Petitioners apprehend, that there can be no objection made to their Retaining a proportion of the Rents, actually paid, corresponding to these feuduties.

      That as the Petitioners are threatened with immediate Dilligence and distress, they humbly Implore your Lordships' protection against this Rigorous claim of double payments, and however ungratefull and unfortunate their late Master may have been in his Conduct, they are fully perswaded that your Lordships will hear with Suitable Compassion, and determine with Humanity, the Claims of poor people in their Situation, and even be ready to make Reasonable allowances for their Ignorance, supposing that they may have Erred in matters of Law or Judgement, by makeing advances of money without Strict legal] authority, to the wife and Infant children of the late unhappy Proprietor of this Estate.

      The Petitioners therefore humbly Pray your Lordships To take this and their former Petition under your Consideration, and To allow them to be heard by Counsel, upon the Severall particulars therein Set furth, that Your Lordships may give Such Relief to the Petitioners in the Premises as Shall appear to the Court to be Just & necessary in the particular Circumstances of this Case, and Your Petitioners Shall Pray

      Read the within Petition No order, the Barons being of opinion that the allowances prayed by the Petition are properly under the consideration of the Factor by the Order of the 22d of June 1757.

      This was followed by a pronouncement on 6th December 1758 by the Commissioners to the effect that the matters raised in the Petition were covered by the earlier Orders issued to the Factor after the first Petition in 1757. At the same time the Secretary to the Commissioners sent a covering letter, dated 7th December 1758, to the Factor in which he writes as follows:
      "The Barons wish to give the poor Tenants all the relief they can, and, therefore, I would have you try, if you could, to apportion the feu-duties paid out of the Estate rents" (to the Duke of Gordon as Superior and, therefore, a legal charge on the rents) "on every Tenant so that each might have relief in proportion to his rent, and as for their claim for ameliorations you may send up to me as soon as conveniently may be a note of their demands and I should let you know how far in my opinion you may give them credit for the claim so laid out by them."

      In a letter written by the Factor on 12th December 1758 he reports his failure to impound (i.e. seize) any of the Tenants' effects owing to their not being available, and suggests that he should be allowed to obtain a caption (which would authorise imprisonment), adding:
      "I'm hopeful that this might lead to the friends of the Cluny family finding ways and means of paying the money rather than see so many poor wretches sent to misery on their account as they find now that payment in some way cannot be avoid." Later, in a letter dated 25th December 1758, he writes that he is glad the Macphersons are taking some steps towards a clearance. He points out that Donald Macpherson who presented the Petition is supposed to be Factor for Lady Cluny during her absence and suggests that if he gives a reasonable account the writer wishes that the Barons would accept it as it would prevent many poor, innocent families from being rendered miserable. He proceeds that there can be no great difficulty in giving the poor tenants the relief proposed by the Barons, but if the Lady's Factor pays for all it would be much better. "For this end I should think it right I had the Caption so as they see there is no putting off payment and I reason Mr. Macpherson will come to Edinburgh and clear with me at your sight at least by your advice." It will be seen that this course was ultimately followed.

      There is no further report on the proceedings between the Commissioners and their Factor and the Tenants until the Commissioners issued an Order of 5th February 1760 calling on the Factor to account for the collection of arrears. Next, there is incorporated in the Factor's Account for 1761 a settlement between the parties which was detailed in a separate Account signed on behalf of the parties on 22nd February 1762 in terms of the following copy extracted from the files. This was approved by an Order of the Commissioners dated February 1762.

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E745/39/1-5

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      Nevertheless, when this settlement was submitted to the Auditor it appears that this Official took exception to some of the expenses charged by the Factor and also to the arrangement by which the balance of arrears of rents not accounted for by payment of allowances was to be disposed of by acceptance of a Bill of Exchange by Donald Macpherson of Breakachy. The Factor had again to petition the Commissioners on 11th February 1763 as follows:
"That when the account of the rents taken up by Lady Cluny was settled Mr. Macpherson of Breakachy gave his Bill for the balance of £122 9s. 3d. though the term of payment is passed Mr. Macpherson had not yet paid this money owing, he says, to several disappointments which have happened to him this year, but as these accounts were settled upon the view that this Bill was to be paid on or before this time the Auditor scruples to allow the same as an article of arrear in the Petitioner's Accounts, that Mr. Macpherson has promised to pay the money soon and is believed by every person to be a man of sufficient circumstances."       The Factor therefore applied to the Commissioners to allow him credit for the Bill in his present Accounts.

On 11th February 1763 the Barons allowed the Factor credit for the sum due by Breakachy but recommended him to recover payment of the same with all possible speed. No further trace of this final balance of arrears has been found in the subsequent Factor's Accounts. It may have been allowed to drop, or possibly was dealt with by some separate private account between the Factor and Breackachy.

      The Settlement is surmmarised in the Docquet in the Statement signed on 22nd February 1762 by the Factor on behalf of the Government and by Breakachy as Agent for Lady Cluny, including the Small Tenants.       This may be clarified by further breaking down showing that the total claim of £872 9s. 3d. representing the rents for the years 1745 to 1751 both inclusive was settled as follows:
      A. Allowances for
           1 . Repairs and improvements carried out by Lady Cluny and tenants         £150  0  0
           2. Feuduties, stipend, interest on loans and widows annuity secured
                on the estate                                                                                   218  8  9
           3. Wasteland, bankruptcies, etc.                                                               19 16   8
           4. Rents for 1745 and 1746 paid to Cluny                                                263   5   6
                     Total Allowances                                                                        £651 10 11
      B. Cash collected by Factor and paid to Exchequer                         £98 9  5
      C. Balance on Bill by Breakachy                                                   122 8 11
                                                                                                                      220 18  4
Arrears claimed and settled .                                                                             £872  9  3

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     The Historical Documents Committee of the Association began work in 1953 and presented its first report in Creag Dhubh No. 8, 1956. In the intervening years the Committee has not been idle, and it is felt that a Second Report is now due.

      Creag Dhubh has published a good deal of the material handled by the committee; two of the original members of the committee published the main clauses Of THE BANCHOR BOND of the 14th (January or February) 1689, the letter from the gentlemen of Badenoch to Sir Hugh Campbell of Calder, the marriage settlement of the 15th March 1689 between Sir Hugh's son, Archibald Campbell of Cluness, and Anne Macpherson, daughter of Duncan Macpherson of Cluny; the KINGUSSIE "ARTICLES OF AGREEMENT" of January 1698; and the KINGUSSIE BOND of the 8th November 1699, in an article explaining the principles of succession to the chiefship of Clan Macpherson (Creag Dhubh No. 10, 1958).

      Major J. E. Macpherson, former editor of Creag Dhubh, has published extracts from the Invereshie Book, a collection which once belonged to Provost Alexander Macpherson of Kingussie, including material referring to the Cluny-Mackintosh litigation of 1672 (Creag Dhubh No. 11, 1959), and a letter concerning the education of Duncan of the Kiln at Mr. Hector Fraser's School at Inverness in 1760 (Creag Dhubh No. 12, 1960). He was further instrumental, with a large party from the England and Wales Branch, in retrieving some fifty valuable letters which were once part of the Cluny Charter Chest collection. This event represents a signal success for the Committee and the Association. The list was published in Creag Dhubh No. 16, 1964.

      A. F. Macpherson has published two valuable papers on Ewan Macpherson of Cluny's "cattle watch" in 1744 (Creag Dhubh No. 12, 1960, and No. 15, 1963), based on documents in the Macpherson of Cluny Collection in the Register House, Edinburgh. He has also published material dealing with the social problems of the Farm of Gaskenloan, part of the Cluny Estate, during the Forfeiture (Creag Dhubh No. 17, 1965), based on documents in the Forfeited Estates Papers in the Register House, and his work in this collection continues.

      Many of the officers of the Association around the world are often asked questions about the genealogy of particular families of the clan, and this is one of the constitutional objectives of the Association. Unfortunately records are scanty, and what there is is often inaccessible or defective.

      Our first report ended by appealing for aid in rescuing the old parish registers of Badenoch. We are happy to report that a start has been made here, and that the Marriage and Baptismal Registers of the Parish of Laggan, 1775 to 1854, have been copied in their entirety. This arduous task was undertaken by Alan G. Macpherson and Lloyd C. Macpherson during the summer of 1962, and was completed by A. F. Macpherson

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during 1964. Alan G. Macpherson has recently succeeded in reorganising the data in about 1,500 individual families, of which some 600 are Macphersons. Cross-referencing has begun, and when this is completed an attempt will be made to make the Laggan Registers available in their new form at the Clan House and elsewhere. Eventually it should be possible to produce a report on the Registers, stating conclusions on social structure and population trends in Laggan during the last quarter of the 18th and first half of the 19th centuries. The sort of questions which it will be possible to answer will include: What was the proportion of Macphersons in the Laggan population at that time? and What were the relations between different clans at that time? A good deal of light is cast on the continued functioning of the clan as a social structure, long after its cohesion as a political and economic structure had come to an end. We are doubtless in for a few surprises in this respect, and some old and long-accepted ideas about clan history will be overturned.

      Alan G. Macpherson is currently reading the family papers of the Macpherson of LeRoy and the Oatka Trail in up-state New York, a family which migrated from Badenoch after the Catastrophe at Gaick in 1800 and which has proliferated in numbers and spread across the United States in the intervening 166 years. A report on the history of this family will eventually be forthcoming.

      Finally, members will be interested to know that Scottish Studies, the magazine of the School of Scottish Studies at the University of Edinburgh, will carry an article entitled "An Old Highland Genealogy and the Evolution of a Scottish Clan" in its Spring issue of 1966. Written by Alan G. Macpherson, this article is based on the Invereshie Genealogy of 1705. It includes a detailed documentary authentication of the genealogy (which itself is one of the most important documents in the Clan Museum). The article is regarded as a breakthrough in our understanding of what a clan really was in its internal structure and its origins.

      No doubt Macphersons had these words in mind when they erected some of the Monuments which can be seen in Badenoch. The variety of the countryside in Badenoch is most suitable for the erection of outstanding memorials and Clansmen have taken full advantage of this to commemorate the great men who have belonged to the district.

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      The most recently erected is a stone cairn at Catlodge near Laggan in memory of Calum Piobair, Calum Macpherson, who in the words of the inscription "preserved and taught the Piobaireachd of the MacCrimmons". Calum Piobair, who was piper to Old Cluny, died in 1898, but his work continued and there is still a flourishing school of piping at Laggan under Dr. Mackay. His son, Angus Macpherson, who unveiled the cairn in 1960, no longer resides in the district, but also maintains the piping tradition and an example of his success is noted on another page in this issue. The cairn to Calum Piobair was erected by the Glasgow Badenoch Association and friends and the unveiling ceremony is described in detail in the 1961 Creag Dhubh.

      Appropriately the memorial to Old Cluny (Ewan Macpherson, C.B., 20th Chief) is situated not far distant on the top of a steep rocky hill which overlooks the Cluny Estate, also Loch Laggan, Glen Truim and the Spey Valley throughout its entire length in Badenoch. This monument, which is usually seen upon looking south from Laggan, is of slender design. It stands about 20 feet high and narrows up to a stone cross which is surmounted on the top. Apart from its height, and its outstanding situation, it is a simple monument and the inscription briefly explains:

      In contrast to the plain monument to Old Cluny and his widow, the marble obelisk in memory of James Macpherson of Balavil is of most ornate construction and was erected at a cost of £500 shortly after his death in 1796. It is situated in the centre of the private burial ground of the Brewster-Macpherson [now Fletcher-Macpherson] family on a wooded knoll close to the [old] Inverness road. There is no inscription, but the carvings contain allusions to his poetic works.

      Without any doubt, the most impressive monument in Badenoch is the Column on the summit of Tor Alvie in memory of the 5th Duke of Gordon who died on 25th May 1836. This column, standing 90 feet high is instantly noticeable for many miles around and gives the effect of dwarfing the beech trees on the wooded hillside. The column has a square base, and on three sides there is an inscription in English, Gaelic and Latin, setting out the Duke's military achievements. On the fourth side there is the following:

      The Chairman, Cluny Macpherson, was Old Cluny, the 20th Chief, and Capt. Lachlan Macpherson was the famous historian known as "Old Biallid". The Marquises of Huntly, and latterly the Dukes of Gordon were hereditary "superiors" or overlords of all Badenoch including the Cluny lands and it is most pleasing to note that relations with those who held the land were such that they were willing and eager to erect such a magnificent Column to his memory.

      Nearby, on Tor Alvie, there is a cairn erected by the same Duke of Gordon, then Marquis of Huntly, in memory of the officers of the 42nd Royal Highlanders and the 92nd Gordon Highlanders who fell at the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815.

      Tor Alvie is situated on the Kinrara Estate which was the residence of the Gordon family in Badenoch. In a distant comer of the Estate, close to the River Spey, can be found the tomb of the 5th Duke of Gordon's mother -- Jane, Duchess of Gordon who died on 11 th April, 1812. It was the Duchess who was instrumental in raising the 92nd Regiment in Badenoch and Strathspey in 1794. It is said that she frequented the country fairs, and offered the stalwart youths a golden guinea and a kiss as an inducement to join the Regiment.

      Some miles to the south, in the remote Forest of Gaick at the head of Loch-an-t'Seilich, may be found the commemorative cairn to Captain John Macpherson of Ballachroan, the "Black Officer", and his four companions who died there at Christmas 1799 (Old Style) while on a hunting expedition. The party were spending the night in a hut when an avalanche rolled down the hillside in a storm and swept away the building and its occupants. The disaster, which has come to be known as the Gaick Catastrophe, was made the theme of some wild and superstitious tales which were related throughout the nineteenth century. On the centenary of the event, the historian of the Clan, Alexander Macpherson, F.S.A.(SCOT.), Banker, Kingussie, published a booklet, Captain John Macpherson of Ballochroan -- a Counterblast, in which he gave a true account of the events and explained the various supernatural tales which were told in connection with the catastrophe. The proceeds from the sale of this booklet together with contributions from clansmen and friends, enabled the commemorative cairn to be erected and this cairn can still be seen near the existing Lodge at Gaick.

      The remains of the Black Officer lie interred in St. Columba's Churchyard, Kingussie, the gravestone being inscribed as follows:

"Sacred to the Memory of Captain John Macpherson, Balechroan, late of the 82nd Regiment who died 2nd January 1800 aged 76 years,"

      Captain Macpherson was a younger son of the head of the Macpherson clan, the Laird of Clunie, and at an early age he went to sea, becoming at the age of thirty-one, captain of a privateer, the twenty-one gun Britannia. In 1758 the Britannia, overtaken by a heavier French ship, gave battle and was defeated. Macpherson, who had lost his right arm during the battle, was taken aboard the Frenchman, together with his officers, and was afterwards released, but as for the Britannia, she was set adrift with her crew, who, despite many hardships, managed to bring her finally to the port of Philadelphia, where Macpherson, two years later, in 1760, rejoined her as captain. [John was actually a nephew of Lachlan of Cluny rather than a son; his father was William, Lachlan's younger brother. The relationships is shown in a subsequent article that appeared in Creag Dhubh 40 (1988) along with other information about this gentleman and his sons and other descendants].

      Thereupon began a most profitable decade for Macpherson of Clunie; he took enough French prizes to make himself an extremely rich man. By the time of the Revolution he had become thoroughly American and was employed as a secret agent by the Continental Congress, although what he wanted to be was commander of the Continental Navy. Congress sent him to Cambridge with a plan to burn the British Navy in Boston Harbour, but Washington rejected this although later on, according to the hero of the tale, Macpherson entered the Hessian lines near Trenton as a spy and was responsible for the information that led to Washington's victory. However that may be, Captain Macpherson did serve his adopted country well, for he built with his own money five Continental men-of-war, which he presented to the Pennsylvania Navy: the large vessel Perseverance, the sloop Tyger, the schooners Cal and Jackal and the gunboat Anti-Traitor. Meanwhile he built Mount Pleasant on the first profits of his privateering.

[Mount Pleasant was the name of the mansion that he had built on the banks of the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia. The mansion was originally named Clunie but Captain John changed the name to Mount Pleasant before he sold it to Benedict Arnold in 1779. It has been the property of the City of Philadelphia since 1868 and remains so to this day. Pictures of Mount Pleasant along with those of John and his second wife, Mary Ann MacNeal, appeared in Creag Dhubh40 (1988)]

      An ardent patriot, one of his sons, John, was the first Philadelphian of distinction to be killed in the Revolution -- he fell at the assault on Quebec -- and another son, William, organised and led the famous Macpherson Blues as a Continental Major.

      William Macpherson, who rose to be a brigadier-general in the American Army, arrived in this country in 1779, where his father had been for many years, and four years earlier his brother John had fallen at the siege of Quebec, as adjutant of the Sixteenth British Infantry. Almost at once he handed in his resignation to Sir Harry Clinton and was permitted to resign but was not allowed to sell his commission. The whole proceeding is typical of the strange and punctilious warfare of the eighteenth century -- strange to our ruthless modern warfare ideas

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-- and of the confusion the American Revolution caused in so many English [sic!] minds. It was indeed an idealogical war. General Richard Montgomery himself, the American hero of Quebec, was an Irishman, who before settling in New York in 1772, where he married the daughter of Robert Livingston, had for many years served gallantly in the English [sic!] army. In 1757 he had served in the attack upon Louisburg, and 1759 in the Lake Champlain expedition. The night before young John Macpherson was killed, he wrote a letter to his father which contained this curiously fair-minded sentence. In case he should not survive the approaching battle, "I could wish," wrote young John Macpherson, "my brother did continue in the service of my country's enemies."

[There is another version of the story that tells us that William was present at the Battle of Monmouth in a red uniform but did not become engaged in the ongoing combat there. When he tendered his request to resign it was denied. Determined to do so , he decided to escape to the American lines posing as a recreational fisherman. He had his 'bat man' row him in a boat on the river adjacent to the British lines but instead of employing fishing gear he produced a pistol and forced the servant to row the boat across to the American lines.]

      Rich, successful at everything to which he turned his hand, John Macpherson of Clunie, once peace was declared, settled down to the happiest years of his life. In the sunshine of peace he blossomed like a rose. He lectured on astronomy and natural philosophy, accompanied, as the records state, by "vocal and instrumental Musick, and a boy who danced hornpipes"; he published the first trade paper in the country, the Price-Current, 1783; and he undertook the first city directory in the United States. The latter was compiled in his own individual way and therefore contains, after certain street addresses, such notes as these: "Mrs. No Name"; "Mr. I Won't Tell"; or even one entry as succinct as "Cross Woman".

 &nb