Wm Mackintosh of Borlum

The leader of the rising, the Earl of Mar, detached a small force of 2000 Highlanders led by Borlum from the main army. He moved into Fife and crossed the Firth of Forth in fishing boats. He briefly held Leith and came close to capturing Edinburgh. He linked up with some English and Lowland Jacobites in the Scottish Borders, then marched south as far as Preston where they were captured (see Battle of Preston (1715)). He was charged with treason, but escaped from Newgate Prison with seven others the night before his trial was due to start.

Two Mackintosh chiefs with their ladies at Moy, where The Mackintosh organized a Highland Industries Exhibition to coincide with his Clan Gathering in August 1964. The Mackintosh is standing in the center, between his wife and the Creek chief's daughter. On the right is Waldo E. MacIntosh, Principal Chief of the Creek Nation. His redskin name is Tustunuggee Micco, and his tribe numbers over 20,000, mostly in Oklahoma, where there is a MacIntosh County. He descends in the direct male line from the mediaeval Captains of Clan Chattan, through Lachlan Mor Mackintosh of Dunachton (the Chief who died in 1606) and a natural son of the Jacobite Brigadier of the 1715 Rising, William Mackintosh of Borlum. His branch emigrated to America in the eighteenth century, and marrying into the Creek redskin nation, became their chiefs. ------ The Highland Clans by Sir Ian Moncreiffe of that Ilk.

On the twenty sixth of August under the guise of a hunting party, the Earl of Mar, or Bobbing John as he was known because he changed sides so often, held a general meeting of Scottish Jacobite lords and lairds at Braemar to gain support for James. William Macintosh of Borlum, uncle of Lachlan, the Laird of Macintosh, attended the gathering and assured Lord Mar the rest of the clan would arrive in a few days.[17] The clans who responded to the call came from the central and west Highlands and agreed to join the rising out of loyalty to their lairds, and some for love of war and plunder. After the meeting, the noblemen and lairds returned to their territories to raise their men and fight for the restoration of a Stuart to the throne of England.

On the sixth of September, the Standard was raised at Braemar and James III and VIII was proclaimed King. Lachlan, the chief of the Macintosh clan, placed Macintosh of Borlum, called Old Borlum, who had served with the French army, in command of his forces and accompanied him to Inverness. On the thirteenth of September they took the city and proclaimed James as King. And, on the fifth of October, the Macintosh clan regiment, "generally considered to be the best in the Jacobite army,"[18] joined the Earl of Mar at Perth with 700 men. Among this group, two hundred were Farquharsons, who were also members of the confederation known as Clan Chattan, under Farquharson of Invercauld.

Those who planned the rising of 1715 devised a three-point plan. The southwest of England was to be the main area and James, leaving France, was to land there. Next, a subsidiary uprising was planned for the Highlands. Finally, the Northumbrians and southwestern Scots were to join forces at the border.[19] Command of the force which was later to join the border Jacobites was given to Brigadier Macintosh of Borlum who maintained good order and discipline in his troops. The Macintosh Battalion, commanded by the Laird of Macintosh as Colonel and Faruqharson of Invencauld as Lieutenant Colonel, formed part of Borlum's detachment of two thousand men. Lachlan had thirty two officers in his command and twenty eight of these belonged to the Clan Chattan.[20]

On the ninth of October under orders from Mar, Old Borlum left Perth with his detachment and a diversionary party for the Fife coast. Under cover of darkness, the detachment of two thousand men rowed from fourteen to twenty miles across the Firth of Forth to score a major victory for the Jacobites. Success of the action threw the southeastern countryside of Scotland into a state of terror. Mar, however, had not made his instructions clear, and Old Borlum, instead of preceding to join the forces at the border, marched to Edinburgh.

Signs of preparation for the defense of Edinburgh changed Borlum's plans for an assault on the city. He turned and marched down to Leith, the port of Edinburgh, where his detachment opened up the Tolbooth and the local jail, raided the Customs House and several ships in the harbor, seized provisions and brandy, and barricaded themselves in the old fort. Government troops marched down from Edinburgh the following day, calling upon the Jacobites to surrender, but Borlum's men turned them away.

Borlum and his detachment left Leith and marched down the beach to Seaton House where he remained for three days until instructions arrived from Mar to join the Northumbrians as soon as possible. On the twenty second of October, Borlum and his men, led by pipers, joined with the Northumbrians led by Thomas Forster, and the southwestern Scots led by Lord Kenmuir, at Kelso. The following day, the army assembled in the market square and the "Highlanders marched onto parade with 'Colours flying, Drums beating and Bag-pipes playing.'"[21] After James was proclaimed, public revenues of excise, customs, and taxes were collected which was the standard procedure followed with passing through a town.

Mar's latest instructions again failed to give a clear directive and the southern Jacobites were undecided on a course of action until news of government troops in the area forced a Council of War. Three plans were considered. One was to march west in Scotland and capture Glasgow; another to march south into Lancashire and join the Tories; or, as Borlum desired, to stand and fight General George Carpenter and the government troops. As a weak compromise to end indecision and argument, it was decided to follow the border from Kelso to Jedburgh. Here, the argument continued. "When the Highlanders heard of this plan to go south they were furious; the Macintosh Battalion began to mutiny and refused to march into England. The English threatened to surround the Highlanders and force them to go; a threat which the Highlanders said they would resist. The Brigadier then stated that he would not have his men treated in this way, and so once again it was decided to follow the line of the border."[22]

Near Hawick the Highlanders left the main column and assembled on a nearby hill declaring they would fight the enemy but they would not go to England. "Upon this Dispute, the Horse surrounded the Foot, in order to force them to march South; whereupon the Highlanders cocked their Firelocks and said, if they were to be made a Sacrifice, they would choose to have it done in their own Country."[23] Although an uneasy truce was reached, the Highlanders declared themselves free to desert if the army went to England. Finally, with assurances of men, money and supplies, the English persuaded the Scots to turn south into England. Five hundred of Borlum's Highlanders refused to go and deserted to other Jacobite forces in Scotland. The army turned south and on the first of November entered England.

The Jacobites, under the leadership of General Thomas Forster, arrived at Brampton where the standard procedure of collecting taxes was followed and, as usual, no private houses in the town were looted. Forster, M.P. from Northumberland and a civilian, had been appointed General because of his membership in the Church of England although other English Jacobite leaders who were Catholics were better qualified to command the army while in England. Borlum realized Forster was inept but the value of his church membership, hopefully, would compensate for his faults.

The march continued to Penrith where a reputed force of ten thousand was advancing to challenge them. The force turned out to be a "gathering of local rustics, many armed only with pitchforks, and on sighting the Highlanders all of them promptly ran away."[24]

As the army marched further south, the roads, or more accurately horse tracks, from Wigan to Preston were terrible. Traveling the road in 1770, Arthur Young cautioned would be travelers to avoid the highway. "They will here meet with ruts which I actually measured four feet deep, and floating with mud only from a wet summer!"[25] The weather in November 1715 was extremely bad. The Jacobites got thoroughly soaked in the rain during the day and had to locate a fire at night to dry their clothes.

Reaching Kendal, they were joined by Peter Clarke who wrote of the arrival of the army. "Brigadeer Mackintoss and his man came both a horseback, having both plads on, their targets hanging on their backs, either of them a sord by his side, as also either a gun and a case of pistols. The said Brigadeere looked with a grim countenance. He and his man lodged at Alderman Lowrys, a private house in Highgate street in this towne.

About one houre after came in the horsemen and the footmen at the latter end. It rained very hard here this day, and had for several days before, so that the horse and the footmen did not draw their swords nor shew their collours, neither did any drums beat. Onely six highland bagpipes played. They marched to the cold-stone, or the cross, and read the same proclamation twice over in English, and the reader of it spoke very good English, without any mixture of Scotish tongue. . . . They compeled the belman here to go and give notice to the tanners and innkeepers to come and pay what excise was due to the crown, or else they that denyed should be plundred by Jack the highlander. . . . They made the gunsmiths here work very hard all night, and a Sunday morming likewise, for little or no pay. . . . In this towne the horse gentlemen paid their quarters, but the foot highlanders paid little or nothing; and about 8 a clock this morning, the foot marched out, no drums beating nor collours flying, only the bagpipes playing."[26]

At Lancaster, the troops were cheered by news of many promises to join them and a troop raised in Manchester. They were more determined to continue on and with their spirits cheered, on the night of 9 November 1715 the cavalry rode into Preston, followed the next morning by the infantry. General Forster planned to leave Preston for Manchester the following morning when reports of government forces in the area under General Wills, approaching from Wigan, and General Carpenter, from Clitheroe, altered the situation. Forster realized his vulnerability and weakness at Preston. On advice from Borlum, the decision was made to defend the city from close in rather than at the bridge over the Ribble River which led from Preston to Wigan. Preston was put in a state of defense.

Borlum planned the defense of the town to "give every advantage to the Highlanders, who were excellent marksmen and experts in the art of ambush."[27] Four main barricades were built on the four roads leading to the market place, with Colonel Macintosh's Battalion in the northwestern part of the city at the Windmill barricade which had a "'fall-back' position at a second barrier . . . necessary because of the numerous little alleyways . . . out of which a flanking attack might have been launched."[28]

The first action began in the eastern part of the city at Church Gate where the government troops were repulsed by heavy fire and forced to retreat. "About 2 a clock this afternoone, 200 of Generall Wills men entred the Churchgate street, and the Highlanders, firing out of the cellers and windows, in 10 minnits time kiled 120 of them."[29] Skirmishes continued in the eastern part until later in the afternoon when action started in the northwestern corner with a frontal attack on Colonel Macintosh's barricade. "The men of the Macintosh Battalion were well concealed behind cover in the houses and gardens around the barricades, and 'made a dreadful fire upon the King's Forces, killing many on the spot, and obliging them to make a Retreat; which, however, they did very handsomely.'"[30]

Later, a flanking assault down a small lane was turned back with heavy fire from the Macintosh Battalion, and again the government troops retreated. No further attacks were instigated during the night but constant sniping continued from both sides. The Jacobites had inflicted heavy casualties on their opponents with the loss of very few of their own troops.

Early the next morning, men at the Church Gate barricade repulsed a small attack which was nearly the last action in the battle. General Carpenter arrived with reinforcements and blocked the only remaining exit from town. The Highlanders wanted to attack the government forces and die "like Men of Honour, with their Swords in their Hands,"[31] but Forster, with Lord Widdrington and Colonel Oxburgh, and unknown to the rest of the commanders, sent Colonel Oxburgh out to discuss surrender terms. General Wills agreed to a surrender as "prisoners at discretion" which meant with no rights at all.

When the Scots realized Forster's intention of surrendering everybody to the enemy, another emissary was sent to try for separate terms for the Scotsmen. The terms, however, remained the same but the Scots were given until the following morning to make a decision. "All the traditional dislike between English and Scots had reached a head, and had Forster left his inn he would have 'been cut to pieces' in the street by the Scots."[32]

For the extension in time, General Wills demanded two leaders as hostages, one Scottish and one English. Colonel Macintosh and Lord Derwentwater "surrendered themselves at Government headquarters" that evening. During the night, plots were laid for escape but Borlum "told them it was too late, especially with the hostages already given up."[33] Monday morning, the fourteenth of November, the Jacobites accepted General Wills terms for surrender at discretion, but Colonel Macintosh "could not believe that the Scots would surrender in that way. Wills told him, 'Go back to your People again, and I will attack the town, and the Consequences will be, I will not spare one Man of you.'"[34] The Scots, however, as Colonel Macintosh discovered, were prepared to surrender.

Casualties in the Battle of Preston were 276 killed or wounded in the government forces and 42 in the Jacobite force. Jacobite prisoners taken at Preston totaled 1,485 of which 143 were Scottish lords, officers, and gentlemen, and 75 English lords, officers, and gentleman; 879 were Scottish soldiers and 388 were English soldiers.[35]

Jacobite peers were allowed to surrender at the inn, officers surrendered in the churchyard, and the Highland rank and file and others in the market place. General Wills sent about one hundred of the important lords, officers, and gentlemen to London for trial, including Old Borlum, Colonel Macintosh, and Lieutenant Colonel Farquharson. The prisoners "arrived there upon the 9th of December . . . Every one of them had his arms tyed with a cord coming across his back and being thus pinioned they were not allowed to hold the reins of the bridle but each of them had a foot soldier leading his horse . . . and proceeded to London through innumerable crowds of Spectators, who all of them expressed the utmost detestation of their crime."[36]

Borlum escaped from Newgate on the fourth of May by suddenly rushing the guards; Colonel Macintosh was released in August at the intercession of his wife, Lord Lovat, and other friends "who pleaded that Lachlan had been 'trepanned into the rebellion by the craft of the Brigadier,'"[37] and Lt. Col. John Farquharson of Invercauld was acquitted in May when he proved he had "joined the Jacobites under pressure."[38]

The less important noblemen and officers were distributed among the jails in Chester, Lancaster, and Liverpool to await trial. Ordinary English soldiers and the Highlanders were taken to the Parish Church at Preston where they remained for about a month before being taken to proper jails. Townspeople of Preston were ordered to give the prisoners water and bread but, otherwise, the prisoners took care of themselves as best they could, ripping the linings from the pews to make breeches and hose for protection against the extreme cold.[39] Treatment of prisoners taken at the Battle of Preston was more barbaric and prison conditions worse in the area around Preston than in London.

A Commission of Oyer and Terminer was appointed to establish a court, and on the eleventh of January, three judges arrived at Liverpool from London to try the rebels. "From among the hundreds of undistinguished prisoners taken at Preston, one in every twenty was selected by lot to take his trial; the rest were respited."[40] Seventy four Jacobite prisoners had been tried by the ninth of February when the Judges received a "humble petition to the court" from the prisoners who pleaded guilty and petitioned for deportation. The petition was granted and the prisoners were turned over to the merchants of Liverpool for shipment to the plantations. From the twenty eighth of January to the twenty fifth of February, thirty four prisoners already sentenced by the court were hanged, drawn, and quartered; the bill was L132 15s. 4d.[41]

Deportation to the English colonial plantations in America began at the end of March 1716. A visitor to Liverpool in May 1716 wrote. "The rebels as they went through Liverpool to be transported cried, 'Never fear but we'll come together again and appear for Jemmy.' We saw a great many going to the change to be bound to trades in the plantations and were very lusty fellows."[42]

The exact number of those deported is unknown however the following contemporary account, taken from one of the jails at Lancaster, gives a good idea. "After the rebellion at Preston was suppressed about 400 of them were brought to Lancaster Castle, and a regiment of dragoons quartered in the town to guard them. The king allowed them each fourpence a day for maintenance, viz. 2d. in bread, 1d. in cheese and 1d. in small beare; and they laid in straw in the stables; most of them. And in a month time, about one hundred of them were conveighed to Liverpoole to be tryed, where they were convicted and near 40 of them hanged at Manchester, Liverpoole, Wiggan, Preston, Garstang, and Lancaster. And about two hundred of them continued a year, and about 50 of them died, and the rest were transported to America; except the lords and gentlemen, who were had to London and there convicted and their estates forfeted. Whilst they were here, I was imployed to buy cheese for them, about 2 or 3 hundred weight a week, of about 12 or 14s. a hundred [weight]. Besides the King's allowance, they had supplys privetly from the Papists and disafected, so as to live very plentyfully."[43]

Another contemporary account is from William Cotesworth who was visiting the city. "We saw ye greatest misery at Lancaster than ever we saw before. All (the rebels) yt ever could go in cartes or Ride on horse back they carryed to ship off at Leverpoole, ye rest wch were about 34 (most of 'em Scotchmen) lie in a kind of a Dark hole underground and are so weak that they cannot help one another. Some of them are spotted with ye fever. We saw one of them lying dead wrapt in his Plad wch is sold to buy them a Coffin with."[44]

Deportation figures taken from the CALENDAR OF STATE PAPERS. COLONIAL SERIES, AMERICA AND WEST INDIES 1716-7, account for 523 of the Scottish rebels shipped out of Liverpool: 92 were probably sent to Virginia aboard the Scipio on 30 March 1716; 80 to South Carolina on the Wakefield on 21 April 1716; 100 to South Carolina on the Susanna on 7 May 1716; 79 to Maryland on the Friendship on 24 May 1716; 102 to Virginia on the Elizabeth and Ann on 29 June 1716; 55 on the Goodspeed to Maryland on 28 July 1716; and 15 on the Anne to Virginia on 31 July 1716. [45] That is, approximately, 209 to Virginia, 180 to South Carolina, and 134 to Maryland.

Although the prisoners had petitioned for deportation to the colonies, many refused to enter into indentures. A proclamation issued by James Hart, Governor of Maryland, stated. "Whereas, his most Sacred Majesty, out of his abundant Clemency, has caused eighty of the Rebbells (most of them Scotsmen) lately taken at Preston, in Lancashire, to be transported from Great Brittain into this province, in the Ship Friendship, . . . and Signified to me his Royall pleasure by one of his principall Secretaries of State, that the said Rebells, to the number aforesaid, should be sold to the Assignes of the Merchants, who should purchase them for the Full Term of Seven Years and not for any lesser time. And that I should cause the said Rebbells to enter into Indentures . . . And, whereas, the said Rebells, Notwithstanding his majesty's Clemency & Pleasure, signified as aforesaid, have Obstinately refused to enter into such Indentures, And that the greatest part of them already have been sold, And the rest will, in all probability, be disposed of with the proper Certificates, by me granted to the respective purchasers, as by his Majesty directed."[46]

The achievements of Macintosh of Borlum are overshadowed by the incompentency of Forster and shameful surrender at Preston. Forster was not a soldier yet Mar appointed him General in charge of the border Jacobites, and Forster found warfare a terrifying experience. According to William Cotesworth. "The Maids of Generall Foster's Lodgings will take their oathes on't that he was in Bedd with a sack possett in the hottest time of ye action."[47]

Old Borlum had marched his detachment to the border of England without loss of life. The only battle between the detachment and government forces occurred at Preston, and the effective battle charge of the Highlanders was never put to use. Many of Macintosh's original force had managed to escape before General Carpenter blocked the remaining exit from Preston, but, those taken prisoner were separated from their families and clan, subjected to cruel treatment, and sent into servitude in the colonies. Citizens who had condemned the Jacobites in 1715, "sickened by the barbaric executions and other Jacobite sufferings, . . . were publicly applauding them (Jacobites) by the summer of 1716."[48]

Lachlan Mackintosh married Hellen Gordon of Ballidmore and together they had : William, John of Linvulig ( who married a daughter of MacPherson of Nuid and had issue a son Donald and who went to Georgia about 1726 ), Lachlan , and Harie who settled in North America, and twins William and Angus who became bailies of Inverness.