Hyle Campbell here.
Its been interesting reading about the Campbell Bashing.
Dont take it all personaly. Like Diarmid said the facts have been
changed to support whatever was the popular cause at the time. For
myself, it adds a whole dimension to my heritage.
How intersting would all this be if all highlanders got along and
everyone was a good guy. This bad guy mark given to the Campbells,
deserved or not, adds to the discovery of my heritage.
Many web sites acknowlege that facts have been exagerated, and that
Campbell bashing may be undeserved.
One site that is no longer on line was Clan Donald UK. This site had a
lengthy discussion about glencoe and the events that led up to the
massacre. Not once did the article mention the name Campbell. It
clearly recognized this as a goverment militia following orders and
placed none of the blame on the "Clan Campbell" as a group.
Ive also heard stories that a Campbell piper played a tune of warning
before the killings took place. Again showing their unwillingness to
carry out the orders that were given.
Also that some of those that fled in the night, fled to the safety of
the lands of their Campbell neighbors.
Here is one site, "Clan Iain Mhoir", that put a twist on how you view
the actions of Campbells of the time. below article borrowed from their
page: This page can be found at
http://www.mindspring.com/~cc003636/History.html
Also I once found, on the net, the text from the order that was given to
the commander at glencoe. I will try to find it. From the verbage you
could tell he had little choice but to carry out the orders.
Hyle
Are the Campbells Bad Guys?
Although much has been made of the animosities that exist between the Clan Dhomhnuill
(and
Clann Iain Mhoir), and their Campbell neighbors, it would be naive and simplistic to
vilify the Clan
Campbell. The Clann Dhomhnuill and the Clan Campbell were, after all, two very powerful
political
entities, both of whom single-mindedly pursued their own self-interests.
Campbells certainly played a major role in the massacre at Glencoe, in which many of the
MacIans
(a branch of the Clan Dhomhnuill) were slaughtered in their beds. However, one must
properly
place this incident within the context of clan warfare, which is best understood as a
long series of
injuries and reprisals.
Perhaps the clearest distinction between the Clann Dhomhnuill and the Clann Campbell
relates to
the issue of pragmatism. As a rule (with numerous exceptions), the Campbells seem to have
had a
very clear (and very early) understanding of the future direction of British
nation-state. The
Campbells were skillful political manoverers, who although unquestionably Gaelic, were
not
misty-eyed isolationists. They understood that much the old Gaelic order would inevitably
be
replaced as the centuries passed and they chose to position themselves to make the most
of the
impending changes.
The Clann Dhomhnuill (or at least most of its branches) never really seemed to recover
from the
loss of the Lordship of Isles. Throughout the early modern era, the poets of the Clann
Dhomhnuill
imagined a restored Gaelic world with the Clann Dhomhnuill serving at its unifying force.
The
fracturing of the Clann, and the escalation of Anglicization throughout Scotland and
Ireland and the
economic, religious, and political changes of the last few centuries made this dream of
Gaelic unity
an impossibility. Nevertheless, the Clann Dhomhnuill and the Clann Iain Mhoir struggled
valiantly, if
fruitlessly, to save a cultural order which was quickly passing into the realm of
folk-memory.