Glencoe - Massacre OR Legitimate Police Action?

[ScabbyDouglas]

I was prompted to post this by yet another anti-Campbell outburst in another Scotland.com forum.

Here goes.

The MacDonalds of Glencoe under the leadership of Mac Iain were just bandits and terrorists. They had purposely delayed and prevaricated until the last posssible moment signing the declaration of allegiance to the Crown.

The troops were simply removing a threat to the security of the realm. These people (MacDonalds) had displayed a complete disregard for the rule of law time and time again. They failed to abide by the requirements of the law of the land, and they paid the price. They had been a plague to their neighbours, stealing cattle and so on for many years.

It was unfortunate that some of the women and children suffered, but really, it was collateral damage.

Campbells should not feel any shame over the incident, rather they should be congratulated for taking part in an exercise to make the country safe for the vast numbers of law-abiding citizens.

Let's give the Campbells a break. They went in there to do a job, and they got it done.

[ANDY-J2]

Or perhaps the Campbells shouldn't feel guilty because let's face it if they had been given half a chance the MacDonalds would have done the exact same to them.If guilt is to be aportioned then it belongs with those individuals in Edinburgh and London who decided rather cynically that Scotland would be a far safer place if the "Irish" of the north-west highlands were taught a severe and brutal lesson.If the Campbells should feel guilty for supporting the Hanoverians then maybe the MacDonalds and MacDougalls should feel guilty for fighting against Robert the Bruce in the wars of independence?Or maybe to imagine that they should be viewed as traitors is to fundamentally misunderstand their motivations and the nature of the society and times that they lived in?

[NonServitas]

what a load o crap...

police action my arse.
it was purely engineered by Campbells to iradicate competition.

its like saying

" well there where a lot of Jews in Europe in 1939 and hitler was well within the laws of the day by systematically wiping out the rabble that they represented"

(got systematically off the washing machine by the way)

get over it m8, guilty as charged.

I was quite surprised to discover that 13 people died at Glencoe. I had this picture in my head of hundreds of them... big place for 13 people to haunt...lol

[ANDY-J2]

Originally posted by NonServitas
what a load o crap...

police action my arse.
it was purely engineered by Campbells to iradicate competition.

The masacre of Glencoe certainly wasn't engineered by the Campbells even if they were the people who carried it out.It was engineered by lowland Scots politicians and their counterparts in London who saw a means of setting an example to Gaelic society that any disloyalty to the new monarch William would be swiftly and mercilessly dealt with.

[LeeB]

Have to agree with ANDY-J2 here. I can't find my book on the matter at the moment but the Campbells were not the masterminds behind the killings.
As for the MacDonalds of Glen Coe being cattle-thieves, well who wasn't? The more cattle your clan had the better chance you had of eating well and staying alive, everyone tried to get their hands on cattle.

[alanmckechnie]

Try this web page for a deeper insight and explanation into the massacre.

http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...coe/glen1.html

[Tuechter]

Hey Scabby

Where were you when your teacher told you about the Masacre of Glencoe?

As a member of the Clan Donald, I can categorically assure you that this incident had very little to do with the Campbells! This might seem like blasphemy to a hell of a lot of people but the Massacre of Glencoe was not carried out by the Campbells - it was committed by the British Army!!

Had it been a simple case of a disagreement betwen clans there would not have been a massacre - there would have been glorified punch-up, then a partym much like a present-day wedding!

Also, there would have been no need or reason for King Billy, (William III to the English and the supporters of the House of Orange), to sign the order for the massacre - not once but twice.