2. The massacre at Glencoe in 1692
The Scottish Highlands were a region in which loyalty to either King William or King James was secondary to loyalty to the clan to which one belonged and to those allied with it in a complicated, intertwined mix of feuds and ancient rivalries. Organized Jacobite resistance to King William had been suppressed by 1690 in most of the Highlands, but the potential for armed enmity against forces loyal to the King caused local regiments to be raised, and the burden for their billeting imposed upon the local clans in return for forgiveness of taxation. Many of the local clans, including the MacDonalds of Glencoe, had reputations for being contemptuous of royal authority whether it was in the form of the Jacobites or the Williamites, and were continuously warring with other clans, earning the status of outlaws from all of the various parties which struggled for control of Scotland.
In August 1691 William offered a pardon to those of the clans who swore an oath of allegiance to him before the end of the year. The chiefs of the MacDonalds asked King James for permission to take the oath, which was granted as part of his maneuvering to strengthen his position among Scottish Jacobite supporters. MacDonald clan military companies moved to take the oath of allegiance at Glencoe, billeted on land protected by government troops. On February 13 (a Wednesday, rather than a Friday as sometimes alleged as the source of that date’s bad luck), at least 38 of the MacDonalds were killed by the government troops, with some citing higher casualty lists. An additional forty or more were driven into the hills to die of exposure to the cold and rain. The massacre at Glencoe created a crisis for King William and a source of propaganda for later Jacobite uprisings, but it was neither uncommon nor the worst of the massacres of the Jacobite uprisings.