Was "Cluny" the chief of the McPhersons 1745 stupid?
I am trying to generate some interest McPherson history.I believe even if you only have a wee drop of McPherson blood in you, you really ought to know something about these wild and noble highlanders. It is easy to be proud of such a herritage.Most highlanders were wild and honorable.The McPhersons just have a longer history than most.The McPherson history before 1745 is quite interesting.I am most likely descended from that Cluny's father the first Cluny McPherson.Cluny is a title of the chief of the McPhersons the name comes from the Castle he lived in.Even though the castle was burned down in 1745 the title remains to this day.
Current history paints Cluny in a favorable light.In fact he may have suspected the Jacobite Revolt was a lost cause before he joined.He did try to keep out of it but at the end, he committed to Stewarts.I think he did so out of honor, duty and that the cause was just instead of that the cause was winnable.He did not split his clan up to fight on both sides as some clans did.
My family legend come from an old auntie born in the early 1800s.She mentioned she did not have much of a pedigree she could only go back to her grandfather, John.He was a wild "Gaelic speaking ladescaping from" a place in Gaelic that would be the location of Cluny castle. Auntie often lapsed into Gaelic making her letter had to read.She did not mention what he was escaping from but it would have been the British.She did not mention what happened to his parents but I assume they did not survive the reprisals.The British spent conciderable effort exterminating the Cluny's family.They never got his wife or children but they got many of his extended family.He stayed with an uncle living in the hills near Dunbar.The uncle had been in the battle of Prestopans and wasn’t fit for battle afterwards so he settled near there.This was an unlikely place for a McPherson.In fact no other McPhersons were in that area until a century later.Then in a after thought she remembered a good McPherson story.Johns uncle stayed in the highlands to hide Prince Charlie.They were hiding in a cave and the weather was very cold.The "Cluny" had a thicker plaid than the Prince’s.They argued whether the Prince ought to have the better blanket.The Uncle said the only way he could have the plaid was if he shared it with him."That night John’s uncle and the prince slept under the same blanket".As an after though she mentioned that the uncle and the other highlanders in the rebellion were not very clever or smart.They were just good, honest, noble men that followed their Prince.
After reading up on the Cluny I realized that current history credits him as being both clever and smart.Why would she say that?I believe she was a victim of propaganda.She went to school less than a century after the rebellion.I suspect history was still trying to make light of the atrocities committed in the Highlands.I also suspect living in the lowlands there was no second opinion.Lastly, John may have blamed the Cluny and the Jacobites for the loss of his parents and the good life.
What do you think??
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Correction
Ron Mesnard 3/14/03
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Re: Correction
Ron Mesnard 6/30/03
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Re: Correction