The Highlanders of an early period were afraid of cannon, with the noise
and effect of which they were totally unacquainted. It was by means of
three or four small pieces of artillery that the Earls of Huntly and
Errol, in James VI's time, gained a great victory at Glenlivat, over a
numerous Highland army, commanded by the Earl of Argyle. At the battle of
the Bridge of Dee, General Middleton obtained by his artillery a similar
success, the Highlanders not being able to stand the discharge of
Musket's Mother, which was the name they bestowed on great guns. In an
old ballad on the battle of the Bridge of Dee these verses occur:--
The Highlandmen are pretty men
For handling sword and shield,
But yet they are but simple men
To stand a stricken field.
The Highlandmen are pretty men
For target and claymore,
But yet they are but naked men
To face the cannon's roar.
For the cannons roar on a summer night
Like thunder in the air;
Was never man in Highland garb
Would face the cannon fair
But the Highlanders of 1745 had got far beyond the simplicity of their
forefathers, and showed throughout the whole war how little they dreaded
artillery, although the common people still attached some consequence to
the possession of the field-piece which led to this disquisition.
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