Historedia
EuropeEvent

Massacre of Glencoe

When
1692
Where
Glen Coe
Episodes
2

On 13 February 1692, Scottish government forces killed approximately 30 members of the Clan MacDonald of Glencoe in the Argyll region. The attack followed a delay in the clan taking an oath of allegiance to William and Mary, a requirement tied to a 1690 pardon offer.

Episodes

  1. January 1692 · Glen CoeArrival of Government Troops

    Approximately 120 men from the Earl of Argyll's Regiment arrived in Glencoe in late January 1692.

  2. 13 February 1692 · Glen CoeSlaughter of Clan MacDonald

    Government forces killed an estimated 30 MacDonalds in Glen Coe on 13 February 1692.

Background and detail

Political Context. Following the suppression of the 1689 Jacobite rising, the Scottish government sought to secure Highland loyalty. In 1690, Lord Stair offered £12,000 for clan leaders to swear allegiance to William and Mary. Despite the June 1691 Declaration of Achallader, internal disagreements prevented the clans from taking the oath by December 1691.

Military Orders. In January 1692, Secretary of State Lord Stair wrote to military commander Sir Thomas Livingstone, expressing relief that Glencoe had not taken the oaths. He suggested destroying the country of Lochaber and Glencoe. In late January, approximately 120 men from the Earl of Argyll's Regiment arrived in the glen to billet with the MacDonalds.

The Massacre. On 12 February, Lieutenant Colonel James Hamilton was ordered to block the northern exits at Kinlochleven. On 13 February, government forces attacked the MacDonalds, killing an estimated 30 members and associates. The brutality shocked contemporaries, as such events were no longer common in Scottish history by that time.

People involved

Sources

  1. Massacre of Glencoe Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-30

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.