Posts

Showing posts from July, 2024

James Hogg 1770 -1835

Image
The  Piper's Stone , a boulder upon which a mortally wounded Jacobite piper was said to have played the bagpipes during the Battle of Cromdale The Haughs Of Cromdale. This ballad, the original author unknown, was collected and edited by James Hogg and concerns the Battle of  Cromdale  in Scotland, fought on April 30 and May 1, 1690 between supporters of James VII, called Jacobites, and the supporters of William III. The Jacobites would be defeated in two engagements near Cromdale village, Strathspey. The ballad describes details of the battle and the participants, but although a defeat by the Jacobites the unknown author turns it into a victory by adding details of the  Battle of Auldearn , which was fought by Royalists led by the Marquis of Montrose years before on May 9, 1645, and wrongly mixes up the opponents who were Scottish Covenanters with Oliver Cromwell's Roundheads. It is possible that elements of the little known  Battle of Tullich  of February 10,

Hielan Sodger (Trad.) - Highland Soldier

Image
The Thin Red Line  was an military action of the  Battle of Balaclava  on 25 October 1854, during the  Crimean War  where Highlander infantry stood their ground against charging Russian horse-troops, and caused them to retreat. Robert Gibb, The Thin Red Line , 1881,  National War Museum , Edinburgh Henri FĂ©lix Emmanuel Philippoteaux General Michel Ney’s French cavalry  attacks the Highland regiments at Waterloo, June 18, 1815, only to be driven back by well-timed volleys. Scots in Highland uniform enduring the rain before the artillery shells fall at The Battle of the Somme, July 1 - November 1916 The 51st Highland Division at the Battle of El Alamein, October 1942 Hielan Sodger (trad.) The author of the song is unknown. The song concerns the love of a girl for a Highlander called up to a military regiment to travel overseas. She determines to sacrifice everything and follow him. The author of the song is unknown, although if anyone interested