24/08/2026
The Battle of Dunkeld was fought on 21 August 1689, when around 5,000 Jacobites descended upon the town to face a force of only about 800 men from the newly formed Cameronian Regiment. Commanded by Lieutenant Colonel William Cleland, the Cameronians, formed from the ranks of the Covenanters, had been sent to hold Dunkeld following the Jacobite victory at Killiecrankie the previous month.
The Cameronians arrived on Saturday night, 17 August, and by the following morning were already preparing their defences.
That afternoon, the first signs of what was coming appeared on the hills overlooking the town. One eyewitness recorded:
“In the afternoon, about three hundred men appear’d upon the hills on the north side of the town, who sent one with a white cloth upon the top of a halbert, with an open unsubscribed paper, in the fashion of a letter, directed to the Commanding Officer, wherein was written,
“We the Gentlemen assembled, being informed that ye intend to burn the Town, desire to know whether ye come for peace or war, and do certify you, that if ye burn any one house, we will destroy you.”
Lieutenant Colonel Cleland was not intimidated. His written reply was equally direct:
“We are faithful Subjects to King William and Queen Mary, and enemies to their enemies; and if you who send those threats, shall make any hostile appearance, we will burn all that belongs to you, and otherwise chastise you as you deserve.”
For the next few days there were several small skirmishes, but no major engagement. The Jacobites were waiting for more of their men to arrive.
Then, on Wednesday, 21 August, the waiting ended.
Around 5,000 Jacobites appeared on the hills overlooking Dunkeld.
They came down upon the town using the traditional Highland charge — a tactic that had proved devastatingly effective on many previous occasions. But at Dunkeld, the Cameronians stood their ground. Armed with pikes and halberts, they repeatedly drove the attackers back.
Soon the fighting spread through the streets.
The Jacobites attacked from several directions, and with their small numbers stretched dangerously thin, the Cameronians were forced to abandon much of the town and withdraw into a tighter defensive position around Dunkeld Cathedral and Dunkeld House. Civilians who had remained in the town were brought inside their lines for protection.
The fighting became brutal.
Jacobite marksmen took up positions in houses throughout Dunkeld and began firing upon the defenders. The Cameronians responded by sending men into the streets to set fire to the thatched roofs, denying the enemy their cover. The flames spread rapidly, and almost the entire town was destroyed. Only three houses are said to have escaped the fire.
As the hours passed, the position of the Cameronians became increasingly desperate.
Their gunpowder was almost exhausted.
Their bullets had already run out.
With no conventional ammunition left, men began tearing lead from the roof of the buildings, melting it down and cutting it into crude slugs that could be fired from their muskets.
They prepared themselves for a final stand.
Yet, just when it seemed that the vastly larger Jacobite force might finally overwhelm them, something remarkable happened.
The Jacobites began to withdraw.
Their commanders attempted to rally them for another assault, but according to one eyewitness:
“Their Commanders assay’d to bring them back to a fresh assault…but could not prevail; for they answered them, they could fight against men, but it was not fit to fight any more against devils.
Against overwhelming odds, the Cameronians had held Dunkeld.
After the Jacobites had gone, the defenders immediately began preparing in case they returned. One of the Cameronians later gave this extraordinary account of their situation:
The Rebels being quite gone, they (The Cameronians) within began to consider, where their greatest danger appeared in time of the conflict, and surrendering these places more secure, they brought out the seats of the church, with which they made pretty good defences, especially they fortified these places of the d**e which were made up with loose-stones, a poor Defence against such desperate assailants. They also cut down some trees on a little Hill where the enemy gall’d them under covert. Their powder was almost spent, and their bullets had been spent long before, which they supplied by the diligence of a good number of men, who were employed all the time of the action, in cutting lead off the House, and melting the same in little furrows in the ground, and cutting the pieces into sluggs to serve for bullets. They agreed that in case the enemy got over their d**es, they should retire to the house; and if they should find themselves overpower’d there, to burn it, and bury themselves in the ashes.”
They had been prepared, if necessary, to make Dunkeld House their final position — and rather than surrender, to burn it and die within its ruins.
The account continues:
“In this action, fifteen men were killed, besides the Officers named, and 30 wounded.
The account of the enemies loss is uncertain, but they are said to be above 300 slain, amongst whom were some persons of note.
That handful of unexperienced men, was wonderfully animated to a steadfast resistance against a multitude of obstinate furies. But they gave the Glory to God, and Praised Him, and sung Psalms, after they had fitted themselves for a new assault.”
But the victory had come at a heavy price.
Lieutenant Colonel William Cleland, the commander who had led the Cameronians throughout the battle, had been killed during the fighting.
An eyewitness described his death:
“….by two shots at once, one through the head, and another through the liver, the brave Lieutenant Colonel was killed; While he was visiting and exhorting the officers and soldiers at their several posts, He attempted to get into the house, that the soldiers might not be discouraged at the sight of his dead body; but fell by the way.”
Even after being mortally wounded, Cleland’s concern appears to have been for the morale of his men. He tried to remove himself from their sight so that seeing their commander fall would not discourage them.
He never made it inside.
Yet the men he commanded continued to fight.
By the end of that August day, a force of roughly 800 Cameronians had withstood repeated attacks from a Jacobite army several times their size. Their commander was dead, their ammunition almost exhausted, much of Dunkeld was burning around them — and still they held their position.
And when the fighting was over, according to their own account, they did not simply celebrate their survival.
They “gave the Glory to God, and Praised Him, and sung Psalms.”
