The sword cut both ways
There are four incidents following the replacement of James II with William and Mary that are worth noting. Firstly there is Killiecrankie and the charge of the Highlanders under Dundee. The Highlanders took advantage of the Williamite troops spread out in column along the narrow defile and captured their canon and supplies. Dundee was killed in the action and it makes a tragic tale like Nelson at Trafalgar.
Secondly is the dogged defence of Marquis of Athol’s house in Dunkeld by the Cameronians, which has glimpses of the farmhouse at Waterloo and the one at Rorke’s Drift. As far as I can discover, this was the first blooding of the Cameronian regiment raised in the village of Douglas by the Douglas, Earl of Angus, which had such a distinguished history over the following centuries; Malplaquet, Sevastepol, Ladysmith, Gallipoli, Anzio, Chindits.
Thirdly, is the same regiment’s attack on the Jacobite Highlanders at Cromdale, led there by one of the Grants, who sided with William and not James, as many others did. One of the elements of this action is how the Highlanders vanished into the mists and hills when they deemed it advisable; a tactic which came naturally and would have saved many at Culloden.
Finally, Scott refers to the remnant of the ‘gentlemen’ who fought for Bonnie Prince Charlie but escaped overseas to save their skins. This group were at first paid by the French but, later, had to fend for themselves, and volunteered to form a unit in which they would become private soldiers, at private rates of pay; a real sacrifice for men accustomed to live in comfort and relative ease. This group distinguished themselves in the Alsace campaign by attacking a strongly held island in the Rhine and ejecting a ‘German’ force five times their number. AT the time the island was known as the Ile D’Ecosse.
I am not sure how these incidents would fit into a Jacobite tale, unless it was the idea of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s grandson coming to Dunkeld and being taken round the various sites to learn about the courage of the Scots, and the cost to the country of Jacobitism. It’s a back burner idea and will, no doubt mature in its own good time.