“Lord George had scarcely determined upon ordering a general movement, when the Macintoshes, a brave and devoted clan, though not before engaged in action, unable any longer to brook the unavenged slaughter made by the cannon, broke from the centre of the line, and rushed forward through smoke and snow to mingle with the enemy.  The Athole men, Camerons, Stuarts, Frasers, and Macleans also went on, Lord George Murray heading them with that rash bravery befitting the commander of such forces.  Thus, in the course of one or two minutes, the charge was general along the whole line, except at the left extremity, where the Macdonalds, dissatisfied with their position, hesitated to engage.

“The action and event of the onset were, throughout, quite as dreadful as the mental emotion which urged it.  Notwithstanding that the three files of the front line of English poured forth their incessant fire of musketry—­notwithstanding that the cannon, now loaded with grapeshot, swept the field as with a hailstorm—­notwithstanding the flank fire of Wolfe’s regiment—­onward, onward went the headlong Highlanders, flinging themselves into, rather than rushing upon, the lines of the enemy, which, indeed, they did not see for smoke, till involved among the weapons.  All that courage, all that despair could do, was done.  It was a moment of dreadful and agonising suspense, but only a moment—­for the whirlwind does not reap the forest with greater rapidity than the Highlanders cleared the line.  Nevertheless, almost every man in their front rank, chief and gentleman, fell before the deadly weapons which they had braved; and, although the enemy gave way, it was not till every bayonet was bent and bloody with the strife.

“When the first line had thus been swept aside, the assailants continued their impetuous advance till they came near the second, when, being almost annihilated by a profuse and well-directed fire, the shattered remains of what had been before a numerous and confident force began to give way.  Still a few rushed on, resolved rather to die than forfeit their well-acquired and dearly-estimated honour.  They rushed on; but not a man ever came in contact with the enemy.  The last survivor perished as he reached the points of the bayonets.”

Some idea of the determination displayed by the Highlanders in this terrific charge may be gathered from the fact that, in one part of the field, their bodies were afterwards found in layers of three and four deep.  The slaughter was fearful, for, out of the five regiments which charged the English, almost all the leaders and men in the front rank were killed.  So shaken was the English line, that, had the Macdonald regiments, well-known to yield in valour to none of the clans, come up, the fortune of the day might have been altered.  But they never made an onset.  Smarting and sullen at the affront which they conceived to have been put upon their name, they bore the fire of the English