PROUD of their heritage and willing to risk their lives to provide for their families, the Highlanders who came to Edinburgh to join home armies battling against French invasion had a fearsome reputation.
Speaking in their native tongue and wearing traditional Highland dress, these warriors of the 1770s certainly stood out from the crowds that thronged the bustling port of Leith.
Their subsequent mutiny against the might of the King's troops has al
most been forgotten in the mists of time.
TALE: Dr Iain Brown with the precious letter written by soldier
But the dramatic tale is now being retold at a new exhibition in the Capital, featuring a letter from one of the soldiers involved. While the Highlanders were ready to face any invader who set foot on Scottish shores, they were not prepared to be drafted south or take the uniform of a southern soldier. Indeed, resentment at the move was so great, that they refused to obey orders to join the ranks of a Lowland Corps. Instead, foolhardy though it might have been, they chose to take on the might of the Scots regiments based at Edinburgh Castle.
"It was April 1779 when a rumour spread that these Highlanders were going to be drafted into a Lowland rather than a Highland regiment," explains Iain Brown, a senior manuscripts curator at the National Libraries of Scotland. "As a result, they would have to forfeit their kilts and so the 70 Highlanders involved marched to Leith, where things turned very nasty indeed."
As the authorities were keen that memories of any mutiny should fade quickly, there is little evidence that documents the Leith mutiny, which saw the slaughter of 40 Highlanders and an army captain. This is why a letter which has just gone on display at the library on George IV Bridge is such a treasure as it was written by an army officer who witnessed the bloody events unfolding.
Written by Thomas Stelfox, of the 70th Foot Regiment, the letter reassures the writer's English wife of his safety. "We know that Stelfox found himself in Edinburgh for a number of years and he witnessed first hand the unfortunate events of what was a celebrated mutiny of Highland troops which I think has almost been forgotten," says Iain.
"His wife – who he addresses as 'my dearest' – would have heard about this mutiny and he was writing to reassure her that he was safe.
"He says he's rather sorry for the poor mutineers as well as for the loyal troops. It was one thing to go into action against the enemy but to fire upon your fellow men was disagreeable to say the least."
Stelfox was among a 200-strong army sent by the commander and chief of the army in Scotland, Sir Adolphus Oughton, to quell the disillusioned Highlanders.
When the loyal troops arrived, along with an imposing cavalry, they hemmed in the mutineers and an army sergeant who could speak Gaelic translated orders for the mutineers to surrender.
However, resentment was so deep, the Highlanders refused to give in and instead chose to engage in a "minor battle".
Iain explains: "There was a good deal of bayoneting going on and a Captain James Mansfield was bayoneted to death. The loyal troops, having seen all this, then fired upon the Highlanders. It was a pretty uneven contest."
Coming from the west of Scotland, desperation to feed their families would have brought the Highlanders to Edinburgh.
But while their refusal to swap their Highland dress with that of the soldiers of the Borderers was said to have sparked the rebellion, Iain believes there must have been much more to it.
Poor living conditions and a fear that they might be sent to the Channel Islands or the East Indies – journeys in which many died in transit – was also a source of much discontent for the Highlanders.
Indeed, a year before the Leith Mutiny, 400 Seaforth Highlanders dug themselves in at the summit of Arthur's Seat.
As they too had been employed as a home guard to protect against French invasion, they were far from happy to learn that they might be shipped abroad.
"They heard they were being sold into the service of the East India Company and, as Fencible troops, this would have been against the terms of their recruitment," explains Iain.
"So they took up arms and marched to the top of Arthur's Seat where they dug themselves in. For many years after that you could see the remains of the trenches where they had bivouacked."
Again the situation was diffused following diplomatic negotiations headed by Sir Adolphus and the siege ended with no casualties, other than one sentry who fell to his death from the Crags.
"The sad thing was that, a few years later, around 230 of those troops died when they were later sent to India."
A year later, the battle at The Shore in Leith also ended with severe casualties and, by the time the mutiny was quelled, the docks were strewn with the bodies of 40 dead mutineers. The rest were rounded up and taken to Edinburgh Castle where the consequences were grave.
"A court martial was held and three mutineers were selected for execution to discourage the others from further rebellious behaviour," says Iain.
"They were marched out on to the Castle Esplanade where the rest of the garrison troops were lined up, and ordered to kneel in their coffins where they were to be shot.
"Then, at the last moment, in what can only be described as a real bit of theatre, Adolphus Oughton stepped forward with a pardon. A situation that could have turned very nasty was averted and his actions won the respect and devotion of everyone on parade.
"So I think the pardon was wise."
LETTERS AND RARE ATLAS AMONG ITEMS TO GO ON PUBLIC SHOWTHE letters by Thomas Stelfox to his concerned wife are among around 320,000 publications acquired by the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh every year.
Now librarians at the George IV Bridge institution have decided to put some of their most exciting recent acquisitions on public display. As well as the letters by Stelfox, visitors are welcome to pour over an extremely rare and beautiful atlas that was compiled by renowned Edin-burgh engraver Daniel Lizars.
Based at the Parliament Stairs, Daniel and his son William took the work of the most celebrated modern geographers of the early 1800s and reproduced their maps in intricate detail on to 59 copper plates. From there, the Lizars produced the atlas which was published just after 1812, shortly after Daniel's death.
Visitors can also view an-other rare map that was drawn by John Adair, a Scottish mapmaker, and published in Edinburgh in 1689.
But rather than being part of an atlas, this map was reproduced on a rare collection of colourful playing cards that have been put on display at the library.
Also being exhibited is a remarkable collection of illustrations that are printed on silk and were designed to represent various scenes from Walter Scott's Waverley novels.
On display is one of ten luxurious albums that has been left open at an illustration which was created for the Scott novel The Antiquary.
The images, which were made from the original steel plates, are thought to have been printed in America at around 1900 for a collector that was not only rich but extremely enthusiastic about Scott and his novels.
