Battle analysis is new ammunition in fight

Killiecrankie group lobbies for change of A9 route

Campaigners who want to protect the nationally important Killiecrankie Battlefield site from being damaged by the A9 road dualling project believe they have critical new evidence that could persuade Scottish ministers and Transport Scotland to think again.

The preservation group Soldiers of Killiecrankie will today (Tuesday) make public two videos which they say establish for the first time where the Scottish Government army stood on the battle day in 1689, and exactly where the majority of the 2500 men died.

The evidence, collected recently when citizen historians and experts walked the ground at Killiecrankie and carried out geographic information system (GIS) mapping analysis, is being sent to Scottish ministers to indicate the best route for the new carriageway to take through the battlefield, not the trajectory appearing in current dualling plans.

James Rattray, battlefield campaigner , chair of Soldiers of Killiecrankie and local resident, said: “If the Scottish ministers want to preserve our Scottish Jacobite history, we suggest how this can be done. We believe [the video] is the first time the battle line is clearly established on Killiecrankie Battlefield.”

Using posts as markers, the group claims the videos establish where the final volley of musket shots was fired into rebel members of Clan Cameron as they attacked General Hugh Mackay’s government regiment and hence where the redcoat soldiers stood.

Mr Rattray told the PA that what the GIS analysis revealed is where 120 Clan Cameron casualties fell and the location of Mackay’s regiment when it was ‘decimated’ by the Jacobite fighters.

They used the GIS technology to pinpoint where musket balls fell to the ground.

The advancing Government soldiers were only aware of the hidden Jacobites when they were 80m away - and fell to their death from a barrage of lead shot.

The battlefield researchers tried to match where the shots were fired from with where the rival troops fell.

Mackay’s account of the battle on July 27,1689 reveals he kept his troops in a straight line and rode up and down in front of them, with bullets aimed at him.

The historians found the site where the final volley of fire met McKay’s soldiers with deadly effect.

Presenter Rulzion Rattray called the findings “difficult to dispute.”

Previous studies by the Two Men in a Trench TV programme have suggested where the positions of Highlander snipers had been. And archaeology carried out for Transport Scotland has suggested where the government regiment was located, putting this spot 50m back from where the new research places it.

The new the video suggests that Transport Scotland’s until-now-agreed site of the Mackay line is not correct.

According to Soldiers of Killiecrankie group, the video- which used the spread of musket balls that were fired and factored in the height of a man being shot at - proves that from the place Transport Scotland believes the line was located, Mackay’s men would not have been visible or in firing range.

“The Jacobite snipers would not have been able to see them if they were standing in the position the A9 builders propose on their maps,” explained David Rattray.

He asserts the key part of the battle happened within 80m of the present A9. This area is in danger of being obliterated by the dualling project.

“Now that we have discovered exactly where the two sides were when they met and faced each, we need to ask why would we want to build a new road right where so many fought and died?”

Soldiers of Killiecrankie plans to use the GIS findings to continue to lobby Scottish ministers for a change to the proposed dual carriageway route.