Robert Horner posted an advertisement in the Maryland Gazette on 8 June 1748 for two “Rebel Servants” who had absconded from his home in Newport. The first was a man named Dough (or Dougall) Cameron and the other was Andrew Smith.[i] Both men were captured during the Jacobite uprising of 1745 in Scotland and transported to the American colonies by order of the crown. Neither of them knew the other until they were placed on the same ship for transportation. Yet in the late spring of 1748 the two decided to strike out together in an attempt to gain their freedom . I don’t know if they were successful, but I do know how Dougall Cameron ended up in Newport, Maryland.
In 1745, Dougall Cameron was a resident of the port of Inverness, Scotland. The port was (and still is) near the northern tip of Scotland on the River Ness near its entrance to the North Sea. Cameron may have been a sailor, as Horner’s advertisement stated that “he pretends to be a sailor.” He was a big man, standing 5 feet, 10 inches and was according to Horner, “strong and well made.” He was also blind in one eye,[ii] whether this happened before or during the rebellion of 1745 or even during his time in prison is unknown. What is known is that Cameron took up arms in support of Bonnie Prince Charles Stuart in 1745, when he joined the regiment of his clan chief Donald Cameron of Lochia, known as Lochiel the Gentle. Lochiel’s regiment had the reputation of being the most reliable of the Jacobite regiments.
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| 18th-Century View of Inverness National Galleries Scotland |
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| Prince Charles Edward Stuart “Bonnie Prince Charlie” National Galleries Scotland William Mosman 1737-1750 |
Since
the early 18th century, the Highland Jacobites had pursued three
main objectives in their attempt to place a Stuart back on the throne of
Scotland instead of George II of England. The first was to stop the Anglicization
of Scotland through the enforced use of English and the loss of Scottish Gaelic
and Scottish culture (although many of the clan chiefs’ sons were educated in English
universities and had strong ties with England). The next was to stop the
persecution of Scottish Catholics and Episcopalians by the Church of Scotland
(the Presbyterians). And, the last was to reinstate the Scottish Parliament,
which had been abolished by the Act of Union with England in 1707.
On 19 August 1745, the Jacobite Rebellion began at Glenfinnan, a small hamlet in the center of Scotland, about 60 miles south and west of Inverness. The Jacobite forces, numbering no more than 900 to 1,100 men, were primarily Camerons and MacDonalds. Within a month, this small group had grown in number and was able to capture the capital city of Edinburgh. On 21 September, they engaged inexperienced British troops at Prestonpans just east of the city. The battle lasted just under half an hour, before the British troops broke and ran. On 4 November, Stuart and his troops entered England. Nine days later they reached the City of Carlisle; it capitulated on the 14th. Stuart pressed on to Derby, which he reached in December.
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The National Archives Kew, England |
In Derby, Stuart lost momentum. Instead of continuing on to London as some of his advisers urged, he turned back to Carlisle on the 6th. Stuart continued to retreat back into Scotland, hoping to hold onto it. On December 19th, Stuart left a garrison of 400 men to hold Carlisle Castle while he and the main army retreated north. The garrison at Carlisle Castle was under the command of Col. Francis Towneley of the Manchester Regiment, which had been raised in England the previous month. Ill equipped and untrained these men were described by the Duke of Newcastle as the “worst of their troops.” On the other hand, the British government troops that arrived in Carlisle on December 20th under Prince William Augustus, the Duke of Cumberland were experienced and battle hardened. They laid siege to the castle, which capitulated on the 30th after two days of heavy bombardment. Cumberland did not offer terms to those captured as they were in rebellion against the King. Instead they were granted their lives, subject to the “King’s Pleasure” at trial. Three hundred and ninety-six (396) prisoners were taken, 114 were from the Manchester Regiment, another 274 from the Scottish regiments, and a few French soldiers. Dougall Cameron was among the 274 Scots.
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Siege of Carlisle Castle by the Duke of Cumberland Plan Date circa 1746 Cumbria County Council, Carlise Library |
The prisoners were held at Carlisle Castle for several days without food or water and were then transferred to York Castle.[iii] Cameron and 192 other prisoners arrived at York on 27 January 1746. The castle was used as the county jail, but rather than place the Jacobites with the local criminals, they were held on the ground floor of the Grand Jury Building. By February the number of Jacobite prisoners had swelled to 251. This number in addition to the local debtors and felons who were already imprisoned there resulted in overcrowding and some of the Jacobires were sent to either Lincoln Castle or Chester Castle.
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York Castle The Grand Jury Building is on the Right York Museums Trust |
Cameron was among the group sent to Chester.[iv] While he was there he was probably interviewed by Henry Masterman, who was Crown Clerk to the Court of the King’s Bench. Masterman was commissioned on 11 March 1746 to interview Jacobites in prisons throughout England in order to gather evidence to bring charges against the participants in the uprising. By the time Masterman reached Chester it was late April 1746. Masterman described the prisoners as “much more open and candid than at Lancaster” but, he added, they were “a poor Stupid ignorant set of Wretches; have told all they know, but there are very few Genius’s Amongst them.” In a letter to Solicitor John Sharpe of the Treasury, Masterman wrote that he believed most of these men had been “forced in [to service] by their respective Chiefs’ and purposefully left at Carlisle because they were not ‘Steady fellows’.” This he stated was not lost on most of them and they were extremely bitter toward their commanders. Masterman chose 38 of the Chester prisoners to give evidence against their fellows.[v]
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View of Chester 1728 Engraved by Samuel and Nathaniel Buck |
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Clan Cameron Marker on the Culloden Battlefield Dugall was already imprisoned when this final battle occurred https://wanderyourway.com |
The ship that Dougall Cameron was placed on was the Gildart out of Liverpool, which was captained by Richard Holme. It probably didn’t set sail from Liverpool until early May 1747. On 4 May 1747, Richard, James, and George Gildart executed a power of attorney appointing Robert Horner of Liverpool, merchant to be their agent in Maryland, Virginia, or any part of America. Richard Holme, the captain of the Gildart was one of the witnesses to the power of attorney. [viii] Two days later Holme, who was still in Liverpool, wrote his will (which was not unusal for many ship captains about to leave port). Robert Horner was one of the witnesses to the will[ix] and probably made the trip to Maryland with Holme on the Gildart.
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Engraving from the Modern Universal British Traveller 1779, Published by J. Cooke Liverpool was the center of the TransAtlantic Slave Trade |
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| Richard Gildart 1768 Joseph Wright National Museum, Liverpool |
The Maryland Gazette announced the arrival of the ship on 4 August 1747: “On the 26th paft, the Ship Gildart, Capt. Holme, arrived in Potomack, with 82 Rebels from Liverpool.”[x] Richard Horner took possession of the prisoners and began to sell off their indentures. Although Horner’s residence was listed as Liverpool, he had been living in Maryland and acting an agent for the Gildarts since at least 1744. His home in 1748 was in the Allens Fresh Area of the Wicomico River near Newport in Charles County.[xi]
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Maryland Gazette, 4 August 1747, page 3 |
Horner may have decided to keep Dougall Cameron as his own servant, or perhaps Cameron’s one blind eye and his attitude made him difficult to sell. Horner notes in his run away advertisement that Cameron was “a very impudent fellow.” Whatever the reason, Horner still had possession of Cameron almost a year after he arrived in Maryland. On 1 May 1748, Cameron and another rebel convict servant named Andrew Smith decided to run away. One of them could write, as Horner stated they probably had forged discharge papers with them.[xii] I don’t know if either Dougall Cameron or his companion Andrew Smith became free men for the rest of their lives, or if one or the other, or both, were captured and returned to Horner. In a short four year period, Dougall Cameron had gone from being a free man in Inverness, Scotland, who’d followed his clan chief to war and become a prisoner at the Siege of Carlisle Castle. From there he survived at least a year and a half in three different prisons, been herded on a ship in Liverpool, crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and was finally sold into lifelong indentured servitude in Maryland, probably never to see Inverness again. All because of Bonnie Prince Charlie and a Jacobite dream.
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Bonnie Prince Charlie Entering the Ballroom at Holyrood House Flanked by Lochiel and Lord Pitsligo 1892 John Pettie Royal Trust Collections |
[i]
Maryland Gazette Saturday, 8 June
1748, page 4.
[ii]
Ibid.
[iii]
Seton, Sir Bruce Gordon and Jean Gordon Arnot (editors). The Prisoners of the '45, Vol. II, Edited From the State Papers. Scottish
History Society 3rd Series Vol XIV, Edinburgh University Press, 1929.
[iv]
Ibid.
[v]
Layne, Darren S. Spotlight: Jacobites - Fit to Be Tried. History Scotland. Electronic Document. https://www.historyscotland.com/history/spotlight-jacobites-fit-to-be-tried/
Accessed 11 June 2024.
[vi]
Seton, Sir Bruce Gordon and Jean Gordon Arnot (editors). The Prisoners of the '45, Vol. I, Edited From the State Papers. Scottish
History Society 3rd Series Vol XIV, Edinburgh University Press, 1929.
[vii]
Seton and Arnot, Vol. II., page 85.
[viii]
Charles County Land Records, Liber Z no. 2, folio 196. The power of attorney
was not recorded in Charles County until 21 November 1747.
[ix]
Charles County Probate Records, Wills Book AC no. 4, folio 290. The will was
admitted to probate in Charles County on 6 March 1749/50 by Robert Horner.
[x]
Maryland Gazette Friday, 4 August
1747, page 3.
[xi]
Charles County Land Records, Liber A no. 2, folio 29.
[xii]
[xii] Maryland Gazette Saturday, 8 June 1748, page 4.
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