Two pieces of correspondence, letter and memoranda, by MAJOR JOHN LA FAUSILLE, 8^TH [KINGS] REGIMENT OF FOOT.

Fausille’s army memoranda, dated March 28, 1746, consists of two handwritten pages in ink, measuring 8.25 x 6”, and is entirely legible, though lightly faded. It contains an ultimatum to the residents of “Glenesque”, copied in the hand of Fausille’s adjutant.

Text as follows:

“By Major John La Fausille commanding a detachment of his Majesty’s forces under his Royal Highness the Duke [William Angus, Duke of Cumberland]—March 28 1746/ I do hereby….send this my order to the inhabitants of Glenesque by which I require them to return to their houses and deliver up their arms to me tomorrow at four o’clock in the afternoon, such as I find peaceably at their houses and deliver up their arms to me tomorrow at the Castle of Invermark or have done it to the minister of the parish, I shall not molest nor suffer any under my command to do, but all such who oppose me, attempt to do hurt, force out to take arms any person or persons to do it, or do any damage to his majesty & subjects, against all such and those who shall harbor rebels and do not give me immediate intelligence where they are at all times of the day or at night at my quarters, against all offenders as above I will proceed with fire and sword, and should the Rebels fall upon town or Village inhabited by any of his majestys loyal subjects, I do hereby declare that I and all his majestys military officers now or part in Glenesque or I call to come into it---hereafter will destroy every thing belonging Rebels and I desire this may be notified by the ministers to their parishioners to warn them to avoid the great calamity s which must inevitably befall them and their familys if they persist in this unnatural Rebellion. Sir sub. Jno. Laf/ The above is a copie of the first order.”

Second page. “Follows the second/ By major John Lafausille commanding a Detachment of his majesty’s forces under his Royal Highness the Duke/ At the request of Mr. John Garden a Factor, I have suspended the military operation against the inhabitants of Glenesque who do not remain in their houses and surrender their arms and to allow them time to do it till Monday morning next, and such as do not deliver up their arms to the minister or managers of Brechnie before that time, against all such I will proceed with fire and sword. Given at the Castle of Royal, 29^th March 1746---Sir. Sub. Jno. Laf----Major to Wolfe’s Regt.”

The above ultimatum is accompanied by a near-mint, one page letter by Major Fausille to his wife six days later--dated “April 4^th 1746/ Montrose”. Fausille details his recent army activities and cautions his “Nanny” not to show his letters around.

Text:

“I have the Pleasure to tell my Dear Nanny that I am returned this Day to Montrose from a circuit at the head of 300 foot round the Rebellious Province of Angus where there was a rising again on the Army’s leaving it, there were 220 Rebels in Arms. They are dispers’d & the most Rebellious Parts have surrender’d about 150 fire arms to me & all is Quiet. I march’d with an Ample Power to fire, destroy & Punish Rebels & their abettor & I have burn’d both Houses and non-juring Meeting Houses in my way, but yet with as much Mercy as was consistent with my Duty & the whole County is quiet. & humble at Present & I had the following Paragraph last night from Col. Napier H:R:H’s 1^st Aide de Camp in a letter wrote to me by order:

“His Royal Highess is very well satisfy’d with every thing you have done, which he has order’d me to signify to you.”

I own it to you this has made [me] very happy as he was pleas’d to pitch upon me for this service & I shall march to join the Army at Aberdeen in health & Spirits & hope to receive a handful of my Nanny’s Dear Letters. I march Sunday.

I do not doubt but you have been uneasy at my silence but it was unavoidable for I was out off all Post Roads & even enter’d the Highlands. One days march with Fire & Sword & subdued the Glanesquiers or Inhabitants of Lochlie contrary to expectation of all their Neighbours. Adieu Dearest. I have been 5 nights in my cloaths with little rest to my self to procure it to my Men. I will venture to say no Field Off’r had so ample a Power given over so large a County.

Adieu once more my Dear Nanny you shall often hear now from me that I am ever my dearest Nanny’s/ Most Affect’/ J. La/ don’t put my letters out of your hands.”

The Scots “ ‘Forty five” was the famed 1745 Highland uprising in support of “Bonnie Prince Charlie”, the last deposed Stuart pretender to the British crown. Two weeks after the events described in Major Fausille’s correspondence, three British columns converged on a Highlander army at Culloden field in northern Scotland, where the Scots were massacred following a rash, headlong charge in the teeth of British guns. Though “Bonnie Prince Charlie” himself escaped, the Battle of Culloden [April 16, 1746] remains one the saddest days in Scotland’s colorful history. Memories of the ’Forty Five reverberate in the famed Scots ballad of two captured highlanders, one condemned to hang, the other to be released on parole—“Ye take the high road and I’ll take the low, an I’ll be in Scotland before ye/ But me and my true love will never meet again on the bonny, bonny banks of Loch Lomond.”

On the British side, Major John La Fausille was eventually promoted to Major General. The 8^th [King’s] Regiment of foot with which he served during the ‘Forty-five was commanded by Colonel Edward Wolfe, whose son James Wolfe was later to win fame as victor at the “Plains of Abraham,” the French & Indian War fight near Quebec that forever extinguished French claims in North America. The victor at Culloden was known ever after in Scotland as “Butcher” Cumberland.

These rare and important documents flesh out in personal terms a fascinating episode in British history. Charged to disarm rebellious Scots in the province of Angus, Major Fausille issued an ultimatum warning civilians “of the great calamities which must inevitably befall them and their families if they persist in this unnatural rebellion.” When pressed for extra time, Fausille extended the date of compliance to “Monday next”, but to no avail. When the ultimatum expired he “marched with ample power to fire, destroy and punish…and burned houses and non-juring [Rebel] meeting houses with as much mercy as was consistent” with his duty. Could any officer in his position have done less? Should he? Two hundred sixty years later, among Scots especially, these questions still resonate.

Historically significant, a superb collectible.

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