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Alasdair is mistakenly referred to-both by some of his contemporaries and posterity-as 'Colkitto', a name that belongs to his father, Coll MacGillespic. Also Clan Donald is not a 'branch' of the Macdonald Clan-they are one and the same thing. Technically it is more correct to say Clan Donald (the children of Donald) rather than the Macdonald clan.
There is also a wider point to be made about Alasdair's alleged invention of the Highland charge, first argued, I believe, by David Stevenson. By this argument it is maintained that the tactic first appeared in Scotland at the Battle of Tippermuir in September 1644. Here it took the classic form, soon to become familiar to many Lowland armies: an initial discharge of muskets followed by a close-quarter engagement with blade weapons. But Tippermuir, apart from the innovation of guns, was in many ways little different from Highland battles of ages past, which began with a discharge of missile weapons, followed by an onward surge, like Kinloch-Lochy in 1544. The other side of the equation tends to be overlooked: the changing nature of Lowland armies.
It is important to realise that Tippermuir was the first time Highlanders and Lowlanders had met in full-scale battle since Inverlochy in 1431. At Inverlochy, and at the earlier battle at Harlaw, Highlanders and Lowlanders would have fought with similar weapons and techniques, usually wearing chain-mail or some other form of body armour. By 1644 Highlanders had not lost their skill in the use of blade weapons; Lowlanders, in contrast, had. At Marston Moor the Scots had faced soldiers armed and organized very much like themselves, musketeers whose secondary defence while undergoing the dangerous operation of reloading was provided by pikemen. But neither pike nor unloaded musket were much use against shield and broadsword. More than this Lowland amateur soldiers, quickly raised and badly trained, were little use against men educated all their lives in a warrior tradition. The Highland charge was not a great innovation, but a technique with ancient roots. It would take a century of intermitent experience for Lowlanders to learn that it could be defeated, using defence in depth by well-trained, profesional soldiers. Rcpaterson 23:56, 27 May 2006 (UTC)
I don't know who put in those allagations but they are not true. It is merley a politically motivated smear campaign against a national hero of Scotland and Ireland.-- 86.142.142.210 ( talk) 15:52, 23 September 2009 (UTC) RS 23/09/09
The "Barn of Bones" refers to Mc Colla's burning down a barn full of Campbell women & children. This is important to recall the motivation behind later events such as the Glencoe Massacre & McColla's own execution in 1647 -Streona —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.45.152.152 ( talk) 11:37, 3 March 2011 (UTC)
No mention of the event in 1642 that made Alasdair notorious? Mabuska (talk) 17:36, 23 September 2021 (UTC)
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Alasdair Mac Colla article. This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject. |
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Alasdair is mistakenly referred to-both by some of his contemporaries and posterity-as 'Colkitto', a name that belongs to his father, Coll MacGillespic. Also Clan Donald is not a 'branch' of the Macdonald Clan-they are one and the same thing. Technically it is more correct to say Clan Donald (the children of Donald) rather than the Macdonald clan.
There is also a wider point to be made about Alasdair's alleged invention of the Highland charge, first argued, I believe, by David Stevenson. By this argument it is maintained that the tactic first appeared in Scotland at the Battle of Tippermuir in September 1644. Here it took the classic form, soon to become familiar to many Lowland armies: an initial discharge of muskets followed by a close-quarter engagement with blade weapons. But Tippermuir, apart from the innovation of guns, was in many ways little different from Highland battles of ages past, which began with a discharge of missile weapons, followed by an onward surge, like Kinloch-Lochy in 1544. The other side of the equation tends to be overlooked: the changing nature of Lowland armies.
It is important to realise that Tippermuir was the first time Highlanders and Lowlanders had met in full-scale battle since Inverlochy in 1431. At Inverlochy, and at the earlier battle at Harlaw, Highlanders and Lowlanders would have fought with similar weapons and techniques, usually wearing chain-mail or some other form of body armour. By 1644 Highlanders had not lost their skill in the use of blade weapons; Lowlanders, in contrast, had. At Marston Moor the Scots had faced soldiers armed and organized very much like themselves, musketeers whose secondary defence while undergoing the dangerous operation of reloading was provided by pikemen. But neither pike nor unloaded musket were much use against shield and broadsword. More than this Lowland amateur soldiers, quickly raised and badly trained, were little use against men educated all their lives in a warrior tradition. The Highland charge was not a great innovation, but a technique with ancient roots. It would take a century of intermitent experience for Lowlanders to learn that it could be defeated, using defence in depth by well-trained, profesional soldiers. Rcpaterson 23:56, 27 May 2006 (UTC)
I don't know who put in those allagations but they are not true. It is merley a politically motivated smear campaign against a national hero of Scotland and Ireland.-- 86.142.142.210 ( talk) 15:52, 23 September 2009 (UTC) RS 23/09/09
The "Barn of Bones" refers to Mc Colla's burning down a barn full of Campbell women & children. This is important to recall the motivation behind later events such as the Glencoe Massacre & McColla's own execution in 1647 -Streona —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.45.152.152 ( talk) 11:37, 3 March 2011 (UTC)
No mention of the event in 1642 that made Alasdair notorious? Mabuska (talk) 17:36, 23 September 2021 (UTC)