Person Page - 236

Gillies MacBain^1,2

• Father: William MacBain 13th Chief^1,3 b. c 1660

• Relationship: 5th great-granduncle of Donald James MacFarlane

The ancestry chart of Archibald MacFarlane (ID # 34) is presented because he unites the ancestry of both his parents. If an individual appears more than once in Archibald's chart this indicates descent from the individual in more than one line. By clicking on the each instance (i.e. Ancestry of Archibald MacFarlane (#5)) each line of descent will be shown.

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• Birth*: Gillies MacBain was born circa 1703 in Kinchyle, Inverness-shire, Scotland.^1,2
• Occupation*: He was Captain in the Mackintosh Regiment. on 16 April 1746.²
• Death*: He died on 16 April 1746 in Culloden, Inverness-shire, Scotland; Cause: Injuries received at the Battle of Culloden.²
• Biography*: AEneas is believed to have been living in 1745, so that his brother, Gillies Mor, who played a heroic part then, was not "of Kinchyle" as is generally stated. At the proving of his will he was described as son to Kinchyle and late tacksman at Dunachton, domiciled at Dalmagerry. Among his property was a copper still valued at seven pounds; in the "List of Persons concerned in the Rebellion" he is described as a "brewer "; and it has been conjectured that, his farm at Dunachton having proved unsuccessful, he was the innkeeper at Dalmagerry.
  
  Brewer or innkeeper, Major Gillies MacBean stands out as one of the most valiant figures on the Culloden battlefield. Six feet four and a half inches in height, and armed with claymore and target, he was a formidable figure. When the Argyll militia broke down a wall on the right, which enabled the dragoons to attack the flank of the Highland army, MacBean set himself at the gap, and cut down man after man as they came through. Thirteen in all, including Lord Robert Ker, had fallen under his strokes, and when the enraged enemy closed round him in numbers, he set his back to the wall and proceeded to sell his life as dearly as possible. An English officer, struck by his heroism, called to the soldiers to "save that brave man," but at that moment the heroic Major fell, his thigh bone broken, a dreadful sword cut on his head, and his body pierced with many bayonet wounds. His widow is said to have composed a pathetic lament to his memory—Mo run geal oig, "My fair young beloved." His fate was also enshrined in a set of verses which appeared in a northern periodical and have been attributed to Lord Byron.
  
  Lord Byron wrote:
  
  GILLIES MACBAlN
  "The clouds may pour down on Culloden's red plain,
  But their waters shall flow o'er its crimson in vain,
  For their drops shall seem few to the tears for the slain,
  But mine are for thee, my brave Gillies MacBain!
  "Though thy cause was the cause of the injured and brave;
  Though thy death was the hero's and glorious thy grave,
  My sad heart bleeds o're thee, my Gillies MacBain!
  "How the horse and the horseman thy single hand slew!
  But what could the mightiest single arm do?
  A hundred like thee might the battle regain;
  But cold are thy hand and heart, Gillies MacBain!
  "With thy back to the wall and thy breast to the targe,
  Full flashed thy claymore in the face of their charge:
  The blood of their boldest that barren turf stain,
  But, Alas! Thine is reddest thee, Gillies MacBain!
  "Hewn down, but still battling, thou sunk'st on the ground -
  Thy plaid was one gore, and thy breast was one wound;
  Thirteen of thy foes by thy right hand lay slain
  Oh! Would they were thousands for Gillies MacBain!
  "Oh! Loud and long heard shall thy coronach be,
  And high o'er the heather thy cairn we shall see;
  And deep in all bosoms thy name shall remain
  But deepest in mine, dearest Gillies MacBain!
  "And daily the eyes of thy brave boy before
  Shall thy plaid be unfolded, unsheathed the claymore;
  And the white rose shall bloom on his bonnet again
  Should he prove the true son of my Gillies MacBain!"
  
  .^2,4,5,3