husband, skulking high in the heather, watched this in agony. There were other women raped, too, and always before the doors of their burn ing homes. . . . The women who had been ravished made pacts not to lie with their husbands until nine months were passed. "Which resolution," said the Laird of Glenmoriston, thinking of Isobel Macdonald and one other, "the husbands agreed to. But they happened luckily not to fall with child by the ravishing, nor to con tract any bad disease."
Lockhart's next stop was at Strathglass, the land of the Chisholms and Frasers, where his soldiers raped a pregnant woman.
In July of that year, Captain Scott led an expedition to the Outer Hebrides in search of the fugitive Prince Charles. He was ferried from island to island by Captain John Fergusson of the
Furnace. "The Laird of Raasay, John MacLeod, said that Scott's men raped a blind girl on Rona. . . . On the island of Raasay . . . they ravished two women whose names were Kristie Montgomery and Marion MacLeod."
Captain Fergusso had been cruising the Western Isles since March, raiding the islands for fresh beef and mutton, and, said one of the Macdonalds of Canna, "to make ane attack upon all the girls and young women in all the Isle, marryed or otherwise." The women of Canna took shelter in the caves.
In the cottage of Evan Mor Maclsaacs, where there had been two young girls, the sailors found only the mother . . . . Evan Mor was put under guard of drawn swords, and the sailors made ready to rape his wife, but she escaped from them into the darkness. They pursued her drunkenly, shouting and waving their cutlasses, and passing by her where she had hidden in a bog. The Macdonald of Canna who told this story to Robert Forbes said that Mrs. Mac Isaacs was pregnant, and that she died of a miscarriage before morn ing.
The Furnace went next to the isle of Eigg, where the sailors went ashore and slaughtered cattle, pillaged houses and "ravished a girl or two."
At least one Highland woman got her revenge, Prebble re cords: "In Appin a young girl, whose cow had been shot by a soldier,
40 AGAINST OUR WILL
killed him with a stone when he attempted to rape her. The body was buried secretly · at Airds . . ."
An act of rape in war that a husband or father is forced to watch is quite common. Sometimes it is simply a matter of proxim ity, as when Isobel Macdonald's husband skulked in the heather, but more often it is part of the plan, as in the house of Evan Mor Maclsaacs. Rape of a woman in war may be as much an act against her husband or father, for the rapist, as it is an act against the woman's · body. The attitude of husbands af ter a rape is equally interesting. The ravished women of Inverwick did not sleep with their husbands for nine months af ter their assault. Although it appears from the Laird of Glenmoriston that this was a pact that the husbands agreed to, the more common experience is for the husbands to turn from their raped wives in revulsion-as witness the recent mass rejection of the raped women of Bangladesh. In war as in peace, the husbands of raped women place a major burden of blame for the awful event on their wives. The hallowed rights of property have been abused, and the property herself is held culpable.
. A casual reader of history quickly learns that rape remains unmentionable, even in war. Serious historians have rarely bothered to document specific acts of rape in warfare, for reasons of their own scale of values and taste, as well as for lack of hard-and fast surviving proof. Thus the story of Culloden is exceptional for its wealth of detail. Systematic rape of Highland women by En glish forces during the occupation of Scotland fitted perfectly into a bold pattern of national subjugation. It also fitted logically into a retrospective analysis of the ultimate destruction of the proud and tightly knit hierarchical clans. Perhaps for these reasons the High land lairds of Scotland understood, as few have, the military
Lockhart's next stop was at Strathglass, the land of the Chisholms and Frasers, where his soldiers raped a pregnant woman.
In July of that year, Captain Scott led an expedition to the Outer Hebrides in search of the fugitive Prince Charles. He was ferried from island to island by Captain John Fergusson of the
Furnace. "The Laird of Raasay, John MacLeod, said that Scott's men raped a blind girl on Rona. . . . On the island of Raasay . . . they ravished two women whose names were Kristie Montgomery and Marion MacLeod."
Captain Fergusso had been cruising the Western Isles since March, raiding the islands for fresh beef and mutton, and, said one of the Macdonalds of Canna, "to make ane attack upon all the girls and young women in all the Isle, marryed or otherwise." The women of Canna took shelter in the caves.
In the cottage of Evan Mor Maclsaacs, where there had been two young girls, the sailors found only the mother . . . . Evan Mor was put under guard of drawn swords, and the sailors made ready to rape his wife, but she escaped from them into the darkness. They pursued her drunkenly, shouting and waving their cutlasses, and passing by her where she had hidden in a bog. The Macdonald of Canna who told this story to Robert Forbes said that Mrs. Mac Isaacs was pregnant, and that she died of a miscarriage before morn ing.
The Furnace went next to the isle of Eigg, where the sailors went ashore and slaughtered cattle, pillaged houses and "ravished a girl or two."
At least one Highland woman got her revenge, Prebble re cords: "In Appin a young girl, whose cow had been shot by a soldier,
40 AGAINST OUR WILL
killed him with a stone when he attempted to rape her. The body was buried secretly · at Airds . . ."
An act of rape in war that a husband or father is forced to watch is quite common. Sometimes it is simply a matter of proxim ity, as when Isobel Macdonald's husband skulked in the heather, but more often it is part of the plan, as in the house of Evan Mor Maclsaacs. Rape of a woman in war may be as much an act against her husband or father, for the rapist, as it is an act against the woman's · body. The attitude of husbands af ter a rape is equally interesting. The ravished women of Inverwick did not sleep with their husbands for nine months af ter their assault. Although it appears from the Laird of Glenmoriston that this was a pact that the husbands agreed to, the more common experience is for the husbands to turn from their raped wives in revulsion-as witness the recent mass rejection of the raped women of Bangladesh. In war as in peace, the husbands of raped women place a major burden of blame for the awful event on their wives. The hallowed rights of property have been abused, and the property herself is held culpable.
. A casual reader of history quickly learns that rape remains unmentionable, even in war. Serious historians have rarely bothered to document specific acts of rape in warfare, for reasons of their own scale of values and taste, as well as for lack of hard-and fast surviving proof. Thus the story of Culloden is exceptional for its wealth of detail. Systematic rape of Highland women by En glish forces during the occupation of Scotland fitted perfectly into a bold pattern of national subjugation. It also fitted logically into a retrospective analysis of the ultimate destruction of the proud and tightly knit hierarchical clans. Perhaps for these reasons the High land lairds of Scotland understood, as few have, the military
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