Caledonia continues with Part 3 of Robert Louis Stevenson's Highland adventure, as the shanghai'd David Balfour is about to meet one of the characters in the story that is based on a real person: Allan Breck Stewart.
In accordance with the fosterage customs of the Scottish
clans, Allan Breck Stewart and his brothers grew up under the care of their
relative James Stewart (known as "James of the Glen") in Appin. Allan
then enlisted in the British Army of George II in 1745, just before the
Jacobite rising of that year. He fought at the Battle of Prestonpans, but
deserted to the Highland Jacobites. He subsequently fought for the Jacobites,
but after they were defeated at the Battle of Culloden he fled to
France,
accompanying his commander and clan captain, Colonel Charles Stewart of
Ardshiel. (Ardshiel was not the chief of the Appin Stewarts, but took command
in absence of the true chief.) After joining one of the Scottish regiments
serving in the French Army, Allan Breck was sent back to
Scotland to
collect rents for the exiled clan leaders and to recruit soldiers for the
French Crown.
On 14 May 1752 Colin Roy Campbell of Glenure, the royal
agent collecting rents from the Ardshiel Campbell
and inquired about Campbell's
schedule for the day in question, a warrant was issued for his arrest. However,
he evaded capture, and so was tried in absentia and sentenced to death. His
foster father, James of the Glen, was also convicted as an accessory to the
murder and hanged. Later investigations suggest that the murderer could not
have been Allan Breck at all.
Caledonia Skytower, live in voice.
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