glencoe08
glencoe08
Duncan MacDonald
The Year is ... 1838



In 1692, twelve-year old John MacDonald escaped the Massacre of Glencoe with mother and brother. Nearly 200 years later in 1838, his direct descendant, Angus MacDonald of Glencoe emigrated to America where he became a fur trader with the Hudson's Bay Company. There Angus met and, in 1848, married Catherine, who was part Nez Perce Indian and part Mohawk. Angus and Catherine had twelve children including a son called Duncan.



Duncan MacDonald grew up as a Nez Perce Indian, closely related to the tribal chiefs. In 1876, another group of Indians, the Sioux, led by chief Sitting Bull had attacked and killed General Custer and many of the American Cavalry at the Battle of Little Bighorn. Tensions were running high and in an effort to disassociate themselves from the troubles, many Nez Perce moved to Montana where Duncan MacDonald was living. In Montana, Duncan met with the Nez Perce and attempted to help them. But his efforts were in vain, for on the morning of 9th August 1877, the US Army mounted a dawn attack on the Indians as they slept in their camp at Big Hole. Many men, women and children were killed. Duncan MacDonald was horrified by the turn of events and resolved to publicize an account of the Nez Perce War from the Indian perspective. In later life he spoke often of the similarity of the Massacre of the MacDonalds of Glencoe and the massacre of the Nez Perce at Big Hole.