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Bha mi ag innse dhuibh mu Anna Nic an Tòisich no ‘Colonel Anne’ às a’ Mhòigh, deas air Inbhir Nis. Anns a’ Ghearran, seachd ceud deug, ceathrad ’s a sia (1746) bha Teàrlach Òg Stiùbhart a’ fuireach aice. Chuir am Morair Loudon mìle gu leth saighdear a-mach à Inbhir Nis gu ruige a’ Mhòigh. Bha e airson am Prionnsa a chur an grèim. Cha robh a’ seasamh nan rathad ach gobha na Mòighe, Dòmhnall Friseal, agus ceathrar eile. 

Rinn Dòmhnall is a chàirdean othail mhòr, mar gun robh iad an cois arm nan Seumasach. Chunnaic saighdearan Loudon cruachan mònach air fàire. Anns an dorchadas, bha iad a’ coimhead coltach ri gràisgean shaighdearan. Chuala na saighdearan Hanoibhèirianach sgiamhail agus gunnaichean gan losgadh. Cha robh fios aca nach robh ann ach còignear nan aghaidh! Agus theich iad air ais a dh’Inbhir Nis.

Dh’fhàs an gnothach ainmeil mar Ruaig na Mòighe. A rèir aithris, bha dìreach aon duine air a mharbhadh ann. B’ esan Dòmhnall Bàn MacCruimein, am pìobaire do MhacLeòid Dhùn Bheagain. Bheir sinn sùil airsan an-ath-sheachdain.

An dèidh Ruaig na Mòighe, tharraing Teàrlach Òg arm ri chèile. Rinn iad air Inbhir Nis. Bha am Morair Loudon air teicheadh. An ceann greis, bha armailt Seumasach ann an Dòrnach ann an Cataibh. Bha sabaid ann. Chaidh grunn shaighdearan riaghaltais a chur an grèim. Nam measg, bha Mac an Tòisich fhèin. Dh’òrdaich am Prionnsa Mac an Tòisich a chur fo ghlas na dhachaigh fhèin anns a’ Mhòigh, fo cheannsal a mhnà, Anna.

Chaidh inbhe bàillidh Inbhir Nis a bhuileachadh air Anna ann an seachd ceud deug, seasgad ’s a trì (1763). Chaochail i ann an Lìte bliadhna air fhichead an dèidh sin.

Bu mhath leam crìoch a chur air a’ chunntas seo le iomradh air dealbh de dh’Anna. Chaidh a pheantadh nuair a bha i òg. Bhathar riamh a’ smaoineachadh nach robh aice air a broilleach ach sròl air ceann shuas a dreasa. Ach, nuair a chaidh obair gleidhidh a dhèanamh air an dealbh san fhicheadamh linn, lorgadh bràiste a bha ann bho thùs air a broilleach. Air a’ bhràiste, bha dealbh de Theàrlach Òg Stiùbhart. 

I was telling you about Anne Mackintosh or ‘Colonel Anne’ from Moy, south of Inverness. In February 1746, Bonnie Prince Charlie was staying with her. Lord Loudon sent fifteen hundred soldiers from Inverness to Moy. He was wanting to capture the Prince. The only people standing in their way were the smith of Moy, Donald Fraser, and four others.

Donald and his friends made a great hubbub, as if they were accompanied by the Jacobite army. Loudon’s soldiers saw peat stacks on the skyline. In the darkness, they looked like gangs of soldiers. The Hanoverian soldiers heard caterwauling and the firing of guns. They didn’t know there were only five men against them! And they fled back to Inverness.

The matter became famed as the Rout of Moy. Apparently, there was only one man killed there. He was Donald Ban MacCrimmon, the piper to MacLeod of Dunvegan. We’ll look at him next week.

After the Rout of Moy, Bonnie Prince Charlie drew his army together. They made for Inverness. Lord Loudon had fled. After a while, a Jacobite force was in Dornoch in East Sutherland. There was a fight. A number of government soldiers were captured. Among them was the Mackintosh himself. The Prince ordered that Mackintosh be placed under arrest in his own home, under the authority of his wife, Anne.

Anne was granted the status of burgess of Inverness in 1763. She died in Leith twenty-one years after that.

I’d like to finish this account with mention of a portrait of Anne. It was painted when she was young. It was always thought that she had on her breast only the lace at the top of her dress. But, when conservation work was done on the picture in the twentieth century, a brooch was found that was originally on her breast. On the brooch was a picture of Charles Edward Stuart.