Inverawe rose before dawn and went straight to the cave. Macniven wasgone!Inverawe saw no more of the ghost, but the adventure left him agloomy, melancholy man. Many a time he would wander on Cruachan hillside, brooding over his vision, and people passing him would see thefar-away look in his eyes, and would say one to the other: "The puirlaird, he is aye thinking on him that is gone". Only his dearestfriends knew the cause of his melancholy.In 1756 the war between the English and French in America broke out.The 42nd regiment embarked, and landed at New York in June of thatyear. Campbell of Inverawe was a major in the regiment. The lieut.-colonel was Francis Grant. From New York the 42nd proceeded toAlbany, where the regiment remained inactive till the spring of 1757.One evening when the 42nd were still quartered at this place, Inveraweasked the colonel "if he had ever heard of a place calledTiconderoga". {160} Colonel Grant replied he had never heard the namebefore. Inverawe then told his story. Most of the officers werepresent at the time; some were impressed, others were inclined to lookupon the whole thing as a joke, but seeing how very much disturbedInverawe was about it all, even the most unbelieving refrained frombantering him.In 1758 an expedition was to be directed against Ticonderoga, on LakeGeorge, a fort erected by the French. The Highlanders were to formpart of this expedition. The force was under Major-GeneralAbercromby.Ticonderoga was called by the French St. Louis [really "FortCarillon"], and Inverawe knew it by no other name. One of theofficers told Colonel Grant that the Indian name of the place wasTiconderoga. Grant, remembering Campbell's story, said: "For God'ssake don't let Campbell know this, or harm will come of it".The troops embarked on Lake George and landed without opposition nearthe extremity of the lake early in July. They marched from there,through woods, upon Ticonderoga, having had one successful skirmishwith the enemy, driving them back with considerable loss. Lord Howewas killed in this engagement.On the 10th of July the assault was directed to be commenced by thepicquets. {162} The Grenadiers were to follow, supported by thebattalions and reserves. The Highlanders and 55th regiment formed thereserve.In vain the troops attempted to force their way through the abbatis,they themselves being exposed to a heavy artillery and musket firefrom an enemy well under cover. The Highlanders could no longer berestrained, and rushed forward from the reserve, cutting and carvingtheir way through trees and other obstacles with their claymores. Thedeadly fire still continued from the fort. As no ladders had beenprovided for scaling the breastwork, the soldiers climbed on to oneanother's shoulders, and made holes for their feet in the face of thework with their swords and bayonets, but as soon as a man reached thetop he was thrown down. Captain John Campbell and a few men succeededat last in forcing their way over the breastworks, but wereimmediately cut down.After a long and desperate struggle, lasting in fact nearly fourhours, General Abercromby gave orders for a retreat. The troops couldhardly be prevailed upon to retire, and it was not till the order hadbeen given for the third time that the Highlanders withdrew from thehopeless encounter. The loss sustained by the regiment was asfollows: eight officers, nine sergeants and 297 men killed; seventeenofficers, ten sergeants and 306 men wounded.Inverawe, after having fought with the greatest courage, received atlength his death wound. Colonel Grant hastened to the dying man'sside, who looked reproachfully at him, and said: "You deceived me;this is Ticonderoga, for I have seen him". Inverawe never spokeagain. Inverawe's son, an officer in the same regiment, also lost hislife at Ticonderoga.On the very day that these events were happening in far-away America,two ladies, Miss Campbell of Ederein and her sister, were walking fromKilmalieu to Inveraray, and had reached the then new bridge over theAray. One of them happened to look up at the sky. She gave a call toher sister to look also. They both of them saw in the sky what lookedlike a siege going on. They saw the different regiments with theircolours, and recognised many of their friends among the Highlanders.They saw Inverawe and his son fall, and other men whom they knew.When they reached Inveraray they told all their friends of the visionthey had just seen. They also took down the names of those they hadseen fall, and the time and date of the occurrence. The well-knownDanish physician, Sir William Hart, was, together with an Englishmanand a servant, walking round the Castle of Inveraray. These men sawthe same phenomena, and confirmed the statements made by the twoladies. Weeks after the gazette corroborated their statements in itsaccount of the attempt made on Ticonderoga. Every detail was correctin the vision, down to the actual number of the killed and wounded.But there was sorrow throughout Argyll long before the gazetteappeared.* * * * *We now give the best attainable version of a yet more famous legend,"The Tyrone Ghost".The literary history of "The Tyrone Ghost" is curious. In 1802 Scottused the tale as the foundation of his ballad, The Eve of St. John,and referred to the tradition of a noble Irish family in a note. In1858 the subject was discussed in Notes and Queries. A reference wasgiven to Lyon's privately printed Grand Juries of Westmeath from 1751.The version from that rare work, a version dated "Dublin, August,1802," was published in Notes and Queries of 24th July, 1858. InDecember, 1896, a member of the Beresford family published in TheNines (a journal of the Wiltshire regiment), the account whichfollows, derived from a MS. at Curraghmore, written by Lady BettyCobbe, granddaughter of the ghost-seer, Lady Beresford. The writer inThe Nines remembers Lady Betty. The account of 1802 is clearlyderived from the Curraghmore MS., but omits dates; calls Sir TristramBeresford "Sir Marcus "; leaves out the visit to Gill Hall, where theghost appeared, and substitutes blanks for the names of personsconcerned. Otherwise the differences in the two versions are mainlyverbal.
