The Battle of Sherramuir by Robert Burns

Name: The Battle of Sherramuir
Author: Robert Burns

“The Battle of Sherramuir” presents a lively, confused account of a fierce battle, told through competing reports and partisan boasts. One speaker asks whether another came merely to avoid fighting or to tend sheep, and whether he witnessed the battle at Sherra-moor. The witness describes a brutal clash in which blood ran through ditches, fear shook his heart, and clans in tartan rushed out from the woods seeking control of three kingdoms. The red-coated troops, wearing black cockades, meet their enemies eagerly. Led by the great Argyle, they drive forward with violence, cutting down the clans, while broadswords clash and men are hacked, hewn, and killed. Yet another account praises the Highland fighters in philibegs and tartan trews. They boldly face the Whigs and “True-blues,” extend their lines, and charge with drawn blades when bayonets overcome the targe. In this telling, the opposing force eventually flees like frightened doves. A further speaker disputes this version, insisting that the pursuit went northward. He says he saw horsemen chased back toward Forth, saw a bridge taken at Dunblane, and saw the pursuers fly straight toward Stirling. There, however, the gates are shut, leaving many hunted red-coats nearly faint with fear. The narrator then reports what his sister Kate claims to have seen: rebels running toward Perth and Dundee. Their left-hand general is judged unskilled, while the Angus men are accused of lacking the will to spill their neighbours’ blood. Frightened for themselves and their food, they flee homeward. The song finally mourns the losses among the Highland clans, fearing that Lord Panmure has been slain or captured by Whigs. It calls the encounter a “double fight,” in which men fall for both wrong and right, and many die. Its final image is one of pell-mell slaughter by red claymores and muskets, with Tories falling amid dying cries and Whigs fleeing to hell.

By Robert Burns · First published 1790 · Genre: Historical Ballad, War Poetry, Scottish Folk Song · 791 words

First lines

Tune-"The Cameronian Rant."

"O cam ye here the fight to shun, / Or herd the sheep wi' me, man? / Or were ye at the Sherra-moor, / Or did the battle see, man? " / I saw the battle, sair and teugh, / And reekin-red ran mony a sheugh; / My heart, for fear, gaed sough for sough, / To hear the thuds, and see the cluds / O' clans frae woods, in tartan duds, / Wha glaum'd at kingdoms three, man. / La, la, la, la, &c.

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The Battle of Sherramuir is listed on Textopian as a poem by Robert Burns, dated 1790 CE.

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Work type: Poem
Author: Robert Burns
Date: 1790 CE
Language: English
Genres: Historical Ballad, War Poetry, Scottish Folk Song, Political Satire, Jacobite Literature
Length: 791 words
Structure: 1 section, 7 paragraphs
Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)

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Genres

Historical Ballad — A narrative song concerning the Battle of Sheriffmuir of 1715, recounting combatants, military actions, casualties, and disputed claims of victory.
War Poetry — The poem focuses on the violence, fear, confusion, weapons, charges, wounds, and deaths of battle.
Scottish Folk Song — Written in Scots dialect and set to the traditional tune 'The Cameronian Rant,' it uses a recurring refrain and oral-song form.
Political Satire — Burns exposes partisan self-deception by presenting contradictory Whig and Jacobite accounts, with each side claiming the other fled.