The Battle of Sherramuir

"The Battle of Sherramuir" is a song written by the Scottish poet Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796) about the Battle of Sheriffmuir which occurred in Scotland in 1715 at the height of the Jacobite rebellion in England and Scotland. It was written when Burns toured the Highlands in 1787 and first published in The Scots Musical Museum, 1790. It was written to be sung to the 'Cameronian Rant'.

The song was written as an adaptation of a broadside by John Barclay (1734-1798), called "Dialogue Between Will Lick-Ladle and Tom Clean-Cogue". Burns knew that the Battle of Sheriffmuir had ended so inconclusively that it was unclear which side had won. That knowledge formed the basis for the theme of the song which is written as an account of the battle by two shepherds taking contrary views of the events that unfolded.

One of the shepherds believes that "the red-coat lads wi' black cockades" routed the rebels, painting a fearful picture of how they managed to "hough the Clans like nine-pin kyles". The other shepherd is just as convinced that the Jacobites "did pursue / The horsemen back to Forth, man" with the eventual result that "...mony a huntit, poor Red-coat / For fear amaist did swarf, man."

Dissatisfied with the first published version of the song, Burns revised and re-wrote it sometime after 1790. The revised version was published after his death by his editor, James Currie M.D. in The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Burns: With Explanatory and Glossarial Notes; And a Life of the Author (1800). It is the revised version of the song, published by Currie, that is regarded as the definitive version of the song.

Until recently the source used by James Currie to publish the revised version of the song was unclear. Equally, the academic, James Kinsley did not disclose the source for his analysis of the differences between the original and revised definitive version. In July 2007 the original manuscript containing Burns' revisions and amendments re-surfaced in the manuscript collection of the renowned Swiss manuscript collector Albin Schram. The manuscript was included as one of the most significant items in the auction of the Albin Schram Collection of Autograph Letters at Christie's in London which took place on 3 July 2007. It was acquired by an anonymous collector.

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