A quiz question · hard
How many nights did Captain Robert Campbell's soldiers stay as guests of the MacDonalds before turning on them at dawn on 13 February 1692?
The soldiers had been billeted under Highland hospitality custom from 1 February. The breach of guest-host trust was the part that produced the broadest contemporary moral outrage — even more than the killings themselves.
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The Highland Clan Hosting Government Soldiers for Twelve Nights Before Being Massacred by Them on 13 February 1692 At 5 a.m. on 13 February 1692, Captain Robert Campbell and approximately 120 soldiers of the Earl of Argyll's Regiment turned on the MacDonalds of Glencoe, who had been their hosts for twelve nights under the Highland code of hospitality. Thirty-eight MacDonalds were killed in their homes and on the snow. About forty more died of exposure in the mountains. The order had been signed by William of Orange.
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