The Honourable Sergeant Mòr

John Cameron was a Scottish soldier famous for his great size and strength and known simply as Sergeant Mòr. He was a proud Jacobite and even after the rising ended at the Battle of Culloden, this warrior wasn’t ready to give up. Instead, Sergeant Mòr took to the hills around Loch Lomond and lived the life of an outlaw.

A band of equally patriotic Jacobites formed around the Sergeant and he became a Robin Hood figure. He stole only from supporters of the British Government, while making sure to guard the local Jacobite sympathisers from any repercussions. In return, the people protected the group when the soldiers came searching. While Sergeant Mòr might have lived the life of an outlaw, he was still known to be an honourable man.

One day, a British Army officer carrying a large sum in soldier’s wages found himself lost amongst the mountain passes when he came across a friendly looking man. He confessed that he was on his way to Fort William but had no idea how to get back on the right road. He had heard stories about outlaws in the area and was terrified of running into the dreaded Sergeant Mòr while carrying such a huge amount of money.

The stranger smiled and agreed to escort him back to the right track. As he led the way to safety, the pair talked, and conversation inevitably turned to the legends surrounding the leader of the outlaws. The officer cursed the man and his crimes, robbing and murdering innocent people at will.

At that, the stranger stopped in his tracks, spun around, and confronted the soldier. He declared that the Sergeant might lift cattle from those who supported the government, but he would never kill an innocent person. Without thinking he added that there had been one death at Braemar, but that was an accident and he had left the spoils behind as compensation!

Seeing the look on the officer’s face, the stranger knew he had said too much. It was now evident that this was the notorious Sergeant Mòr and his travelling companion had gone very pale. He was standing in the middle of nowhere, carrying an awful lot of gold, with the man he had been warned to avoid right after gravely insulting him.

The big Sergeant laughed. He might have been an outlaw, but he was also an honourable character. It wouldn’t be right to rob somebody he had promised to escort to safety, especially not a fellow soldier. He pointed him to the right road and watched the officer run for his life.

In 1753, somebody finally tipped off the troops as to where the outlaws were hiding. Half a dozen men grabbed the Sergeant while he slept in a barn, but the big man threw them off as if they were children. Running outside, he was met with the barrels of loaded muskets and found himself completely trapped. He was executed for his crimes but lived on as a folk hero in an old poem written to the tune of the popular Loch Lomond song:

"Wi' the men o' Sergeant Mòr shall I work to pay the score,
Till I wither on the wuddy in the sun, lad!"