The most brilliant of the Jacobite sons of the 1st Duke of Atholl, he joined the Earl of Mar in 1715, commanded a regiment, and afterwards escaped to Europe. He was with his brother, the Marquess of Tullibardine, at Kintail in 1719, and was said to have been wounded at the battle of Glenshiels. Again he escaped and later served for a time with the King of Sardinia.
Eventually pardoned, he returned to Scotland but, in 1745, became Lieutenant-General to the Young Pretender. It was said: "Had Prince Charles slept during the whole of the expedition and allowed Lord George to act for him according to his own judgement, he would have found the Crown of Great Britain on his head when he awoke."
A survivor from ancient times was the "crois taraidh" or "Fiery Cross", the Scottish successor of the Old Norse "fire arrow". Two pieces of wood were charred at the upper end and then fastened
together to form a Cross, to which was attached a rag dipped in sheep's or goat's blood. Being both burnt and bloody, the Cross represented Fire and Sword. In time of war, the chief or chieftain
sent it in relays throughout every township and clachan in his territory. Each successive bearer, usually mounted on a garron pony, shouted out as he passed a single word: the name of the Gathering Place.
The last occasion on which the Fiery Cross called clansmen to war was in 1746, when Lord George Murray sent it out through Atholl in his attempt to retake Blair Castle from the advancing Hanoverians. On the eve of the battle of Culloden in the Scottish Highlands, fought between the Duke of Cumberland's troops and the rebellious Jacobites in 1746, a shrieking human-headed monster with burning red eyes and black leathery wings hovered over the terrified soldiers.
Called the skree, it could be readily dismissed as fantasy, were it not for the disquieting fact that one of the eyewitnesses was none other than Lord George Murray, a well-respected general renowned for his level-headed outlook. It is said, that after Culloden while hidden in the Highlands, he read the Bible for months on end.
After Culloden he was attained by parliament, but he made his escape and was received by the Chevalier in Rome. He died in exile in Holland.

Source: Leo van de Pas