In the tale, in the summer of 1755 a bleeding man appears on the slope of Ben Cruachan, begging protection from pursuers, and Campbell swears on the faith of Inverawe to shelter him and hides him in a cave. That evening messengers arrive to say that Campbell's kinsman, his foster-brother in the commonest version, has been killed by the fugitive. In the night the dead man appears, pale and blood-clotted, and tells him not to shield the murderer. After the second visit he says, 'I have warned you once, I have warned you twice; it is too late now. We shall meet again at Ticonderoga.' Campbell keeps his oath and lets the man go after two nights.
Campbell later served in the 42nd Highlanders. In July 1758 the attack on Fort Carillon failed with heavy loss and Campbell was mortally wounded. He is said to have told a fellow officer that he had been deceived: this was Ticonderoga, and he had seen him. Wikipedia gives his death as 18 July 1758 at Fort Edward from wounds, not on the field. The earliest printed version is Thomas Dick Lauder's of 1841, and Stevenson's poem followed in 1887, so the details vary between tellings: some name the murderer, some make the victim a stranger.
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