Search just our sites by using our customised search engine

Unique Cottages | Electric Scotland's Classified Directory

Click here to get a Printer Friendly PageSmiley

Historical Geography of the Clans of Scotland
By T. B. Johnston, F.R.G.S. and Colonel James A. Robertson
The Highland Campaigns
The Fifteen



Prince James Francis Edward Stuart

FOR nearly a century after the completion of the Revolution, the adherents of the House of Stuart continued to hope and plot and struggle for the restoration of the fallen dynasty. The complete diplomatic and military history of Jacobitism still remains to be written. In the Stuart Papers at Windsor, in public archives at home and abroad, and in the records of many private families, there is still much material for the elucidation of the strange, pathetic story of the lost cause. All that can be done here is briefly to re-tell the story of the armed attempts which were made on behalf of the Stuarts, so far as they took place in the Highlands of Scotland.

The courage, wisdom, and clemency of William of Orange soon placed the Revolution Government on a secure basis. It was to his great enemy abroad, Louis XIV., that the Jacobites naturally looked for help, and in him they found a zealous and powerful ally.

King James II. died at St. Germains in 1701, and his heritage of misfortune descended to his son, James Francis Edward Stuart, then a boy of twelve, known to his adherents as James III. of England and VIII. of Scotland, to his enemies as the Pretender, and to both parties as the Chevalier de St. George.

All along it was in Scotland that Jacobitism had its strongest footing. As the Jacobites were to find to their cost, the people of England, notwithstanding local ebullitions of Jacobite feeling, were as a whole satisfied with the results of the Revolution; at all events, they never thought that the restoration of the exiled family was worth a civil war. In Scotland it was different. There the Revolution Settlement was by no means universally popular. The old Cavalier party hated it, of course; most of the Highland clans hated it because it meant the ascendancy of Argyll; the Cameronians hated it because it meant an uncovenanted king. The action of the Government in the matter of the Darien project exasperated Scottish national feeling almost to the point of hostilities. The Union of 1707 was carried in the face of a great popular outcry that the honour and independence of the ancient kingdom were being sacrificed at the behest of English politicians. At first it was very far from being a success. Various measures, some excellent in themselves, were imposed on the country in the most unconciliatory manner, as the English way is sometimes apt to be, and the proud and sensitive temper of the Scots was prompt to resent every insult, real or imaginary. The early legislation of the United Parliament was very unpopular north of the Tweed; so was its taxation; still more so was the method of collecting that taxation—by an army of English officials. All this discontent was actively fomented and exploited by Jacobite agents; the repeal of the Union was made a cardinal point in the Jacobite scheme; and throughout the country the feeling was fostered that the "king over the water" was identified with the cause of Scottish nationality and Scottish liberty.

An abortive attempt at an invasion of Scotland in the Jacobite interest was made by Louis in 1708. Early in 1707 Colonel Hooke, the well - known Jacobite agent, came over from France to inquire as to the possibility of a rising against the Government. He stayed at Slams Castle, in Aberdeenshire, as the guest of Lord Errol, and thence communicated with the leading Jacobites throughout the country. The Cameronians were sounded as to their willingness to co-operate. Hooke was given to understand that in the event of a French landing the Scottish Jacobites could raise a force of 25,000 foot and 5000 horse.

Accordingly, in January 1708 a fleet, consisting of five ships of the line, two transports, and twenty-one frigates, was fitted out at Dunkirk under the command of Admiral Fourbin. On board the fleet some 4000 troops were embarked, and the Chevalier himself accompanied the expedition. A British squadron under Sir George Byng was sent to watch Dunkirk, but the French admiral succeeded in getting to sea. The expedition reached the Scottish coast at Montrose, turned south, and anchored off the Isle of May. Byng, however, was on their track. His approaching fleet was sighted by the French on March 14. They at once put to sea. One of their ships was captured, the remainder escaped and returned to France, and so the expedition ended. The Jacobites in Scotland had made no serious preparations for its reception. A few conspirators were put on their trial, nobody was convicted, and the whole thing blew over.

No further attempt at insurrection was made while Queen Anne lived. Towards the end of her reign the hopes of the Jacobites rose high. It was believed that many who willingly accepted the rule of a Stuart princess would not welcome as her successor the petty German sovereign whom the Act of Settlement called to the throne; it was well understood that Anne herself was favourable to her brother’s claims; and it was more than guessed that Bolingbroke was on the same side.

Queen Anne died on August 1, 1714. A Tory scheme for proclaiming James her successor collapsed, and George I. was proclaimed king without opposition. The proclamation took place in Edinburgh on August 4. No serious danger was apprehended in Scotland. Some military precautions were taken at Edinburgh Castle and elsewhere, a few rioters were punished, and an eye was kept on such of the great landowners as were known to be disaffected. It was not till the following year that there was to be serious trouble. When it came it was entirely the work of one man.

John Erskine, eleventh Earl of Mar of the Erskine line, has left a name notorious for unprincipled political versatility. The ill-tongued Master of Sinclair speaks of his "dissolute, malicious, meddling spirit." Before the Union he had been Secretary of State for Scotland, and had since been Keeper of the Signet, a Scottish representative peer, and a Privy Councillor. In 1713 he had become one of the Tory Secretaries of State. On Queen Anne’s death he did his best to stick to office. He hastened to tender his services and allegiance to the new sovereign. "Your Majesty," he wrote to King George, "shall ever find me as faithful and dutiful a subject and servant as ever any of my family have been to the Crown, or as I have been to my late mistress, the Queen. And I beg your Majesty may be so good not to believe any misrepresentations of me, which nothing but party hatred and my zeal for the interest of the Crown doth occasion; and I hope I may presume to lay claim to your royal favour and protection." In order further to impress on the King the importance of securing his adherence, Mar had obtained from certain of the great Highland chiefs a letter authorising him to assure the Government of their loyalty to His Sacred Majesty King George. "We entreat your Lordship would advise us," the letter proceeds, "how we may best offer our duty to His Majesty upon his coming over to Britain; and on all occasions we will beg to receive your counsel and direction how we may be most useful to his Royal Government." Among those who signed this document were MacLean of that Ilk, Glengarry, Lochiel, Keppoch, Grant of Glenmoriston, and MacPherson of Cluny."

Mar’s efforts to retain office were unavailing. He shared the fate of the rest of the Tories, and was dismissed on September 24. From that time forth he seems to have thrown in his lot with the Jacobites, though he remained for some time a courtier of King George.

On August 1, 1715, he attended a levee at Court. On the same or the following day, "in the dress of a private person," and accompanied by Major-General Hamilton, Colonel Hay, and two servants, he went on board a Newcastle collier in the Thames. On reaching Newcastle two or three days later, he hired another vessel and continued his voyage to Scotland. He landed at Elie, in Fifeshire, and was soon joined by some of his Fifeshire friends. On August 17 he was at Kinnoul. On the 18th he crossed the Tay, with forty horse, on his way north; and "next day," says Rae, "he sent letters to all the Jacobites round the country, inviting them to meet him, in haste, at Braemar, where he arrived on Saturday, the 20th of August."

"All the Jacobites round the country" were evidently waiting for the summons. They promptly responded to it. The pretext for the gathering was a great "tinchel," or hunting gathering, to be held at Braemar on August 26. Among those who were present when the day arrived were the Marquis of Huntly, the Marquis of Tullibardine, Seaforth, Glengarry, the Earl Marischal, and a long list of the chief Scottish Jacobites, Lowland as well as Highland.

The result of the meeting was that on September 6, 1715, the standard of King James VIII. was raised at Braemar. There is a well-known tradition to the effect that at the raising of the standard the gilded top of the flagstaff fell to the ground, an omen, in the eyes of the superstitious Highlanders of the misfortunes which were to overtake the cause.

As soon as the standard of insurrection had been displayed, King James VIII. was proclaimed at Aberdeen, at Dundee, at Montrose, at Perth, at Brechin, and at Inverness; and the Castle of Inverness was seized and garrisoned by Brigadier MacIntosh of Borlum. The chiefs called out all their followings. Mar himself appears to have had a little difficulty with his own vassals. There is a well known letter addressed by him to John Forbes of Inverernan, called "Black Jock," Bailie of the Barony of Kildrummie, which illustrates in a startling manner the tyrannical authority which, even at so recent a date, a great Highland lord exercised over his vassals. It is difficult to realise that the writer was not a mediaeval marauder, but a man who had been a Secretary of State to Queen Anne, and who was a well-known figure in the London society which knew Addison and Steele, Bolingbroke and Ormonde.

"INVERCAULD, Sept. 9, at night, 1715.

"J0CKE,—Ye was in the right not to come with the hundred men ye sent up to-night, when I expected four times the number. It is a pretty thing, when all the Highlands of Scotland are now rising upon their King and country’s account, as I have accounts from them since they were with me, and the gentlemen of our neighbouring Lowlands expecting us down to join them, that my men should be only refractory. Is not this the thing we are now about which they have been wishing these twenty-six years? And now, when it is come, and the King and country’s cause is at stake, will they for ever sit still and see all perish? I have used gentle means too long, and so I shall be forced to put other orders I have in execution. I have sent you enclosed an order for the lordship of Kildrummy, which you are immediately to intimate to all my vassals. If they give ready obedience, it will make some amends, and if not, ye may tell them from me that it will not be in my power to save them (were I willing) from being treated as enemies by those who are ready soon to join me; and they may depend on it that I will be the first to propose and order their being so. Particularly, let my own tenants in Kildrummy know that if they come not forth with their best arms, that I will send a party immediately to burn what they shall miss taking from them. And they may believe this not only a threat, but, by all that’s sacred, I’ll put it in execution, let my loss be what it will, that it may be an example to others. You are to tell the gentlemen that I’ll expect them in their best accoutrements, on horseback, and no excuse to be accepted of. Go about this with all diligence, and come yourself and let me know your having done so. All this is not only as ye will be answerable to me, but to your King and country.

"Your assured friend and servant,

"MAR."

At the same time a manifesto was issued, which, as it contains a very clear and complete statement of the Jacobite appeal to the country, may here be printed at length

"Manifesto by the Noblemen, Gentlemen, and others, who dutifully appear at this time in asserting the undoubted rights of their lawful Sovereign, James the Eighth, by the Grace of God, King of Scotland, England, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, etc.; and for relieving this, his ancient Kingdom, from the oppressions and grievances it lies under.

"His Majesty’s right of blood to the crowns of these realms is undoubted, and has never been disputed or arraigned by the least circumstance or lawful authority. By the laws of God, by the ancient constitutions, and by the positive unrepealed laws of the land, we are bound to pay His Majesty the duty of loyal subjects. Nothing can absolve us from this our duty of subjection and obedience. The laws of God require our allegiance to our rightful king—the laws of the land secure our religion and other interests; and His Majesty, giving up himself to the support of his Protestant subjects, puts the means of securing to us our concerns, religious and civil, in our own hands. Our fundamental constitution has been entirely altered and sunk amidst the various shocks of unstable faction, while, in searching out new expedients pretended for our security, it has produced nothing but daily disappointments, and has brought us and our posterity under a precarious dependence upon foreign councils and interests, and the power of foreign troops. The late unhappy Union, which was brought about by the mistaken notions of some and the ruinous and selfish designs of others, has proved so far from lessening and healing the difference betwixt H is Majesty’s subjects of Scotland and England that it has widened and increased them. And it appears by experience so inconsistent with the rights, privileges, and interests of us, and our good neighbours and fellow subjects of England, that the continuance of it must inevitably ruin us and hurt them; nor can any way be found out to relieve us, and restore our ancient and independent constitution, but by the restoring our rightful and natural king, who has the only undoubted right to reign over us. Neither can we hope that the party who chiefly contributed to bring us into bondage will at any time endeavour to work our relief, since it is known how strenuously they opposed, in two late instances, the efforts that were made by all Scotsmen by themselves, and supported by the best and wisest of the English, towards so desirable an end, as they will not adventure openly to disown the dissolution of the Union to be. Our substance has been wasted in the late ruinous wars, and we see an unavoidable prospect of having wars continued on us and our posterity so long as the possession of the crown is not in the right line. The hereditary rights of the subjects, though confirmed by conventions and parliaments, are now treated as of no value or force, and past services to the Crown and royal family are now looked upon as grounds of suspicion. A packed-up assembly, who call themselves a British Parliament, have, so far as in them lies, inhumanely murdered their own and our sovereign by promising a good sum of money as the . reward of so execrable a crime. They have proscribed, by unaccountable and groundless impeachments and attainders, the worthy patriots of England for their honourable and successful endeavours to restore trade, plenty, and peace to these nations.

"They have broken in upon the sacred laws of both countries by which the liberty of our persons was secured, and they have empowered a foreign prince (who, notwithstanding his expectations of the crown for fifteen years, is still unacquainted with our manners, customs, and language) to make an absolute conquest (if not timely prevented) of the three kingdoms, by investing himself with an unlimited power not only of raising unnecessary forces at home, but also of calling in foreign troops, ready to promote his uncontrollable designs. Nor can we be ever hopeful of its being otherwise, in the way it is at present, for some generations to come. And the sad consequences of these unexampled proceedings have really been so fatal to great numbers of our kinsmen, friends, and fellow-subjects of both kingdoms, that they have been constrained to abandon their country, houses, wives, and children, to give themselves up prisoners, and perhaps victims, to be sacrificed to the pleasure of foreigners and a few hot-headed men of a restless faction, whom they employ. Our troops abroad, notwithstanding their long and remarkable good services, have been treated, since the peace, with neglect and contempt, and particularly in Holland; and it is not now the officers’ long service, merit, and blood they have lost, but money and favour, by which they can obtain justice in their preferments. So that it is evident the safety of His Majesty’s person and independency of his kingdoms call loudly for immediate relief and defence.

"The consideration of these unhappy circumstances, with the due regard we have to common justice, the peace and quiet of us and our posterity, and our duty to His Majesty and his commands, are the powerful motives which have engaged us in our present undertaking, which we are firmly and heartily resolved to push to the utmost, and stand by one another to the last extremity, as the only solid and effectual means for putting an end to so dreadful a prospect as by our present situation we have before our eyes; and with faithful hearts true to our rightful king, our country, and our neighbours, we earnestly beseech and expect, as His Majesty commands, the assistance of all our true fellow-subjects to second our attempt, declaring hereby our sincere intentions that we will promote and concur in all lawful means for settling a lasting peace to these lands, under the auspicious government of our native-born rightful sovereign, the direction of our own domestic councils, and the protection of our native forces and troops. That we will in the same manner concur and endeavour to have our laws, liberties, and properties secured by the Parliaments~ of both kingdoms; that by the wisdom of such Parliaments we will endeavour to have such laws enacted as shall give absolute security to us and future ages for the Protestant religion against all efforts of arbitrary power, popery, and all its other enemies.

"Nor have we any reason to be distrustful of the goodness of God, the truth and purity of our holy religion, or the known excellency of His Majesty’s judgment, as not to hope that, in due time, good examples and conversation with our learned divines will remove those prejudices, which we know his education in a Popish country has not riveted in his royal discerning mind; and we are sure, as justice is a virtue in all religions and professions, so the doing of it to him will not lessen his good opinion of ours. That as the King is willing to give his royal indemnity for all that is past, so he will cheerfully concur in passing general acts of oblivion, that our fellow-subjects who have been misled may have a fair opportunity of living with us in the same friendly manner that we design to live with them. That we will use our endeavours for redressing the bad usage of our troops abroad, and bringing the troops at home on the same footing and establishment of pay as those of England. That we will sincerely and heartily go into such measures as shall maintain effectually, and establish a right, firm, and lasting union betwixt His Majesty’s ancient kingdom of Scotland and our good neighbours and fellow-subjects of the kingdom of England.

"The peace of these nations being thus settled and we freed from foreign dangers, we will use our endeavours to have the army reduced to the usual number of guards and garrisons; and will concur in such laws and methods as shall relieve us of the heavy taxes and debts now lying upon us, and at the same time, will support the public credit in all its parts. And we hereby faithfully promise and engage that every officer who joins with us in our king and country’s cause shall not only enjoy the same post he now does, but shall be advanced and preferred according to his rank .and station and the number of men he brings off with him to us. And each foot soldier so joining us shall have twenty shillings sterling, and each trooper or dragoon, who brings horse and accoutrements along with him, £12 sterling gratuity, besides their pay ; and in general we shall concur with all our fellow-subjects in such measures as shall make us flourish at home, and be formidable abroad, under our rightful sovereign, and the peaceable harmony of our ancient fundamental constitution, undisturbed by a Pretender’s interests and councils from abroad, or a restless faction at home. In so honourable, so good, and just a cause, we do not doubt of the assistance, direction, and blessing of Almighty God, who has so often succoured the royal family of Stuarts, and our country from sinking under oppression."

Long before the raising of the standard at Braemar, the Government had fully appreciated the coming danger, and active measures of precaution were being taken. Parliament voted a reward of £100,000 for the capture of the Pretender. On July 16, the House of Commons voted an Address to the King, urging the necessity of active measures against those concerned in rebellious riots and disorders, and the King in his turn called upon the Parliament to make provision for the defence of the country. The Riot Act, still in force, was passed.

The whole available military force in the country amounted to some 8ooo men. Parliament voted a large increase to the army, and the Government proceeded to raise thirteen regiments of dragoons and eight of foot. An Act was also passed empowering the King "to secure and detain such persons as His Majesty shall suspect of conspiring against his person and Government," which had the effect of suspending for six months the Habeas Corpus Act in England, and the corresponding "Act of 1701" in Scotland. It was also enacted that, should any Crown vassal in Scotland become guilty of high treason, any sub-vassal holding of him should take his place as holding direct from the Crown, and that, on the other hand, should any sub-vassal be implicated in the rebellion, his estate should pass to his immediate superior. Legislative provision was made for circumventing the well-known plan by which a landowner, who considered it likely that he might himself soon fall within the scope of the law of treason, could provide against a possible forfeiture by conveying his estate to a member of his family; and the Crown lawyers in Scotland were empowered to call upon any suspected persons to appear and find security for their good conduct. This power was extensively exercised, apparently with the result of forcing a good many waverers to join the standard of rebellion.

In Scotland, active measures were taken spontaneously by the friends of the Hanover succession. A body, called " The Association of Men of Quality and Substance," was formed at Edinburgh on August 1. Their Bond of Association sets forth that the subscribers "do, conform to the laudable practice in former times of imminent danger, hereby mutually promise and solemnly engage and oblidge ourselves to stand by and assist one another to the utmost of our power in the support and defence of His Majesty King George, our only rightful sovereign, and of the Protestant succession, now happily established, against all open arid secret enemies for the preservation and security of our holy religion, civil liberties, and most excellent constitution both in Church and State." The signatories then undertake to subscribe certain sums of money "for supporting and maintaining of such a number of men to receive orders from His Majesty’s Commander-in-Chief for the time for so many days as the commissioners or managers aftermentioned shall find the money subscribed for sufficient to maintain;" and provision is made for the election by the subscribers of "a competent number of managers.... for expending of the money according to the intent of these presents, and for giving such necessary directions and orders as shall be proper."

At the same time was formed an Association of "those who were willing and capable to fight in so good a cause, but not able to take the field at their own charge." Its members bound themselves "that upon the first notice of the Pretender’s landing in any part of Britain, or upon the advice of any insurrection or appearance of his friends and abettors at home in a hostile manner for the support and assistance of the said Pretender, they shall assemble and meet together with their best horses and furniture, whether for foot or horse service according to their abilities; and to the best of their power to comply with and obey such orders as they should receive from the government for the supporting of His Majesty King George, his person and government, etc."

Both these Associations received zealous support. In Edinburgh a body named "The Associate Volunteers of Edinburgh" was formed, amounting to some 400 men, and similar volunteer forces were raised at Glasgow, Dumfries, and in other parts of the country. The Government, however, was somewhat doubtful as to the advisability of encouraging the, of armed bodies not subject to military law, and all this volunteer zeal was somewhat coldly received. It was intimated that "His Majesty, supposing that the measures the Government had taken for the security and defence of this part of the nation would prove effectual for that end, was not willing to put his loving subjects to any further trouble and expense."

The regular forces in Scotland at this time consisted of four reduced regiments of foot and four regiments of dragoons, in all some 1800 men. These were concentrated at Stirling under the command of Major-General Wightman, an officer who was to give proof of his capacities for Highland warfare in the affair of Glenshiel four years later. Then, as always, Stirling was the key of the Highlands, and so long as it remained in the hands of Government, the Jacobites in the north were effectually separated from their friends in the south. The force under Wightman was reinforced by two regiments from England, and the States of Holland were called upon to send over the contingent of 6000 men with which they had undertaken to support the British Government in the event of invasion or rebellion. The whole of the forces in Scotland were placed under the command of the Duke of Argyll, who was not only a distinguished soldier and statesman, but himself a great Highland chief and the hereditary leader of the Whig cause in the Highlands. He left London on September 9, reached Edinburgh on the 14th, and on the 17th arrived at Stirling and took over the command of the army. In response to his request, a battalion of the volunteers, which had been raised in Glasgow, marched to Stirling, and was attached to his command; and measures were taken for protecting the Western Lowlands against the contingency of a Highland raid.

In the meantime, Mar had collected a considerable force and had begun his march to the south by Moulinearn and Logierait. Some 500 of the Atholl men joined him, under the Marquis of Tullibardine, and by the time he reached Dunkeld his army numbered about 2000. His first object was to seize Perth before it could be occupied by the Hanoverians. He accordingly sent forward Colonel John Hay, brother of Lord Kinnoul, with a detachment of 200 horse. Hay entered Perth on September 14, and there proclaimed King James. Mar himself, with the main body of the army reached Perth on the 28th. In a few days his force amounted to upwards of 5000 men.

The possession of Perth was all-important to the Jacobites. The town itself was a rich source of supply. It commanded some of the most fertile districts in Scotland; it isolated the Hanoverians in the north; it enabled the Jacobites to overawe a great part of the Lowlands, and it afforded excellent quarters to the men. There Mar settled down and applied himself to recruiting and raising money. A circular letter was issued requesting, or rather demanding, "loans" from all from whom it seemed likely that they could be extracted. Orders were issued for the collection of the land tax. Loans were demanded from Montrose and other burghs, and a series of proclamations and manifestoes were printed and distributed. Plenty of recruits kept coming in from the north—MacIntoshes, Mackenzies, and Gordons. By the middle of October the force amounted to some 12,000 men.

Mar remained at Perth for more than six weeks. At the end of September James Murray, who had been nominated by the Chevalier his Secretary of State for Scotland, arrived with assurances of speedy assistance from France, and of James’s intention shortly to come in person to place himself at the head of his followers. A serious calamity, however, had just befallen the Jacobite cause abroad. Louis XIV. died on September 1, 1715. He had been a faithful and powerful friend to the Stuarts. The Regent Orleans did not continue his policy, but from the beginning cultivated the friendship of the British Government, which meant, of course, the discontinuance of all countenance to the claims of the exiled family. Their adherents could no longer look to France as a base of operations. It appears that they had succeeded in fitting out a considerable fleet at Havre, St. Malo, and other French ports, on board of which were a large quantity of military stores and over 1800 men. These preparations were frustrated by the vigilance of Lord Stair, then British Ambassador at Paris, who represented to the Regent that to permit the sailing of these vessels would be a breach of the Treaty of Utrecht, and would be regarded by the British Government as an unfriendly act. Orders were accordingly given to the French naval authorities to seize the vessels if they attempted to sail.

The period of inactivity at Perth had the worst effect upon the Highland army. As had been so clearly shown in the campaigns of Montrose and Dundee, a force of Highlanders was only really formidable when kept constantly marching and fighting. Kept idle in camp or quarters, and occupied only in recruiting, raising money, and digging entrenchments, the clansmen soon became discontented and dispirited. The Master of Sinclair in his Memoirs tells us how the time passed. "Mar," he says, "after coming into Perth did nothing all this while but write; and as if all had depended on his writing, nobody moved in any one thing; there was not a word spoke of fortifying the town, nor the least care taken for sending of powder to any place; we did not want gunsmiths, and yet none of them was employed in mending our old arms. Whoever spoke of those things, which I did often, was giving himself airs, for we lived very well, and as long as meat, drink, and monie was not wanting what was the need of anie more; most of us were going home everie day for our diversion, and to get a fresh supplie of the readie. In that we followed strictly the rule of the gospel, for we never thought of to-morrow. If it escaped any extravagant fellow to say that more troops were coming to join the Duke of Argyle from England or Ireland, he was lookt on as a visionare; or if any seemed to think that these few troops he had would fight, there was no doubt he was a coward, and despaired of our success, which I’m sure they could not have been so positive of in their circumstances but by believing no one would fight against them, which they said confidently; but so soon as men have nothing reasonable to trust to they seldom fail to please themselves with phantoms, and a drowning man catches hold of every straw."

In the meantime the Jacobites in the south of Scotland and in the north of England had risen. Before we proceed to give an account of their operations, there are a few minor events of the war in Scotland which fall to be narrated.

So early as the 8th of September an attempt was made to capture Edinburgh Castle. The enterprise was designed by Lord Drummond, son of the so-called Duke of Perth, and, says Patten, "there were no less than ninety choice men picked out for the enterprise, all gentlemen. They had corrupted one Ainesly, a sergeant, who was afterwards hanged for it, a corporal, and two centinels within the Castle. These were to be ready to assist at a certain place upon the wall near the Sallyport, where, having contrived a scaling-ladder made of ropes, and with pulleys, which being fastened to the top of the wall by the conspirators, the centinel was to draw


Click on map for larger image

up with a small rope provided on purpose." A certain Mr Arthur, formerly an officer of the Scots Guards, was concerned in this conspiracy. He communicated the matter to his brother, Dr Arthur, a physician in Edinburgh. "This gentleman," says Rae, "having appeared very melancholy all that day before the attempt was to be made on the thought of the sudden revolution that was at hand, his lady importuned him till she got into the secret, and that evening about 10 o’clock sent a servant with an unsigned letter to My Lord Justice Clerk." The Lord Justice Clerk, Sir Adam Cockburn of Ormiston, at once communicated his intelligence to Colonel Stuart, the Commandant of the Castle. In consequence of this warning the sentries were visited at an earlier hour than usual on the night of the 8th. The treacherous sentinel, finding himself discovered, threw the ladder over the wall and fired upon the conspirators, who fled; the plot was frustrated and the Castle was saved.

A more successful enterprise was carried out by the Master of Sinclair, already mentioned as one of the chroniclers of the insurrection. A large quantity of arms, destined for the forces which were being embodied by the Earl of Sutherland in the north for King George, had been put on board ship at Leith. After sailing, the vessel was compelled by contrary winds to enter the harbour of Burntisland. News of this reached Perth, and it was resolved to make an attempt to seize the prize. Sinclair started for Burntisland at the head of 400 horse, each trooper having a foot soldier mounted behind him. The party reached Burntisland at midnight, took possession of the town, seized the boats in the harbour, and easily captured the vessel. The result of this raid was the capture of over 420 stand of arms.

The Jacobite clans in the West Highlands also showed some activity. On September 17 a body of Macleans, Macdonalds, and Camerons made an ineffectual attempt to seize Fort William. In September the M’Gregors seized the boats on Loch Lomond and proceeded to plunder the lowland shores of the Loch. An expedition was organised against them, consisting of about 100 seamen from the ships of war then lying in the Clyde, supported by volunteers from Paisley, Dumbarton, and the neighbouring towns. Several man-of-war’s boats were towed up the Leven by horses, and it was determined to attack the M’Gregors in their stronghold at Inversnaid. Rae gives a somewhat amusing account of how the expedition fared.

"At Night they arriv’d at Luss, where they were join’d by Sir Humphray Colquhoun of Luss, and James Grant of Pluscarden, his Son in Law, followed by 40 or 50 stately Fellows in their short Hose and belted Plaids, arm’d each of ‘em with a well fix’d Gun on his Shoulder, a strong handsome Target, with a sharp pointed Steel of above half an Ell in length, screw’d into the Navel of it, on his Left Arm; a sturdy Claymore by his Side, and a Pistol or two, with a Durk and Knife on his Belt. Here the whole Company rested all Night; and on the Morrow, being Thursday the 13th, they went on in their Expedition, and about Noon came to Innersnaat, the Place of Danger, where the Pasley Men and those of Dumbarton, and several of the other Companies, to the Number of 100 Men, with the greatest Intrepedity leapt on Shore, got up to the top of the Mountains and stood a considerable Time, beating their Drums all the while, but no Enemy appearing, they went in quest of their Boats, which the Rebels had seiz’d, and having casually lighted on some Ropes, Anchors, and Oars, hid among the Shrubs; at length they found the Boats drawn up a good way on the Land, which they hurled down to the Loch. Such of them as were not damag’d they carry’d off with them, and such as were they sunk or hewed in Pieces. That same Night they returned to Luss, and thence next Day to Dumbarton, from whence they had first set out, bringing along with them the whole Boats they found in their Way, on either side of the Loch, and in the Creeks of the Isles, and moor’d them under the Cannon of the Castle. During this Expedition, the Pinnaces discharging their Pateraroes, and the Men their small Arms, made such a Thundering Noise thro’ the multiply’d rebounding Echoes of the vast Mountains on both sides of the Loch, that the M’Gregiours were cow’d and frighted away to the rest of the Rebels, who were encamp’d at Strathphillen, about 16 Miles from the Head of the Loch, where, being all join’d as above, they continued till the 18th of October; about which Time they were also joined by Stuart of Appin with 250 Men, Sir John M’Lean with 400, M’Dougal of Lorn with about 50, and a Part of Broadalbine’s Men, in all making up, by the modestest Computation, 2400 Men."

This force marched to Inverary and threatened the Campbell stronghold, but, finding it strongly garrisoned under the Earl of Ilay, the Duke’s brother, they withdrew without having effected anything, and ultimately dispersed.

We have now to glance briefly at the rising in the south. On October 11 a party of Jacobites under Lords Kenmure and Carnwath assembled near Lochmaben. On the following day they seized a quantity of arms intended for the use of the militia, which had been deposited in the house of Henderson of Bradeholm. They then marched to Moffat, and on Thursday, October 13, they entered Lochmaben and proclaimed James VIII. On the 14th they marched to Ecclefechan, on the 15th to Langholm, and on the 16th they reached Hawick. On Monday the 17th the party, which only numbered some 180, reached Jedburgh. Next day they marched into England, to Rothbury, where they were joined by the insurgent Jacobites from Northumberland under Lord Derwentwater and Mr Forster—a force amounting to some 300 horsemen. The conjoined forces then marched to and occupied Kelso.

The occupation of Stirling by the troops of the Government, and the vigilance of the naval force which now patrolled the Firth of Forth, effectually separated the Jacobites in the south from the main body of the army encamped at Perth. Mar, however, determined to reinforce them with as large a force as possible. Preparations were quietly made for embarking 2500 men under Brigadier MacIntosh of Borlum in boats at Pittenweem, Crail, Elie, and the other small ports along the Fifeshire coast.

At the same time preparations were made at Burntisland as if for some expedition, in order to induce the Government vessels lying in the Firth to concentrate there. On the nights of the 12th and 13th of October the enterprise was carried out. The King’s ships succeeded in capturing one boat of the flotilla and in turning back some others, but about 1600 men effected a landing at North Berwick, Aberlady, Gullane, and other places on the coast of East Lothian. As quickly as possible they concentrated at Haddington. Their object was to march southwards in order to join Kenmure’s force, but the temptation of a raid on Edinburgh was too great. They were only seventeen miles from the capital, Argyll was at Stirling, thirty-six miles away, and they knew that they could count on many friends among the inhabitants. However, John Campbell, the Lord Provost, acted with the utmost promptitude and decision. He at once called out the City Guards, the trained bands, and the volunteers, told them off to their respective posts for the defence of the city, and sent an urgent express to Argyll at Stirling for a reinforcement of regular troops. Argyll instantly started with 300 dragoons, and 200 foot mounted on country horses, and reached Edinburgh just in time. The Jacobites were at Jock’s Lodge when he entered the city. On finding that he was just too late, Brigadier MacIntosh gave up the project of attacking Edinburgh and marched to Leith, where he took possession of the citadel built by Cromwell, blocked the gates, planted the ramparts with cannon from the ships in the harbour, and awaited events.

On the morning of Saturday, October 15, the Duke of Argyll, with a force of regulars, militia, and volunteers, amounting in all to about 1100 men, marched down to Leith and summoned MacIntosh to surrender, declaring that if he were obliged to attack the citadel he would give no quarter. "He received," says Rae, "a resolute answer from a Highland laird called Kinackin, who told the Duke that as to surrendering they laughed at it, and as to bringing cannon and assaulting them, they were ready for him; that they would neither take nor give any quarter with him, and if he thought he was able to force them he might try his hand." Argyll had no guns, the Jacobites were well and strongly posted, and an attempt to carry the citadel by assault must have been attended with tremendous loss. He accordingly retired to Edinburgh to make preparations for a serious attack on the following day. It was obvious that the citadel could not be permanently held by the Jacobites. Accordingly that night about nine o’clock they abandoned it, and taking advantage of the low ebb of the tide, they marched off along the sands eastward in the direction of Musselburgh. About two in the morning they reached Seton House. Before departing they had reported their movements to Mar. The boat which carried their messenger across the Firth had a shot fired after her by the citadel, and so was taken by the Government cruisers for a friend, and allowed to pass untouched.

MacIntosh remained at Seton House for three days, and while there succeeded in obtaining large supplies of cattle, meal, and other provisions. On the 18th letters came from Mar with orders to continue the march towards England. Accordingly, on the morning of the 19th, the Highlanders left Seton. That night they arrived at Longformacus. Immediately after their departure Seton was occupied by a force of dragoons and militia under General Wightman. On the 20th MacIntosh and his men reached Duns. There they remained till the 22nd, when they resumed their march towards Kelso, which they reached on the same evening.

As we have seen, Kelso was by this time occupied by the Jacobite forces under Kenmure, Derwentwater, and Forster. On the approach of the Highlanders. a party of horse marched out to meet them at Ednam Bridge "in Compliment to their Conduct and Bravery," and escorted them in triumph into the town.

The total Jacobite force at Kelso now amounted to 1400 foot and 600 horse. On the following day, Sunday October 23, the army attended Divine Service, and a sermon on the text "The right of the first-born is his" (Deuteronomy xxi. 17), was preached by the notorious Robert Patten, who acted as chaplain to the English insurgents, and afterwards turned king’s evidence to save his own neck. On Monday King James was proclaimed in the market-place with great ceremony.

The Scottish division of the insurgent army was divided into five troops of horse and six regiments of foot; the English insurgents forming five troops of horse. So long as they remained in Scotland the whole force was commanded by Lord Kenmure. They remained in Kelso to the 27th of October, a fatal delay, as it gave the Government troops in the north of England ample time to make their dispositions.

Much time was lost through the dissension and lack of discipline which throughout were the curse of all the Jacobite enterprises. There was much dissension as to whether the army should cross the Border. The Highlanders were exceedingly unwilling to do so; ultimately the majority yielded to the promise of sixpence a day of regular pay. Some 500 deserted and found their way home as best they could.

Lord Winton proposed that the army should march into the west of Scotland. It was also suggested that an attack should be made on General Carpenter, who was now in the immediate vicinity with a force not exceeding 1000 in number, fatigued by long marches, and consisting, to a large extent, of raw recruits. "But," as Patten says, "there was a fate attended all their councils, for they could never agree to any one thing that tended to their advantage." On October 27 they marched to Jedburgh; there they remained till the 29th, when it was at last definitely resolved to march into England. From Jedburgh they marched to Hawick, and from Hawick to Langholm. At Langholm a party was detached to attack Dumfries. Dumfries could have been easily captured, and its possession, as being the principal town in the south-west of Scotland, would have been of the greatest importance to the cause. However, the leaders of the English Jacobites strongly urged that the whole available force should be sent into England, and the party which was marching against Dumfries was recalled when it had reached Ecclefechan. On October 31 the army crossed the Border and encamped for the night at Brampton, having marched 100 miles in five days. As soon as they entered England Forster took over the command, holding a commission to that effect from Mar.

Penrith was reached on November 2. The posse comitatus of Cumberland had been called out by the sheriff, and was assembled near Penrith under Lord Lonsdale and Bishop Nicolson of Carlisle. It amounted to some 14,000 men, but these did not prove very formidable antagonists. "As soon," says Patten, "as a party, who they had sent out for discovery, had seen some of our men coming out of a Lane by the Side of a Wood, and draw up upon the Common or Moor in order, and then advance, and that they had carried an Account of this to their main Body, they broke up their Camp in the utmost Confusion, shifting everyone for themselves as well as they could, as is generally the case of an armed but undisciplined Multitude." None of these warriors received any hurt, except "one man that was shot through the arm." On November 3 the Jacobites reached Appleby, where they remained for two days. On the 5th they marched to Kendal, and on the 6th to Kirkby Lonsdale. On the 7th they entered Lancaster unopposed. In the course of their march they had proclaimed James VIII. in all the principal towns, and had collected the public revenue. Few recruits had joined them; on the other hand, they had suffered from some desertions. For example, Rae mentions that at Appleby "Mr Ainsley, who had joined ‘em at Jedburgh, disliking the prospect of their affairs, deserted them with about 16 Tiviotdale Gentlemen." At Lancaster they succeeded in seizing a quantity of arms which were in the Custom House, a considerable sum of public money, six pieces of cannon, and "some claret and a good quantity of brandy, which was all given to the Highlanders to oblige them." Their spiritual wants were ministered to by the Reverend Mr Patten, "the parson of the place excusing himself." They were now in a Jacobite country, and many Lancashire gentlemen joined them, with their servants and friends. "It’s true," says Patten, "they were most of them Papists, which made the Scotch Gentlemen and the Highlanders mighty uneasy, very much suspecting the Cause, for they expected all the High-Church Party to have joined them. Indeed," proceeds this estimable divine, "that Party who are never right hearty for the Cause till they are mellow, as they call it, over a bottle or two, began now to show us their blind side; and that it’s their just character, that they do not care for venturing their Carcases any farther than the Tavern; there indeed, with their High-Church, and Ormond, they would make men believe, who do not know them, that they would encounter the greatest opposition in the World; but after having consulted their Pillows, and the Fume a little evaporated, it is to be observed of them that they generally become mighty Tame, and are apt to Look before they Leap, and, with the Snail, if you touch their Houses, they hide their Heads, shrink back, and pull in their Horns. I have heard Mr Forster say he was blustered into this Business by such People as these, but that for the Time to come he would never again believe a drunken Tory." Considering that this passage was written by as selfish and cowardly a rascal as ever escaped the gallows, it is not without its humorous aspect.

On the 9th the Jacobite army marched out of Lancaster in pouring rain; on the same night their horse reached Preston, and the foot on the following day. At Preston they were in the very centre of English Jacobitism. They were cordially received by the inhabitants, and were joined by many recruits. It was here, however, that their final disaster awaited them.

Preston had been occupied by a small force of regular troops, commanded by Sir Henry Haughton. On the approach of the Jacobites Haughton evacuated the town and retired to Wigan. His retreat greatly encouraged the insurgents, and made them imagine that the Government troops would not look them in the face.

They were soon to be undeceived. The troops in Cheshire were commanded by Major-General Wills. The force under his command and the regiments quartered in Shropshire, Worcestershire, and Staffordshire were ordered to concentrate at Warrington on November ro. Wills himself reached Manchester on the 8th; there he heard that Carpenter was on his way from Durham. On Friday, the r ith, Wills marched to Wigan with four regiments of dragoons and Preston’s foot, the old Cameronian regiment. At Wigan he found the regiments of Pitt and Stanhope, and heard that the insurgents were still at Preston. He decided to attack them on the following day.

Forster seems to have been extraordinarily ignorant of the movements of his enemy. Patten says that he relied for his intelligence upon the Lancashire gentlemen. He seems to have been very badly served, and to have known nothing of Wills’s approach until he was actually before the town.

Wills marched out of Wigan on the morning of Saturday, the 12th, and about one o’clock arrived at the bridge across the Ribble, just outside Preston. To his astonishment he found it undefended, Forster having ordered it to be abandoned. He suspected some stratagem, and thought that probably an ambuscade awaited him in the deep and narrow lane beyond the bridge. "On these suppositions," says Patten, "he proceeded with caution, and caused the hedges and fields to be viewed and the ways laid open for his cavalry to enter. But finding the hedges also clear, he concluded then the enemy was fled, and expected that they had abandoned the town and all, and would endeavour by their long marches to return to Scotland, tho’ he thought it impossible for them to do it." He found, however, that the insurgents were determined to defend the town. MacIntosh was the moving spirit in the defence. Under his direction barricades had been thrown up in• the streets and mounted with the guns which had been seized at Lancaster. "The Earl of Derwentwater," says Patten, "signally bebav’d, having stripp’d into his waistcoat, and encouraged the men by giving them money to cast up trenches, and animating them to a vigorous, defence of them." There were four main barriers commanding the chief avenues to the town. The principal barricade, which protected the approach from Wigan, was commanded by Brigadier MacIntosh. As soon as he had inspected the approaches to the town Wills disposed his troops for the attack. The main attack was made on MacIntosh about two in the afternoon. It was headed by Brigadier Honeywood, one of the regiments under his command being Preston’s foot. The Government troops, who had to advance up a narrow street flanked by houses which were filled with the enemy’s men, suffered terrible loss. Parties, however, were detached to attack these houses from the lanes behind them, and a number of them were successfully occupied. Other houses close to the barricade were set on fire, and the insurgents were compelled to retire further into the town.

The barricade on the Lancaster road was similarly attacked by Brigadier Dormer. Fighting went on all the afternoon and all night, the troops gradually forcing their way from house to house and from street to street. Before daybreak not a few of the recruits who had joined the Jacobite army made their escape in the direction of Liverpool by the Fishergate. This Street had been barricaded, but had not been attacked for want of available troops.

On Sunday the 12th, about mid-day, Carpenter arrived from the north with three more regiments. Although senior to Wills, he refused to take over the command from him, saying that "he had begun the affair so well that he ought to have the glory of finishing it." At his suggestion, however, some alterations were made in the disposition of the troops, and the effective investment of the town was completed.

The Jacobites were now caught in a trap, and it was evident that the struggle could only end in one way. The leaders began to talk of surrender. The Highlanders were furious when they heard of it. They "were for sallying out upon the King’s force," says Patten, "and dying, as they called it, like men of honour with their swords in their hands. But they were overruled, and were not allowed to stir.

The common men were, one and all, against capitulating, and were terribly enraged when they were told of it, declaring that they would die fighting, and that when they could defend their posts no longer they would force their way out and make a retreat. . . . Their madness was such that nothing could quiet them for a great while. . . . Many exclaimed against Mr Forster, and had he appeared in the Street he would certainly have been cut to pieces. But as he did not appear publickly, yet he had been actually killed in his chamber by Mr Murray had not I with my hand struck up the pistol with which he fired at him, so that the bullet went through the wainscot into the wall of the room."

A concise account of the negotiations which took place on the afternoon of the 13th and on the following morning was given by General Wills in his evidence at the trial of Lord Winton before the House of Lords. "About two o’clock," he says, "Mr Forster sent out one Mr Oxborough, an Irish Man, offering to lay down their Arms, and submit themselves, and hoped that I would recommend them to the King for Mercy; which I refused, and told them I would not treat with Rebels, for that they had killed several of the King’s Subjects, and that they must expect to undergo the same Fate; upon which he said, that as I was an Officer, and a Man of Honour, he hoped I would shew Mercy to People who were willing to submit: Upon which I told them, all I would do for them was, that if they laid down their Arms, and submitted Prisoners at Discretion, I would prevent the Soldiers from cutting them to Pieces, till I had further Orders; and that I would give them but one Hour to consider of it, and sent him back again into the Town to acquaint Forster of it: Before the Hour was expir’d they sent out Mr Daizell, Brother to the Earl of Camwath, and he wanted Terms for the Scotch. My Answer was, that I would not treat with Rebels, nor give them any other Terms, than what I had before offered them: Upon which it was desired, that I would grant further Time till Seven a Clock next Day, to consult the best Method of delivering themselves up. I agreed to grant them the Time desired, provided that they threw up no new Intrenchments in the Streets, nor suffer’d any of their People to escape; and that they sent out the Chief of the English and Scotch, as Hostages for the Performance; and I sent in Colonel Cotten to bring them out, who brought out the Earl of Derwentwater and Mr MacIntosh. The next Day, about Seven a Clock, Mr FOrster sent out to let me know that they were willing to give themselves up Prisoners at I)iscretion, as I had demanded. Mr MacIntosh being by when the Message was brought, said he could not answer that the Scotch would surrender in that Manner; for that the Scotch were People of desperate Fortunes; and, that he had been a Soldier himself, and knew what it was to be a Prisoner at Discretion: Upon which I said, Go back to your People again, and I will attack the Town; and the Consequence will be, I will not spare one Man of you. MacIntosh went back, but came running out immediately again, and said that the Lord Kenmure and the rest of the Noblemen, with his Brother, would surrender in like Manner with the English."

The troops entered the town in two bodies, meeting in the market-place. The Jacobite gentlemen and officers were placed under a guard in the inns, and the other prisoners were confined in the church. The Government troops had lost 146 men killed and wounded. Of the insurgents, who, during the attack, had been well under cover, there were seventeen killed and twenty-five wounded. As great numbers of the insurgents had succeeded in making their escape, the prisoners only amounted to 1497, including Foster. and Lords Derwentwater, Widdrington, Nithsdale, Winton, Kenmure and Nairn. Among the prisoners were several officers who had held cornmissi:ns in the army. These were tried by court-martial at Preston, and on December 2 four of them were shot. Most of the ordinary prisoners were confined in the castles of Lancaster, Chester. and Liverpool. The noblemen and most of the gentlemen were taken up to London. Their treatment on their arrival there reflects little credit on the authorities. At Highgate they were received by a detachment of the Guards under General Tatton. Here, says Rae, "everyone of ‘em had his arms ty’d with a cord coming cross his Back ; and being thus pinion’d, they were not allow’d to hold the reins of the Bridle; but each of ‘em had a foot Soldier leading his Horse: And being rang’d into four Divisions, according to the four different Prisons to which they were allotted, and each Division placed between a Party of the Horse Grenadiers and a Platoon of the Foot ; In this Manner General Tatton set out from Highgate about Noon, and proceeded to London thro’ innumerable Crowds of Spectators, who all of ‘em express’d the utmost Detestation of their rebellious Attempt, by upbraiding them with their Crime, shouting them along in this disgraceful Triumph; and incessantly crying out, King George for ever; no Warming-Pan Bastard: the Mobs in the meantime marched before them beating on a Warming Pan, while the General’s Drums beat a Triumphant March. After this the Noblemen and three or four others were sent to the Tower; Mr Forster, MacIntosh, and about Seventy more, to Newgate, Sixty to the Marshalsea, and Seventy Two to the Fleet."

The 13th of November was a fatal day for the Jacobite cause. The notorious Simon Fraser, afterwards Lord Lovat, who had fled from justice after the atrocious crimes of his youth, had returned to the Highlands and was making a bid for the favour of the Government. He put himself at the head of 300 Frasers, and recalled from the Jacobite army the remainder of his clan, who had joined Mar at Perth. In conjunction with Duncan Forbes of Culloden and Hugh Rose of Kilravock, he planned an attack on Inverness. The available force amounted to about 1300 men. The small Jacobite garrison, however, did not wait to be attacked, but on the night of November 13 evacuated the town and escaped across the Moray Firth. The key of the northern Highlands was again in the hands of the Government.

On the same day the battle of Sheriffmuir was fought.

Mar had remained at Perth since September awaiting events. Recruits had been coming in from the north, Lord Seaforth with his Mackenzies, also Macraes, Chisholms and others. By the beginning of November the force amounted to some 12,000 men, and a movement to the south was determined on.’ On the 9th a council of war was held. It was decided that the camp should be struck, and that the army should march to Dunblane. There 3000 men were to be detached "to amuse the King’s army at Stirling" by attacking Stirling Bridge and the neighbouring fords. While Argyll thus had his hands full, the main body of the Jacobites was to cross the Forth further up, descend on the Lowlands, and follow MacIntosh into England.

On November 10 Mar marched out of Perth, leaving a garrison, under the command of Colonel Balfour, to hold the town. He reached Auchterarder, nine miles distant, on the same night, and there was joined by General Gordon. On the 11th he "rested . . . to settle the order of battle as well as the order of marching." The Master of Sinclair gives a very vivid picture of the incapacity of the leaders and the lack of discipline of the army. "We marched," he says, "the blind leading the blind, not knowing whither we were going or what we were going to do." Of Mar, he says that "a name and noise was all he sought." On the moor of Auchterarder the army was reviewed. In this review, says Sinclair, "there were squabbles about the posts of our squadrons, and we were never so constant in anything as our being disorderly."

On the morning of Saturday the 12th, General Gordon and Brigadier Ogilvie were ordered to advance and occupy Dunblane. The main body of the army was to follow under General Hamilton, Mar himself, in the meantime, having gone to Drummond Castle to meet Lord Breadalbane. Hamilton had reached Ardoch, when an orderly arrived from Gordon with the news that his advanced guard had come into touch with the enemy. An express was sent off to Mar, who returned with all speed. Gordon was ordered to halt till the main body came up to him. They joined him at Kinbuck, and there the army lay under arms all night. The Master of Sinclair comments with characteristic vigour on the singular lack of military knowledge with which the ground of their bivouac was selected. "I can take it upon me to defy the most ingenious engineer after a month’s thinking to contrive a place. so fit for the destruction of men, without being in the least capable to help themselves. God knows, had we been attacked by any three regiments of foot posted in the high grounds about they had cut us to pieces."

Argyll had good spies in Perth, and received immediate information of his enemy’s intentions. He determined not to wait to be attacked. He ordered the troops at Edinburgh, Glasgow, Kilsyth and Falkirk to join him at Stirling with all possible speed, and to be in readiness to march on the night of the i ith. On the morning of the 12th he crossed the Forth at the head of some 3000 regular troops, consisting of five regiments of dragoons (Portmore’s, Evans’s, Stair’s, Kerr’s, and Carpenter’s, each 180 strong), and eight regiments of foot (Forfar’s, Winton’s, Shannon’s, Morison’s, Montague’s, Clayton’s, Orrery’s, and Edgerton’s).

The Glasgow volunteer battalion, 500 strong, were still at Stirling, and were eager to march with the regulars ; but, much to their disgust, were left to garrison Stirling, along with the Stirling militia, which, says Rae, "they did with great care and exactness."

On the evening of the 12th, Argyll reached Dunblane, and encamped that night on a rising ground to the east of the town. Next morning he arid a party of his officers reconnoitred the Jacobites’ position. Mar, as usual, was undecided, and fell back upon his favourite expedient of a council of war. Some of his followers wished to avoid a battle and return to Perth till the spring: but the clansmen at last saw their enemy before them, and were eager to fight. So it was determined to attack Argyll. Argyll drew up his force on the Sheriffmuir in two lines, with three squadrons of dragoons on the right and left of the front line, and six battalions of foot in the centre. The second line was composed of two battalions of foot in the centre, with one squadron of dragoons on either flank, and one squadron was held in reserve behind each wing. The Duke himself commanded on the right, Wightman in the centre, and General Witham on the left. Owing to the nature of the ground, it was impossible for either army to see the whole of the other; the result was that, when the opposing forces came into contact, they were not opposite to each other. Each was out-flanked on the left. It was intended that the Jacobite force should attack in four regularly-formed columns; but when the attack was made, it was just the old disorderly Highland charge. Mar’s right wing was composed of the Macdonalds, Macleans, and the Breadalbane men. When the order to attack was received, it is recorded that Sir John Maclean placed himself at the head of his clan and addressed them in these words : Gentlemen, this is the day we have long wished to see; yonder stands MacCallum More for King George, here stands Maclean for King James. God bless Maclean and King James! Charge, gentlemen."

The rush of the clansmen was scarcely checked by the heavy fire with which they were received, and which mortally wounded the young chief of Clanranald. Witham’s line was broken to pieces, and forced back on Dunblane, with great slaughter. He did not check his retreat until he had nearly reached Stirling Bridge.

On Argvll’s right the fortune of war went otherwise. The left wing of the Jacobites, composed chiefly of Camerons and Stewarts, advanced with great determination. But the regular troops held their ground, and the assailants were, as they advanced, charged in flank by a body of cavalry, under Colonel Cathcart, and were put to flight. Argvll gave them no time to rally, but at once advanced in pursuit. The fugitives immensely outnumbered their pursuers, but Argyll succeeded in keeping them on the run for over two miles, until the river Allan was reached. Mar’s right wing did not pursue their beaten opponents very far, but re-formed on an eminence called the Stony Hill of Kippendavie, where, says Rae, "they stood without attempting anything with their swords drawn for near four hours’ space." Here they were found by Argyll when he returned from the pursuit. Argyll expected to be attacked by them, and formed his men accordingly. But "after a while they drew off their rear ranks towards the right, and began to disperse." The Duke, whose troops were by this time dead beat, had no desire to attack them, and accordingly retired into Dunblane. The fugitives of the left wing were, so far as possible, collected there, and there the army lay on their arms all night. The insurgents in the meantime had drawn off towards Auchterarder.

On the following day Argyll returned to Stirling, and two days later Mar re-entered Perth. The losses of the Government troops amounted to 290 officers and men killed, 187 wounded, and 133 taken prisoners—6io in all. Those of the insurgents are estimated at about 8oo killed and wounded, and some eighty or ninety prisoners, including Viscount Strathallan and a number of other gentlemen of rank.’

Both sides claimed the victory. The day after the battle Colonel Balfour distributed at Perth "An Account of the great and signal Victory obtained over the Duke of Argyll by His Majesty’s forces commanded by the Duke of Mar;" and Mar on his return to Perth caused thanksgiving sermons to be preached and a Te Deum to be sung. The substantial fruits of victory, however, remained with Argyll. He remained in possession of the field of battle, and had captured fourteen of the Jacobites’ colours, six of their guns, and part of their baggage. What was much more important, he had effectively put a stop to Mar’s project of marching to the. south. For all practical purposes, the back of the rebellion was broken when Mar returned to Perth.

The doubtful issue of the contest is celebrated in one of the most familiar of Scots ballads—

"There’s some say that we wan,
Some say that they wan,
Some say that tiane wan at a’, man;
But ae thing I’m sure,
That at Sheriffmuir
A battle there was which I saw, man
And we ran, and they ran,
And they ran, and we ran,
And we ran, and they ran awa’, man."

Towards the end of November it appears that Mar approached Argyll with the object of obtaining terms of surrender, but the negotiations came to nothing. Every day now strengthened the hands of the Government and weakened those of the insurgents. Early in November the Dutch auxiliaries had landed in England, and had at once been ordered north. Two of the regiments which had been engaged at Preston were sent to Glasgow, and a train of artillery was shipped at the Tower under orders for Scotland. On the other hand, many of the Highlanders were quietly dispersing, and no news came of the supplies or~ reinforcements from abroad which the Jacobites hoped for.

The prospects of the Stuart cause were thus darkening down, when news came that James himself had landed in Scotland. He arrived at Peterhead in a French ship on December 22, attended by a retinue of six gentlemen only. News of his landing reached Perth on the 2 6th, and Mar, accompanied by the Earl Marischal and a number of the Jacobite leaders, set out to meet him. James reached Aberdeen on the 24th and lodged that night at Fetteresso. There he stayed till the 27th, when he was joined by Mar and his companions.

The Prince was detained at Fetteresso for a few days by an attack of ague. There he received the homage of various adherents, and loyal addresses of welcome from the Episcopal clergy of the diocese of Aberdeen and the Jacobite magistrates of Aberdeen. On Monday, January 2, 1716, he resumed his journey by Brechin, Kinnaird, and Glamis. On the 6th he entered Dundee; on Monday the 9th he made his public entry into Perth and reviewed the troops. On the same night he took up his quarters at Scone.

Whatever James’s virtues were, they were not those of the successful leader of a desperate insurrection. Sinclair speaks of him as "entirely a stranger to his own affairs, as much as if he had dropt out of another world or from the clouds." Lethargic in mind and body, reserved and melancholy in temperament, he had none of the cheery courage and infectious good-humour which endeared Prince Charlie to his followers. "If he was disappointed in us," says one of them, "we were tenfold more so in him. We saw nothing in him that looked like spirit. He never appeared with cheerfulness and vigour to animate us. Our men began to despise him; some asked if he could speak. His countenance looked extremely heavy. He cared not to come abroad among us soldiers, or to see us handle our arms or do our exercise. Some said the circumstances he found us in dejected him; I am sure the figure he made dejected us; and had he sent us but 5000 men of good troops, and never himself come among us, we had done other things than we have now done." While James remained at Scone he was surrounded by royal state; all the etiquette of a Court was maintained, and various proclamations were solemnly issued in his name. All able-bodied men were called to his standard. A meeting of the Estates was summoned. His coronation was appointed to take place on January 23. However, when that date arrived he was otherwise occupied.

Argyll’s reinforcements were arriving from the south, and it was evident that he would soon advance against Perth. It was now the depth of an unusually hard winter; the ground was deeply covered with snow, and the roads were almost impassable. It was decided to throw a further obstacle in the way of Argyll’s advance by destroying the villages between Stirling and Perth, so as to deprive the advancing troops of shelter and supplies. An order to this effect under James’s. sign manual was issued at Scone on January 17. It was carried out by parties of Highlanders. Between the 24th and the 29th Auchterarder, Blackford, Dunning, Muthill, Crieff, and Dalreoch were burnt. An account of the burning of the villages was written at the time by an inhabitant of Auchterarder.’ He gives a terrible description of the sufferings of the unfortunate people, who were turned out into the bitter winter weather without food or shelter. "It would have pierced a heart in which there remained the very least spark of humanity," he says, "to have heard the mournfull screeches and frightfull cryes of poor women while rocking their infants in cradles upon the snow in the open fields, and looking on their houses, the sanctuaries appointed by God for their protection from the injury of such a season, and their corns, the provision and means of their subsistence, crumbling in a moment into ashes." James, to do him justice, seems to have deeply regretted the necessity of this step. On January 26 he issued a declaration inviting those whose property had been destroyed to lodge claims with a view to compensation, and when he embarked at Montrose he left behind him a letter to the Duke of Argyll with a sum of money for the benefit of the sufferers. Neither letter nor money seemed to have reached their destination.

Argyll’s Dutch and English reinforcements reached him before the end of the year, and increased his force to some 9000 men. The artillery, which was expected by sea, was detained at the mouth of the Thames by bad weather. Argyll did not wait for it, but collected from Berwick and from Edinburgh Castle guns enough to make an efficient siege train.

On January 21 Colonel Guest with 200 dragoons was detached from Stirling to reconnoitre the roads leading to Perth, which were deeply covered with snow. On the 24th Argyll himself examined the country as far as Auchterarder. By the 26th the guns from Berwick and most of those from Edinburgh had arrived. Two days were spent in making and repairing- gun carriages, and completing other details of equipment. The artillery sent from London reached Leith on the 2 8th, but Colonel Borgard, the officer in command, hearing that Argyll was already provided with a sufficient train for his expedition, left his guns and stores on board, and with his men marched with all speed to Stirling just in time to join the expedition. All was now ready for the advance. A day’s thaw followed by a heavy fall of fresh snow had rendered the roads more difficult than ever. But Argyll was determined to proceed at all costs. and accordingly, on Sunday, January 29, he marched out of Stirling and reached Dunbiane. Parties were detached to dislodge the Jacobites from Braco Castle. Tulilbardine, and the other positions occupied by them. On the 3oth the army advanced to Auchterarder, where they bivouacked for the night in the snow.

News of Argyll’s imminent advance had reached Perth on the 28th. The general feeling in the Jacobite camp was that Perth should be defended. Preparations were made to resist an attack; the Highlanders to a man were eager for battle. But the leaders had determined that the cause was lost, and that the only thing now to be done was to effect a retreat with the least possible loss. On January 31, about 10 o’clock in the forenoon, the insurgent army marched out of Perth, leaving their guns behind them, crossed the Tay upon the ice, and took the road towards Dundee. On the same day they were followed by James and Mar, the former, Rae tells us, "followed his flying adherents with tears in his eyes, complaining that instead of bringing him to a crown they had brought him to his grave."

On the same day Argyll reached Tullibardine. There he heard of the evacuation of Perth. He at once ordered a detachment of 400 horse and iooo foot to press on and occupy the town. He himself and General Cadogan rode on with the cavalry and entered Perth about one in the morning of February 1. The foot reached Perth about ten in the following forenoon, and the remainder of the army arrived that evening.

The retreating Jacobites reached Montrose on February 3. On the following day orders were issued to such of the clans as remained together to be ready to march in the evening towards Aberdeen. As the hour appointed for the march approached, James’s horses were brought round and his guard was mounted as usual, but he did not appear. He had slipped out on foot and gone to Mar’s lodgings. He and Mar reached the shore by a side street. There a boat awaited them, and they went on board a French ship, the Maria Theresa of St. Malo, which was ready for them in the harbour. A quarter of an hour afterwards they were joined by about a dozen more of the leaders. The ship hoisted sail and put to sea, and a week later landed them on the French coast near Calais.

The army, thus left to itself, melted rapidly away. The Highlanders scattered in all directions towards their native glens. When the army, now commanded by General Gordon, reached Aberdeen two days later, it amounted to only about 1000 men. Most of the leaders succeeded in effecting their escape by sea either to France or Sweden; the remainder of the men dispersed. Few prisoners were taken; indeed, Argyll does not seem to have been very anxious to make prisoners. He occupied Aberdeen on the 8th. Parties were detached to occupy various houses throughout the Highlands. A few sparks of rebellion smouldered on in the Hebrides, but they were stamped out without difficulty. Argyll’s army was distributed among the various Scottish garrisons. The Duke himself returned to Edinburgh on February 27, and a few days later set out for London. The insurrection was over.

Few prosecutions for rebellion took place in Scotland, the general feeling of the people as well as of the Crown lawyers themselves being adverse to severity. A large number of the prisoners taken at Preston were tried by Commission of Oyer and Terminer at Liverpool, convicted and executed. Further trials and executions took place in London. Many Scots prisoners were removed for trial to Carlisle, a proceeding which excited great indignation in Scotland, being justly regarded as an invasion of the judicial independence of the country. The peers implicated—Nithsdale, Winton, Carnwath, Kenmure, Nairn, Derwentwater, and Widdrington—were impeached before the House of Lords for high treason, and all sentenced to death in the usual horrible terms.’ Nithsdale escaped from the Tower through his wife’s heroism; Winton by his own ingenuity; Kenmure and Derwentwater went to the block. The lives of Carnwath, Nairn, and Widdrington were saved by falling under the general Act of Indemnity passed in 1717, which brought the vengeance of the Government to an end.


Return to Historical Geography of the Clans of Scotland