A.D. 1745-46.
BRITISH SOVEREIGN:--George II., 1727-1760.
The Highland army returns to Scotland--Arrives at Glasgow
--Proceedings of the Jacobites in the North--Arrest
and escape of Lord Lovat--Skirmish at Inverury--Alarm
at Edinburgh--Arrival of an English army--The Prince at
Glasgow--Marches towards Stirling--Investment and surrender
of the town--Skirmishing on the Forth--Highland army
reinforced--Hawley’s army arrives at Falkirk--Preparations for
battle--Battle of Falkirk.
Pursuant to the plan of march fixed upon at crossing the Esk, the
Highland army separated, and Lord George Murray, at the head of the
low country regiments, proceeded to Ecclefechan, where he arrived on
the night of the 20th, and marched next day to Moffat. The prince, at
the head of the clans, marched to Annan, where he passed the night of
the 20th. The horse of the prince’s division under Lord Elcho were,
after a short halt, sent to take possession of Dumfries, which they
accomplished early next morning, and the prince, with the clans, came
up in the evening. In no town in Scotland had there been greater
opposition displayed to the restoration of the house of Stuart than
in Dumfries, from the danger to which the inhabitants supposed their
religious liberties, as presbyterians, would be exposed under a
catholic sovereign. This feeling, which was strongly manifested by
them in the insurrection of 1715, had now assumed even a more hostile
appearance from the existence of the new body of dissenters called
“Seceders,” which had lately left the bosom of the established
church of Scotland, and which professed principles thought to be more
in accordance with the gospel than those of their parent church. A
body of these dissenters had volunteered for the defence of Edinburgh
shortly after Charles had landed, and, on his march for England, a
party of them had taken up arms, and had captured and carried to
Dumfries thirty waggons belonging to the Highland army, which had
been left at Lockerby by the escort appointed to protect them. To
punish the inhabitants for their hostility, Charles ordered them to
pay £2,000 in money, and to contribute 1,000 pairs of shoes. About
£1,100 only were raised; and, in security for the remainder, Mr.
Crosbie, the provost, and a Mr. Walter Riddel, were carried off as
hostages. The prince also levied the excise at Dumfries, and carried
off some arms, horses, &c. Some outrages were committed in the town
by the Highlanders, who told the inhabitants that they ought to think
themselves gently used, and be thankful that their town was not
burned to ashes.
After halting a day at Dumfries, the prince proceeded with his
division up Nithsdale on the evening of the 23d, and passed the
night at Drumlanrig, the seat of the Duke of Queensberry. Next day
he entered Clydesdale, and halted at Douglas. The prince slept that
night in Douglas castle. He reached Hamilton on the 25th, and took
up his residence in the palace of the Duke of Hamilton. Next day the
Chevalier occupied himself in hunting, an amusement of which he was
uncommonly fond, and to which he had been accustomed from his youth.
The division under Lord George Murray, after halting a day at Moffat,
where, being Sunday, his men heard sermon in different parts of the
town from the episcopal ministers who accompanied them, proceeded by
Douglas and Hamilton, and entered Glasgow on Christmas day. On the
evening of the 26th the prince also marched into Glasgow on foot at
the head of the clans. Here he resolved to halt and refresh his men
for a few days after their arduous march, and to provide them with
clothing, of which they stood greatly in need. In passing through
Douglas and Lesmahago, the Highlanders pillaged and burnt some
houses, in revenge for the capture of Macdonald of Kinlochmoidart,
who, in his way south from the Highlands, had been seized on
Brokencross moor, near Lesmahago, by the country people, headed
by a student of divinity named Linning, and carried to Edinburgh
castle.[1077]
Before noticing Charles’s proceedings at Glasgow, it is necessary to
give a short summary of those of his friends in the north, up to the
period of his arrival in that city.
When intelligence of the Chevalier’s march into England, and his
unexpected success at Carlisle was received in the north, the zeal of
the Jacobites was more and more inflamed. Whilst the Frasers, headed
by the Master of Lovat, blockaded Fort Augustus, Lord Lewis Gordon
was busily employed in raising men, and levying money by force and
threats of military execution, in the shires of Banff and Aberdeen.
Of two battalions which his lordship raised, one was placed under the
command of Gordon of Abbachie, and the other under Moir of Stonywood.
To relieve Fort Augustus, the Earl of Loudon left Inverness on
the 3d of December with 600 men of the independent companies, and
passing through Stratherrick during a very severe frost, reached
Fort Augustus without opposition, and having supplied the garrison
with every thing necessary for its defence, returned to Inverness
on the 8th, after notifying to the inhabitants of Stratherrick the
risk they would incur should they leave their houses and join the
insurgents.[1078]
As the future progress of the insurrection in the Highlands depended
much upon the Frasers, Lord Loudon, in conjunction with Lord
President Forbes, resolved to march to Castle Downie, the seat of
Lord Lovat, and to obtain the best satisfaction that could be got
for the peaceable behaviour of that powerful clan. For this purpose,
two companies of the Mackenzies, which had been posted near Brahan,
were called into Inverness on the 9th of December, and after allowing
the detachment, which had been at Fort Augustus, one day’s rest,
his lordship left Inverness on the 10th, taking along with him that
detachment and the two companies, amounting together to 800 men,
and proceeded to Castle Downie. The earl prevailed upon Lord Lovat
to go with him to Inverness, and to live there under his own eye,
until all the arms of which the clan were possessed, (and of which
he promised to obtain the delivery,) were brought in. But instead of
delivering the arms on the day fixed, being the 14th of December,
he made excuses and fresh promises from day to day till the 21st,
when Lord Loudon, thinking that he was deceived, placed sentries
at the door of the house where Lord Lovat resided, intending to
commit him to the castle of Inverness next morning; but his lordship
contrived to escape during the night through a back passage, and,
being very infirm, was supposed to have been carried off on men’s
shoulders.[1079]
Next in importance to the keeping down of the Frasers, was the
relief of the shires of Banff and Aberdeen from the sway of Lord
Lewis Gordon. To put an end to the recruiting and exactions of this
nobleman, the laird of Macleod was sent the same day that Lord Loudon
proceeded to the seat of Lord Lovat with a body of 500 men, composed
of 400 of his own kindred, and 100 of the Macleods of Assint, towards
Elgin, and these were to be followed by as many men as could be
spared from Inverness, after adjusting matters with Lord Lovat.
Accordingly, on the 13th, 200 men were detached under Captain Munro
of Culcairn, to follow Macleod to Elgin and Aberdeen, and these
were again to be followed by other small bodies, and by Lord Loudon
himself, as soon as matters were finally settled with Lovat. The
escape of that wily old chief, however, put an end to this part of
the plan, as it was considered dangerous to reduce the force near
Inverness any farther, while Lord Lovat was at large.
In the meantime Macleod reached Elgin, where he received intelligence
that a party of 200 of the insurgents had taken possession of the
boats on the Spey at Fochabers, and that they intended to dispute
the passage with him. Macleod advanced to the banks of the Spey on
the 15th; but the insurgents, instead of waiting for him, retired
on his approach, and he passed the river without molestation. On
the 16th and 17th he marched to Cullen and Banff. Meanwhile Munro of
Culcairn arrived with his detachment at Keith, where he was joined
by Grant of Grant at the head of 500 of his clan, and on the 18th
they proceeded, in conjunction, to Strathbogie. Next day it was
agreed upon between Macleod and Culcairn, that whilst the former
should march next morning from Banff to Old Meldrum, which is twelve
miles from Aberdeen, the latter, with Grant and his men, should at
the same time proceed to Inverury, which is about the same distance
from Aberdeen; but Grant, apprehensive that his own country would be
harassed in his absence, returned home.[1080]
When Lord Lewis Gordon heard of the arrival of Macleod at Inverury,
he resolved to attack him. With his own regiment, the men whom
Lord John Drummond had sent, and a battalion of 300 Farquharsons,
commanded by Farquharson of Monaltry, he left Aberdeen on the 23d,
and arrived near Inverury with such expedition and secrecy, that he
almost surprised Macleod in his quarters. It was late before Lord
Lewis reached the place, and Macleod had barely time to put his
men under arms, and to seize some advantageous posts in the town.
Day-light had disappeared before the action commenced; but the light
of the moon enabled the combatants to see one another. Both sides
continued to fire for some time; but Lord John Drummond’s soldiers
and the Farquharsons having advanced close upon the Macleods, the
latter fled, and never halted till they had recrossed the Spey. Very
few men were killed on either side; but the victors took forty-one
prisoners, among whom were Mr. Gordon, younger of Ardoch; Forbes of
Echt; Maitland of Petrichie; and John Chalmers, one of the regents of
the university of Aberdeen.[1081]
Shortly after this skirmish, Lord Lewis Gordon marched his men to
the general rendezvous at Perth, where, about the time of Prince
Charles’s return from England, about 4,000 men were collected.
These consisted of the Mackintoshes, the Frasers, the part of the
Mackenzies attached to Charles, and the Farquharsons; of recruits
sent from the Highlands to the clan regiments that had gone to
England; of the forces raised by Lord Lewis Gordon, Sir James
Kinloch, and other gentlemen in the low country of the north; and of
the troops brought over from France by Lord John Drummond.
While this mixed body lay at Perth, a disagreement occurred between
the Highlanders and the other troops, which might have led to
serious consequences if the arrival of an order sent by the prince
from Dumfries, requiring them to hold themselves in readiness to
join him, had not put an end to the dispute. This disagreement was
occasioned by the conduct of Lord Strathallan and his council of
officers, on receiving the order which Charles had sent from Carlisle
by Maclauchlan of Maclauchlan, to march with all their forces, and
to follow the army into England. This order, contrary to the opinion
of Maclauchlan and all the Highland officers, they had considered
it inexpedient to obey. The result was, that the Highland officers
caballed together, and resolved to march; but as the Highlanders
had no money, as many of those who had come last from the Highlands
wanted arms, and as Lord Strathallan was in possession of the money,
arms, ammunition, and stores, they could not proceed. In this dilemma
they entered into a combination to seize the money and arms, and,
persisting in their resolution to march, matters were proceeding to
extremities when Rollo of Powhouse arrived at Perth with the order
alluded to, which at once put an end to the dispute.[1082]
The inhabitants of Edinburgh, relieved from the presence of the
Highland army, had lived for five weeks in a state of comparative
security. Public worship had been resumed in several of the city
churches on the 3d of November, and in all of them on the 10th. The
state officers who had retired to Berwick, did not, however, return
till the 13th, when they entered the city with an air of triumph,
which accorded ill with their recent conduct as fugitives. On the
following day, Lieutenant-general Handasyde arrived, as before
stated, at Edinburgh with Price’s and Ligonier’s regiments of foot,
and Hamilton’s and Ligonier’s (lately Gardiner’s,) dragoons; and,
on the 7th of December, these troops were sent west to Stirling,
where, in conjunction with the Glasgow and Paisley militia, amounting
to nearly 700 men, commanded by the Earl of Home, they guarded
the passes of the Forth. In the mean time, exertions were made to
re-embody the Edinburgh regiment; but these do not appear to have
been attended with success. With the exception of some young men who
formed themselves into a volunteer company, few of the inhabitants
were disposed to take up arms, as they were fully sensible, that
without a sufficient force of regular troops, no effectual resistance
could be opposed to the Highlanders, should they return to the city.
In this situation of matters, the news of the Highlanders having
crossed the Esk in their retreat from England, reached Edinburgh,
and threw the civil and military authorities into a state of
consternation. Ignorant of the route the Highlanders meant to
follow, they were extremely perplexed how to act. They naturally
apprehended another visit, and their fears seemed to be confirmed by
the return to Edinburgh of the regular troops from the west, on the
23d of December, and by the arrival of the Glasgow regiment the next
day, all of whom had retreated to Edinburgh on the approach of the
Highlanders. A resolution was adopted by the public authorities to
put the city in a proper state of defence, and, on the 29th, a paper
was read in the city churches, acquainting the inhabitants, that it
had been resolved in a council of war to defend the city. Next day a
considerable number of men from the parishes in the neighbourhood,
who had been provided with arms from the castle, entered the city,
and were drawn up in the High Street. The men of each parish
marched by themselves, and were attended in most instances by their
respective ministers.[1083] These were joined by other small corps,
one of the most remarkable of which was a body of Seceders, belonging
to the associated congregations of Edinburgh and Dalkeith, carrying
a standard with the inscription, “For Religion, Covenants, King, and
Kingdoms.”
Had the Highlanders chosen to march upon Edinburgh, the resolution
to defend it would not have been carried into effect, as it was the
intention of the regular troops to have retired to Berwick on their
approach; but, fortunately for the reputation of the new defenders
of the capital, an army under Lieutenant-general Hawley was now on
its march into Scotland. This gentleman, who had just been appointed
commander-in-chief in Scotland, though described by the Duke of
Newcastle as “an officer of great ability and experience,”[1084] was
in fact a man of very ordinary military attainments, and in no way
fitted for the important duty which had been assigned him. His whole
genius lay, as Mr. John Forbes of Culloden observed to his father,
the president, in the management of a squadron, or in prosecuting
with vigour any mortal to the gallows. He had a very sorry opinion
of the prowess of the Highlanders, whom he was confident of beating,
if his troops were in good condition, without regard to the numbers
of their opponents;[1085] but he was destined soon to find out his
mistake.
To expedite the march of the English army, the gentlemen and
farmers of Teviotdale, the Merse, and the Lothians furnished
horses, by means of which the first division of the royal army,
consisting of a battalion of the Scots Royals and Battereau’s
foot, reached Edinburgh as early as the 2d of January, where they
were shortly joined by Fleming’s and Blakeney’s regiments, that of
Major-general Huske, by Hawley himself, by the regiments of Wolfe
(not, as has been supposed, the immortal general of that name) and
Cholmondeley, Howard’s (the old Buffs) and Monro’s, and by Barrel’s
and Pulteney’s. At Dunbar, Aberlady, and other places, these troops
were entertained by the proprietors in East Lothian, who allowed
each soldier a pound of beef, a pound of bread, a glass of spirits,
and a bottle of ale.[1086] They were also feasted at Edinburgh at
the expense of the city, where they were courteously received by the
terrified inhabitants, who furnished them with blankets, and evinced
great anxiety to make them comfortable.[1087] The citizens also
illuminated their houses; and such as declined had their windows
broken by the mob, who also demolished with an unsparing hand all
the windows of such houses as were uninhabited. On his arrival in
the city, the commander-in-chief justified Mr. Forbes’s opinion by
causing one gallows to be erected in the Grassmarket, and another
between Leith and Edinburgh, on which it is supposed he meant to hang
such unfortunate victims as might fall into his hands.[1088]
To return to Charles. On his arrival at Glasgow, his first care
was to provide for the necessities of his men, who were in a most
pitiable plight from the want of clothing. He ordered the magistrates
to furnish the army with 12,000 shirts, 6,000 cloth coats, 6,000
pairs of stockings, and 6,000 waistcoats. Enraged at the conduct of
the citizens for having subscribed to the fund for raising troops
against him, the prince sent for Buchanan the provost, and demanded
the names of the subscribers, and threatened to hang him in case of
refusal; but the provost, undismayed, replied that he would name
nobody except himself, that he had subscribed largely, as he thought
he was discharging a duty, and that he was not afraid to die in such
a cause. The provost had to pay a fine of £500 as the penalty of his
refusal.[1089]
The mansion which Charles occupied during his residence in Glasgow
belonged to a rich merchant named Glassford. It was the best house
in the city, and stood at the western extremity of the Trongate,
but has long since disappeared. While in Glasgow he ate twice a-day
in public. The table was spread in a small dining-room, at which he
sat down without ceremony with a few of his officers in the Highland
dress. He was waited upon on these occasions by a few Jacobite
ladies. Charles courted popularity, and, to attract attention,
dressed more elegantly in Glasgow than at any other place;[1090]
but the citizens of Glasgow kept up a reserve, which made Charles
remark, with a feeling of mortifying disappointment, that he
had never been in a place where he found fewer friends. Though
dissatisfied with the people, he seemed, however, greatly to admire
the regularity and beauty of the buildings.[1091]
Having refitted his army, Charles, within a few days after his
arrival, reviewed it on Glasgow Green, in presence of a large
concourse of spectators, and had the satisfaction to find that,
with the exception of those he had left at Carlisle, he had not
lost more than 40 men during his expedition into England. Hitherto
he had carefully concealed his weakness, but now, thinking himself
sure of doubling his army in a few days, he was not unwilling to let
the world see the handful of men with which he had penetrated into
the very heart of England, and returned in the face of two powerful
armies almost without loss.[1092]
Abandoning, in the mean time, his project of returning to England,
Charles resolved to lay siege to the castles of Stirling and
Edinburgh. He depended much for success upon the artillery and
engineers brought over by Lord John Drummond, and looked confidently
forward for additional succours from France in terms of the repeated
assurances he had received. Having determined on beginning with
Stirling, he sent orders to Lord Strathallan, Lord John Drummond,
Lord Lewis Gordon, and other commanders in the north, to join him
forthwith with all their forces. To accelerate a junction with the
forces at Perth, the prince marched his army from Glasgow on the
4th of January, 1766, in two divisions; one of which, commanded by
the prince, took the road to Kilsyth, where it passed the night.
Charles himself took up his quarters in Kilsyth house, then belonging
to Mr. Campbell of Shawfield. Mr. Campbell’s steward, it is said,
was ordered to provide every thing necessary for the comfort of the
prince, under a promise of payment, but was told next morning that
the bill should be allowed to his master at accounting for the rents
of Kilsyth, which was a forfeited estate. Next day Charles marched
towards Stirling, and encamped his division at Denny, Bannockburn,
and St. Ninians. He passed the night at Bannockburn-house, the
seat of Sir Hugh Paterson, where he was received with Jacobite
hospitality. The other division, consisting of six battalions of
the clans, under Lord George Murray, spent the first night at
Cumbernauld, and the next at Falkirk, where they fixed their quarters.
[Illustration: Stirling, about the beginning of the 18th
Century.--From Slezer’s _Theatrum Scotiæ_.]
Preparatory to the siege of the castle, Charles resolved to reduce
the town of Stirling. The inhabitants, encouraged by General
Blakeney, the governor of the castle, determined to defend the
town; and a body of about 600 volunteers, all inhabitants of the
town, was supplied by the governor with arms and ammunition from
the castle, and promised every assistance he could afford them. He
told them, at the same time, that if they should be overpowered
they could make a good retreat, as he would keep an open door for
them. Animated by the activity of the magistrates and the clergymen
of the town--among whom the Rev. Ebenezer Erskine, the father of
the Secession,[1093] who commanded two companies of Seceders, was
particularly distinguished--the inhabitants proceeded to put the town
in a posture of defence.
On the afternoon of Saturday the 4th of January, the Highlanders had
nearly surrounded the town; but they did not complete the investment
till next day, which was partly occupied in cutting down some trees
intended for fascines, on which they meant to construct a battery.
About eight o’clock in the evening they sent a drummer to the east
gate with a message; but, being fired upon by the sentinels, he threw
away his drum and fled. The insurgents fired several shots into the
town during the night, which were responded to by the volunteers, who
were all under arms, and posted in different parties at the different
by-ways and paths into the town, and at such parts of the wall as
were deemed insufficient. During the night the utmost alarm prevailed
among the inhabitants, and few of them went to bed. Some fled from
the town, and others retired into the castle; but the magistrates
and the other principal inhabitants remained all night in the
council chamber in which they had assembled, to give such direction
and assistance as might be necessary, in case an assault should be
attempted during the night.[1094]
Next morning the insurgents were discovered erecting a battery within
musket-shot of the town, almost opposite to the east gate, in a
situation where the cannon of the castle could not be brought to bear
upon them. The volunteers kept up a constant fire of musketry upon
them; but, in spite of this annoyance, the Highlanders completed the
battery before noon. Charles, thereupon, sent a verbal message to the
magistrates, requiring them instantly to surrender the town; but, at
their solicitation, they obtained till ten o’clock next day to make
up their minds. The message was taken into consideration at a public
meeting of the inhabitants, and the question of surrender was long
and anxiously debated. The majority having come to the resolution
that it was impossible to defend the town with the handful of men
within, two deputies were sent to Bannockburn, the head-quarters of
the Highland army, who offered to surrender on terms; stating that,
rather than surrender at discretion, as required, they would defend
the town to the last extremity. After a negotiation, which occupied
the greater part of Tuesday, the following terms of capitulation
were agreed upon: viz., that no demand should be made upon the town
revenues,--that the inhabitants should not be molested in their
persons or effects,--and that the arms in the town should be returned
to the castle. Pending this negotiation, the Highlanders, to terrify
the inhabitants into a speedy submission, as is supposed, discharged
twenty-seven shots from the battery into the town, which, however,
did no other damage than beating down a few chimney tops. After the
arms were carried into the castle, the gates were thrown open on
Wednesday the 8th, and the Highlanders entered the town about three
o’clock in the afternoon.[1095]
Being in want of battering cannon for a siege, Charles had, before
his departure from Glasgow, sent orders to Lord John Drummond, to
bring up the pieces which he had brought over from France. As General
Blakeney had broken down part of Stirling bridge, to prevent the
insurgents at Perth from crossing the Forth at Stirling, some of
the battering cannon were sent to the Frews, and were transported
across that ford by means of floats, while the rest were brought to
Alloa as a nearer road for the purpose of being transported across
the Frith of Forth. Great difficulty was experienced in getting over
these pieces, and as there was but a small guard along with them,
they might have fallen into the hands of a party of troops sent up
the Frith by Hawley, had not Lord George Murray, on hearing of their
embarkation, sent over Lochiel with his regiment, which had lately
been augmented by recruits, and was now 700 strong.[1096]
As there were no ships at Alloa, Lord George seized a vessel lying
off Airth to transport his cannon across the Frith. This was a
fortunate circumstance, as two sloops of war, the Pearl and Vulture,
sailed up the Frith next tide from Leith roads to seize all the
vessels and boats in the neighbourhood, and otherwise to obstruct the
conveyance of the cannon. General Hawley, about the same time, viz.,
on the 8th of January, sent up some armed boats, and a small vessel
with cannon from Leith, manned with 300 men under the command of
Lieutenant-colonel Leighton, to destroy all the works the Highlanders
had made to cover the passage of their cannon. The sloops of war
anchored in Kincardine roads, whence, on the morning of the 8th, two
long boats well manned were sent up towards Airth, in conjunction
with the other boats and small armed vessel, to burn two vessels
lying in the neighbourhood which could not be launched till the
spring tides. This service they effected without the loss of a single
man, though the boats were fired upon by the Highlanders who were
posted in the village. Having been prevented from returning to the
station off Kincardine, by the lowness of the tide, the Highlanders
opened a battery of three pieces of cannon next morning upon the
flotilla, but without doing it any damage. The Highlanders are said
to have had two of their cannon dismounted on this occasion by the
fire from the sloop, and to have sustained a loss of several men,
including their principal engineer.[1097]
Apprehensive that the flotilla would next attempt to set fire to the
other vessel, Lord George Murray erected a battery of four guns at
Elphinstone Pans to command the river, and to keep off the sloops
of war, should they attempt to come up. In addition to the troops
stationed at Airth, his lordship sent a reinforcement of between 300
and 400 men from Falkirk, which arrived at Elphinstone and Airth on
the 10th. At this time the vessel which had been seized at Airth was
lying at Alloa, and had taken two out of seven pieces of cannon,
with some ammunition on board. To capture this vessel, a large boat,
having 50 soldiers on board, along with the boats belonging to the
sloops of war, well manned and armed, were sent up the river during
the night of the 10th, with instructions to lie all night a mile
above Alloa, in order to intercept the vessel should an attempt be
made to carry her up the river during the night. Unfortunately,
however, for this design, the boats grounded after passing the
town, and the Highlanders who were posted in the town, having, by
this accident, come to the knowledge that the enemy was at hand,
immediately beat to arms, and commenced a random fire from right to
left, which forced the boats to retreat down the river. Next morning,
however, the two sloops of war, accompanied by some smaller vessels,
went up the river with the tide, and casting anchor opposite to, and
within musket-shot of the battery, opened a brisk fire. Three of
the smaller vessels anchored in a convenient place to play upon the
village of Elphinstone, and two more hovered along as if inclined to
land some soldiers, with which they were crowded. The firing was kept
up on both sides, for upwards of three hours, without much damage
on either side. The cable of one of the sloops of war having been
cut asunder by a cannon shot, an accident which forced her from her
station, and the two pilots in the other having each lost a leg, the
assailants abandoned the enterprise, and fell down the river with
the ebb-tide. Being now relieved from the presence of the enemy,
Lord George brought over the cannon and stores without further
opposition.[1098]
On the 12th of January, two days after he had taken possession of the
town, Charles broke ground before Stirling castle, between the church
and a large house at the head of the town, called _Marr’s work_. Here
he raised a battery against the castle, upon which he mounted two
sixteen-pounders, two pieces of eight, and three of three. The prince
thereupon summoned General Blakeney to surrender, but his answer was,
that he would defend the place to the last extremity; that as honour
had hitherto been his rule through life, he would rather die than
stain it by abandoning his post, and that his royal highness would
assuredly have a very bad opinion of him, were he to surrender the
castle in such a cowardly manner.[1099] To prevent any intelligence
of their operations being carried to the enemy, the Highlanders shut
the gates of the town, and placed guards at all the outlets. The
siege went on very slowly, and Charles soon perceived that he had
chosen a bad situation for his battery, which was so exposed to the
fire of the castle, that its works were speedily demolished, and the
cannon dismounted.
While the siege was going on, the forces in the north under Lord
Strathallan and Lord John Drummond began to arrive at Stirling. By
these reinforcements the prince’s army was increased to 9,000 men,
all in the highest spirits. The Macdonalds, the Camerons, and the
Stuarts, were now twice as numerous as they were when the Highland
army entered England, and Lord Ogilvy had got a second battalion,
under the command of Sir James Kinloch, as lieutenant-colonel,
much stronger than the first. The Frasers, the Mackintoshes, and
Farquharsons, were reckoned 300 men each, and in addition to these,
the Earl of Cromarty, and his son, Lord Macleod, had also brought up
their men.[1100]
Conceiving himself in a sufficiently strong condition to give battle
to the Highlanders, General Hawley began to put the troops he had
assembled at Edinburgh in motion towards the west. His force amounted
to upwards of 9,000 men, of whom 1,300 were cavalry, and he might in
a few days have increased it considerably by the addition of some
regiments which were on their march to join him. He had also reason
to expect the immediate arrival in the Frith of Forth of a body
of 6,000 Hessians who had embarked at Williamstadt on the 1st of
January, by which accession his army would have been almost doubled.
Impatient, however, to acquire a renown which had been denied to
Cope, his predecessor, of whose capacity he had been heard to speak
very contemptuously, Hawley resolved not to wait for his expected
reinforcements, but to seize the laurels which were in imagination
already within his grasp.
Accordingly, on the morning of the 13th of January, the first
division of the royal army, consisting of five regiments of foot,
together with the Glasgow regiment of militia, and Hamilton’s and
Ligonier’s dragoons, all under the command of Major-general Huske,
left Edinburgh and marched westward to Linlithgow. Hearing that
preparations had been made at Linlithgow for the reception of these
troops, and that provisions and forage had been collected in that
town for the use of Hawley’s army, Lord George Murray left Falkirk at
four o’clock the same morning for Linlithgow, with five battalions
of the clans for the purpose of capturing these stores. He was
joined on the road by Lord Elcho’s and Lord Pitsligo’s troops of
life-guards, whom he had ordered to meet him. Before sunrise he had
completely surrounded the town, and as Lord George had been informed
that Huske’s division was to enter the town at night, he called his
officers together before marching into town, and having told them the
object for which they had come, he desired that they would continue
ready to assemble in the street on a moment’s warning, in order to
march wherever they might be directed. After taking possession of
the town, and apprehending a few militia, Lord George sent forward
some patrols on the road to Edinburgh, to reconnoitre while the
Highlanders were engaged in seizing the articles prepared for the
royal forces; but they had scarcely been an hour in town when these
advanced parties discovered a body of dragoons advancing in their
direction. Two of the patrols came back at full speed, and having
given Lord George notice of their approach, he marched with his men
out of the town. The dragoons retired as the Highlanders advanced.
Their horse, with 200 of the best foot, followed them about two
miles; but the main body returned to Linlithgow, where they dined.
With the exception of a few small reconnoitring parties, the advanced
body also returned to the town; but in less than an hour one of
these parties came in with information that the dragoons were again
returning with a large body of horse and foot. Lord George resolved
to attack them when the half of them should pass the bridge, half
a mile west from the town, and after waiting with his men on the
streets till Huske had reached the east end of the town, he retired
in the expectation that the royalist general would follow him; but
Huske, who marched above the town, though he followed the Highlanders
to the bridge, did not pass it. Lord George returned to Falkirk, and
by orders of the prince marched next day to Bannockburn.[1101]
On the 14th other three regiments marched from Edinburgh towards
Borrowstownness, to support the division under Huske, and these were
followed next day by three additional regiments. With these forces
Huske marched on the 16th to Falkirk, and encamped to the north-west
of the town with his front towards Stirling. In the evening he was
joined by the remainder of the army, and the artillery, consisting
of ten pieces of cannon. General Hawley himself arrived at
Callander House the same evening. Next morning the army was joined
by Cobham’s dragoons, who had just arrived from England, and by
about 1,000 Argyleshire men, chiefly Campbells, under the command
of Lieutenant-colonel Campbell, afterwards Duke of Argyle. Besides
this corps, this whig clan furnished another of 1,000 men, which was
posted about Inverary, under Major-general Campbell, the colonel’s
father, to guard the passes. Along with the army was a company
called the Yorkshire Blues, raised, maintained, and commanded, by
a gentleman of the name of Thornton. Several volunteers, among whom
were several clergymen, also accompanied the army on this occasion.
Having received intelligence of the advance of the royalists to
Falkirk, Charles, on the evening of the 16th, ordered the different
detachments of his army to concentrate upon Plean moor, about seven
miles from that town, and two miles to the east of Bannockburn,
where his head-quarters were. He, however, left several battalions,
amounting to about 1,000 men, in Stirling, under the Duke of Perth,
to push on the siege of the castle. Nobody supposed that the prince,
in issuing this order, had any other object in contemplation than
to review his army, and of so little importance was it considered,
that although the order was immediately made known on all sides,
it was near twelve o’clock next day before the different parts of
the army arrived from their quarters.[1102] After the army had been
drawn up in line of battle, Charles called a council of war, and
for the first time stated his intention of giving immediate battle
to Hawley. That general had, it is believed, been informed of the
probability of an attack, but he treated the information lightly,
and instead of attending to the affairs of his camp, spent the
morning at Callander House with the Countess of Kilmarnock, with
whom he breakfasted.[1103] The Torwood, once a forest of great
extent, celebrated as the chief retreat of the heroic Wallace, but
now greatly decayed, lay between the two armies; and through what
was once the middle of the forest, the high road from Stirling to
Falkirk, by Bannockburn, passes.
From information which Charles had received, he supposed that Hawley
would have advanced and offered him battle; but seeing no appearance
of him, he put his army in motion about mid-day, towards Falkirk.
While the main body of the army marched in two columns along the
moor, on the west side of the Torwood, where they could not be seen
from Hawley’s camp, a third body of horse and foot, under Lord John
Drummond, appeared upon the high road which runs through the centre
of the Torwood, and moved about, displaying their colours in view of
the enemy, as if they intended to attack Hawley’s camp. The object
of this parade was to draw off the attention of the enemy from the
main body, which was advancing unperceived towards Falkirk, by a
different route. After the two columns had advanced about half a
mile, Lord George Murray received an order from the prince to delay
passing the water of Carron till night, as he did not think it
advisable to cross in the face of the enemy, but his lordship having
satisfied his royal highness of the impropriety of the order, he was
allowed to proceed. Ignorant of the approach of the main body of the
Highlanders, Hawley’s officers thought the demonstration made by the
body on the high road unworthy of attention; but they were aroused
from their apathy by a countryman, who arrived in the camp with
intelligence that the Highlanders were close upon them. Two of the
officers immediately ascended a tree, and, by means of a telescope,
descried the Highland army marching towards Falkirk, by the south
side of the Torwood. This was a little before one o’clock, and the
officers having communicated the circumstance to Lieutenant-colonel
Howard, their commanding officer, he went to Callander House and
informed the general of it. Instead, however, of ordering his men to
get under arms, Hawley directed that they should merely put on their
accoutrements. This order was obeyed, and the troops sat down to
dinner, but before they had finished their repast, they were summoned
to arms.
When the Highlanders came in sight of the water of Carron, the town
of Falkirk, and the enemy’s camp, also opened upon their view. It was
now between one and two o’clock, and some well-mounted scouts, who
were on the opposite side of the water, on observing the Highlanders,
immediately rode off at full gallop, and reported that the Highland
army was about to cross the Carron at Dunnipace. The alarm which this
intelligence produced in the royalist camp was very great. Hawley was
instantly sent for, and the commanding officers, who were exceedingly
perplexed, formed their regiments as quickly as possible upon the
ground in front of the camp. The general, instantly mounting his
horse, galloped to the camp, and in his haste left his hat behind
him.
In taking the circuitous route by the south side of the Torwood,
Charles had a double object in view--to conceal his approach from
the enemy as long as he could, and to obtain possession of Falkirk
moor, about two miles south-west of Hawley’s camp, and which,
from the nature of the ground, was considered well fitted for the
operations of a Highland army. Suspecting that it was the prince’s
design to secure the heights of the moor, Hawley at once determined
to prevent him, if possible, and accordingly on his arrival at the
camp he ordered the three regiments of dragoons to march towards
the moor, and take possession of the high ground between them and
the insurgents. He also directed the infantry to follow them with
fixed bayonets. This was a rash and inconsiderate step, as Hawley
had never examined the ground, which he found, when too late, was by
no means a suitable field of battle for his troops. In ordering his
army to march up the moor, the English commander is said to have been
impressed with the idea that the Highlanders did not mean to attack
him, but to give him the slip, and march back to England, and that
his object was to intercept them and bring them to action.[1104] This
explanation, however, is by no means satisfactory.
After crossing the Carron at Dunnipace Steps, the main body of the
Highlanders stretched along the moor in two parallel lines, about
two hundred paces asunder. The column next the royal army consisted
of the clan regiments which had been in England, and of the recruits
which had lately arrived from the Highlands, with the Frasers, and
a battalion of the Farquharsons. The other column, which was to the
right of the last mentioned, consisted of the Athole brigade, the
Maclauchlans, the battalions of Ogilvy and Gordon, and Lord John
Drummond’s regiment. After reaching the bottom of the hill, the
columns faced to the left, and began to ascend the eminence. Almost
simultaneously with this movement, Hawley’s dragoons, proceeding
along the eastern wall of Bantaskin inclosures, rapidly ascended
the hill also, followed by the foot with fixed bayonets. At this
instant, the sky, which till then had been unusually serene, became
suddenly overcast, and before the foot had advanced far, a violent
storm of wind and rain burst from the south-west, which beat directly
in the faces of the soldiers, and retarded their march up the hill.
A running contest seemed now to take place between the dragoons and
the advanced divisions of the Highland columns, consisting of the
Macdonalds and the Athole men, to gain the summit of the ridge of the
moor. Both parties reached the top of the hill about the same time,
and possessed themselves of two eminences, within musket-shot of each
other. To prevent the dragoons gaining the advantage of the ground
and the wind, the Macdonalds and Athole men had advanced with such
rapidity, that they had left the rear of the columns considerably
behind, and on reaching the height of the moor, they halted to give
time to the rear to come up.
Meanwhile Lord George Murray, who commanded the right wing, proceeded
to make the necessary arrangements for battle. In forming, the two
columns merely faced to the left, by which simple movement the
eastern column at once became, as originally designed, the front
line. When completed, the order of battle of the Highland army
was as follows. On the extreme right of the first line, stood the
Macdonalds of Keppoch, next to these the Macdonalds of Clanranald,
and in succession the regiment of Glengary, a battalion of
Farquharsons under Farquharson of Bumarrel,[1105] the Mackenzies, the
Mackintoshes, the Macphersons under Cluny their chief, the Frasers
under the Master of Lovat, the Stuarts of Appin, and the Camerons,
who formed the extreme left of this line. The second line, which
chiefly consisted of the low country regiments, was composed of
the Athole brigade, which formed the right wing, of Lord Ogilvy’s
regiment of two battalions in the centre, and of the regiment of
Lord Lewis Gordon, also of two battalions, which formed the left of
the line. At the distance of about twenty yards in the rear of the
centre of the second line, the prince was stationed with some horse
and foot, and was joined before the commencement of the action by
Lord John Drummond, with a large body of horse, the Irish piquets and
the other troops, with which he had made the feint, as a _corps de
reserve_. Some of the horse guards under Lords Elcho and Balmerino,
and also some of the hussars, who were on the right of the prince,
were sent farther to the right to protect the flank, but they were
prevented from extending farther, by a morass, which covered the
right wing, and were obliged to draw up behind the Athole men. At the
opposite extremity on the left of the prince, Lord Pitsligo’s and
Kilmarnock’s horse were stationed.[1106]
The infantry of the royal army was also formed in two lines, with a
body of reserve in the rear; but the disposition of the cavalry, as
will be seen, was altogether different from that of the insurgent
army. The first line consisted of the regiments of Ligonier, Price,
Royal Scots, Pulteney, Cholmondeley, and Wolfe, and the second
of those of Battereau, Barrel, Fleming, Munro, and Blakeney. The
names of the regiments are here given according to the order they
stood, beginning with the right. Behind the right of the second
line, Howard’s regiment was stationed as a reserve. The Glasgow
regiment, and other Lowland militia, were posted as another body of
reserve, near some cottages behind the left of the dragoons; and
the Argyleshire men were placed at some distance from the right of
the royal army, to watch the motions of the forces under Lord John
Drummond, who seemed, before they joined the two columns on the
moor, to threaten an attack upon the camp. The left of the dragoons
was directly opposite to Keppoch’s regiment, but by keeping large
intervals between their squadrons, their right extended as far down
as the centre of Lord Lovat’s regiment, which stood the third from
the left of the insurgent army. In consequence of this extension
of the front line of the royal army, Lochiel’s regiment, which
was upon the left extremity of the opposite line, was outflanked
by three of the royal regiments. With the exception of one or two
regiments in each line, which, by their proximity to the top of the
moor, had reached ground somewhat level, the rest of the king’s
infantry stood on the declivity of the hill, and so great was the
inequality of the ground, that the opposite wings alone of either
army were visible to each other. Between the right of the royal
army and the left of that of the insurgents, there was a ravine,
which, beginning on the declivity of the hill, directly opposite the
centre of the Fraser battalion, ran in a northerly direction, and
gradually widened and deepened till it reached the plain. The right
of the royal army was commanded by Major-general Huske, the centre by
Hawley himself, and the left by Brigadier Cholmondeley, but the three
regiments of dragoons on the left were under the immediate command
of Lieutenant-colonel Ligonier. The colonel’s own dragoon regiment,
formerly Gardiner’s, was stationed on the extreme left. Hamilton’s
dragoons were posted on the right, and Cobham’s in the centre.
In the action about to commence, the combatants on both sides were
deprived of the use of their artillery. The Highlanders, from the
rapidity of their march, left their cannon behind them, and those
belonging to Hawley’s army, consisting of ten pieces, stuck fast in
a swamp at the bottom of the hill. The royal forces were greatly
superior to the Highlanders in numbers, but the latter had the
advantage of the ground, and having the wind and the rain in their
backs, were not annoyed to the same extent as their adversaries, who
received the wind and rain directly in their faces.[1107]
The right wing of the Highland army and Hawley’s cavalry had remained
upwards of a quarter of an hour within musket-shot of each other,
waiting the coming up of the other forces, when General Hawley sent
an order to Colonel Ligonier, to attack the Highlanders. At the time
this order was despatched, some of his troops destined for the centre
of his second line had not reached their posts, but Hawley, impatient
of delay, and led astray by a mistaken though prevalent idea, that
the Highlanders could not stand the shock of cavalry, resolved to
commence the action with the dragoons only. Ligonier, who appears
to have entertained more correct notions on this subject than the
generalissimo, was surprised at the order; but he proceeded to put it
in execution.[1108]
Before advancing, Colonel Ligonier made several motions, with the
design of drawing off the fire of the Highlanders, and riding in
among them, and breaking their ranks; but they did not fire a shot.
Conjecturing that the dragoons were to be supported by a body
of infantry in their rear, Lord George Murray, to whom no such
description of force was discernible at the time, sent Colonel Roy
Stuart and Anderson, the guide at the battle of Preston, forward
on horseback to reconnoitre. On receiving their report that they
had not observed any foot, Lord George resolved to anticipate his
opponent Ligonier, by attacking the dragoons. Accordingly he gave
orders to the right wing to advance slowly, and, passing along the
line, desired the men to keep their ranks, and not to fire till he
gave them orders. Lord George, with his sword in his hand, and his
target on his arm, then took his station at the head of the first
line, which, with the second, continued to advance in good order. The
dragoons, on observing the approach of the Highlanders, also began
to move forward, and were instantly at the full trot. They came up
in very good order, till within pistol-shot of the first line of
the Highlanders, when Lord George Murray presented his piece as the
signal to fire. The Highlanders, thereupon, discharged a volley with
such precision and effect, that the dragoons were entirely broken,
and many of them were killed and wounded. Hamilton’s and Ligonier’s
regiments instantly wheeled about, and galloped down the hill, riding
over and trampling upon some of their party, and carrying along with
them a company of the Glasgow regiment. Cobham’s regiment, which had
just returned from foreign service, however, stood its ground for
some time, and breaking through the first line of the Highlanders,
trampled many of them under foot. A singular combat then ensued.
Deprived of the use of their broadswords, some of the Highlanders,
who lay stretched on the ground, had recourse to their dirks, which
they plunged into the bellies of the horses. Others seized the riders
by their clothes, and dragging them from their horses, stabbed them
with the same weapon. In this mêlée the chief of Clanranald made a
narrow escape, having been trodden down, and before he was able to
rise a horse fell dead upon him, the weight of which prevented him
from extricating himself without assistance. While in this perilous
situation, he saw a dismounted dragoon and a Highlander struggling
near him, and for a time the issue seemed doubtful. The anxiety of
the chief, whose own preservation seemed to depend on the success
of his clansman, was soon relieved, when he saw the Highlander
throw his antagonist, and instantly despatch him with his dirk. The
Highlander thereupon came up to the prostrate chief, and drew him
from under the horse. The dragoons, unable any longer to contend with
the Macdonalds, galloped off to the right between the two armies,
and received the fire of the remainder of the front line of the
Highlanders, as they went along, as far down as Lord Lovat’s regiment.
Afraid that, after the flight of the dragoons, the Highlanders
would commence a disorderly pursuit, Lord George Murray ordered
the Macdonalds of Keppoch to keep their ranks, and sent a similar
order to the two other Macdonald regiments. But notwithstanding this
command of the lieutenant-general, and the efforts of the officers,
who, with drawn swords and cocked pistols, endeavoured to restrain
them from an immediate pursuit, a considerable number of the men of
these two regiments, along with all the regiments on their left,
as far down as the head of the ravine, rushed down the hill in
pursuit of the enemy. They were received with a volley from some of
the regiments on the left of the first line of the royal army, and
having returned the fire, the Highlanders threw away their muskets,
and drawing their swords, rushed in upon the enemy. Unable to resist
the impetuosity of the attack, the whole of the royal army, with
the exception of Barrel’s regiment, and part of the regiments of
Price and Ligonier, gave way. At first the Highlanders supposed that
the rout was complete, and General Hawley himself, who was huddled
off the field among a confused mass of horse and foot, was of the
same opinion; but the Highlanders were undeceived, when coming near
the bottom of the hill, they received a fire in flank from these
regiments, which threw them into great disorder, and obliged them to
retire up the hill. The Camerons and the Stuarts, who were on the
opposite side of the ravine, suffered also from the fire of this
body, and were likewise obliged to fall back.[1109]
[Illustration: Plan of the Battle of Falkirk.]
Meanwhile Lord George Murray, who observed the confusion in Hawley’s
army, was moving down the hill with the Athole men in good order,
for the purpose of attacking it on its retreat. He had sent orders
by Colonel Ker, to the reserve to advance on the left, and having
met scattered parties of the Macdonalds returning up the hill, he
endeavoured to rally them as he marched down, but without effect.
Before reaching the bottom of the hill, Lord George obtained a
complete view of the disorder which prevailed in the enemy’s ranks.
With the exception of the three regiments of foot, and Cobham’s
dragoons, which were marching rapidly towards Falkirk, and covering
the rear of the other fugitives, the remainder of the royal army was
running off to the right and left, by forties and fifties; but as
Lord George had not more than 600 or 700 men with him, and as the
rest of the Highland army was scattered over the face of the hill,
he resolved to halt at its foot. Here he was joined by the Irish
piquets, and by Lord John Drummond, and other officers. Some of the
officers advised a retreat towards Dunipace, that the men might
obtain shelter during the night from the rain, which was excessive;
but his lordship strongly advised that they should endeavour to
obtain possession of Falkirk immediately, while the confusion lasted,
declaring that he would either lie in the town or in paradise. While
this discussion was going on, the prince arrived, and approved highly
of the views of his lieutenant-general. Charles was advised, in the
meantime, to retire to some house on the face of the hill, till the
result of the attempt should be known.
It was now almost dark, and as the fires of Hawley’s camp indicated
an apparent intention on his part to retain possession of the town,
the officers assembled at the bottom of the hill, considered it
unsafe to advance farther, till they had ascertained the state
of matters. To procure intelligence, Mr. Drummond, eldest son of
Lord Strathallan, and Oliphant, younger of Gask, entered Falkirk,
disguised as peasants, and having ascertained that General Hawley,
after issuing orders to set fire to his tents, had abandoned the
town, and was retreating on Linlithgow, they immediately returned to
their friends with the information. The body collected at the foot
of the hill now advanced upon Falkirk, in three detachments; one
of which, under Lochiel, entered the town at the west end, another
under Lord George Murray, at the centre, and the other, under Lord
John Drummond, by a lane called the Cow wynd, at the east end. Some
stragglers, who had remained behind, were taken prisoners, one of
whom fired at Lord John Drummond, when about to seize him, and
wounded him slightly in the arm. Information of the occupation of the
town, by the Highlanders, was sent to the prince, who immediately
repaired thither, and took up his residence in a house which fronts
the steeple.
So great was the disorder that existed in the Highland army,
occasioned by the rash and impetuous conduct of the Macdonalds,
in leaving their ranks, and by the check received from the three
regiments, that it was about four hours after the close of the
battle, which lasted scarcely twenty minutes, before the greater
part of the army had any information of the result. The Highlanders
were dispersed in every direction over the hill, and the different
clans were mingled together pell-mell. The confusion was greatly
increased by the obscurity of the night, and for several hours they
wandered over the moor, uncertain whether they were to meet friends
or foes. Early in the evening, many of the Highlanders had retired
from the field of battle, either thinking it lost, or intending to
seek shelter from the weather. During this disorder, the fate of
the prince himself was equally unknown. Early in the action, he
had sent one of his aides-de-camp with an order; but, on returning
with an answer, the prince was no more to be seen. The officer, in
searching for him, fell in with the prince’s own life-guards, drawn
up in order of battle, near a cottage on the edge of the hill, with
their commander, Lord Elcho, at their head; but his lordship could
give him no information respecting the prince. Lord Lewis Gordon, and
several chiefs of the clans, ignorant even of the fate of their own
regiments, met together at the seat of Mr. Primrose, at Dunipace,
where they were joined by other officers all equally ignorant of the
result of the battle. At length, about eight o’clock in the evening,
all doubt was removed from the minds of this party, by the arrival
of Macdonald of Lochgarry, who announced that the Highland army
had obtained a complete victory,--that the English were flying in
disorder towards Edinburgh,--and that the prince was in possession
of Falkirk, and in the quarters which had been occupied by General
Hawley. He added, that he had been sent to Dunipace, by the prince,
with orders to the rest of the army to repair to Falkirk next morning
by break of day.[1110]
Partly from the darkness of the evening, and partly from the
impossibility of collecting a sufficiently numerous body of the
Highlanders together, the prince was unable to continue the pursuit.
About 1,500 of them had entered the town, but so intent were they
upon securing the spoils of the English camp, that it was with
difficulty that sufficient guards could be got for the town, and the
prince’s person, during the night. Besides, the Highlanders had been
upon their legs for twelve hours, without receiving any refreshment,
and were completely drenched to the skin, so that even had pursuit
been otherwise practicable, they must have speedily desisted from
excessive fatigue, and might probably have suffered from the dragoons
which covered the rear of Hawley’s foot.
In addition to seven pieces of cannon which had been abandoned by
the captain of the train at the commencement of the action, Hawley
left behind him all his baggage, and a large quantity of military
stores. Owing to the rain, very few of his tents, to which he had
set fire, were consumed. Besides the _matériel_ of the royal
army, several standards and stands of colours fell into the hands
of the victors. According to the official returns, the loss of
the English, in killed, wounded, and missing, was 280, including
a considerable number of officers; but these returns are supposed
to be greatly underrated.[1111] There were sixteen officers killed
on the government side, viz., Colonel Sir Robert Munro of Foulis;
Lieutenant-colonel Whitney of Ligonier’s regiment of dragoons;
Lieutenant-colonel Biggar of Munro’s regiment; Lieutenant-colonel
Powell of Cholmondeley’s regiment; five captains and one lieutenant
of Wolfe’s; and four captains and two lieutenants of Blakeney’s
regiment. Sir Robert’s regiment, which consisted chiefly of his
own clan, had particularly distinguished itself at the battle of
Fontenoy; but on the present occasion it partook of the panic which
had seized the other regiments on the left, and fled, leaving its
colonel alone and unprotected. In this situation Sir Robert was
attacked by six men of Lochiel’s regiment, and, for some time
gallantly defended himself with his half-pike. He killed two of
his assailants, and would probably have despatched more, had not
a seventh come up and shot him in the groin with a pistol. On
falling, the Highlander struck him two blows across the face with
his broadsword, which killed him on the spot. Dr. Munro of Obsdale,
his brother, who, from fraternal affection, had attended Sir Robert
to the field to afford him any medical assistance he might require,
was standing close by his brother when he fell, and shared his fate
at the hands of the same Highlander, who, after firing a pistol
into his breast, cut him down with his claymore. The bodies of the
two brothers having been recognised the next day, were honourably
interred in one grave in the churchyard of Falkirk in presence of all
the chiefs.[1112]
The loss on the side of the Highlanders amounted only to about 40
men, among whom were two or three captains, and some subaltern
officers. They had, however, nearly double that number wounded.
Besides Lord John Drummond, young Lochiel and his brother, and Dr.
Archibald Cameron, were slightly wounded. Hawley’s army could boast
of only one prisoner, who fell into their hands by mere accident.
This was Major Macdonald of Keppoch’s regiment, cousin to the chief.
Having pursued the flying English farther than any other person,
he was in the act of returning to his corps, when in his way he
observed, in the dusk of the evening, a body of men at some distance
standing in a hollow near the bottom of the hill. Imagining this
body to be Lord John Drummond’s regiment and the French piquets, he
ran forward towards the party with his sword still drawn, and when
near them, cried out with a feeling of strong emotion, “Gentlemen,
what are you doing here? Why don’t ye follow after the dogs, and
pursue them?” Scarcely, however, had he uttered these words, when
he discovered that the body he accosted was an English regiment,
(Barrel’s,) and the cry, “Here is a rebel! here is a rebel!” at once
met his ears. Escape being impossible, the major, thinking that he
would not be discovered by the colour of his white cockade, which
was quite dirty with the rain and the smoke of the firing, pretended
that he was one of their own Campbells; but General Huske observed
that it was easy to discover what the prisoner was by his sword,
the blade of which was covered over with blood and hair. Huske gave
orders “to shoot the dog instantly,” and a party of musketeers
immediately presented their pieces at the major’s breast; but Lord
Robert Ker generously interposed, and, beating down the muskets,
saved the major’s life. The general having refused to receive the
major’s arms, they were accepted by Lord Robert. When pulling his
pistol from his belt, previously to surrendering his arms, Huske was
alarmed, and exclaimed with an oath, that “the dog” was going to
shoot him; but Macdonald indignantly observed, that he was more of
a gentleman than to do any such thing, and that he was only pulling
off his pistol to deliver it up.[1113] The major was carried to
Edinburgh, and committed to the castle next day, and, after a few
months’ confinement, tried, convicted, and executed.
The victory would have been complete by the utter annihilation of the
English army, had the prince taken the usual precautions to preserve
unity of action among the different sections of his undisciplined
host. Early in the morning, Lord George Murray had submitted a plan
of the battle to his royal highness, and requested that he would name
the officers that were to command, and assign them their different
stations; but with the exception of Lord George himself, who was
appointed to march at the head of the army, and who consequently had
the command of the right wing, no other appointment appears to have
been made. It seems to have been understood by Charles himself, that
Lord John Drummond was to have commanded the left wing; but if such
was the case, Lord John could have obtained no distinct notification
thereof, as he never appeared in his place. It is maintained by Lord
George Murray, that had there been an officer in command on the
left, to have brought up two or three battalions from the second
line, or from the _corps de reserve_ so as to have extended the
first line still farther to the left, and thus to have faced the
English regiments which outflanked them, the whole of Hawley’s foot
must have been taken or destroyed, and that few even of the horse
would have escaped, as the Highlanders would not have given over
the chase till they had reached Linlithgow,--and that, in short,
had the three regiments which outlined the Highlanders been faced,
the battle would not have lasted ten minutes, as these regiments,
instead of keeping their ground, pouring in part of their fire on the
left flank of the Highlanders, and compelling those who attacked the
right and centre of Hawley’s foot sword in hand to retire to their
former ground, would have given way with the rest of the main body.
In the absence of Lord John Drummond, it was the duty of O’Sullivan,
who, as adjutant-general, was chiefly intrusted by the prince with
the formation of the left wing, to have brought up men for the
purpose of extending the line; but instead of riding along the line
as he should have done before the action, none of the officers of
the first line of the Highland army saw him till the battle was
over.[1114] While Lord John Drummond could not but be sensible of the
error which had been committed on the left, he retaliated upon the
lieutenant-general, by ascribing the escape of Hawley’s army to the
conduct of Lord George himself, who prevented part of the right wing
from joining in the charge upon the foot, after the flight of the
dragoons.
The English imputed their defeat chiefly to the violence of the
storm, which was full in their faces during the action; but this,
though certainly a formidable difficulty, was not the only one they
had to encounter. To a combination of unfortunate circumstances, and
not to any particular incident, is to be ascribed the result which
ensued; but mainly to Hawley’s ignorance of the resistance which the
Highlanders could oppose to cavalry. He had been major of Evans’s
dragoons at the battle of Sheriffmuir, where that regiment and the
Scots Greys, led by the Duke of Argyle, after getting over a morass,
which the intense frost of the preceding night had rendered passable,
attacked the flank of the insurgent army, which conceived itself
secure from that quarter, and rode down, and drove off the field
several regiments of Highlanders. Imagining from this precedent,
that the Highlanders could not withstand the charge of cavalry, he
observed one day in a company of officers in Flanders, who were
talking of the battle of Preston, that “_he_ knew the Highlanders;
they were good militia; but he was certain that they could not
stand against a charge of dragoons, who attacked them well.”[1115]
Under this impression he began the battle with his dragoons, before
his infantry had been fully formed into line; but he soon saw the
consequences of his indiscretion.
Though the field of battle is about twenty-six miles distant from
Edinburgh, the intelligence of Hawley’s defeat was known there before
nine o’clock at night, by the arrival of some spectators who had
witnessed the action, and by some of the dragoons who, impelled by
fear, did not halt till they reached the capital. The English general
passed the evening of the battle at Linlithgow, and marched next
morning with the mass of his army to Edinburgh, where he arrived
about four o’clock in the afternoon. A prey to disappointment and
vexation, the appearance of Hawley on the morning after the battle is
said by an observer to have been most wretched, and even worse than
that of Cope a few hours after his “scuffle,” when the same person
saw him at Fala on his retreat to Berwick.[1116]
Before the return of Hawley’s army, the greatest consternation
prevailed among the friends of the government at Edinburgh from the
reports of the fugitives, who brought accounts of the total rout and
dispersion of the army, exaggerated by the relation of circumstances
which had no existence, save in their own terrified imaginations;
but the arrival of the greater part of the army served to dissipate
their fears in some measure. Since the commencement of the rebellion,
however, to its final close, never were the apprehensions of the
supporters of the existing government more alarmingly excited than
on the present occasion, when they saw the veteran troops, who had
fought the battles of Dettingen and Fontenoy, return from Falkirk
discomfited by a body of undisciplined mountaineers whom they had
been taught to despise. The Jacobites, on the other hand, exulted at
the victory, and gave expression to their feelings by openly deriding
the vanquished.[1117]
The prince spent the 18th, the day after the battle, at Falkirk;
but, as the rain fell in torrents during the greater part of that
day, few of the officers quitted their lodgings. Notwithstanding
the unfavourable state of the weather, the slain were interred by
order of the prince, and a considerable body of Highlanders marched
to Linlithgow, of which they took possession. Charles now took the
advice of his friends as to the use he should make of his victory.
Some were for following up the blow which had been struck, and
driving Hawley out of Scotland. Others were for marching directly to
London before the enemy had time to recover from their consternation.
They argued that it was not to be supposed that Hawley would again
face the prince and his victorious army till he should receive new
reinforcements; that even then the troops which had been beaten
would communicate terror to the rest; and that the prince’s army,
flushed with victory, could never fight with greater advantages on
their side. There were others, however, who thought differently,
and maintained that the capture of Stirling castle was the chief
object at present; that it had never been before heard of that an
army employed in a siege, having beaten those that came to raise it,
had made any other use of their victory than to take the fortress in
the first place; that any other conduct would argue a great deal of
levity; and that it was of the utmost importance to obtain possession
of the castle, as it opened an easy and safe communication between
the prince, (wherever he might happen to be,) and his friends in
the north. This last view was supported by M. Mirabelle de Gordon,
a French engineer of Scotch extraction, who gave the prince the
strongest assurances that the castle would be forced to surrender in
a few days, and added, moreover, that if the prince went immediately
upon another expedition he would be obliged to sacrifice all his
heavy artillery which he could not carry with him into England.[1118]
The opinion of an individual, decorated with an order, and who was
consequently considered a person of experience and talents, had
great weight with the prince, who, accordingly, resolved to reduce
the castle of Stirling before commencing any other operations; but
Charles discovered, when too late, that Mirabelle’s knowledge as an
engineer was extremely limited, and that he had neither judgment to
plan nor knowledge to direct the operations of a siege. This person,
whose figure was as eccentric as his mind, was called, in derision,
Mr. Admirable by the Highlanders.[1119]
During the prince’s short stay at Falkirk, a misunderstanding took
place between a party of the Camerons and Lord Kilmarnock, which
had nearly proved fatal to that nobleman. As this incident affords
a remarkable illustration of clanship, the particulars cannot fail
to be interesting. Lord Kilmarnock, having passed the evening of
the battle in his house at Callander, came next morning to Falkirk
with a party of his men, having in their custody some Edinburgh
volunteers, who, having fallen behind Hawley’s army in its march to
Linlithgow, had been taken and carried to Callander House. Leaving
the prisoners and their guard standing in the street, opposite to
the house where the prince lodged, his lordship went up stairs and
presented to him a list of the prisoners, among whom was Mr. Home,
the author of the Tragedy of _Douglas_ and the _History of the
Rebellion_. Charles opened the window to survey the prisoners, and
while engaged in conversation with Lord Kilmarnock about them, as
is supposed, with the paper in his hand, a soldier in the uniform
of the Scots Royals, carrying a musket and wearing a black cockade,
appeared in the street, and approached in the direction of the
prince. The volunteers who observed this man coming up the street
were extremely surprised, and, thinking that his intention in coming
forward was to shoot the prince, expected every moment to see him
raise his piece and fire. Observing the volunteers, who were within a
few yards of the prince, all looking in one direction, Charles also
looked the same way, and seeing the soldier approach appeared amazed,
and, calling Lord Kilmarnock, pointed towards the soldier. His
lordship instantly descended into the street, and finding the soldier
immediately opposite to the window where Charles stood, the earl went
up to him, and striking the hat off the soldier’s head, trampled
the black cockade under his feet. At that instant a Highlander
rushed from the opposite side of the street, and, laying hands on
Lord Kilmarnock, pushed him violently back. Kilmarnock immediately
pulled out a pistol, and presented it at the Highlander’s head; the
Highlander in his turn drew his dirk, and held it close to the earl’s
breast. They stood in this position about half a minute, when a crowd
of Highlanders rushed in and drove Lord Kilmarnock away. The man with
the dirk in his hand then took up the hat, put it on the soldier’s
head, and the Highlanders marched off with him in triumph.
This extraordinary scene surprised the prisoners, and they solicited
an explanation from a Highland officer who stood near them. The
officer told them that the soldier in the royal uniform was a
Cameron: “Yesterday,” continued he, “when your army was defeated he
joined his clan; the Camerons received him with joy, and told him
that he should wear his arms, his clothes, and every thing else, till
he was provided with other clothes and other arms. The Highlander
who first interposed and drew his dirk on Lord Kilmarnock is the
soldier’s brother; the crowd who rushed in are the Camerons, many of
them his near relations; and, in my opinion,” continued the officer,
“no colonel nor general in the prince’s army can take that cockade
out of his hat, except Lochiel himself.”[1120]
An accident occurred about the same time, which had a most
prejudicial effect in thinning the ranks of the Highland army. The
Highlanders, pleased with the fire-arms they had picked up upon the
field of battle, were frequently handling and discharging them.
Afraid of accidents, the officers had issued orders prohibiting this
abuse, but to no purpose. One of Keppoch’s men had secured a musket
which had been twice loaded. Not aware of this circumstance, he fired
off the piece, after extracting one of the balls, in the direction of
some officers who were standing together on the street of Falkirk.
The other ball unfortunately entered the body of Æneas Macdonell,
second son of Glengary, who commanded the Glengary regiment. He
survived only a short time, and, satisfied of the innocence of the
man that shot him, begged with his last breath that he might not
suffer. To soothe the Glengary men under their loss, the prince
evinced by external acts that he participated in their feelings, and,
to show his respect for the memory of this brave and estimable youth,
attended his funeral as chief mourner; but nothing the prince was
able to do could prevent some of the men, who felt more acutely than
others the loss of the representative of their chief, from returning
to their homes.
On Sunday the 19th, the prince returned to Bannockburn, leaving Lord
George Murray with the clans at Falkirk. At Bannockburn he issued, by
means of a printing-press which he had carried with him from Glasgow,
an account of the battle of Falkirk, a modest document when compared
with that of Hawley, who gravely asserted that had it not been for
the rain his army would have continued in his camp, “being masters of
the field of battle!”
After the battle of Falkirk, the Duke of Perth again summoned the
castle of Stirling to surrender, but the governor returned the same
answer he had sent to the first message. The prince therefore resumed
the siege on his return to his former head quarters, and fixed his
troops in their previous cantonments. An able mathematician, named
Grant, who had been employed many years with the celebrated Cassini,
in the observatory at Paris, and who had conducted the siege of
Carlisle, had at the commencement of the siege communicated to
the prince a plan of attack, by opening trenches and establishing
batteries in the church-yard. He had assured the prince that this
was the only place where they could find a parallel almost on a
level with the batteries of the castle; and that if a breach were
effected in the half-moon, which defended the entry to the castle,
from a battery in the church-yard, the rubbish of the work would fill
the ditch, and render an assault practicable through the breach.
In consequence, however, of a remonstrance from the inhabitants,
who stated that the fire from the castle in the direction of the
church-yard would reduce the greater part of the town to ashes, the
prince abandoned this plan, and consulted M. Mirabelle, with the
view of ascertaining whether there was any other practicable mode of
making an attack on the castle with effect. To borrow an expression
of the Chevalier Johnstone, in reference to the conduct of Mirabelle
on this occasion, that it is always the distinctive mark of ignorance
to find nothing difficult, not even the things that are impossible,
this eccentric person, without the least hesitation, immediately
undertook to open the trenches on the Gowling or Gowan hill, a small
eminence to the north of the castle, about forty feet below its
level.[1121]
As there were not above fifteen inches depth of earth above the rock,
it became necessary to supply the want of earth with bags of wool and
earth, an operation which occupied several days. On breaking ground a
fire was opened on the trenches from the castle, which was renewed
from time to time during the progress of the works, and was answered
from the trenches; but the fire from the castle was not sufficiently
strong to hinder the operations, which, from the commanding position
of the castle guns, could have been easily prevented. The design of
General Blakeney in thus allowing the besiegers to raise their works,
was, it is understood, to create a belief among them, that the castle
would not be tenable against their batteries, and by this impression
to induce the Highland army to remain before the fortress till Hawley
should be again in sufficiently strong condition to advance from
Edinburgh. Having, on the evening of the 28th, completed the battery
on the Gowan hill, which consisted of three pieces of cannon, the
rebels quickly raised another on a small rocky eminence called the
Ladies’ hill, on the south-east of the town. They were both unmasked
on the morning of the 29th, and immediately opened with a brisk fire,
which shattered two of the embrasures of the castle. As the guns of
the batteries were pointed upwards, the balls generally went over the
castle, and the few that struck the walls produced little effect; but
the case was totally different with the besieged, who, from their
elevated situation, from which they could see even the shoe-buckles
of the French artillerymen behind the batteries, poured down a
destructive fire upon the besiegers from two batteries mounting
together thirteen pieces, which dismounted the besiegers’ guns, broke
their carriages, and forced them to retire with considerable loss.
Thus defeated in their attack, the rebels abandoned the siege after
wasting three weeks in a fruitless attempt to obtain possession of
a post, which could have been of no essential service to them, and
before which they lost some of their best men, chiefly among the
French piquets, whom least of all they could spare.
FOOTNOTES:
[1077] _Culloden Papers_, p. 263.
[1078] Idem, p. 461.
[1079] _Culloden Papers_, p. 461.
[1080] _Culloden Papers_, p. 462.
[1081] _Kirkconnel MS._ Home, 159.
[1082] Home, p. 160.
[1083] Home, p 162.
[1084] _Culloden Papers_, p. 264.
[1085] Idem, p. 265.
[1086] _Scots Magazine_, vol. viii. p. 32.
[1087] “The zeal (says General Wightman) which the inhabitants
have shown in accommodating the troops, will help to ridd us of
the suspicion of Jacobitism; but we have a pack of vermin (Qu.
Jacobites?) within our walls, who take unaccountable libertys, of
whom I hope we shall be for ever ridd ere long.”--_Culloden Papers_,
p. 470.
[1088] _Culloden Papers_, p. 270.
[1089] Boyse, p. 131.
[1090] Household Book in _Jacobite Memoirs_, p. 155.
[1091] Boyse, p. 132.
[1092] _Kirkconnel MS._
[1093] Now embodied in the United Presbyterian Church.
[1094] _History of Stirling_, p. 146.
[1095] _History of Stirling_, p. 150.
[1096] _Jacobite Memoirs_, p. 77.
[1097] General Hawley, alluding to this affair, in a letter to the
lord-president, 12th Jan. 1745-6, says, “We have had a small brush
with them (the Highlanders) yesterday at Airth, up the Forth with
300 men in boats; killed and wounded about fifty, with their chief
French engineer; crippled two of their guns, burnt all their boats,
and hindered their transporting their great cannon from Alloway for
some days.”--_Culloden Papers_, p. 266.
[1098] _Jacobite Memoirs_, p. 78. _Kirkconnel MS._ _Scots Magazine_,
vol. viii.
[1099] Johnstone’s _Memoirs_, p. 116.
[1100] _Kirkconnel MS._
[1101] _Jacobite Memoirs_, p. 79. _Kirkconnel MS._
[1102] _Kirkconnel MS._
[1103] Johnstone’s _Memoirs_, p. 120.
[1104] Home, p. 176.
[1105] There was another battalion of the Farquharsons under
Farquharson of Monaltry, which, having the charge of the cannon
belonging to the insurgent army, was not in the battle.
[1106] _Lockhart Papers_, vol. ii. p. 501. _Kirkconnel MS._ Home, p.
168. _Jacobite Memoirs_, p. 85.
[1107] Some accounts make Hawley’s forces of all descriptions at
15,000, being nearly double the number of the Highlanders, who
amounted to 8,000; but these statements are exaggerated. Hawley’s
army, including the Argyleshire men, did not probably exceed 10,000
men.
[1108] Home, p. 175.
[1109] Lord George Murray’s Narrative in _Jacobite Memoirs_, p. 85.
_Kirkconnel MS._ Home, p. 171. _Culloden Papers_, p. 272. Johnstone’s
_Memoirs_, p. 122.
[1110] Johnstone’s _Memoirs_, p. 127.
[1111] Mr. Home, who was in the engagement, states, that Hawley had
about 300 or 400 private men killed. Maxwell of Kirkconnel, who was
also present, reckons his loss at between 400 and 500 killed, and
some hundreds of prisoners. The Chevalier Johnstone makes, men 600
killed, and 700 prisoners. Such also is the estimate of the author of
the Journal and Memoirs printed among the _Lockhart Papers_.
[1112] _Culloden Papers_, p. 268.
[1113] Note in the prince’s household book in _Jacobite Memoirs_, p.
158.
[1114] _Jacobite Memoirs_, pp. 91, 92, 94.
[1115] Home, p. 177.
[1116] _Culloden Papers_, p. 267.
[1117] Id., p. 272.
[1118] _Kirkconnel MS._
[1119] Johnstone’s _Memoirs_, p. 117.
[1120] Home, p. 180.
[1121] Johnstone’s _Memoirs_, p. 118.