Jonathan Oates - Battles of the Jacobite Rebellions

Battles of the Jacobite Rebellions

Killiecrankie to Culloden

Jonathan Oates

First published in Great Britain in 2019 by

PEN & SWORD MILITARY

An imprint of

Pen & Sword Books Ltd

Yorkshire Philadelphia

Copyright Jonathan Oates 2019

ISBN 978-1-52673-551-5

eISBN 978-1-52673-552-2

Mobi ISBN 978-1-52673-553-9

The right of Jonathan Oates to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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Redcoats at the annual Killiecrankie re-enactment, July 2018.

Re-enactor Jacobites charge at Killiecrankie, July 2018.

Dunkeld Cathedral. (Author)

James Radcliffe, 3rd Earl of Derwentwater. (Authors collection)

Sheriffmuir monument erected in 1915. (Author)

Statue of Jacobite leader, Rob Roy MacGregor, Stirling. (Author)

Aberfeldy Bridge, Perthshire. (Author)

Charles Edward Stuart (172088). (Authors collection)

Lord George Murray and Prince Charles. (Author)

British soldier, 1745. (Authors collection)

Glenfinnan Monument. (Authors collection)

The battlefield of Prestonpans. (Author)

Thomas Holles-Pelham, Duke of Newcastle (16931768). (Authors collection)

Carlisle Castle. (Author)

Pulteneys battalion of infantry. (Photograph taken by Mr Jepson in 1996)

Lord John Drummond. (Author)

Battle of Falkirk monument. (Author)

William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland (172165). (Authors collection)

View of Culloden Moor battlefield. (Author)

Monuments on Culloden Moor. (Authors collection)

Culloden Cottage. Postcard in authors collection.

Well of the Dead, on the battlefield of Culloden. (Authors collection)

Main gateway to Fort George, near Inverness. (Author)

Main battlefield monument at Culloden to the Jacobites. (Author)

The battles of the Jacobite campaigns (also known as the Jacobite rebellions and the Jacobite risings depending on whether the writer is hostile or sympathetic towards them) were part of the last military campaigns in Britain in which formed armies confronted one another. Much has been written about this aspect of British history ever since the eighteenth century and there is no sign, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, of such a trend abating. However, most studies focus on a particular campaign, usually the last struggle of 1745 which was led by Charles Edward Stuart, popularly known as Bonnie Prince Charlie or the Young Pretender, especially on the man himself and on the last battle, Culloden. In recent years there have been some very illuminating works produced which have done much to extend our understanding of the period, especially from the military point of view. Like all great historical topics, this is encrusted with a great deal of mythology in the popular mind, perpetuated by film, TV, songs and ballads.

This book aims to provide a concise account of all the campaigns, focusing on the battles which helped decide their outcome. There have been single-volume accounts previously, but they are either very limited in scope, concentrate on non-military matters or are very restricted in their source material. There have also been books about battles in Scotland and Britain which usually include accounts of some of the battles of this era. This work details the battles and has interlinking chapters to explain the campaigns that led up to them and which followed them. These latter chapters will be fairly brief in order to give more space to the actual combat; they do not pretend to provide a detailed account of the events in these periods.

Rather it is the chapters on the battles which are given the most weight, as the title would suggest. Each of these will provide the same range of information. They will begin with a brief summary of the forces involved on both sides; wherever possible unit by unit, with strength of each where known. Wherever possible, contemporary estimates of numbers will be given. Sometimes, for the regular forces, these are based on muster rolls made before the battle. In many cases, exact and undisputed figures are unavailable, so a range will be provided; often only total figures for an army can be stated, as in the instance of General Willss troops at Preston and in this case it is only an estimate.

We will then proceed to the initial deployment and aims of each commander, before progressing to the mechanics of the battle; what happened, why and with what results. Quotations from the letters, diaries and memoirs of those present will be used, as will any archaeological evidence available. Finally there will be a discussion of the battles results and casualty figures, sometimes on a unit-by-unit basis or a range of estimates given by contemporaries where official figures (often disputed) are lacking.

The years 16891746 cover over five decades of warfare. In the late seventeenth century, the infantry of most armies in western Europe still employed the pike and matchlock musket. By the onset of the following century these had been swept away by flintlock muskets and bayonets, though cavalry and artillery were very similar. Yet Highland Scottish warfare, though not preserved in aspic, had changed but little except for the final demise of the bow, and prioritized melee over firefights. Warfare was essentially a case of regular versus irregular, but it was never a foregone conclusion that the former style of modern fighting would crush that of the backward latter.

As with conflict on the European Continent, this was warfare which involved numerous nationalities. Despite the continued notion in popular fiction (for instance, the characters in the television series Outlander constantly referring to the English army and featuring, with one exception, only English soldiers among the redcoats) and the media (broadsheets noting that Culloden being a defeat for the Scots), this was nothing as simple as a war between the Scots and the English. In fact in 168990 both armies were overwhelmingly Scottish. In the following century, both nationalities fought on both sides; as well as Spanish, French and Irish troops fighting with the Jacobites and Dutch and Hessians and even some expatriate Irish and French being allied to their opponents. Multinational forces were the norm on the Continent; the Duke of Marlborough led Dutch and Germans as well as British troops in the War of Spanish Succession as the Duke of Cumberland was to do thirty years later in the War of the Austrian Succession. There is insufficient space in this book to discuss the officers and men of the armies which fought in these battles, but analysis can be found, for the Forty-Five, in books by Reid and Duffy; for the Fifteen and Eighty-Nine in those by Oates and Reid ().