We are all familiar with the early successes of the Jacobite rising of 1745, the victory of Prestonpans, the capture of Carlisle and the arrival at Derby on Black Friday, the 4th of December. As Carlisle had resisted, so London would resist even more strongly. The Scots dared not besiege London with The Duke of Cumberland’s and Field-Marshal Wade’s unbeaten armies in the field.
Even had the Prince obtained and kept possession of it, he would inevitably in his turn have been besieged. Neither from France nor from Scotland was there any prospect of adequate reinforcements, and he and his army would have been obliged to face the necessity either to surrender or to cut their way out in a desperate rush towards Scotland. His ascent to the retreat from Derby was therefore wisely if reluctantly given.
At about the end of September 1745, George II ordered a strong body of troops to march to Scotland under the command of Field-Marshal Wade. They were appointed to assemble at Doncaster. St.George’s Dragoons (8th Dragoons) arrived at Doncaster on the 8th of December. When Wade heard of the homeward flight of the highlanders from Derby, he at once dispatched Major-General Oglethorpe, with St.George’s Dragoons, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Arabin, and a detachment of Montague’s and Wade’s Horse to cut off the retreat of the Jacobites.
Wade’s army amounted to about 8000 British and 6000 Dutch troops, with twenty field pieces. They suffered much from sickness at Newcastle. On hearing that the Jacobites were again attacking Carlisle, Wade set out from Newcastle on the 16th of November and marched as far as Hexham, fifteen miles west of Newcastle, where he arrived at midnight on the 17th. On receiving intelligence of the surrender of Carlisle, Wade set out for Newcastle, where he arrived on the 22nd, having lost many of his men to sickness.
The Duke of Cumberland was pursuing the retreating enemy and Field-Marshal Wade also advanced to cut him off and reached Wakefield on the 10th of December. Finding, however, that Prince Charles had evaded him by a very forced march, Wade returned to Newcastle, sending his Horse, Dragoons, and the Yorkshire Hunters under the command of Major-General Oglethorpe on the 11th to join Cumberland’s army. They reached Preston on the 13th of December having performed a march of one hundred miles over roads choked with ice and snow and accompanied by most inclement weather in less than three days.
The Jacobites left Preston a few hours before the arrival of St. George’s Dragoons. There they joined a detachment of cavalry from the forces of the Duke of Cumberland. They pursued the Jacobites, fighting a skirmish in the village of Clifton with the rearguard of the enemy. In this skirmish three hundred dragoons are said to have defeated a thousand men, though the Jacobite reports affirm exactly the opposite. St. George’s Dragoons arrived at Hesket, eight miles from Carlisle, on the 19th, where they lay till the next day. This station they occupied as an advance post to the army, which halted on the 29th at Penrith. As the Duke of Cumberland thought that the foe would make a stand at Carlisle, he halted there in order to allow his whole force to come up.
When the Duke ascertained that the Jacobites had not stayed at Carlisle, he marched on again on the 21st at four in the morning. At noon he arrived at Carlisle and invested it. St George’s Dragoons with three hundred men of Bligh’s Regiment (now the Twentieth Foot) were posted on the Scots side of the city, with orders to prevent anyone from passing the bridge on the Eden. The Duke was obliged to send to Whitehaven for a train of battering cannon, which arrived on the 28th, and on the 30th of December, the garrison capitulated.
On the 15th of January, 1746, the Duke of Newcastle informed Lieutenant-General Hawley that “His R Highness the Duke of Cumberland will send orders that Lord Mark Kerr’s Regiment of Dragoons should go to Kelso, and Jedburgh (as you desire) and the Remainder of St. George’s Dragoons to Dunse.”
On the 24th of January, the Duke of Newcastle is clear that St. George’s regiment is to be ordered to Edinburgh to join Hawley there, “in whatever condition it is.”It is Edinburgh in the early part of February 1746. A body of Hessian troops arrived in Scotland and was stationed in the vicinity of Edinburgh. St George’s Dragoons marched westward and were stationed at Earn Bridge, and, with a detachment of Ligonier’s and Hamilton’s Dragoons stationed at Bannockburn, were left under the command of the Earl of Crawford and the Prince of Hesse, while the Duke of Cumberland followed the Jacobites. His plan was to hold Perth and Dunkeldeld as the gates to the Highlands.
Early in March Prince Charles finally learnt that Louis XV proposed to send no French expedition.
By the end of March, Lord Crawford advanced with St. George’s Dragoons to relieve the garrison of Blair Castle, and five hundred Hessians under Prince Frederick followed him. The next day they arrived at Pitlochry, when the Jacobites there prepared to offer battle, and then withdrew before there was an opportunity to attack them.
As the dragoons approached the pass of Killiecrankie Jacobites made off towards Badenoch. St. George’s men followed close on their track and arrived at Blair Castle at five o’clock on the morning of the 3rd of April. The siege was raised, the enemy decamped, and the Regiment stationed in and about Huntingtown.
Prince Charles had attempted to break through the cordon protected by Blair Castle and Fort William, and he had attempted in vain. He could not break through the barrier of Loch Lachy and Loch Ness. In a word, the Duke of Cumberland was closing him in.
At Earn, the Eight were stationed, and there they remained during the Battle of Culloden. St. George’s Dragoons was afterwards stationed at Glamis, Arbroath, Coupar of Angus, Dumfries, Broughton, and other places, where they apprehended the defeated Jacobites.
There was peace in Scotland in 1746.
The alternative presented to the victor after a civil war is Cruelty or Clemency. After the Williamite Wars in Ireland and the Jacobite Risings in Scotland, the cruel policy was tried. English jails were filled with Jacobite prisoners, and many were condemned to the scaffold. The vengeance exacted expressed the sense of danger experienced by the Government.
Within the bounds of Britain, Celticism had been an independent and threatening force. The time had at last come, so the Government deemed, to reckon with it.
In the Lowlands, the policy of Anglicising had been tried with success, and now the same policy was to be applied to the Highlands.
