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Another part of the policy was to increase the state’s presence in that part of Scotland. In 1726, General George Wade, an Irishman with expertise in dealing with internal dissent, was appointed commander-in-chief in Scotland. Wade went about building forts and roads to co
The strategy was a mixed success. Most of the blood feuds between the clans had run their course by the 1715 rising. The Highlands were more peaceable, but with an estimated 150,000 cattle going to markets in the south, rustling was still a problem.
Rob Roy MacGregor, a cattle thief and national hero, personified the problem of integrating the Highlands into north Britain. In 1711, wanting to expand his cattle herd, MacGregor borrowed the sum of £1,000 from James Graham, 1st Duke of Montrose, with whom he had been doing business for a decade. However, MacGregor’s chief herder disappeared with the money, a fortune at the time even for a wealthy cattle and land owner. Declared bankrupt, a warrant was issued for MacGregor’s arrest. He was branded an ‘outlaw’, and the good duke confiscated his lands and cattle, evicted his wife and children, and burned down his house.
For eleven or so years Rob Roy, with about 20 men, waged a personal war against Montrose, raiding his land and his cattle. He even found time to fight at Glen Shiel with the Jacobites. Although he was arrested a number of times, Rob Roy always managed to escape, making him a hero in the Scottish glens. He was finally caught by General Wade in 1725 and held in Newgate Prison in London. Daniel Defoe wrote a fictionalised account of his life in 1723 called
Highland Rogue,
making Rob Roy a legend in his own lifetime, and influencing George I to issue a pardon for his crimes just as he was about to be transported to the colonies in 1727. He died at the age of 63 in his house at Inverlochlarig Beg, Balquhidder, on 28 December 1734.
The Highland world Rob Roy was a part of was also coming to an end.
The 1745 rebellion
The ’45 was the last and most celebrated of all the Jacobite risings. It’s been romanticised and mythologised so much that it’s difficult to separate fact from fiction. But from the start, it seemed mission impossible.
The French king, Louis XV, embroiled in a war over the Austrian succession with Britain, decided that it might be a good idea to invade his enemy (shades of 1715?). In March 1744, plans for a pre-emptive strike were drawn up, in which Scotland was to play a minor role. Three thousand troops were to land in Scotland, which was supposed to be a signal for a general rising of the Scottish clans; 12,000 troops were to land in England near London under the command of Charles Edward Stewart (Bo
© Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Figure 12-1:
Charles Edward Stewart.
Charles pawned his mother’s jewels to purchase ca
Elisabeth
and the
Du Teillay.
The
Elisabeth,
with half the arsenal and 100 marines, was intercepted by an English man-of-war and forced to turn back. Charles, dressed as a divinity student, boarded the
Du Teillay
and set sail for the island of Eriskay, in the Western Isles. He landed on 23 July 1745 with only seven men, before moving on to the little village of Arisaig, near Fort William.
The reaction of the Scottish clans to the prospect of another rising was lukewarm – and you couldn’t blame them. Strong supporters of the Jacobite cause, such as Cameron of Lochiel, told Charles to return to France, as did the chief of the MacDonald clan. The Catholic islands of Barra and South Uist took no part in the ’45. When Charles raised his standard at Glenfi
The Battle of Prestonpans must be one of the shortest battles ever fought – it lasted only ten minutes! Cope was court-martialled for incompetence but later acquitted. After this, the Jacobite army grew to 5,000 foot soldiers and 500 cavalry. The British government was in a panic and a new verse was added to ‘God Save the King’:
God grant that Marshall Wade,
May by thy mighty aid Victory bring,
May he sedition hush,
And like a torrent rush,
Rebellious Scots to crush,
God save the King.
Against the advice of his brilliant, but never trusted, commander, Lord George Murray, Charles decided to invade England. The progress was nothing short of phenomenal. By 4 December, only 27 days after crossing the border, the Jacobite army was at Derby, about 209.2 kilometres (130 miles) from London. At this point, things started to fall apart. Why?
They were outnumbered.
Only 200 Englishmen had joined the Jacobite army. The government troops under the duke of Cumberland and Marshall Wade numbered 30,000.
The Jacobite Council of War was divided.
Charles and his Irish favourites wanted to march on London; the Scottish generals wanted to retreat to Scotland.
The troops were tired, hungry and homesick.
On ‘Black Friday’, 6 December 1745, the Jacobite army headed north. Was the decision a major miscalculation or a stroke of tactical genius? Who knows? But London was certainly in a panic – shops closed and the Bank of England feared a run on its deposits. However, north they went, inflicting a defeat on the government forces at Falkirk in January 1746.
Retreating further north, they took Fort Augustus, named after the duke of Cumberland, but failed to take Fort William. Cumberland was sent north to confront the Jacobite army. The decisive battle took place at Culloden just outside Inverness in April 1746. It was the last battle to be fought on British soil.
The Battle of Culloden
Against Murray’s advice, Charles decided to stage a surprise night attack on Cumberland’s army. Troops were marched 16 kilometres (10 miles) to Nairn, but 3.2 kilometres (2 miles) short of the town they realised that the British troops were far from asleep and they decided to head back. They had left at 8 p.m. and were back in camp by 6 a.m., exhausted and hungry.
The duke realised that the Jacobites were in no condition to fight, and he raised his troops at 5 a.m. and marched toward the Jacobite encampment. By 1 p.m. on 16 April 1746, both armies had taken up positions 457.2 meters (500 yards) apart. But the Jacobites were outnumbered nearly two to one. Large numbers of Lowland Presbyterians fought on the government side. Not fair.
Tactically, Cumberland had worked out how to deal with the famous Highland charge. With his men organised in two lines of fire, he expected the first to be broken but the second to hold with a row standing, a row leaning forward and a row kneeling. The firepower was continuous – as one row fired the other reloaded. The result: a massacre. By 2 p.m. it was all over. Between 1,500 and 2,000 Jacobites lay dead, compared to 50 government troops.
But the Jacobites still had an army of 4,000 men and Murray was convinced that they could regroup and carry on the fight. The battle was lost, but there was a war still to win. But Charles characteristically made the wrong decision and gave up the cause. He decided to return to the Continent and sent his followers a farewell message:
I see with grief I can at present do little for you on this side of the water, whereas, by my going to France instantly, however dangerous it might be I will certainly engage the French court either to assist us effectually and powerfully, or at least procure you such terms as you would not obtain otherwise.
The summer’s hunting
Charles was right: escape is a dangerous business, particularly when there’s a reward of £30,000 on your head. For five months, government troops hunted him, but he continually evaded them by jumping from one island to the next.
With the help of loyal supporters, he took on various disguises. Dressed as a woman, ‘Betty Burke’, maid servant of Flora MacDonald, Charles crossed from South Uist to Skye in early June. By July, MacDonald was in jail, but the prince was still on the run. He successfully escaped to France in late September, never to return to Scotland. He died 42 years later, his body ravaged by drink and debauchery.
The Butcher of the Scots
The duke of Cumberland earned the title of ‘Butcher’ because of his savagery toward the defeated Highland soldiers. He issued an order of ‘no quarter’ to the wounded and allowed his troops to wage a campaign of rape, murder, theft and torture against the Highland population.
The leaders of the rebels suffered probably more than the common soldiers. Lords Balmerino and Kilmarnock were publicly beheaded. Lord Lovat, who had taken no part in the rebellion, was tried and executed in London; he was the last peer of the realm in Britain to suffer this fate. A grateful government increased Cumberland’s Civil List allowance from £15,000 to £40,000 and Handel composed ‘See the Conquering Hero Comes’ in his honour. Who says butchery doesn’t pay?
But the repression didn’t end there. The British state took steps to destroy Highland culture and the power of the chiefs. The castles of Cameron of Lochiel, Glengarry, Lovat, MacPherson and Chisholm were burned to the ground. Forty chiefs lost their lands. Some of the more interesting suggestions in Parliament for dealing with the so-called savage Highlanders were the following:
Sterilising all Jacobite women
Destroying all seed corn so as to ‘extirpate the inhabitants of the cursed country’
Clearing the Highlands of people and re-colonising them with God-fearing folk in the south
However, the government ignored this advice and introduced legislation aimed at destroying the warrior society of the north:
All Highlanders were to take an oath of loyalty to the king.
The Disarming Acts were enforced with greater vigour.
The wearing of Highland dress was forbidden through the Act of Proscription.
The chiefs were stripped of their power to administer justice in their territories through the passing of the Heritable Jurisdictions Act of 1747.
National Identity: Turning Scots into North Britons?
Although the Jacobite rebellions were not primarily intended to restore Scotland’s sovereignty, the problem of fashioning a British identity was one that needed addressing. How were the Scots to be turned into North Britons?