Prestonpans

Prince Charles, the young pretender, returned to Scotland in July and sent messengers with the lighted cross that called for the clans to rise. John Cope, who was now the Government’s Commander in Chief in Scotland, marched with a small …

1745-09-01

J07

Prince Charles, the young pretender, returned to Scotland in July and sent messengers with the lighted cross that called for the clans to rise. John Cope, who was now the Government’s Commander in Chief in Scotland, marched with a small army to deal with the rising. Both armies of about equal size were in position near Prestonpans on the 20 of September. Murray, believing the Jacobites could turn Cope’s flank, made a night march, but Cope’s pickets alerted him and by dawn he had drawn up his army in a single line to face the Jacobites. When the Jacobites did attack from their new position, not only did the artillery and cavalry panic, but the infantry, astonished at the speed of the Jacobite charge, also collapsed within just a few minutes. With the Government army all but destroyed and on the run, Cope managed to escape to the south, as did many of his cavalry.

Prestonpans, Scotland

The Battle of Prestonpans, also known as the Battle of Gladsmuir, was fought on 21 September 1745, near Prestonpans, in East Lothian; it was the first significant engagement of the Jacobite rising of 1745, which is generally viewed as a subsidiary conflict of the War of the Austrian Succession.

Wikipedia: Battle of Prestonpans

Jacobites

Great Britain