The Battle of Prestonpans, also known as the Battle of Gladsmuir, was fought on 21 September 1745, near Prestonpans, in East Lothian, the first significant engagement of the Jacobite rising of 1745.
Jacobite forces, led by the Stuart exile Charles Edward Stuart, defeated a government army under Sir John Cope, whose inexperienced troops broke in the face of a Highland charge. The battle lasted less than thirty minutes, was a huge boost to Jacobite morale and established the revolt as a serious threat to the British government.
Background
The War of the Austrian Succession meant that by early 1745, the bulk of British forces were committed in Flanders. Encouraged by French victory at Fontenoy in April 1745, Charles Edward Stuart sailed for Scotland in July, hoping to take advantage of the situation.[3] When he landed at Eriskay in the Outer Hebrides on 23 July, most of those contacted advised him to return to France, but enough were eventually persuaded, notably Donald Cameron of Lochiel, whose tenants provided a large proportion of the Jacobite force. The rebellion was formally launched at Glenfinnan on 19 August.[4]
Sir John Cope, government commander in Scotland, was a competent soldier with between 3,000 and 4,000 troops available, but many were inexperienced recruits. He was hampered by poor intelligence and advice, particularly from the Marquess of Tweeddale, the Secretary of State for Scotland, who consistently underestimated the severity of the revolt.[5] Once Charles's location was confirmed, Cope left his cavalry and artillery at Stirling under Thomas Fowke and marched on Corrieyairack Pass, the primary access point between the Western Highlands and the Lowlands. Control would allow Cope to block the route into Eastern Scotland, but he found the Highlanders already in possession and withdrew to Inverness on 26 August.[6]
Jacobite objectives remained unclear until early September, when Cope learned they were using the military road network to advance on Edinburgh. Concluding that the only way to reach the city first was by sea, his troops were loaded onto ships at Aberdeen. They began disembarking at Dunbar on 17 September but once again, he was too late. Charles had entered the Scottish capital earlier that day although Edinburgh Castle remained in government hands.[7]
Battle
Prestonpans; Cope's army originally faced southward with a marshy area to their front front (marked in blue) and then pivoted to the east, along the Tranent to Cockenzie Waggonway.
Joined at Dunbar by Fowke and the cavalry, Cope was confident that he was strong enough to defeat a poorly-armed Jacobite army of less than 2,000.[8] At the same time, Charles ordered his forces to move eastward from Edinburgh, and the two armies made contact on the afternoon of 20 September. Cope drew up his forces facing south, with a marshy area immediately in front, park walls protecting their right and cannon behind the embankment of the Tranent to Cockenzie Waggonway, which crossed the battlefield.[9]
The court-martial set up in 1746 to review Cope's conduct agreed that the ground was well chosen and that the disposition of his troops was appropriate.[10] However, that was undermined by various factors, such as the poor quality of some senior officers, including James Gardiner, whose dragoons fled in panic from a small party of Highlanders in the so-called Coltbridge Canter of 16 September.[11] In addition, much of Cope's infantry lacked experience. Until May, Lascelles' Regiment had been employed in building a military road near Loch Lomond.[12] Finally, his borrowed seamen gunners[13] were so poorly trained that he sent a messenger to Edinburgh Castle asking for replacements, who never reached him.[14]
Charles wanted to attack immediately, but Murray argued that their charge would be slowed by the marshy ground in front of Cope's centre by exposing the Highlanders to his superior firepower.[15] While his assessment was correct, it was the first in a series of fierce arguments between them that would fatally undermine the Jacobite leadership. Murray convinced the majority that only an attack against the open left flank of Cope's army stood any chance of success, and Robert Anderson, a local farmer's son who knew the area well, told him of a route through the marshlands. At 4am, the entire Jacobite force began moving three abreast along the Riggonhead defile, east of Cope's position.[16]
To prevent a surprise attack during the night, Cope kept fires burning in front of his position and posted no fewer than 200 dragoons and 300 infantry as pickets. A company of Loudon's Highlanders, under Macpherson of Cluny, had deserted from Cope a few days before. The remaining three companies were detailed to guard the baggage park in Cockenzie and Port Seton, and some 100 volunteers were dismissed until the next morning and missed the battle.[14] Warned by his pickets of the Jacobite movement, Cope had enough time to wheel his army to face east (see map) and reposition his cannon. As the Highlanders began their charge, his artillerymen fled, leaving the guns to be fired by their officers.[17]
The two dragoon regiments on the flanks panicked and rode off, leaving Gardiner mortally wounded on the battlefield, who was later carried from the field to Tranent, where he died during the night. Their flight exposed the infantry in the centre, which became attacked on three sides and overrun in less than 15 minutes. With retreat blocked by the park walls behind them, most were taken prisoner, but some escaped when the Highlanders stopped to loot the baggage train. Government losses were roughly 300 to 500 killed or wounded and another 500 to 600 captured, most of whom were released to save the expense of feeding them. Jacobite casualties were estimated as 35 to 40 dead plus 70 to 80 wounded.[2]
Deserted by his gunners, the artillery commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Whitefoord, left the battlefield unharmed after his life was spared by Stewart of Invernahyle. He returned the favour by obtaining a pardon for Stewart after he was captured at Culloden in April 1746.[18] Cope escaped along with Fowke and Lascelles, one of the few members of his regiment to do so. They reached Berwick-upon-Tweed the next day with 450 survivors.[19]
Aftermath
Several hours after the battle, Cope wrote to Tweeddale to disclaim responsibility for the defeat: "I cannot reproach myself; the manner in which the enemy came on was quicker than can be described... and the cause of our men taking on a destructive panic...".[20] Along with Fowke and Lascelles, he was later tried by a court-martial. All three were exonerated, the Court deciding that defeat had been due to the "shameful conduct of the private soldiers", but Cope never held a senior command again.[21]
Sir John Cope was cleared by the subsequent court-martial, but Prestonpans ended his career.
The Battle of Killiecrankie (1689) had showed that even experienced troops struggled with the ferocity of the Highland charge, a lesson reinforced at Prestonpans and Falkirk Muir in January 1746. Its weakness was that if the initial charge failed, the Highlanders were not equipped to hold their ground. At Culloden in April, Cumberland's troops had been drilled in countering that tactic and inflicted heavy losses on the Scots as a result.[22]
Victory meant the rebellion was now taken more seriously. In mid-October, two French ships arrived at Montrose, bringing money, weapons and an envoy, the Marquis d'Eguilles.[23]Cumberland and 12,000 troops were recalled from Flanders, including 6,000 German mercenaries who arrived in Berwick-upon-Tweed a few days after Cope.[24] They were immediately available, having been captured at Tournai in June and released on condition that they did not fight against the French.[25]
The argument prior to the battle between Prince Charles and Lord Murray was the first episode in an increasingly-fractious relationship, and the Jacobite Council spent the next six weeks arguing strategy. Reversing the 1707 Union was a significant factor in Scottish Jacobites' support, which now appeared possible, and they wanted to consolidate their position. Charles and his exile advisors argued the removal of the Hanoverian regime was required to ensure the end of the Union, which meant an invasion of England. The Scots eventually agreed after Charles assured them of substantial English and French support and left Edinburgh on 4 November and entered England on 8 November. Government forces, under General Roger Handasyd, retook Edinburgh on the 14th.[26]
On the march southward, the Council met daily to discuss strategy, and at Derby on 5 December, its members overwhelmingly counselled retreat, the only significant dissenter being Charles. There was no sign of the promised French landing, and despite the large crowds that turned out to see them, only Manchester provided a significant number of recruits. Preston, a Jacobite stronghold in 1715, supplied three.[27] News of another French supply convoy arriving in Montrose seemed to validate the original preference for remaining in Scotland, and the Jacobites turned northward the next day.[28] The rising ended with defeat at Culloden in April 1746.
Legacy
Colonel Gardiner's Monument; his death turned him into a Nonconformist martyrA plaque marking the Tranent to Cockenzie Waggonway, across which the Battle of Prestonpans was fought.
In 1953, a memorial to the dead of both sides was erected near the battle site, with a coal bing providing a vantage point for visitors.[citation needed] The "Prestonpans 1745 Heritage Trust" was established in 2006 to provide information on the battle, and the site is included in the Inventory of Historic Battlefields in Scotland and is protected by Historic Scotland.[29] In 2019, a new visitor centre was proposed, which would permanently house the Prestonpans Tapestry, a depiction of the events leading up to the battle. The site has been partly developed for housing and the former Cockenzie power station.[30]
Popular perception of the battle and Cope's role has largely been set by accounts by third parties, none of whom was present and in one case had not yet been born. In his 1747 book Life of Colonel Gardiner, the Nonconformist minister Philip Doddridge portrayed Gardiner, a convert to evangelicalism, as a hero and did so largely by ridiculing Cope. That is an enduring myth and is still recycled today.[31] Gardiner features in Sir Walter Scott's 1817 novel Waverley, whose hero is an English Jacobite. Gardiner's heroic death convinces him that the future lies with the Union, rather than with the Stuarts.[32] An obelisk in his memory was set up in the mid-19th century.[33]
Scott was also responsible for the often-quoted but inaccurate comment attributed to Lord Mark Kerr that Cope was the first general to bring news of his own defeat.[34] Perhaps the best-known legacy of the battle are two songs written by Skirving, a local farmer who visited the battlefield later the same day and was, by his own account, mugged by the victors. They were "Tranent Muir" and the far more famous "Hey, Johnnie Cope, Are Ye Waking Yet?", a short, catchy and mostly historically-inaccurate insult to Cope; the poet Robert Burns wrote his own words for the song, but they are not as well known as the original by Skirving. The tune is still played by some Scottish regiments for Reveille and was also played as the 51st (Highland) Division disembarked on Juno Beach in Normandy on 6 June 1944.[35]
The Battle of Culloden was the final confrontation of the Jacobite rising of 1745. On 16 April 1746, the Jacobite army of Charles Edward Stuart was decisively defeated by a British government force under Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, on Drummossie Moor near Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. It was the last pitched battle fought on British soil.
The 47th (Lancashire) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in Scotland in 1741. It served in North America during the Seven Years' War and American Revolutionary War and also fought during the Napoleonic Wars and the Crimean War. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 81st Regiment of Foot to form the Loyal Regiment in 1881.
Henry Hawley was a British army officer who served in the wars of the first half of the 18th century. He fought in a number of significant battles, including the Capture of Vigo in 1719, Dettingen, Fontenoy and Culloden.
The Battle of Falkirk Muir, also known as the Battle of Falkirk, took place on 17 January 1746 during the Jacobite rising of 1745. Although it resulted in a Jacobite victory, their inability to take advantage meant it ultimately had little impact on the campaign.
Sir John Cope was a British soldier, and Whig Member of Parliament, representing three separate constituencies between 1722 and 1741. He is now chiefly remembered for his defeat at Prestonpans, the first significant battle of the Jacobite rising of 1745 and which was commemorated by the tune "Hey, Johnnie Cope, Are Ye Waking Yet?", which still features in modern Scottish folk music and bagpipe recitals.
Colonel James Gardiner was a Scottish soldier who fought in the British Army, including during the 1745 Jacobite rising, in which he was killed at the Battle of Prestonpans.
Prestonpans is a small mining town, situated approximately eight miles east of Edinburgh, Scotland, in the council area of East Lothian. The population as of 2020 is 10,460. It is near the site of the 1745 Battle of Prestonpans. Prestonpans is "Scotland's Mural Town", with many murals depicting local history.
Lord George Murray, sixth son of John Murray, 1st Duke of Atholl, was a Scottish nobleman and soldier who took part in the Jacobite rebellions of 1715 and 1719 and played a senior role in that of 1745.
Sir Harry Munro, 7th Baronet was 25th Baron and the 28th chief of the Clan Munro. He was a Scottish soldier and politician. He was loyal to the Hanoverian dynasty and served as a captain in Loudon's Highlanders Regiment 1745–48.
"Hey, Johnnie Cope, are Ye Wauking Yet?", also "Hey Johnnie Cope, are you awake yet?", "Heigh! Johnnie Cowp, are ye wauken yet?", or simply "Johnny Cope" is a Scottish folk song that also features in bagpipe recitals.
Donald Cameron of Lochiel, popularly known as the Gentle Lochiel, was a Scottish Jacobite, soldier and hereditary chief of Clan Cameron, traditionally loyal to the exiled House of Stuart. His support for Prince Charles Edward Stuart proved pivotal in the early stages of the 1745 Jacobite Rising. Lochiel was among the Highlanders defeated at the Battle of Culloden, and thereafter fled to France.
Loudon's Highlanders, or the 64th Highlanders, or Earl of Loudon's Regiment of Foot, was an infantry regiment of the British Army.
Lieutenant General Thomas Fowke, also spelt Foulks, circa 1690 to 29 March 1765, was a British military officer from South Staffordshire, who was Governor of Gibraltar from 1753 to 1756, and twice court-martialled during his service. The first followed defeat at Prestonpans in the 1745 Jacobite Rising, when he was acquitted. As Governor, he was tried again for his part in the 1756 Battle of Minorca, a defeat that led to the execution of Admiral Byng.
The Jacobite rising of 1745, also known as the Forty-five Rebellion or simply the '45, was an attempt by Charles Edward Stuart to regain the British throne for his father, James Francis Edward Stuart. It took place during the War of the Austrian Succession, when the bulk of the British Army was fighting in mainland Europe, and proved to be the last in a series of revolts that began in 1689, with major outbreaks in 1708, 1715 and 1719.
Joshua Guest (1660–1747) was an English lieutenant-general.
James Drummond, 6th Earl and 3rd titular Duke of Perth was a Scottish landowner best known for his participation in the Jacobite rising of 1745, during which Charles Edward Stuart attempted to regain the British throne for the House of Stuart.
Lieutenant-General Peregrine Lascelles (1685–1772), also spelt Lascells, was a British military officer from Yorkshire.
Lieutenant-Colonel Caroline Frederick Scott was a Scottish soldier and military engineer who served in the British Army before transferring to the East India Company.
The Jacobite Army, sometimes referred to as the Highland Army, was the military force assembled by Charles Edward Stuart and his Jacobite supporters during the 1745 Rising that attempted to restore the House of Stuart to the British throne.
An Incident in the Rebellion of 1745 is an oil painting, by the Anglo-Swiss artist David Morier. It is part of the art collection of the British royal family. The painting depicts a scene during the 1746 Battle of Culloden, in which a group of Jacobite Army troops charge against a line of government soldiers.
Anand, A McK (1960). "Stewart of Appin's Regiment in the army of Prince Charles". Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research. 38 (153). JSTOR44222359.
Blaikie, Walter Biggar, ed. (March 1916). Publications of the Scottish History Society, 1737–1746. Vol.Ser. 2, Vol. 2. Scottish History Society.
Charles, George (1817). History of the transactions in Scotland, in the years 1715–16 & 1745–1746; Volume II. Gilchrist & Heriot.
Corsar, Kenneth Charles (1941). "The Canter of Coltbridge; 16th September 1745". Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research. 20 (78): 93–94. JSTOR44228252.
Duffy, Christopher (2003). The '45: Bonnie Prince Charlie and the untold story of the Jacobite Rising. Orion. ISBN978-0304355259.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
Jacobites 
British Government 
