Forty-Five'
Jacobite Rebellion
The Battle of Prestonpans
21 September 1745
1745 Saw Scotland embroiled in the Jacobite Rebellion.
Over at Niddry, Wauchope supported the Stuart cause and smuggled some of his wealth, carried by his young son and his tutor through the enemy lines to Cavalry Park where Prince Charlie lay with his Army, before the battle of Prestonpans. The Earl of Abercorn had let some of his coal and salt works to an enterprising man called John Biggar, who built a drainage tunnel through the estates of Edmonstone, Niddry, and Duddingston to the sea at Joppa, a distance of three miles.
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The Battle of Prestonpans, also known as the Battle of Gladsmuir, was fought on 21 Sept 1745, near Prestonpans, in East Lothian; it was the first significant engagement of the Jacobite rising of 1745.
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Prisoners being led away at the Castle of Doune after the Battle of Falkirk in the second Jacobite Rising
Battle of Falkirk II
17 January 1746
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Lt Colonel Robert Biggar - Munro's Regiment
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The second battle of Falkirk is significant as the penultimate battle of the period of the Jacobite Risings. The Jacobite army at Falkirk is the largest ever assembled, and it was the first time in the '45 Rising that the Jacobites faced an experienced Government force in battle. It is the last time the Jacobites would win a battle in pursuit of their long-standing goal to restore the Stuart dynasty.
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"That Morning the Rebels summoned the Castle there to surrender and again in the Afternoon, but General Blakeney’s Answer was, That he had always been a Man of Honour and that the Rebels should find that he would die so. The Army is preparing to move from hence again, the Cannon and Stores being on the Road from Berwick and Newcastle. As yet we have heard but of 30 of our Men who were made Prisoners by the Rebels, and carried to Stirling, one-half of which belonged to the Glasgow Regiment; and we have also an Account of three officers wounded. The others, who are missing, it is to fear are killed, particularly Sir Robert Munro, Lieutenant-Colonels Whitney, Powell, and Biggar, though as yet we have no absolute Certainty, and cannot form a List.
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According to one Government account, 300 were reported missing, while in another Munro is listed as wounded and captured by the enemy. In addition to Munro and his surgeon brother, who died while tending him on the field, Lt-Colonels Whitney, Powell and Biggar were also killed. A number of prominent Jacobites were wounded, these being Lochiel, Lord Perth, and his brother, while MacDonald is the only named captured Jacobite. The official Jacobite account puts Government losses at more than 600 with 700 captured, while their own losses were said to be around 40, with double that figure wounded. To be added to Government losses should be those men shot after courts-martial for dereliction of duty, while four Irishmen, formerly of the Royal, Ligonier's, Pultney's regiments and Hamilton's dragoons, were hung for deserting to the French army while on the Continent the year before. Large numbers of spectators, including a number of churchmen killed by the Jacobites, were also victims of the battle."
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Lieutenant - colonel Biggar of Munro's regiment; Lieutenant - colonel Powell of ... Note in the prince's household book in Jacobite Memoirs
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