glen shiel

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THE JACOBITE RISING AND THE BATTLE OF GLEN SHIEL10 JUNE, 1719

THE JACOBITE RISING AND THE BATTLE OFGLEN SHIEL10 JUNE, 1719 BY STEPHEN MAGGS

At the Restoration in 1660, Jamesreturned to England with his brotherKing Charles II and was made LordHigh Admiral of England. In 1673James converted to Catholicism,upsetting many in the country, and wasforced to resign from the office of HighAdmiral after the Parliament passed theTest Act. Shortly after this Jamesmarried a known Catholic, his secondwife, Mary of Modena, nee d‘Este.Many saw this as a popish plot and anti-Catholic feelings began to run high,even the great fire of London had beenblamed on a Catholic conspiracy.

Having suffered much abuse James wasobliged to retire to the continent withMary and her infant son (James FrancisEdward Stuart - the future OldPretender) in1688 and during his absenceParliament plotted to exclude him fromthe succession. James returned to Britainin 1679, but spent much of his time inScotland.

In 1685 Charles II died and Jamesbecame King (James VII and II) andimmediately made the county feel uneasyby sending a mission to Rome andhearing mass in public. Many thought itwas time to be rid of this popish king.That same year James’ nephew, JamesScott, Duke of Monmouth, led anunsuccessful rebellion against him. It wasnot to be the last. Three years later inNovember 1688 Prince William ofOrange sailed from Holland, landing inTorbay, with an army and marched onLondon. Abandoned by his troops,supporters and even members of his ownfamily, James was forced to flee to

France. And on the 13 February 1689Parliament declared that the Englishthrone was vacant. On 11 April Williamof Orange and Mary were crowned kingand queen of England. The Jacobites(supporters of King James VII and II)began moves to restore James to thethrone.

An unsuccessful rising was carried out inIreland where James’ army was soundlydefeated at the battle of the Boyne in1690. James once more returned to thecontinent where he died in France in1701. It was of course not to be the endof the risings for James’ son, JamesStuart, (the Old Pretender) was now thelegitimate king of England and hissupporters flocked to him. James wouldprove no less zealous in his attempt toregain the throne that was after allrightfully his.

In 1708, at the tender age of 20, Jamesmounted his first serious attempt at alanding in Scotland, but his invasionfleet was blighted by high winds andheavy seas, and the landing was calledoff. It was only a brief respite forEngland, for in 1715 Jacobite forcesunder the Duke of Mar began rallyingthe clans for the cause once more, raisingtheir standard at Braemar. Despite anarrow victory at the battle ofSherriffmuir the rebellion failed, the Earlof Mar and James returning to thecontinent. The failure of the 1715rebellion was a bitter blow indeed, butnonetheless the hardened Jacobites werecommitted to the cause and vowed tofight on. A fight that would come oncemore, just four years later.

‘THE 1719 RISING’

After the death of Mary of Modena, towhom the Jacobites looked for financingtheir rebellion, in 1718, the rebels wereforced to look elsewhere for support tofinance the coming invasion of England.Cardinal Alberoni of Spain, anxious to geteven after a defeat of a Spanish fleet bythe English at the battle of Cape Passaro,readily agreed to help. James Butler, 2ndDuke of Ormond, a key Jacobitesupporter met the cardinal, persuadinghim to not only to provide money, but tosupply much needed regular troops, armsand ammunition for the venture also.

BACKGROUND TO THE REBELLION

In 1649, after a brutal and bloody civil war, King Charles Stuart I was put to deathat the Guildhall, Whitehall in London. Nine months previously his two sons fled thecountry, Charles to France and James to the Netherlands, his father fearing what avengeful Parliament might do to them.

Glen Shiel

Inverness

SCOTLAND

Battle of Glen Shiel:Layout 1 3/7/09 11:58

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Fortunately Spain still had an untouchedfleet safely anchored in Cadiz harbour,consisting of 10 men-of-war and 21transport vessels. Ormond, who it seemscould be very influential, persuaded thecardinal to release some of the ships inorder to mount an invasion of England.The plan called for two invasions, one,led by Ormonde, would land in England,whilst a second, under George Keith, 10thEarl Marischal, would land on the westcoast of Scotland.

By 7 March 1719 the ships were loadedwith 5,000 Spanish troops and arms,

including cannons, and ammunition forsome 15,000 men. They were to pick upJames Francis Edward Stuart, thePretender, at Corunna. Ormond wasappointed commander of the fleet, withthe title of Captain-General of his mostCatholic Majesty. From a second port,San Sebastian, the Earl Marischal, with aconsiderably smaller force, in two ships,some 300 Spanish troops and arms for2000 men, would make his way alone toScotland. On board were the earl’sbrother, James Keith, along with the Earlof Seaforth and the Marquis ofTullibardine.

Soon after setting sail howeverOrmond’s fleet found itself beingbattered by a violent storm, whichlasted some twelve days. Off theCape of Finisterre (the north westerntip of Spain) the fleet broke up andscattered, some of the ship’s beinglost with all hands. Not knowing ofthe fate of Ormond’s fleet the EarlMarischal set sail as planned, on the8 March, for Scotland, reaching hisdestination, Loch Alsh in theHebrides, in late April. The twoships slowly made their way throughLoch Alsh and entered Loch Duichwhere they anchored opposite EileanDonan Castle. From out of theholds emerged the 300 Spanishsoldiers, a far cry from the 5,000 ofthe original invasion force.Fortunately however, for the rebels,there were still the 2,000 muskets, a large quantity of powder andsupplies onboard.

Not long after the landing a body ofSeaforth highlanders joined the Spaniardsat the castle. Other clansmen, who hadbeen awaiting the chance to join therebellion, now hesitated and refused toturn out, preferring instead to awaitOrmonde’s landing with the promised5,000 Spanish troops before committingthemselves. A second blow soon fellupon the rebels when the Earl Marischaland Tullibardine fell out as to who was incommand, resulting in endless disputesand daily councils of war. But theargument did not last long for spies soonbrought word that over a thousandgovernment troops, under GeneralWightman were marching south fromInverness towards Fort Augustus.

Above: The two forces square up to each other, with the Marquis of Tullibardine and his Jacobitetroops in the foreground. All figures by Reiver Castings.Below: The Government forces on the march to Glen Shiel. All figures by Reiver Castings.

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FROM MOBILISATION TO BATTLE

Government forces, after hearing of thelanding from loyalist clans of the Frasersand Munroes, swiftly acted against theJacobites and began to mobilise allavailable forces agaist them. TheInverness garrison was reinforced by sea,providing fresh troops on the ground forany attack that might come their way. Aproclamation was issued stating that areward of £10,000 was on offer for thecapture of the Duke of Ormonde. Troopsin England were mobilised and ordered tomuster in the north west and a strongsquadron of ships, under Admiral Norris,were sent out to engage the Spanish fleetonce more. A further help to the Englishgovernment were some 2,000 Dutchtroops. The Austrians likewise sent sixbattalions, 3,000 men, from the AustrianNetherlands. The Duke of Orleansordered ships to be made ready at Brestin order to join with the English fleet ifneed be and a land force of some 22battalions was also put on standby shouldthe English have need of them. Little didthe Jacobites in the north know that, evenbefore setting foot on Scottish soil, therebellion was doomed from the outset.

The rebels, under Tullibardine, put theirown plans in to operation, storing theirpowder in Eilean Donan Castle, placing itunder the guard of a small force ofSpanish soldiers. Another council of warwas held, in which an attack on Invernesswas discussed and rejected. It washowever decided that a fresh attempt tocall out the clans was to be made. It wasabout now that Tullibardine heard thatOrmonde and his invasion force wouldnot be landing. A letter from the Dukebrought in by agents told them not to loseheart and that he would be soon sendingfresh arms. By 10 May governmentwarships were seen blockading theapproaches to Loch Alsh and one frigate,the Worcester, after entering Loch Duichproceeded to pound the castle intosurrender. The small Spanish garrison,with hardly anything with which to makea reply, soon capitulated.

Tullibardine now had very few optionsopen to him. He could not evacuate by sea(his ships having only just left the watersof Loch Alsh before the governmentwarships arrived) and a government armywould soon be offering him battle.Striking camp the Jacobites began tomarch inland, splitting into two bodies.One passed along the eastern flank ofLoch Duich over the old military road thatis now the A87 to the Isles, whilst the othercame by way of Loch Long, crossing thefells north of Loch Duich before pressingon eastwards. An advanced party was alsosent ahead to establish an arms dump atthe Crow of Kintail.

Barricades

MURRAY SPANISH

CHISHOLMS &

CAMERONS MACGREGORS

& MACRAESCAMPBELLS MACKINTOSH

SEAFORTH

MUNROE

CLAYTONʼS

DRAGOONS

DUTCH 15TH 11TH

GRENADIERS

MACKAYS

G O V E R N M E N T F O R C E S

J A C O B I T E F O R C E S

River

Shiel

Mount

Skururan

Sgurr Na Ciste

Duibhe

THE SPANISH TROOPS

There is much conjecture regardingthe make up for the Spanish forcewhich lined up on the battlefield atGlen Shiel, if we go back to the mostcontemporary of sources we discoverthat information is pretty sparse.

In the Historical Register vol iv. 283(and repeated in The Chevalier de St.George and the Jacobite Movement1701 – 1720) we are told “Don

Nicolas Bolano, who commandedthe detachment of the regiment ofGallicia” and “they numbered twohundred and seventy four men,including their leaders”.

In the letters of James Butler, secondduke of Ormonde we learn that “TheSpanish force … consisted of adetachment of twelve men percompany from each of the twenty-four companies of Don Pedro deCastro’s regiment of foot, under thecommand of a lieutenant-colonel,with six captains, six lieutenants, andsix ensigns, three hundred and sevenin all, including offices” (this trooptotal includes some troops whichwere station at Elieen Dolan Castleand played no part in the battle).

Their uniforms are again the subjectof debate and while a white frockcoat and black tricorn are generallyagreed upon most other details arenot known. We have gone with aguesstimate of red facings for ourphotos.


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COEHORN MORTARS

Coehorn mortars were short,stubby, cast-bronze pots that wereplaced in a solid wooden block andlobbed a spherical explosive shella good distance. They werelightweight, easily transportable,invented by Baron Menno vanCoehorn, around 1673. TheBritish army adopted them for usein 1708. They fired a ’hollow-shot’, filled with explosives, oroccasionally case shot. These werefired from the mortar after acorrectly judged amount of fuse,protruding from the sphere, was lit.This at times was no easy matterand it was possible for acoolheaded individual to pluck outthe burning fuse as the bomb laysmouldering on the ground.

By 4 June the Jacobites had receivedreinforcements in the form of 150clansmen under Donald Cameron ofLochiel and Seaforth’s numbers hadgrown to around 400 men. Otherclansmen now came in, many from theclan Macgregor under ‘Rob Roy’Macgregor, swelling their ranks to abouta thousand more, hardly what wasneeded to defeat an army of professionalgovernment troops swift approachingthem. Further word reached Tullibardinethat government troops had now beenseen entering Glen Moriston, with loyalclansmen, barely 26 miles from theirlocation. By 9 June General Wightmanhad reached as far as the head of LochCluanie, and the following day would belittle more than eight miles to the east ofthe rebels.

On 10 June, with a battle now inevitable,Tullibardine deployed his forces in thepass of Glen Shiel, the River Shiel to hisright, Loch Duich some way to the rearand the 3,370 feet Sgurr na Ciste Duibhemountain to his left. Undoubtedly theJacobites were in a very strong defensiveposition, with steep hills either side ofthem and the Shiel River. Tullibardineordered trenches and barricades to bethrown up barring the road between theSgurr na Ciste and the river. Lord

George Murray took command of theright flank, on the southern bank of theShiel. The Earl Marischal the left flank,whilst Tullibardine was in overallcommand in the centre. The Spanishregulars were positioned in the centre,with Tullibardine, on the northern bankof the river behind makeshift stonebarricades. Immediately north of thesewere Lochiel’s men, the Chisholms andCamerons, with the MacGregors under‘Rob Roy’ further north of them. Besidethese stood the Campbells of Ormidaleand Glendarue with the clan Mackintoshunder Mackintosh of Borlum. Andfinally on the high ground stood Seaforthmen, standing 200 yards up a steepincline.

Whilst the Jacobites were deployingWightman continued his course alongLoch Cluanie and by about four in theafternoon reached the rebel positions inGlen Shiel. At first Wightman wasloathed to attack for he saw how strong adefensive position the Jacobites were in.He states in reports, “I came upon withina mile of the rebels camp, at a placecalled Glensheels, such a strong pass thatis hardly to be paralleled; I took about anhour to view the situation, and withoutloss of a moment made mydispositions...”

Below: The two armies jockey for postion on the slopes of the glen. All figures by Reiver Castings.


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But attack he knew he must. At about5pm, with deployment completed, theGrenadiers, Montagu’s, Harrison’s, andSutherland’s on the right flank, Huffel’sand Robertson’s Dragoons, in the centreand on the southern side of the Shiel,Clayton’s and Munroe’s on the left flank,he placed his mortars with Munroe’s andordered the dragoons forward to driveaway the Jacobite piquets on the left.

The sound of musketry echoed aroundthe narrow pass, soon joined by the boomof government mortars as they proceededto lob their shells into Murray’s positions.The Claytons and Munroes began to

advance towards Murray and soonbecame embroiled in a musketry duel onthe slopes of Mount Skururan. to fallback, out of harms way, taking with thema wounded Murray and leaving their rightflank wide open.

Wightman now ordered his mortars toswitch targets and began to bombard theSpaniards over the river at the barricades.Due to the fact that the range of themortars was long little damage was saidto have been done. However the dryheather was set alight, with thick plumesof smoke obscuring much of theJacobites’ vision. Possibly taking

advantage of this the Munroes andClaytons pressed on through the smoketowards the Spaniards. The Spaniardssoon spotted them and open up a deadlyfire, forcing the attackers to retire back totheir lines. Apart from the continuedskirmishing in the centre, possiblyinvolving the dragoons, Lochiel’s menand the Macgregors, little more was seento be happening. That is until Wightmanordered MacKay's Highlanders, Huffel’sDutch, Harrison’s detachment as support,and the grenadiers to press forward on theright, in an attempt to push thew Seaforthsand the Macgregors off the slopes. Closerand closer government troops came, but it

THE DUTCH TROOPS

Sent over to England to help KingGeorge I to hold onto poweragainst Jacobite rebellions. TheDutch troops were also in Englandduring the Jacobite rising of 1715,under the command of GeneralWilliam Cadogan. At Glen Shielthey were probably led by ColonelHuffel. Tunic and trousers wereyellow and tricorne was black.

Numbers present at the battle,possibly no more than 250.Despite stories to the contrarythere is no evidence for a Dutchcommander being killed in thebattle.


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THE HANOVERIAN ARMY

The Hanoverian army at Glen Shiel consisted of mainly troops from the Invernessgarrison, under the leadership of General Joseph Wightman. AdditionallyWightman had Dutch auxilliaries, a unit of some 146 regular grenadiers, andScottish clansmen from the clans Munro and Sutherland, loyal to the government.The mounted contingent consisted of four companies of dragoons.

As we have seen, Wightman had the foresight to bring with him artillery forsupport. The infantry were armed with the flintlock musket. Red tunic, redbreeches, white webbing, black leather cartridge box and black tricorne hats.

was slow, hard going. They had to coversome 2,400 feet up a very steep incline.Exhausted they did not enter into a charge,but instead traded volley for volley ofmusketry fire. Unexpectedly however theClan Macgregor surged forward, causingthe Dutch troops to fall back, but notbefore almost becoming surrounded.Colonel Huffel, along with a few of hismen, was cut down. But with ColonelHarrison’s detachment, supported by theSutherlands, entering the fray the Jacobitessoon began to waver and were themselvesobliged to fall back.

The grenadiers now closed to withinthrowing range, lobbing their grenades atthe shaken rebels. Understandably theJacobites began to get the worst of it, theEarl Marischal taking a musket ball in thearm, and began to retreat, relinquishinghold of the high ground. Governmenttroops were gaining the upper-hand.Both Jacobite flanks had now gone andthe centre, coming under increasingpressure, began to buckle and waver.Although wounded the Earl Marischal,along with Campbell of Ormidale, stillattempted to hold the line. At this stage,

after almost three hours of fighting,Wightman saw an opportunity to win thebattle and sent some of his forcesforward once more. He stated inreports,

“Towards the end of the action Iobserved some Spaniards left in the passto defend it, which obstructed ourfinishing the affair, and obliged me todismount 30 dragoons, which with about40 foot, was all we had as a reserve;with which numbers I attackt them, andcarried it in 10 minutes. They werebetter at climbing the rocks than we attheir retreat, so that we have very few orany prisoners except a Spanish captainand their physcian.

The dragoons and Clayton’s had finallypressed home their attack, the Spaniardsretreated to the rear and the whole of theJacobite line simply melted away,streaming westwards toward LochDuich, and over the hills to safety.

As it was by now around 6-7pm thefailing light meant little or no pursuitwas possible and many of the rebelsescaped, Tullibardine, Seaforth andKeith amongst them, eventually fleeingabroad. The following day the Spanishtroops, with no place to go, surrenderedand were marched to Edinburgh asprisoners of war, eventually to berepatriated. Losses on the Jacobite sideare not confirmed but a contemporyletter records shockingly small loss of“less than ten men killed or wounded”.Wightman acknowledged the loss of 21killed and 121 men wounded.

The rising, lasting some 59 days, (fromthe landing at Eilean Donan till thebattle at Glen Shiel) was effectivelyover. James Frances Edward Stuart, thePretender, remained on the continentand in September married ClementinaSobieska, a descendant of the Kings ofPoland. The following year in 1720Clementina gave birth to a son, whomthey named Charles Edward LouisPhilip Sylvester Casimir Maria. Hewould come to be better known tohistory as ’Bonnie Prince Charlie’, andwould lead his own bid to regain theStuart throne in an invasion of Scotlandand England in 1745, culminating in hisdefeat at Culloden in 1746, putting anend once and for all to the Stuart risings.

Left: The Scottish Jacobites and Spanish allies (far left) where no match for the government forces in 1719 - your re-fightmight prove to be different however!All figures by Reiver Castings.


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ORDER OF BATTLETHE BATTLE OF GLEN SHIEL

JACOBITE FORCES

The Jacobite highlanders were mainly equipped with the basket-hilted broadsword, dirk and targe, with which they were veryskilled. The majority would have been issued with a flintlockmusket, of either Spanish or French origin.

We read that during the engagement, when the clan Mackaypressed forward on the rebels’ left wing, in an attempt to pushthe Seaforth Highlanders off the high ground, they did notengage in a hand-to-hand struggle, as is normal with a clan toclan fight, but instead stood trading volley for volley musket fire.Again, in the centre long drawn out skirmishing took place, nohand-to-hand being recorded. On the rebels right wing the clanMonroe attempted to press forward, but were repulsed beforemaking contact, they too being forced back to their lines. TheJacobites only seemed to lack cavalry, but this was normally thecase, for few Jacobite armies could boast a good contingent ofhorse. Artillery too was lacking, and again this was normal, nodoubt any attack on an isolated government post would haveyielded up guns for the cause. I have not as yet read any accountwhich mentions that the Jacobites had artillery at Glen Shiel, thecannon supplied by the Spanish was lost when Ormonde’s shipswere scattered off Finisterre. The morale of the Jacobites can besaid to be good. The Marquis of Tullibardine, a veteran of theBattle of Sheriffmuir in 1715, can be classed as a competentcommander, as was his second-in-command, George Keith theEarl Marischal, also a veteran of Sheriffmuir.

C -in- C: William Murray, Marquis of TullibardineUNIT MEN COMMANDERClan Mackenzie 500 William Mackenzie, Earl

of SeaforthClan Mackintosh 100 Mackintosh of BorlumClan Campbell 100 Campbell of Ormidale &

GlendaruelClan Macgregor 300 Rob Roy Macgregor& MacRaesClan Chisholm 150 Donald Cameron of Lochiel& CameronSpanish Regulars 274 Don Nicolas BolanTotal Jacobite forces 1,424 men

GOVERNMENT FORCES

Massive cutbacks in the army prior to 1702 meant that whenhostilities erupted the government were forced to raise and trainnew regiments, such as was the case during the Spanish War ofSuccession (1701-1714). After the Peace of Utrecht in 1713 theBritish army was once more reduced in numbers and whentrouble broke out with the Jacobites in 1715 there was a lack oftrained soldiers to deal with the threat. However those infantrybattalions that fought at Glen Shiel, the 11th, 15th and the Dutchregulars, were fortunately suitably trained professional soldiers.Though their numbers were small they were of course supportedby highland clans in the pay of the government, such as theMacKays and Monroes, who had a long standing support for thegovernment.

As in all British armies there was a mounted presence, at GlenShiel in the form of two troops of dragoons. As for the artillery,General Wightman had fortunately brought with him someCoehorn mortars. Though the mortars did not cause too manycasualties in the battle, they did effect a drop in morale amongstthe Jacobites, especially amongst George Murray’s highlanderson the right flank. All government troops at Glen Shiel are in ahigh state of morale, their commander-in-chief, like hiscounterpart, was a veteran of Sheriffmuir.

C in- C: General Joseph WightmanUNIT MEN COMMANDERGrenadiers 140 Major Milburn11th Foot 250 Colonel Laurence14th Foot 250 Colonel Reading15th Foot 250 Colonel HarrisonDutch Infantry 250 Colonel HuffelDragoons (2 troops) 80 Captain RobertsonClan Munroe 60 George Munro of CulcairnClan Mackay 50 Lt. Mackay, Lord StrathnaverArtillery 4 Coehorn mortars + crew.Total Government forces 1,330 men

AVAILABLE FIGURES

Your first port of call for figures from the ’19 rebellionshould be Reiver Castings specifically designed 28mmrange, as featured in our accompanying pictures.http://reivercasting.wordpress.com

There is a myriad of other figure manufactures whomake miniatures which cross over into the 1719 period.

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