The
Battle of Prestonpans was the first significant conflict in the second
Jacobite RisingThe Jacobite Risings were a series of uprisings, rebellions, and wars in the kingdoms of England, Scotland , and Ireland occurring between 1688 and 1746...
. The battle took place at 4am on 21 September 1745. The
JacobiteJacobitism was the political movement dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland...
army loyal to
James Francis Edward StuartPrince James, Prince of Wales was the son of the deposed James II and VII...
and led by his son
Charles Edward StuartPrince Charles Edward Stuart was the exiled Jacobite claimant to the thrones of Great Britain and Ireland. He is commonly known to the English and the Scottish as Bonnie Prince Charlie...
defeated the army loyal to the Hanoverian George II led by Sir John Cope. It was initially known as the
Battle of GladsmuirGladsmuir is a village and parish in East Lothian, Scotland, UK, situated on the A199 and near Tranent and Prestonpans.Gladsmuir's possible main "claim to fame" is that the Battle of Prestonpans is sometimes still referred to as the Battle of Gladsmuir, especially on maps.The Jacobite poet William...
- but was fought at
PrestonpansPrestonpans is a small town to the east of Edinburgh, Scotland, in the unitary council area of East Lothian. It has a population of 7,153 . It is the site of the 1745 Battle of Prestonpans, and has a history dating back to the 11th century...
,
East LothianEast Lothian is one of 32 unitary council areas in Scotland, UK, and a lieutenancy Area. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Scottish Borders and Midlothian. Its administrative centre is Haddington, although its largest town is Musselburgh....
,
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
on that town's borders with
TranentTranent is a town in East Lothian, Scotland. It is close to the A1 road and approximately east of Edinburgh. It is one of the oldest towns in East Lothian, and built on a gentle slope, about 300 feet above sea level.-History:...
, Cockenzie and Port Seton. The inexperienced government troops were outflanked and broke in the face of a
highland chargeThe Highland charge was a battlefield tactic used by the clans of the Scottish Highlands in the 17th and 18th century. It was developed as a response to the evolution of firearms...
. The victory was a huge morale boost for the Jacobites, and a heavily
mythologizedMythology is the study of myths and or of a body of myths. For example, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece. The term "myth" is often used colloquially to refer to a false story;...
version of the story entered art and legend.
The road to Prestonpans
In the summer of 1745, Charles Edward Stuart, commonly known as 'Bonnie Prince Charlie' or 'the Young Pretender', mounted a campaign to take Scotland and England with an eye towards reclaiming what he considered to be his father's two kingdoms (Great Britain, formally united in 1707, and Ireland). Against long odds, and aided by the early support of Donald Cameron of Lochiel, XIX chief of Clan Cameron, his party of ten raised an army which eventually numbered over 2000 Scots as they marched to
GlenfinnanGlenfinnan is a village in Lochaber area of the Highlands of Scotland. It is located at the northern end of Loch Shiel, at the foot of Glenfinnan.See http://wikitravel.org/en/Glenfinnan for more details....
and then to
EdinburghEdinburgh is the capital city of Scotland. It is the second largest Scottish city, after Glasgow, and the seventh-most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas....
.
The Hanoverian response
Sir John Cope, the general commanding government forces in Scotland, was commanded to raise forces to stop the rising. He raised the recruits but the vast majority had no experience whatsoever, and he was hampered by a variety of other issues including the sickness of his principal
cavalryCavalry were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback in combat. Cavalry were historically the second oldest and most mobile of the combat arms...
officer. Despite this, his officers apparently believed that the rebels would never attack a single force including both infantry and cavalry. They assured locals during their march that there would be no battle.
Charles's army took Edinburgh with little or no fighting on the 16th of September; Cope, travelling by ship from
AberdeenAberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city and one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. It has an official population estimate of .Nicknames include the Granite City, the Grey City and the Silver City with the Golden Sands...
, arrived at
DunbarDunbar is a town in East Lothian on the southeast coast of Scotland, approximately 30 miles east of Edinburgh and 28 miles from the English Border at Berwick-upon-Tweed.Dunbar is a former Royal Burgh and gave its name to an ecclesiastical and civil parish...
too late to challenge them.
The Battle
On 20 September Cope's forces encountered Charles' advance guard. Cope decided to stand his ground and engage the Jacobite army. He drew up his army facing south with a marshy ditch to their front, and the park walls around Preston House protecting their right flank. His cannon he mounted behind the low embankment of the
Tranent colliery waggonwayThe Tranent to Cockenzie Waggonway was the first railway in Scotland, opened in 1722. It was 2½ miles long and connected two towns in East Lothian, transporting coal from the pit heads at Tranent to Cockenzie harbour via Meadowmill. Horse drawn wagons were used which held 2 tons of coal...
, which crossed the battlefield. Jacobite Lieutenant Anderson was a local farmer's son who knew the area well and convinced Charles's Lieutenant General,
Lord George MurrayLord George Murray was a Scottish Jacobite general, most noted for his 1745 campaign under Bonnie Prince Charlie into England...
, of an excellent route through the marshlands. Commencing at 4 a.m. he moved the entire Jacobite force walking three abreast along the Riggonhead
DefileDefile is a geographic term for a narrow pass or gorge between mountains or hills. It has its origins as a military description of a pass through which troops can march only in a narrow column or with a narrow front...
far to the east of Cope's army. Cope kept fires burning and posted pickets during the night as the Highlanders began making their move at 4am.
At the crack of dawn at 6am on 21 September 1745, Cope's
dragoonDragoons were originally infantrymen deployed by horse, but later became cavalry. They were therefore trained in horse riding as well as infantry fighting skills. Dragoon regiments were established in most European armies during the late 17th and early 18th centuries...
s beheld the spectacle of 1,400 Highlanders charging through the early mist making "wild Highland war cries and with the bloodcurdling skirl of the
pipesThe Great Highland Bagpipe is a type of bagpipe native to Scotland, which has achieved widespread recognition through its usage in the British military and in pipe bands throughout the world....
....".
Cope's inexperienced army wheeled around to face the Highlanders, who were charging in from behind them following their night march. Cope managed to scramble some cannon up onto his right flank, who opened fire as soon as he was in range. Undaunted by the light, inaccurate guns, the Highlander army charged; however, the centre became bogged down in marshy terrain. This meant the wings of the Highlander army were charging faster than those in the centre. The Highland forces clashed with the wings of the army and, almost instantly, the dragoons fled from the field. The Highlanders charged in on the flanks of the army in a V formation, as the centre now charged up and into contact with the front line of royal infantry. The effect of this unplanned flanking manoeuvre meant that the royal foot soldiers were effectively sandwiched. They suffered heavy casualties and gave way. Cope rallied his men, but could only lead about two hundred stragglers up a side lane (
Johnnie Cope's Road) to reorganize in an adjacent field, where they refused further engagement. Cope and his aide-de-camp had no choice but to travel southwards to
LauderThe Royal Burgh of Lauder is a town in the Scottish Borders council area. It was a royal burgh in the county of Berwickshire until 1975 when both were abolished...
and
ColdstreamColdstream is a burgh in the Scottish Borders. It lies on the north bank of the River Tweed in Berwickshire, while Northumberland in England lies to the south bank...
and then on to the safety of
Berwick-upon-TweedBerwick-upon-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town in the county of Northumberland and is the northernmost town in England, on the east coast at the mouth of the River Tweed. It is situated 2.5 miles south of the Scottish border....
the following day, Brigadier
Thomas FowkeLieutenant General Thomas Fowke was a British Army officer who was appointed Governor of Gibraltar.-Early years:...
causing scandal by arriving ahead of the troops. Out of the 2,300 men, only 170 troops managed to escape. Colonel James Gardiner, a senior Hanoverian commander who stayed at Bankton House close by the scene of battle, was mortally wounded in a final heroic skirmish that included Sir Thomas Hay of Park who fought by his side and survived. Colonel Gardiner's fatal wounds were inflicted beneath a white thorntree of which a portion is today in Edinburgh's Naval and Military Museum. Gardiner was stripped to the waist after his possessions were looted by the Highlanders. A servant took the mortally wounded Colonel after the battle to The Manse at Tranent where he died in the arms of the Minister's daughter during the night. The Colonel became the unchallenged hero of the day and an obelisk to his memory was raised in the mid 19th century.
The battle was over in less than 10 minutes with hundreds of government troops killed or wounded and 1500 taken prisoner. The Hanoverian baggage train at Cockenzie was captured with only a single shot fired and it contained £5000, many muskets and ammunition. The Highlanders suffered fewer than 100 troops killed or wounded. The wounded and prisoners were given the best care possible at Prince Charles' insistence. A cairn to their memory was erected in 1953 close by the battle site and a coal bing, using the remains of the area's coal shale shaped as a pyramid, now provides a vantage point for today's visitors.
Cope exonerated at court-martial
Despite the conduct of his inexperienced troops and the humiliating fact that Cope had to report his overwhelming defeat personally to the garrison commander at
Berwick-upon-TweedBerwick-upon-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town in the county of Northumberland and is the northernmost town in England, on the east coast at the mouth of the River Tweed. It is situated 2.5 miles south of the Scottish border....
, away, the frequent accusations that Cope himself fled the battlefield appear to be incorrect. Cope and his officers were exonerated at
court-martialA court-martial is a military court. These military courts can determine punishments for members of the military subject to military law who are found guilty or may dismiss the charges based on the evidence and the case presented. Most militaries maintain a court-martial system to try cases in...
. Martin B. Margulies, writing in
History Scotland magazine, notes:
The Report of the Board's proceedings was published in 1749. Anyone who scrutinizes it closely can only conclude that the Board was correct. What emerges from the pages is not, perhaps, the portrait of a military genius but one of an able, energetic and conscientious officer, who weighed his options carefully and who anticipated - with almost obsessive attention to detail - every eventuality except the one which he could not have provided for in any case: that his men would panic and flee.
The second Jacobite rising continues
The battle greatly boosted the morale of all Stuart supporters, and more recruits were soon gained in Scotland. At this point, the campaign was going the Stuarts' way. The Prince's army advanced as far as
DerbyDerby is a city in the East Midlands region of England. It lies upon the banks of the River Derwent and is located in the south of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire. In the 2001 census, the population of the city was 233,700, whilst that of the Derby Urban Area was 229,407...
by December 1745 unimpeded, using the most skilled generalship. However in Derby the Council of Chiefs resolved at Exeter House to proceed no further since they had been deliberately misled to believe a major Hanoverian army stood between them and London. They conducted a skilled retreat with a further victory at
FalkirkDuring the Second Jacobite Rising, the Battle of Falkirk Muir was the last noteworthy Jacobite success.-Overview:...
before finally meeting total defeat at the
Battle of CullodenThe Battle of Culloden was the final clash between the French-supported Jacobites and the Hanoverian British Government in the 1745 Jacobite Rising. Culloden dealt the Jacobite cause—to restore the House of Stuart to the throne of the Kingdom of Great Britain—a decisive defeat...
, near
InvernessInverness is a city in northern Scotland. The city is the administrative centre for the Highland council area, and is promoted as the capital of the Highlands of Scotland...
.
The battle in art and legend
Subsequent public perception of the battle in general and General Cope in particular has been influenced by
Adam SkirvingAdam Skirving , Scottish song writer, was born in Haddington.He became a farmer at Garleton, near Haddington, and died in April 1803...
's popular songs. Skirving was a local farmer who did not see the battle itself, but visited the battlefield later that afternoon where he was, by his own account, mugged by the victors. Skirving wrote two songs, "
Hey, Johnnie Cope, Are Ye Waking Yet?Hey, Johnnie Cope, are Ye Waking 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....
", and "Tranent Muir"; the former is quite well-known, and is a short, catchy, and mostly historically inaccurate insult to Cope. While Cope's troops fled the battle, he himself did not; nor is it true that he slept the night before. Poet
Robert BurnsRobert Burns was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide...
later wrote his own words to the song, but these are not as well-known as Skirving's.
Tranent Muir, on the other hand, is a long and graphically violent description of the battle, and some of the events depicted are historically accurate. Myrie and Gardiner, mentioned in verses seven and eight, did in fact die in the battle. Lieutenant Smith, described in verse nine as fleeing the battle in dread, challenged Skirving to a duel after the song was published.
Sir Walter Scott gave the battle a prominent place in
WaverleyWaverley is an 1814 historical novel by Sir Walter Scott. Initially published anonymously in 1814 as Scott's first venture into prose fiction, Waverley is often regarded as the first historical novel. It became so popular that Scott's later novels were advertised as being "by the author of...
.
An Heritage Trust, described below, was established in 2006 and is most particularly concerned to capture, present and develop all these artistic dimensions. New poetry, theatre, paintings and songs have been commissioned.
Battle Heritage Trust
The town of Prestonpans is a long established centre of industrial activity not only in coal mining but brickworks, pottery, glass making, salt panning, soap and chemicals. It had not until 2006 sought to offer any significant year-round opportunity for visitors to gain a comprehensive understanding of the battle and its lasting importance, although a major re-enactment of the battle took place on the 250th anniversary in 1995. However, in 2006 the "Battle of Prestonpans 1745 Heritage Trust" was established on the initiative of the local people to ensure much better presentation and interpretation. It has quickly attracted private funding to achieve some of its initial goals but has ambitious plans for the future. Plans include a major Visitor Centre at Meadowmill, Prestonpans, 'Living History' battle re-enactments, and a new 'Flowering of the Arts'. A "Battle Bus" is helping to promote the project. In September 2008, a symposium was held in order to explore the past, present and future of the East Lothian battlefields of Prestonpans, Dunbar and Pinkie Cleugh.
External links