During the early stages of the Jacobite Rising of 1745, forces loyal to Charles Edward Stuart clashed with government troops in Scotland, part of the rapid campaign that would see Edinburgh fall within weeks. The rising sought to restore the exiled Stuart monarchy to the British throne and briefly threatened to topple the Hanoverian government before its collapse at Culloden the following year.
Charles Edward Stuart, known to history as Bonnie Prince Charlie, had landed in Scotland weeks earlier with a small band of supporters, gambling everything on Highland loyalty to his family's exiled cause. His march south through the Highlands gathered clan after clan, and skirmishes like this one cleared the path toward the symbolic prize of Edinburgh.
The rising's early momentum astonished London, which had considered the Jacobite threat largely spent after the failed 1715 rebellion. Within months Charles would occupy Edinburgh and rout a government army at Prestonpans, pushing as far south as Derby before retreat, disaster, and the bloody final defeat at Culloden Moor in April 1746 ended Stuart hopes forever.
Key people: Charles Edward Stuart