Posted on February 6, 2013 by Donald
One of the world’s most famous militia was first raised in 1725 and became a Regiment under the Earl of Crawford as Colonel in 1739.
Known then as the 43rd then 42nd Royal Highland Regiment, its Gaelic motto translated into ‘The Black Watch of Battles, First to Come and Last to Go’.
The Black Wat...
Posted on February 6, 2013 by Donald
The man credited in the National Anthem with the ability to frustrate and crush rebellious Scots is also the man who brought the first proper roads to the Highlands.
Major-General George Wade was Commander-in-Chief of North Britain from 1724 until 1740, during which time he had military routes ac...
Posted on February 6, 2013 by Donald
The first Rising had failed by 1716, though skirmishes would continue.
1719 saw what was known as the "little Rising". The only battle of this Rising occurred between a government army led by General Wightman and Jacobites under the 10th Earl Marischal at Glenshiel.
The Jacobite cause was suppo...
Posted on February 6, 2013 by Donald
On the 6 September 1715, the 6th Earl of Mar, John Erskine, declared himself for James Francis Edward Stewart, the Old Pretender, and left Braemar carrying the Stewart standard to head south to the Jacobites in England. By the end of the month he had taken over Inverness with twelve thousand men b...
Posted on February 6, 2013 by Donald
Thanks to the treatment of Scotland before and after the 1707 Union, there was always strong underground support for the reinstatement of the exiled Stewarts to the throne.
Events following the death of Queen Anne in 1714 brought emotions to a level where the man who would lead government forces,...