Highbridge Skirmish

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Highbridge Skirmish

Loch Oich and Invergarry Castle

Date	August 16, 1745
Location	Highbridge, Scotland
Result	Jacobite victory

Combatants

British Army

Jacobites

Commanders

Captain Scott

Jacobite Clan Chiefs

Strength

2 Battalions of infantry.

Unknown

Casualties

2 killed, several more wounded.

Second Jacobite Rising
Highbridge – Prestonpans – 1st Carlisle – Clifton – 2nd Carlisle – Inverurie – Falkirk – Culloden

The first engagement of the 1745 Jacobite Uprisings between British Government troops and Jacobites loyal to Prince Charles Edward Stuart took place at Highbridge, Scotland on the River Spean on 16 August 1745. This marked the commencement of hostilities between the two sides.

Shortly after Prince Charlie had landed he met up firstly with the Chief of Clan Cameron of Lochiel and the Chief of the Clan MacDonald of Clan Ranald. As the Jacobites were amassing their forces the British governor of Fort Augustus despatched two companies of the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Scots regiment made primarily from Clan Scott and under the command of a Captain (later General) Scott. They were to reinforce the government garrison at Fort William. The government troops marched along the road which had been built by the government to link the two forts directly. They met no resistance until they reached High Bridge over the River Spean. On the Bridge a small number of Jacobites from the Clan MacDonald of Keppoch stood armed with swords and muskets. It is said that by leaping and skipping about, moving from place to place, and extending their plaids between one another to give themselves a formidable appearance, the Jacobites deceived Captain Scott into thinking they were of a larger number. Captain Scott halted his men and sent forward a sergent and servant to negotiate but both were taken prisoner. Captain Scott orderd his men to retreat and they began marching back the way they came. As they did so they were fired on from both sides of the road. Captain Scott's men returned fire but he and his men were forced to change direction and move off the road.

Before this fire had been opened, bands of Jacobites were proceeding in the direction of the bridge to assist in the attack. Captain Scott continued his march rapidly along the side of Loch Oich, and when he reached the east end, he observed some Jacobites on a hill at the west end of Loch Oich, where they had assembled apparently for the purpose of intercepting him on his retreat. Disliking the appearance of this body, which stood in the direct way of his retreat, Scott resolved to throw himself for protection into Invergarry Castle, the seat of the Clan MacDonell of Glengarry, and accordingly crossed the isthmus between the two lochs. This movement, however, only rendered his situation more embarrassing, as he had not marched far when he perceived another body of Jacobites, the Macdonells of Glengarry, coming down the opposite hill to attack him. In this dilemma he formed his men into a hollow square, and proceeded on his march. Meanwhile, MacDonald of Keppoch's men, headed by the chief, hastened the pursuit.

The Royal Scotts eventually found themselves completely surrounded on all sides by the Clan MacDonald of Keppoch and the Clan MacDonnell of Glengarry. MacDonald of Keppoch advanced alone to Scott's party, required them to surrender, and offered them quarters; but assured them, that, in case of resistance, they would be cut to pieces. Fatigued with a long march, and surrounded on all sides by increasing bodies of Jacobites, Captain Scott, who had been wounded, and had had two of his men killed, accepted the terms offered, and surrendered. Soon after the chief of Clan Cameron of Lochiel arrived and took charge of the prisoners, whom he carried to his own house at Achnacarry. It is said that the Jacobites did not lose a man.

This incident marked the commencement of hostilities between the British government and the Jacobite rebels in 1745.