Battle of Glen Shiel

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Battle of Glenshiel
Part of the Jacobite Rising

Date 10 June 1719
Location Glenshiel, Scotland
Result British victory
Belligerents
Kingdom of Great Britain Jacobites
Spain
Commanders
Joseph Wightman Lord George Murray
Strength
850 infantry
120 dragoons
4 mortar batteries		 1000 troops
Casualties and losses
21 dead
100 wounded		 100 dead, many more wounded
 
First Jacobite Rising
Preston – Sheriffmuir – Glen Shiel

The Battle of Glen Shiel (Scottish Gaelic: Blàr Ghleann Sheile) was a battle in Glen Shiel, in the West Highlands of Scotland on 10 June 1719, between the British government and an alliance of Jacobites and Spaniards, resulting in a victory for the British forces. It was the last close engagement of British and foreign troops on mainland British soil. The Battle of Glenshiel is sometimes considered an extension of the 1715 rising, but is more correctly a separate rebellion and was the only rising to be extinguished by a single military action.[1]

Contents

[edit] Build up and previous events

After the Treaty of Utrecht, Philip V was accepted as King of Spain in exchange for several concessions. Great Britain received control over Spanish possessions, such as Menorca and Gibraltar, which it could defend, as Britain possessed by far the largest navy in the world at that time.

Philip's plans to restore Spanish power would lead to a violent clash with Britain. Philip and his Italian counsellor, Cardinal Giulio Alberoni, carried out a campaign in the western Mediterranean. In 1717, 8500 infantry men and 500 cavalry men sailed from Barcelona and occupied Sardinia without difficulty. The next year, 38,000 troops did the same with Sicily.

The British responded on 11 August; declaring a violation of Utrecht, the British navy intercepted and destroyed the fleet of José Antonio de Gaztañeta in the region of Cape Passaro, (near Syracuse). Spain then declared war, with Alberoni deciding to take the initiative and stir up trouble in Britain to forestall an attack on the Iberian Peninsula.

[edit] The Alberoni Plan

Giulio Alberoni decided to meddle in the throne disputes, supporting the Jacobite claims and its Highland allies both to de-stabilise the Crown and set up a more pliant king (and Parliament) in its place.

The original plan had two phases:

  1. George Keith, tenth Earl Marischal would infiltrate Scotland with 300 Spanish marines to raise the Western clans and take some positions. It was a feint intended to divert English forces.
  2. The main fleet, with 27 ships and 7000 men under James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde (the former Captain General of the British army, exiled in Spain), would disembark in South West England or Wales, where Jacobites were abundant. The resulting alliance would march east to besiege London, depose George I and enthrone James Stuart.

Three weeks after leaving Cadiz, Ormonde's fleet encountered a storm near Cape Finisterre (29 March) which dispersed and damaged most of the ships. Ormonde was forced to withdraw the ships to several Spanish havens (comparable to the fate of the Spanish Armada of 1588). By then, Keith had already left the Spanish port of Pasajes (Pasaia) and occupied the Isle of Lewis, including Stornoway where he set camp. On 13 April 1719, Keith's men disembarked on the Highlands near Lochalsh, although the Highlanders did not join the "Little Rising" in the expected numbers (the Spaniards carried 2000 guns to distribute), mistrusting the enterprise and waiting for news from the south. Keith could not proceed to Inverness and established his headquarter in the castle of Eilean Donan.

The two Spanish frigates returned to Spain. The Spaniards were accompanied by William Mackenzie, 5th Earl of Seaforth (Scottish Gaelic: Uilleam Dubh Shìophort), who was chief of the Clan Mackenzie; the Earl Marischal; and the Marquess of Tullibardine; and some Irish officers. They were joined by a few hundred Highlanders, including members of the Clan MacRae, Robert Roy MacGregor, and a party of other MacGregors. Some days later, the main body of the troop went south to stir up the Highlanders, leaving a small garrison (40-50 men) at the castle. The Jacobite forces were to be led by the Earl of Seaforth and also John Cameron of Lochiel, 18th Captain and Chief of Clan Cameron; along with Lord George Murray. Their plan of action was to capture Inverness.

[edit] The capture and destruction of Eilean Donan Castle

At the beginning of May, the Royal Navy sent five ships to the area for reconnaissance: two patrolling off Skye and three around Lochalsh, adjacent to Loch Duich. Early in the morning on Sunday 10 May, these latter three, HMS Worcester, HMS Flamborough, and HMS Enterprise, anchored off Eilean Donan, where the Spanish forces had established a base.

Their first move was to send a boat ashore under a flag of truce to negotiate, but when the Spanish soldiers in the castle fired at the boat, it was recalled and all three ships opened fire on the castle for an hour or more. They then shifted anchorage and waited, the wind blowing a fresh gale.

The next morning, acting on intelligence from a Spanish deserter, the commanding officer, Captain Boyle of the Worcester, sent the Enterprise up the river to capture a house being used to store gunpowder but, according to the naval logs, the rebels on the shore set fire to the house as the ship approached. Meanwhile, the other two ships continued to bombard the castle at intervals while they prepared a landing party.

In the evening, under the cover of an intense cannonade, the ships' boats went ashore and captured the castle against little resistance. According to HMS Worcester's log, in the castle they found "an Irishman, a captain, a Spanish lieutenant, a serjeant, one Scotch rebel and 39 Spanish soldiers, 343 barrels of powder and 52 barrels of musquet shot". The British then "burnt several barns etc where they had a quantity of corn for the use of their camp".

The naval force spent the next two days demolishing the castle (it took 27 barrels of gunpowder). The Spanish prisoners were put on board HMS Flamborough and taken away to Edinburgh.

[edit] At Glen Shiel

[edit] Jacobite Army

The great natural strength of the Jacobite position had been increased by hasty fortifications. A barricade had been constructed across the road, and along the face of the hill on the north side of the river entrenchments had been thrown up. Here the main body was posted, consisting of:

  • A Spanish regiment, which now only paraded some 200 strong, under its Colonel, Don Nicolás Bolaño
  • Clan Cameron of Lochiel with about 150 men
  • About 150 of Lidcoat’s and others, 20 volunteers
  • Rob Roy, chief of Clan MacGregor with 40 men
  • 50 men of Clan MacKinnon
  • 200 from the Clan MacKenzie, commanded by Sir John Mackenzie of Coul. The chief of Clan MacKenzie, Lord Seaforth, was on the extreme left, up on the side of Scour Ouran, with 200 of his best men.
  • Lord George Murray, son of the chief of Clan Murray, was positioned on the hill on the south bank of the river, the right of the position, was occupied by about 150 men under Tullibardine commanded in the centre, accompanied by Glendaruel.
  • Brigadier Mackintosh of Borlum was with the Spanish Colonel. The Chief of Clan Keith, George Keith, the Earl Marischal, and a rebel Brigadier Campbell were with Seaforth on the left.

[edit] British Army

The government army's right wing was commanded by Colonel Clayton and composed of:

  • 150 grenadiers under Major Milburn; Montagu’s Regiment, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Lawrence
  • A detachment of 50 men under Colonel Harrison
  • Huffel's Dutch Regiment
  • Four companies of Arnerongen's from the Clan Fraser, Clan Ross and the Clan Sutherland.
  • On the flank were 80 men of Clan MacKay led under their chief Lord Strathnaver, Ensign Mackay.

The government army's left wing, which was deployed on the south side of the river, consisted of:

  • Clayton’s Regiment, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Reading
  • On the flank were about 100 men of the Clan Munro under George Munro of Culcairn.
  • The government dragoons and the four mortars remained on the road.

[edit] The Battle of Glen Shiel

After moving around for one month, the Spaniards had learned by the beginning of June that Ormonde would never come. In spite of this, they gathered clansmen for a last action, with a total of 1,000 troops.

On 5 June, British government forces composed of both English and Scottish soldiers under General Joseph Wightman came from Inverness to block their march. They consisted of 850 infantry, 120 dragoons and 4 mortar batteries.

They confronted the Jacobites at Glen Shiel, just a few miles from Loch Duich, on June 10, near the Five Sisters hills. The Spanish occupied the top and the front of one of the hills, to their advantage, while the Jacobite Scots manned barricades on the sides.

The engagement began between about five and six o'clock when the left wing of the British government army advanced against Lord George Murray's position on the south side of the river. The position was first shelled by the mortar batteries and then attacked by four platoons of Clayton's regiment and Munro's. After some initial stubborn resistance, Lord George Murray's unsupported men were driven from their position and forced to retreat.

Once the Jacobite right wing had been dislodged, Wightman ordered his right wing to attack the Jacobite left.

The detachment, commanded by Lord Seaforth, was strongly positioned behind a group of rocks on the hillside. It was against them that Harrison's and Montigue's regiments were directed. Seaforth was reinforced by his own men under Sir John MacKenzie. Hard pressed, Seaforth sent for further reinforcements. Another group of men, under Rob Roy, went to his aid, but before it could reach him, his men gave way, and Seaforth himself was badly wounded.

Wightman concentrated his troops on the flanks, while the mortars battered the whole and pinned the Spaniards in their positions. Wightman's whole force was now directed toward the Jacobite centre.

The Spanish regulars stood their ground well, but found that most of their allies had deserted them, so they too retreated up the hill. Rob Roy was severely wounded and his MacGregors left the battle to save him. Other clans followed and left their allies retreating uphill.

At 9 o'clock in the evening, they surrendered, three hours after the start of the combat, while the remaining Jacobites fled into the fog, to escape execution as traitors.

The Jacobites were poorly provisioned and armed, and when the expected Jacobite support from the Lowlanders was minimal, spirits fell completely. The Rising was abandoned and the Jacobites dispersed to their homes.

The mountain in Glen Shiel on which the battle took place is called Sgurr na Ciste Duibhe, it has a subsidiary peak which was named Sgurr nan Spainteach (The Peak of the Spaniards) in honour of the Spanish forces who fought admirably in the battle.

[edit] Aftermath

Three of the Jacobite commanders, Lord George Murray, Lord Seaforth, and Rob Roy, were badly wounded. John Cameron of Lochiel, however, after hiding for a time in the Highlands, made his way back to exile in France. George Keith, chief of Clan Keith and the last Earl Marischal, fled into exile in Prussia, where his brother Francis Keith wrote a narration of the battle. In spite of a later pardon, Keith never returned to Great Britain and became the Prussian ambassador to France and later to Spain. The 274 Spanish prisoners were reunited with their comrades in Edinburgh and by October, negotiations allowed their return to Spain.

On the British government side, casualties were lighter; George Munro of Culcairn was wounded in the legs by musket shot, but survived.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Oxford Companion to Scottish History, p. 349, By Michael Lynch, Oxford University Press, ISBN: 9780199234820.

[edit] External links