Manuscripts and Special Collections
Ne C 1720 : Letter from George Jonestone, Musselburgh [Midlothian, Scotland], to Henry Pelham; 21 Jan. 1745/6, endorsed 'Account of Action in Scotland, 1745/6'
They pretend to have lost only 30 private Men in this Engagement
and th[a]t no Officer is kill'd and th[a]t only Lochyell and two of his
Captains are wounded, that they have kill'd 700 of our Army
and have many Hundred Prisoners.
The facts that they agree in are these, th[a]t our left Wing was
beat but th[a]t our Army offered them battle a second time which
the Highlanders declared and wh[ic]h plainley proves there was no
Victory. It is agreed further th[a]t we lost our Bagage and
Artillery and th[a]t we marched 9 Miles in the Dark. But th[a]t
proves nothing neither, since no body will chuse to lie in the
open Feilds in a rainy night rather than be under Cover and
tho' Falkirk was nearer yet no body can deny that Linlithgow
was better Quarters.
Since writing the enclosed I have convers'd with two
Persons who give the following acc[oun]ts Viz. the first
being an officer of the Glasgow Militia affirms th[a]t the
right Wing gave way tho' not engaged as well as the left
and th[a]t the whole Army fled as fast as they could to Linlithgow
excepting three regim[en]ts of foot commanded by Hush who
run in between and stop't the pursuit of the rebels. The
other is a person th[a]t went out of Curiosity to view the
Field of Battle on Saturday Morning and convers'd with the
Cheifs of the rebels at Falkirk as he passed thro' who
stopt him in his Way. The acc[oun]t that he gives is this viz.
that our Army was drawn upon on Friday forenoon in the field
where their Camp was but not expecting the rebels th[a]t day
they went into their Tents again and continued there till
3 o'Clock in the afternoon th[a]t Ward was brought them th[a]t
the Highlanders were within a Mile, That The rebels had
march'd 6 miles in a down pour of rain th[a]t our Army came
dry out of their tents th[a]t they marched up the Hill safe and
attack'd the rebels on the rising Ground th[a]t they stood on.
That the rebels purposely retired so as to cover themselves
from our Army by the Summit of the Hill, that so soon as
our Men got to the Brink of the summit the rebels run
upon them and gave them a full Discharge, that the
rebels pressed upon them and fired very regularly and th[a]t
some of the Clans went in among them sword in hand th[a]t
