Diary of Alan Breck Stewart - ‘The First Battle’

8th August 1745
We are greatly heartened by the arrival of so many stout supporters for the prince’s cause. Our numbers continue to swell with new groups of clansman arriving in Edinburgh by the hour.

It is my great fortune to encounter his Majesty the Prince at about 8:30 in the morning – it is exceptional that the Prince is on the move at this early hour. However he bade me to complete a task for him, to which I was only too pleased to agree. Should I have known the adventure that it would lead me into at the time I may well have thought twice.

None the less I was tasked to meat the Earl of Cromerty and lead him and his party to the city of Edinburgh by the shortest route, the Earl being from the Islands was unsure of the exact route. I set off immediately with two good horses and a pair of splendid companions – Donald McIntyre and Hamish Grant – men who were familiar with the roads to Inverness where I had been told to meet the Earl.

By night fall we were at Stirling, we fed and watered the horses and then moved on in failing light to the town of Perth, we reached there after the midnight hour and took shelter for the night in a hayloft.

9th August 1745
Another early start and we journey to Blair Athol where we hear disturbing news. It appears that General Cope has moved out of ft. Augustus with his troops and has laid waste to the local village. Many women and children of the Chisholm clan having moved this way for shelter. Cope and his men have done terrible slaughter of cattle and men and they have torched the dwellings of any family whose men folk were not to be found as they determined they would be off a fighting for the Prince.

Furthermore Cope has moved on towards Inverness to press the matter with the clansmen known to be in the area. With heavy hearts we determine we must continue our journey until we know for sure that we would not be able to meet the Earl. We ride on to Kinguisse and find more distressed folk and hear that the Earl of Cromerty has rallied the local forces at Elgin.

Cromerty has with him the Roderick og Chisholm and Glenbucket Gordon regiments and he is expecting to be joined by the Glenmoriston Grants overnight and the Master of Lovatt’s Regiment in the Morning.

My-self and my companions determine to reach the Earl tomorrow, it is a long ride and likely to take all day, so we rest and feed well.

10th August 1745
We rise at dawn and ride on to Grantown, which is strangely deserted, we press on to Elgin arriving at mid-day to see a wondrous sight, the army of the Prince in line of battle awaiting orders to attack the redcoats who were drawing-up their final positions.

The Battle of Elgin
Below is a rough sketch of the initial deployments of the armies,

The two government regiments of foot deployed in line one behind the other with the protection of the stream to their front, on their left flank the two regiments of dragoons deployed, one on the road in column , the second in line between their foot and the Town of Elgin. In the town it’s self was the loyalist Grants lead by the Laid himself. Cope ordered the dragoons to ride up the coast road so as to get behind the Jacobite flank as soon as was possible, on the way they picked-up the Grants as support. Meanwhile the Earl of Cromerty lined his foot in one line of battle and had the advance up to the summit of the hill to their west, giving them command of the battlefield.

At this stage all seemed to be going well for the Earl, his line moved into place quickly and Cope’s dragoons seemed to b having some difficulty in advancing along the road, however they eventually reached their desired position. At this very stage the Master of Lovatt’s Regiment arrived on the field, on the flank of the dragoons who had thought that they had out flanked the Earl’s lines.

Hamilton’s Dragoons drew up in line of battle and maneuvered to charge the advancing Lovatts, however they were not able to do this before the highlanders were able to form their own line of battle and when the dragoons finally charged the highlanders counter changed. In the resulting melee, the dragoons took a surprisingly high number of casualties and were repelled.
 At this stage there appeared a second Lovatt regiment, this time that of the Lord of Lovatt who lead a loyalist force onto the field, to the rear of the Jacobite Lovatt regiment, see the diagram below….

Dismayed at the poor showing of the dragoons, Cope threw them into battle again, this time supported by the Laird of Grants’ regiment, as these highlanders moved forward all order seemed to degenerate into internal fighting and the regiment split, some 1230 men going over to join the Master of Lovatt as allies, the balance of the regiment rallying back to reorganise. This left Hamilton’s dragoons to fight on alone and again their showing was poor, being pushed back again and forced to disengage.

Meanwhile the other Jacobite regiments played a waiting game on the highest hill on the battlefield, no doubt watching the slow deliberate deployment of the redcoat lines towards them from their vantage point.

Finally late in the afternoon the combined attacks of Hamilton’s dragoons and a ferocious charge by the Laird of Grant’s regiment into the Joacobite Lovatts and Grants broke the deadlock and smashed the Jacobite regiment. Much slaughter took place on the battlefield when the loyalist Grants caught up with the former confederates and the Lovatts, word has it that about 300 men were killed, wounded or captured within some 5 minutes.

With the Jacobite's rear and right flank threatened, the pace of the battle seemed to escalate quickly. Gardiner’s Dragoons were soon able to bring a charge to bare on the right flank of the main Jacobite battle line. Here the Glenmoriston Grants were initially pushed back but were able to rally to spend some time firing volley after volley into the dragoons as they re-organised themselves. However the die was cast, the Dragoons charged home again and after a prolonged fight were able to put the Grants to flight and pursue with some heavy casualties being inflicted.

With the right of his line of battle in flight Cromerty ordered his little army off the table, they exited without undue problems and traveled south to Grantown.


Official Rolls – After Battle of Elgin – 11th August 1745

Known Casualties –

Leader Glenmoriston Grant – last seen wounded and fighting with claymore in hand believed to be ridden down by two dragoons as his regiment began to flee.

Glenmoriston Grant Regiment – 150 men reporting for duty, 300 killed, wounded and missing
Laird of Lovatt’s Regiment – 150 men reporting for duty, 150 killed, wounded and missing

Current force under the Earl of Cromerty is as follows…

Earl of Cromerty – Leader Leadership Value = 7

Glenbucket Gordon Regt. – 300 men, Tried
Roderick Og Chisholm Regt. – 300 men, Tried
Lovatts & Grants – 300 men, Tried, combined regiment under the Master of Lovatt.