When the rebel army advanced towards the Firth, the King's troops quitted the camp at Stirling and proceeded towards Dumblain; and on the morning of the 13th of November the hostile forces confronted each other on Sheriffmuir: the Fourteenth foot were posted in the left wing of the royal army. The rebels advanced to commence the engagement, and at that moment it was deemed necessary to make some alteration in the position of the royal forces; as the left wing was taking up the new alignment, it was attacked by a body of the clans of very superior numbers, and put into some confusion: at the same time the right wing of the royal army overpowered the left wing of the rebel host, and drove it from the field; each commander having one wing triumphant and one wing defeated. The Fourteenth, and several other corps on the left, resisted the charge of the clans a short time, but being attacked in the act of forming, and engaged by very superior numbers, they fell back a short distance; they thus became separated from the remainder of the army, and retiring beyond Dumblain, took possession of the passes to prevent the clans penetrating towards Stirling. Both armies retained their position during the day, and the rebels, being defeated in their design of penetrating southward, afterwards retired; when the King's troops returned to their camp at Stirling.
The Fourteenth Foot had one lieutenant and six rank and file killed; fourteen rank and file wounded; Captain Barlow, Lieutenant Griffin, and several private soldiers were made prisoners.
The Pretender arrived in Scotland soon afterwards, and his presence appeared to give new life to his adherents.
1716
Additional forces joined the army under the Duke of Argyle: the Fourteenth was formed in brigade with the Third, Twenty-first, and Thirty-sixth regiments, under Brigadier-General Morrison; and in January, 1716, the royal troops advanced, marching through snow, over ice, and exposed to severe weather, when the Pretender retreated, and losing all hope of success he escaped, with the leaders of the rebellion, to France: the Highlanders, finding themselves deserted by their commanders, dispersed. After pursuing the insurgents some distance, the Fourteenth was quartered a short time at Dunkeld.
1717
1718
The rebellion being suppressed, the regiment was stationed in garrison at Fort William, which was built in the reign of King William III., in a plain, on a navigable arm of the sea called Loch Eil, near the influx of the Lochy and Nevis, in the shire of Inverness. At this place the regiment was stationed during the year 1717, and in 1718 it marched from thence to Perth, and afterwards to Inverness, where it remained until June of the following year.
1719
In the mean time Scotland had not enjoyed a state of tranquillity; but the minds of the people had been constantly agitated by the projects of the friends of the Pretender. When the Earl of Mar's rebellion was suppressed, the King of Sweden made preparations for a descent in favour of the Pretender; and when that project failed, the King of Spain fitted out an armament to place the Pretender on the throne. The Spanish fleet was dispersed by a storm; but two ships arrived on the coast of Scotland, in April, 1719, and four hundred Spaniards, with about a hundred Scots and English gentlemen, landed at Kintail, on the main within Skye, and encamped opposite the castle of Donan, where they were joined by about fifteen hundred men of the clans. To oppose this force the Fourteenth left Inverness on the 5th of June, and being united with three troops of the Scots Greys, the Eleventh and Fifteenth Regiments, under Major-General Wightman, arrived about four o'clock on the afternoon of the 10th of June at Glenshiel, when the Spaniards and Highlanders retreated and formed for battle on the romantic mountain scenery of the pass of Straichell. The King's troops advanced, and at five o'clock the signal for battle was given, when the infantry climbed the rocky crags and opened a sharp fire of musketry, which was re-echoed in the hollows beneath; at the same time the Greys charged along the road to force the pass. The enemy returned the fire, but soon gave way, and were chased from rock to rock for some time; on gaining the top of the hill they made a momentary stand, but the King's infantry sent forward a shower of bullets and advanced at a running pace to charge with bayonets, when the Spaniards and Highlanders fled in every direction. The soldiers passed the night in the hills; the Spaniards surrendered on the following day; the Highlanders dispersed; and the Marquis of Tullibardine, the Earl of Seaforth, and other rebel leaders, fled to the continent.
1721