The young Pretender was joined by some new levies, and he procured a supply of artillery and ammunition, which enabled him to commence the siege of Stirling Castle: and Lieutenant-General Hawley, who commanded the King's troops at Edinburgh, resolved to attempt to raise the siege. For this purpose, the Fourteenth, and several other corps, advanced from Edinburgh on the 13th of January, 1746, under Major-General Huske, and drove a body of the rebels out of Linlithgow; on the following day another division marched to Borrowstounness; and on the 16th of January, the army encamped near Falkirk.
About mid-day on the 17th of January, the rebel army was seen moving towards some high ground on Falkirk-moor, and the King's troops quitted their camp-ground to engage the clans. Passing some rugged grounds, the soldiers diverged on the moor, and formed two lines; the Fourth and Fourteenth Regiments constituted Brigadier-General Cholmondeley's brigade, and were posted in the first line. As the King's troops advanced to battle a tremendous hurricane, with a heavy shower of rain, beat violently in their faces, and nearly blinded them; at the same time it beat on the backs of the clans, and caused them little annoyance; the soldiers could not see to take aim, very few muskets would give fire, and, under these circumstances, some confusion took place, and several regiments quitted the field; but the Fourth and Fourteenth Regiments under Brigadier-General Cholmondeley made a determined stand, and they withstood the fury of the charging Highland host with astonishing firmness, evincing the most heroic valour under circumstances of peculiar danger and difficulty. They were joined by the second battalion of the Royals, the Third and Forty-eighth Regiments; Major-General Huske assumed the command; and these five corps repulsed one wing of the rebel army, and maintained their post, on the field of battle, until night, when no enemy could be seen, and the soldiers being wet, and the night cold and stormy, they retired.
The King's troops retreated to Edinburgh, where His Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland arrived, and assumed the command, and on the 31st of January the army again advanced, when the rebels raised the siege of Stirling Castle, and made a precipitate retreat towards Inverness. The royal army pursued the rebels as far as Perth, where it halted in consequence of severe weather; the march was resumed on the 20th of February; but heavy rains occasioned the army to make another halt at Aberdeen. The troops were again in motion in the early part of April, and on the 16th of that month, as they advanced in three columns towards Inverness, the rebel army was discovered in order of battle on Culloden-moor, when the royal forces formed three lines, the Fourteenth Foot taking post in the centre of the first line, under Lieut.-General the Earl of Albemarle. After a sharp cannonade, several clans rushed forward, with loud shouts, to attack the King's troops sword in hand; but they were assailed by a destructive fire of musketry, received on the point of the bayonet, and driven back with severe loss. The royal cavalry galloped forward, completed the rout and discomfiture of the clans, and pursued them with great slaughter several miles. This victory transformed the young Pretender from an imaginary monarch to an humble fugitive, and after wandering for some time in disguise in the isles, and among the mountains, he escaped to the continent.
The loss of the regiment at the battle of Culloden was limited to Captain Grosette, and one private soldier killed; Captain Simpson and nine rank and file wounded[2].
After returning from the pursuit of the rebels, the troops encamped near Inverness, from whence they advanced in May, and pitched their tents in a valley, surrounded by lofty mountains, near Fort Augustus. The Fourteenth Regiment was employed in guarding prisoners taken after the battle, and was afterwards stationed at Stirling, from whence it was removed to Glasgow.
1747
In June, 1747 the regiment marched from Glasgow to Perth, and in September to Inverness.
The colonel of the regiment, Brigadier-General Price, commanded a brigade in the Netherlands, and highly distinguished himself at the battle of Val, on the 2nd of July, 1747; he died at Breda in November of the same year; when King George II. conferred the colonelcy on the Honourable William Herbert, fifth son of Thomas, eighth Earl of Pembroke, from captain and lieutenant-colonel in the Second Foot Guards.
1749
1750
The regiment remained in Scotland; in 1749 it was stationed at Fort William; and in 1750 at Glasgow, from whence it marched to Carlisle and Newcastle.