The Duke of Cumberland halted at Penrith on the 20th of December, and marched next day to Carlisle, which he invested the same day. As he was under the necessity of sending to Whitehaven for heavy cannon, the fire from his batteries did not commence till the morning of the 28th. During the blockade the garrison fired repeatedly upon the besiegers, but with little effect. A fire was kept up by the besiegers from a battery of six eighteen-pounders, during the 28th and 29th. Another battery of three thirteen-pounders was completed on the 30th; but on the first fire from the old battery that day, the besieged hung out a white flag, and offered hostages for a capitulation. The Duke of Cumberland, on observing this signal, sent one of his aides-de-camp with a note, desiring to know its meaning; to which Governor Hamilton answered, that the object was to obtain a cessation for a capitulation, and desiring to know what terms his royal highness would grant to the garrison. The only condition the duke would grant was, that the garrison should not be put to the sword, but be reserved for the king’s pleasure; and Hamilton, seeing the impossibility of holding out, surrendered the same day. The garrison, including officers, consisted of 114 men of the Manchester regiment; of 274 men, also including officers, chiefly of the Scotch low country regiments, and a few Frenchmen and Irishmen. The number of cannon in the castle was sixteen, ten of which had been left by the Highland army on its return to Scotland. Among the prisoners were found twelve deserters from the royal forces, who were immediately hanged. The officers were kept prisoners in the castle, but the privates were confined in the cathedral and town-jail. The whole were afterwards dispersed in several jails through England. The Duke of Cumberland, after putting Bligh’s regiment in garrison at Carlisle, returned to London, in consequence of an order from court.[1076]
FOOTNOTES:
[988] Kirkconnel MS. Lord George Murray’s Narrative, in Jacobite Memoirs, p. 47.
[989] Kirkconnel MS.
[990] Kirkconnel MS.
[991] The Highland army about the middle of November, according to a list then published, was thus composed:—
| Regiments. | Colonels. | Men. |
| Lochiel, | Cameron, younger of Lochiel, | 740 |
| Appin, | Stewart of Ardshiel, | 360 |
| Athole, | Lord George Murray, | 1,000 |
| Clanranald, | Macdonald, yr. of Clanranald | 200 |
| Keppoch, | Macdonald of Keppoch, | 400 |
| Glencoe, | Macdonald of Glencoe, | 200 |
| Ogilvy, | Lord Ogilvy, | 500 |
| Glenbucket, | Gordon of Glenbucket, | 427 |
| Perth, | Duke of Perth (including Pitsligo’s foot), | 750 |
| Robertson, | Robertson of Strowan, | 200 |
| Maclauchlan, | Maclauchlan of Maclauchlan, | 260 |
| Glencairnock, | Macgregor of Glencairnock, | 300 |
| Nairne, | Lord Nairne, | 200 |
| Edinburgh, | John Roy Stewart, | 450 |
| Several small corps, | 1,000 | |
| Horse, | Lord Elcho, Lord Kilmarnock, | 160 |
| Horse, | Lord Pitsligo’s, | 140 |
| —— | ||
| 7,287 |
The numbers, however, are overrated.
[992] Memoirs, p. 113.
[993] Letters from Moor and Smart, two of the agents of the Chevalier de St. George, will be found among the Stuart Papers. Smart held an appointment in the London post-office, and is often alluded to in the correspondence between Sempil and Drummond of Bochaldy, and the Chevalier, as their “post-office correspondent.” Smart was furnished with a list of the addresses, under which the correspondence between the Chevalier’s agents on the continent, and their friends in England, was carried on, and, as his duty appears to have been to examine all letters passing through the post-office, he passed the letters to such addresses without examination. When he found any letters from abroad, giving information to the government about the Jacobite party, he always burnt them.—Letter from Drummond to the Chevalier de St. George, 19th October, 1745, among the Stuart Papers.