While the siege was going on, the forces in the north under Lord Strathallan and Lord John Drummond began to arrive at Stirling. By these reinforcements the prince’s army was increased to 9,000 men, all in the highest spirits. The Macdonalds, the Camerons, and the Stuarts, were now twice as numerous as they were when the Highland army entered England, and Lord Ogilvy had got a second battalion, under the command of Sir James Kinloch, as lieutenant-colonel, much stronger than the first. The Frasers, the Mackintoshes, and Farquharsons, were reckoned 300 men each, and in addition to these, the Earl of Cromarty, and his son, Lord Macleod, had also brought up their men.[1100]
Conceiving himself in a sufficiently strong condition to give battle to the Highlanders, General Hawley began to put the troops he had assembled at Edinburgh in motion towards the west. His force amounted to upwards of 9,000 men, of whom 1,300 were cavalry, and he might in a few days have increased it considerably by the addition of some regiments which were on their march to join him. He had also reason to expect the immediate arrival in the Frith of Forth of a body of 6,000 Hessians who had embarked at Williamstadt on the 1st of January, by which accession his army would have been almost doubled. Impatient, however, to acquire a renown which had been denied to Cope, his predecessor, of whose capacity he had been heard to speak very contemptuously, Hawley resolved not to wait for his expected reinforcements, but to seize the laurels which were in imagination already within his grasp.
Accordingly, on the morning of the 13th of January, the first division of the royal army, consisting of five regiments of foot, together with the Glasgow regiment of militia, and Hamilton’s and Ligonier’s dragoons, all under the command of Major-general Huske, left Edinburgh and marched westward to Linlithgow. Hearing that preparations had been made at Linlithgow for the reception of these troops, and that provisions and forage had been collected in that town for the use of Hawley’s army, Lord George Murray left Falkirk at four o’clock the same morning for Linlithgow, with five battalions of the clans for the purpose of capturing these stores. He was joined on the road by Lord Elcho’s and Lord Pitsligo’s troops of life-guards, whom he had ordered to meet him. Before sunrise he had completely surrounded the town, and as Lord George had been informed that Huske’s division was to enter the town at night, he called his officers together before marching into town, and having told them the object for which they had come, he desired that they would continue ready to assemble in the street on a moment’s warning, in order to march wherever they might be directed. After taking possession of the town, and apprehending a few militia, Lord George sent forward some patrols on the road to Edinburgh, to reconnoitre while the Highlanders were engaged in seizing the articles prepared for the royal forces; but they had scarcely been an hour in town when these advanced parties discovered a body of dragoons advancing in their direction. Two of the patrols came back at full speed, and having given Lord George notice of their approach, he marched with his men out of the town. The dragoons retired as the Highlanders advanced. Their horse, with 200 of the best foot, followed them about two miles; but the main body returned to Linlithgow, where they dined. With the exception of a few small reconnoitring parties, the advanced body also returned to the town; but in less than an hour one of these parties came in with information that the dragoons were again returning with a large body of horse and foot. Lord George resolved to attack them when the half of them should pass the bridge, half a mile west from the town, and after waiting with his men on the streets till Huske had reached the east end of the town, he retired in the expectation that the royalist general would follow him; but Huske, who marched above the town, though he followed the Highlanders to the bridge, did not pass it. Lord George returned to Falkirk, and by orders of the prince marched next day to Bannockburn.[1101]
On the 14th other three regiments marched from Edinburgh towards Borrowstownness, to support the division under Huske, and these were followed next day by three additional regiments. With these forces Huske marched on the 16th to Falkirk, and encamped to the north-west of the town with his front towards Stirling. In the evening he was joined by the remainder of the army, and the artillery, consisting of ten pieces of cannon. General Hawley himself arrived at Callander House the same evening. Next morning the army was joined by Cobham’s dragoons, who had just arrived from England, and by about 1,000 Argyleshire men, chiefly Campbells, under the command of Lieutenant-colonel Campbell, afterwards Duke of Argyle. Besides this corps, this whig clan furnished another of 1,000 men, which was posted about Inverary, under Major-general Campbell, the colonel’s father, to guard the passes. Along with the army was a company called the Yorkshire Blues, raised, maintained, and commanded, by a gentleman of the name of Thornton. Several volunteers, among whom were several clergymen, also accompanied the army on this occasion.
Having received intelligence of the advance of the royalists to Falkirk, Charles, on the evening of the 16th, ordered the different detachments of his army to concentrate upon Plean moor, about seven miles from that town, and two miles to the east of Bannockburn, where his head-quarters were. He, however, left several battalions, amounting to about 1,000 men, in Stirling, under the Duke of Perth, to push on the siege of the castle. Nobody supposed that the prince, in issuing this order, had any other object in contemplation than to review his army, and of so little importance was it considered, that although the order was immediately made known on all sides, it was near twelve o’clock next day before the different parts of the army arrived from their quarters.[1102] After the army had been drawn up in line of battle, Charles called a council of war, and for the first time stated his intention of giving immediate battle to Hawley. That general had, it is believed, been informed of the probability of an attack, but he treated the information lightly, and instead of attending to the affairs of his camp, spent the morning at Callander House with the Countess of Kilmarnock, with whom he breakfasted.[1103] The Torwood, once a forest of great extent, celebrated as the chief retreat of the heroic Wallace, but now greatly decayed, lay between the two armies; and through what was once the middle of the forest, the high road from Stirling to Falkirk, by Bannockburn, passes.
From information which Charles had received, he supposed that Hawley would have advanced and offered him battle; but seeing no appearance of him, he put his army in motion about mid-day, towards Falkirk. While the main body of the army marched in two columns along the moor, on the west side of the Torwood, where they could not be seen from Hawley’s camp, a third body of horse and foot, under Lord John Drummond, appeared upon the high road which runs through the centre of the Torwood, and moved about, displaying their colours in view of the enemy, as if they intended to attack Hawley’s camp. The object of this parade was to draw off the attention of the enemy from the main body, which was advancing unperceived towards Falkirk, by a different route. After the two columns had advanced about half a mile, Lord George Murray received an order from the prince to delay passing the water of Carron till night, as he did not think it advisable to cross in the face of the enemy, but his lordship having satisfied his royal highness of the impropriety of the order, he was allowed to proceed. Ignorant of the approach of the main body of the Highlanders, Hawley’s officers thought the demonstration made by the body on the high road unworthy of attention; but they were aroused from their apathy by a countryman, who arrived in the camp with intelligence that the Highlanders were close upon them. Two of the officers immediately ascended a tree, and, by means of a telescope, descried the Highland army marching towards Falkirk, by the south side of the Torwood. This was a little before one o’clock, and the officers having communicated the circumstance to Lieutenant-colonel Howard, their commanding officer, he went to Callander House and informed the general of it. Instead, however, of ordering his men to get under arms, Hawley directed that they should merely put on their accoutrements. This order was obeyed, and the troops sat down to dinner, but before they had finished their repast, they were summoned to arms.
When the Highlanders came in sight of the water of Carron, the town of Falkirk, and the enemy’s camp, also opened upon their view. It was now between one and two o’clock, and some well-mounted scouts, who were on the opposite side of the water, on observing the Highlanders, immediately rode off at full gallop, and reported that the Highland army was about to cross the Carron at Dunnipace. The alarm which this intelligence produced in the royalist camp was very great. Hawley was instantly sent for, and the commanding officers, who were exceedingly perplexed, formed their regiments as quickly as possible upon the ground in front of the camp. The general, instantly mounting his horse, galloped to the camp, and in his haste left his hat behind him.
In taking the circuitous route by the south side of the Torwood, Charles had a double object in view—to conceal his approach from the enemy as long as he could, and to obtain possession of Falkirk moor, about two miles south-west of Hawley’s camp, and which, from the nature of the ground, was considered well fitted for the operations of a Highland army. Suspecting that it was the prince’s design to secure the heights of the moor, Hawley at once determined to prevent him, if possible, and accordingly on his arrival at the camp he ordered the three regiments of dragoons to march towards the moor, and take possession of the high ground between them and the insurgents. He also directed the infantry to follow them with fixed bayonets. This was a rash and inconsiderate step, as Hawley had never examined the ground, which he found, when too late, was by no means a suitable field of battle for his troops. In ordering his army to march up the moor, the English commander is said to have been impressed with the idea that the Highlanders did not mean to attack him, but to give him the slip, and march back to England, and that his object was to intercept them and bring them to action.[1104] This explanation, however, is by no means satisfactory.
After crossing the Carron at Dunnipace Steps, the main body of the Highlanders stretched along the moor in two parallel lines, about two hundred paces asunder. The column next the royal army consisted of the clan regiments which had been in England, and of the recruits which had lately arrived from the Highlands, with the Frasers, and a battalion of the Farquharsons. The other column, which was to the right of the last mentioned, consisted of the Athole brigade, the Maclauchlans, the battalions of Ogilvy and Gordon, and Lord John Drummond’s regiment. After reaching the bottom of the hill, the columns faced to the left, and began to ascend the eminence. Almost simultaneously with this movement, Hawley’s dragoons, proceeding along the eastern wall of Bantaskin inclosures, rapidly ascended the hill also, followed by the foot with fixed bayonets. At this instant, the sky, which till then had been unusually serene, became suddenly overcast, and before the foot had advanced far, a violent storm of wind and rain burst from the south-west, which beat directly in the faces of the soldiers, and retarded their march up the hill. A running contest seemed now to take place between the dragoons and the advanced divisions of the Highland columns, consisting of the Macdonalds and the Athole men, to gain the summit of the ridge of the moor. Both parties reached the top of the hill about the same time, and possessed themselves of two eminences, within musket-shot of each other. To prevent the dragoons gaining the advantage of the ground and the wind, the Macdonalds and Athole men had advanced with such rapidity, that they had left the rear of the columns considerably behind, and on reaching the height of the moor, they halted to give time to the rear to come up.