Donald Cameron of Lochiel - The Military Campaign

The Military Campaign

Lochiel was frank about his lack of military experience and deferred to Lord George Murray's judgement on strategy and tactics, but he quickly showed himself to be a capable commander who led from the front. The Camerons' elite status was emphasized by their bloodless capture of Edinburgh and successful attack at the Battle of Prestonpans. During the attack at Prestonpans, O'Sullivan, an Irishman whose opinions the Prince greatly valued, ordered some Camerons into an exposed position and they subsequently came under heavy fire, Lochiel appealed to Lord George Murray rather than the Prince, a harbinger of the discord between the Scottish Jacobites and Charles Edward's Irish favorite. In late 1745 Lochiel was appointed the Governor of Edinburgh and was injured by cannon fire from the government forces in Edinburgh Castle.

By starting from a Highlands and Islands base and taking over Scotland Charles Edward had done what only Macbeth and Robert the Bruce had previously managed. At this point Lochiel counselled the Prince to stop; he argued that Jacobite forces with French support could mount an effective defence against what troops were available in England. He returned to this position at Derby in December, when the army finally called off the march on London and turned back northwards. He was again wounded at the battle of Falkirk in January 1746, and travelled north to Fort William, where the government garrison still held out. He abandoned the siege in April, and rejoined the Prince's army outside Inverness in time for the Battle of Culloden, which effectively ended the rising.