General Cope famously declined to contest the Corrieyairack Pass — the highest road in Britain, built by Wade — with the Jacobite army advancing from the west. He feared being trapped in the pass if the Highlanders seized the heights above. The Jacobite army crossed the Corrieyairack in August 1745 unopposed, descending toward Dalwhinnie and the Lowlands. Cope turned north to Inverness rather than fight in the pass. Jacobite scouts had watched his position from the heights above the pass, and the dramatic mountain scenery made the prospect of fighting there terrifying for the government commander. The passage through the Corrieyairack was the decisive strategic move that opened the road to Edinburgh.
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