The day before the Battle of Prestonpans on 21 September 1745, the Jacobite army approached Cope's government position along the Firth of Forth coast. Both armies manoeuvred seeking advantage. A local man named Robert Anderson offered to guide the Jacobites through a path across the marshy ground that protected Cope's flank. This local intelligence transformed the tactical situation. The approach march on the evening of 20 September — probing government outposts and locating Anderson — was the essential preliminary to the devastating Jacobite dawn attack.
Jacobite advance parties; government outposts under Cope
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