Field Marshal Wade, based at Newcastle with a government army of some 10,000 men, attempted to intercept the Jacobite army marching south through England in November 1745. Wade marched west over the Pennines toward Hexham in an attempt to cut off the Jacobite column, but was defeated by the combination of appalling winter weather, the difficulty of the Pennine roads and his own age and indecision. His army was reduced to struggling through snowdrifts while the Jacobites made good progress further south. Wade never closed with the Jacobites and returned to Newcastle in disgrace. At Hexham his advance cavalry lost contact with the Jacobite rearguard entirely. His failure forced the government to send Cumberland south from Scotland to confront the Jacobites.
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