BattlefieldsWade army movements and march to intercept Charles 1745
Jacobite Risings

Wade army movements and march to intercept Charles 1745

1745
Perthshire, Scotland
Also known as: General Wade pursuit 1745 · Wade fails to intercept Jacobites 1745
Era
Jacobite Risings
Battle Type
Skirmish
Location
Perthshire, Scotland
Status
Unregistered
The Combatants

Who Fought

Defeated
Government (Wade)
Forces
Jacobite army under Prince Charles c.2,500
VS
Victor
Jacobites (strategic)
Forces
Government army under Wade c.6,000
Outcome
Wade's army marches but fails to intercept the Jacobites before they reach Edinburgh
The Battle

History & Significance

General Wade, the elderly field marshal who had built the military roads through the Highlands, commanded the government's northern army in 1745. He marched and counter-marched but was consistently outmanoeuvred by the faster-moving Jacobite army. Wade had 6,000 troops but poor intelligence and a dispiriting inability to catch the Jacobites. His army shadowed and missed as Charles marched south, crossed the Forth at the Fords of Frew, and took Edinburgh. Wade's failure to block the Jacobite advance was one of the government's most significant early failures of the '45.

Questions & Answers

Frequently Asked Questions

Aubrey Research

Explore the landscape around Perthshire

Aubrey generates in-depth historical research for any location in Britain — drawing on Domesday records, scheduled monuments, Victorian OS maps, geological data and archaeological archives to tell the full story of a place.

Research a location near Perthshire