The battle of Killiecrankie, fought on 27 July 1689, looms large as one of the most infamous engagements in Scotland’s history. As the first major clash of the first Jacobite rising, the battle retains a place in the public consciousness and is only perhaps outshone by the likes of Bannockburn or Culloden. In many ways the battle’s notability is unsurprising, as the story surrounding it is a compelling one in which the Scottish Jacobite army, a force mainly composed of highland clans fighting in a ‘traditional’ Gaelic style, overcame their Williamite counterparts, who had greater numbers and a more ‘modern’ European-style standing army.Yet this portrayal only offers part of the picture, and there are several aspects of the battle which have been misunderstood.
This article, the third in the Highland War series, will offer a new in-depth examination of the battle with insights into each army, the importance of terrain to the Jacobite victory, the littleknown epilogue of the engagement, and will conclude with a brief overview of its aftermath.This will bring us to the end of the first campaign of the Highland War, allowing us to explore the campaigns of 1690 and 1691 in the final instalment. Killiecrankie heralded the beginning of a crisis amongst the Williamites as political turmoil in the Scottish parliament impacted their army’s ability to effectively combat the Jacobites – a situation which was only worsened by a loss of confidence in their commander-in-chief, Major-General Hugh Mackay.The Jacobite army, meanwhile, would find its momentum stagnating as it struggled to translate its historic victory at Killiecrankie into further progress against the nascent regime in Edinburgh.
Preparing for battle
The June 1689 recall of the Scottish Williamite’s field army to the central belt of Scotland had allowed Major-General Mackay and his men time to recuperate.The initial stages of the campaign had been fraught with manoeuvres but the seizure of several key garrisons across lowland Scotland had cemented the new regime’s control of critical parts of the country.The collection of public revenues and the establishment of a new Scottish parliament not only legitimised the Williamite cause, but offered more resources to bolster the army. On the other hand, the Scottish Jacobites
