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Battle in 1745


wounded some of the horses, his squadron, with the exception of about 15 men, turned tail and fled. His gloomy forecast had been all-too accurate.

Matters were no better at the other end of the line, where, armed only with a riding-whip, the intrepid Lord Drummore had stationed himself on the flank,' resolved to see the Fate of a Battle in which I was most sensibly interested'. Mounted on horseback about 150 yards to the left of Hamilton's squadrons, he had an excellent view of the royal left on which he saw the Highlanders advancing in' two Columns, Clews, or Clumps .. . and upon the Right of those Columns a long Line which far outflank'd our Line'. From his des- cription it is clear that although, like the Camerons and Stewarts on the Highland left wing, some of the MacDonalds broke up into separate bodies, those on the extreme right managed to preserve their line formation. In fact, so orderly was it, that while they were advancing Drummore 'could see thro' from Front to Rear, yet to my Astonishment, every Front Man cover'd his Followers, there was no Man to be seen in the Open ... in short, tho' their Motion was very quick, it was uniform and orderly, and I confess I was surprized at it'.

Since, as Drummore mentions, the Highland right greatly out- flanked the royal left, the attack, like that on the opposite wing, was in an oblique direction. Swinging in towards the royal army's left flank, the MacDonalds fired some 'dropping Shot' at long range, which killed or wounded several men and horses of Hamilton's squadrons, but the dragoons did not await their coming. Seized by the same panic that had afflicted Gardiner's men, they galloped off 'not in a Body, but quite broke in two's or so', following hard on the heels of the reserve squadron which was already on its way to the rear.

Deserted by the cavalry, the unfortunate infantry now faced the full fury of the Highlanders' attack. Most of Lochiel's men had already gone in pursuit of the flying dragoons, ' Sword in Hand as fast as they could run'. About 150 of them, however, halted on the right of the artillery to await the arrival of the other two columns, and when these had come up they fell upon the royalist right. Colonel Lascelles tried to form a flank against them by ordering the wing platoons to wheel outwards, but his men refused to stand their ground. While directing this movement he fell, and on getting to his


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