The first attempt to restore James occurred almost immediately in Scotland. John Graham of Claverhouse, the Viscount Dundee, raised the western Highland clans to King James' standard in 1689. Local support for the Jacobites was minimal and Dundee could raise no more than 2,500 raw recruits. Fire arms were few, perhaps no more than a quarter of Dundee's men had muskets. These would be deployed in the first of a four-rank Jacobite "regiment", composed of men from the same clan. The balance of the Highlanders were armed with either short swords, dirks (knives) and targes ( a small leather shield). Even swords were in short supply and so there was probably a smattering of bows, half-pikes, pitchforks, wooden clubs and Lochaber axes dispersed throughout the ranks.

The Goverment (Williamite) army of 3,600 men, commanded by General Hugh Mackay, pursued Dundee into the Highlands north of Perth. The two armies clashed at the Pass of Killiecrankie on July 27, 1689. Mackay deployed his six regiments in a long thin line at the base of the Creag Eallaich hill, with the River Garry at their back. Three of his regiments were part of the veteran Scots Brigade in service with William's Dutch army, two were newly-raised Scots regiments of dubious quality, and then there was one regiment of veteran English troops.

So for the most part, Killiecrankie was a battle fought by native Scots. Mackay's troops were armed with a mixture of old matchlocks and modern flintlocks equiped with plug bayonets. The latter weapon was secured to the musket by pushing its tapered handle into the muzzle of the musket. This feature rendered firing impossible once the order was given to fix bayonets, so in all practicality, the soldiers could fire or use bayonets, but not at the same time. Musket fire was ineffective beyond sixty yards and use of the plug bayonet ruled out the possibility of a second volley at a charging opponent.

Dundee deployed his men at the top of the hill into seven ad hoc clan regiments, all of which were inexperienced and ill-trained. Their only effective tactic would be an all-out charge against the government line. This required no training and took advantage of the Highlanders' capability in hand to hand combat. Given his deployment uphill, Dundee was perfectly positioned to use his troops to their best effect. The two armies faced each other for two hours, while Dundee waited for the sun to get out of his men's eyes.

Then at 7 P.M., Dundee ordered the charge. Mackay's men delivered one volley and frantically fumbled for their bayonets as the Highland charge closed in on them. The battle was over in a few minutes and Mackay was forced to retreat, leaving nearly 2,000 casualties on the battlefield. Unfortunately for the Jacobites though, Dundee was mortally wounded and without his leadership, the rebellion fizzled out by the spring of 1690.

Concurrently, James II and a body of French troops and Irish levies were fighting for control of Ireland, where Catholic-Jacobite sympathies were strong. King Williain III took personal command of a veteran Anglo- Dutch army of 35,000 men and defeated James and 25,000 Jacobites at the Battle of the Boyne on July 1, 1690. James returned to France and allowed his followers to hold out in Ireland for another year.

Numerous plots were hatched between 1692 and James' death in 170l, but bad weather and the English fleet always seemed to conspire against James and so none of these attempts were serious. It never occurred to the Jacobites that France regarded their cause as nothing more than a diversion designed to keep English troops out of the continental wars being waged by Louis XIV of France.

More Origins of the Jacobite Rebellion 1745

Introduction
Dundee's Rising In 1689
The Old Pretender
The Great Rising of 1715
The Little Rising of 1719
The "Forty Five" (1745)