The last Jacobite victory
The Battle of Falkirk Muir on 17 January 1746 was the last military victory won by the Jacobite cause. Bonnie Prince Charlie's Highland army, marching south after their retreat from Derby, encountered a Government force under General Henry Hawley near Falkirk. The battle was fought in a storm on the high ground of Falkirk Muir.
Hawley was overconfident. He believed the Highlanders could be scattered by cavalry, and he sent his dragoons charging uphill into the teeth of a gale. The clansmen held their fire until the horsemen were close, then unleashed a devastating volley. The dragoons broke and fled through their own infantry, causing chaos. The Government left wing collapsed entirely, and Hawley's army retreated into Falkirk.
It was a clear Jacobite victory, but it was also the last. The army was tired, supplies were low, and desertion was increasing. Prince Charlie wanted to press south again, but his council insisted on retreating further into the Highlands. The army fell back to Inverness, where it spent a miserable winter. Three months later, on Drummossie Moor, the Government would have its revenge at Culloden.
Falkirk Muir is often overlooked in the story of the '45, overshadowed by the drama of Culloden. But it demonstrated that even at this late stage, the Highland charge remained a terrifyingly effective weapon. What the Jacobites lacked was not fighting ability — it was everything else: supplies, artillery, cavalry, and a unified command.