On 21 September 1745, the Jacobite army led by Charles Edward Stuart defeated Government forces under Sir John Cope at the Battle of Prestonpans, east of Edinburgh. It was the first major battle of the 1745 Jacobite Rising and gave the rebellion an early military victory.

Charles had landed in Scotland in July and gathered an army drawn mainly from the Highland clans. Cope tried to intercept the Jacobites in the Highlands, but they avoided him and marched south. Edinburgh fell to Charles’s forces while Cope took his troops to Aberdeen, sailed to Dunbar and marched west towards the capital.

By 20 September the two armies were near Prestonpans. Cope positioned his troops on ground partly protected by marshland, making a direct Jacobite attack difficult.

The Jacobite commanders decided to move around the marsh. A local man, Robert Anderson, knew a route across the difficult ground. Before dawn on 21 September, the Jacobites moved east, then north, through the gap.

Government sentries detected the movement, giving Cope enough warning to turn his army towards the new threat. His troops were not taken completely by surprise, but they had little time to settle into their new position.

The Jacobites attacked shortly after dawn. Highland infantry advanced rapidly towards the Government line. The fighting was brief. Cope’s infantry broke, and much of his force fled, while many Government soldiers and officers were captured.

Prestonpans changed the Rising’s immediate position. Charles’s army had defeated a regular Government force. It strengthened its control of Scotland, except for a small number of fortified positions. The victory encouraged the Jacobite leadership to continue south. Within weeks, the army crossed into England.