"Loyalist Clans in the '45" Topic

The Hanoverians fielded quite a few Scots units, the most famous the Duke of Argyll's. Is the Argyll Militia this unit & how did they fight? I'm assuming all Town Militias would have been well supplied with muskets & expected to fight in line like the Regulars. What about the Highlanders who would have been raised on the feudl system by clans opposed to the Jacobites? Did they fight en masse like the Jacobite Highlander Clans, firing muskets just before hand-to-hand combat, or would they have been "civilised" & trained to fire in line?

Regards,

Jae

What I have always read is the loyal clans fought just like the Jacobite clans.

Duffy, in "The '45" is very good on this, and Grattan summarises this neatly.

What is generally called the "Argyll Militia" was a multi-battalion unit raised by the Duke of Argyll from his clan lands (so, predominantly Campbells, at least among the officers, but certainly not exclusively -- and there were plenty of Campbells in the Jacobite ranks, too). But there were numerous other Highland loyalist militias raised; I forget offhand exactly how many, but around 24 "independent companies" or so. In addition there were the various town militias. And new "volunteer" regiments raised by noblemen in England. The battlefield record for most of these apart from the Argyll units is spotty at best. There was a great deal of difficulty in arming and provisioning them, for one thing, the quality of leadership was erratic, and morale/enthusiasm suspect.

Yes, Duffy's book is excellent, as are various titles by Stuart Reid (many are published by Osprey) on military aspects, clothing, orders of battle, etc.

Here is one of the newer books available that focuses exclusively on the Hanoverian government's military efforts and includes a ton of material on the loyalist clans: link

So, I'd be right if I fielded the town militias such as the Glasgow Militia as semi-trained, unseasoned, musket units firing in Line like the Hanoverian regulars, while Loyalist Highland units would form up en masse like the Jacobite Highlanders?

From what I've read of the Dukes of Argyll, they were professional soldiers, over two centuries, & commanded regulars in the field with the English forces & supported the Hanoverian claim to the throne.

I'd like to take from that that The Duke of Argyll maybe had a Lowland militia unit, trained to fight in Line & maybe reckoned the equal to the Hanoverian regulars (albeit unseasoned) plus one or more units of Highland Militia fighting in the same way as the Jacobite Highlanders.

What do you think?

Jae

Yes, I would go with that.

Thanks everyone. I have Duffy's '45 & have dipped into it & used it heavily for the Jacobites & have ordered the Rebellious Scots to Crush as suggested.

Jae

Sounds good, Jae. Yes, the Duke's family had some seasoned officers in command of several units, plus some were were seconded from the new Highland regiment, Lord Loudon's 64th Foot. So they had experience lacking from the other Highland independent companies (e.g., MacLeod of Dunvegan's). But there would not have been time to fully equip and train these clansmen to fight like regulars. The Jacobites had enough troubles attempting to discipline their own units, even with French officers and their own "professionals."

It's hard to rate the town militias in Scotland because they were evidently not considered capable of fighting alongside regulars, so were usually bunched up in reserve or limited to watching the camp, hauling supplies, misc. camp duties. They were seldom engaged but never seem to have distinguished themselves particularly. I would rate their abilities as sub-par compared to British line regiments, in all critical aspects -- rate/effectiveness of fire; close combat ability; morale.