Qualla: Battle of Falkirk Muir https://qualla.com/battle-of-falkirk-muir en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:16 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/v/q/battle-of-falkirk-muir-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Battle of Falkirk Muir https://qualla.com/battle-of-falkirk-muir Battle of Falkirk Muir: Introduction https://qualla.com/battle-of-falkirk-muir/ Photo credit Robert Strange, Public domain. Just after four o'clock on the afternoon of 17 January 1746, three regiments of British government dragoons spurred their horses up a snowy ridge south of Falkirk and into a long line of waiting Highlanders. The MacDonalds, with Lord George Murray dismounted at the extreme right of the line, held their fire until the cavalry was at pistol range. Then they shot. As at Prestonpans four months earlier, the dragoons broke and fled. Within minutes Hawley's left wing was gone. It should have been the decisive battle that ended Cumberland's campaign and put Charles Edward Stuart in command of Scotland. Instead it became a victory so confused that on both sides men spent the next morning telling each other they had lost.

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Image: Robert Strange | Public domain

]]> Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/v/q/battle-of-falkirk-muir-wp/gcvq-battle-of-falkirk-muir-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Battle of Falkirk Muir: Two Generals, Two Misjudgements https://qualla.com/battle-of-falkirk-muir/ Photo credit JThomas, CC BY-SA 2.0. Henry Hawley had fought as a young officer at Sheriffmuir in 1715, where he had watched dragoons ride down the Highlanders. He believed he understood Jacobite armies. He overestimated the vulnerability of Highland infantry to cavalry and seriously underestimated their fighting qu...

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Image: JThomas | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/v/q/battle-of-falkirk-muir-wp/gcvq-battle-of-falkirk-muir-two-generals-two-misjudgements.mp3 0:06 2 full Battle of Falkirk Muir: Up the Slope in a Storm https://qualla.com/battle-of-falkirk-muir/ Photo credit JThomas, CC BY-SA 2.0. The government infantry moved south along Maggie Wood's Loan, past Bantaskin House, and onto the slope of the Falkirk ridge. Hawley sent the dragoons up first, an order that Francis Ligonier, their commander, allegedly called *the most extraordinary ever given*. The cavalry's hor...

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Image: JThomas | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/v/q/battle-of-falkirk-muir-wp/gcvq-battle-of-falkirk-muir-up-the-slope-in-a-storm.mp3 0:06 3 full Battle of Falkirk Muir: The Shock and the Sacking https://qualla.com/battle-of-falkirk-muir/ Photo credit JThomas, CC BY-SA 2.0. Murray ordered his front rank to hold fire until he gave the word. At pistol range, the MacDonalds fired their single volley. Ligonier's three regiments broke instantly. One went left into the bog and was stopped by the ground itself. The other two wheeled and rode straight back ...

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Image: JThomas | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/v/q/battle-of-falkirk-muir-wp/gcvq-battle-of-falkirk-muir-the-shock-and-the-sacking.mp3 0:06 4 full Battle of Falkirk Muir: Both Sides Think They Lost https://qualla.com/battle-of-falkirk-muir/ Photo credit JThomas, CC BY-SA 2.0. By 16:30 the storm and the darkness ended the battle. Hawley fell back to Falkirk; most of his army was strung out along the road to Linlithgow, eventually re-forming in Edinburgh. Captain Archibald Cunningham, who commanded the artillery, abandoned his guns and used the transpor...

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Image: JThomas | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/v/q/battle-of-falkirk-muir-wp/gcvq-battle-of-falkirk-muir-both-sides-think-they-lost.mp3 0:06 5 full Battle of Falkirk Muir: Hollow Victory https://qualla.com/battle-of-falkirk-muir/ Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. Modern historians call Falkirk a hollow victory. Murray publicly blamed John Drummond for arriving late to command the Jacobite left; Drummond blamed Murray for failing to control the MacDonalds; Murray accused O'Sullivan of cowardice. Charles fell ill at Bannockburn House and le...

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]]> Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/v/q/battle-of-falkirk-muir-wp/gcvq-battle-of-falkirk-muir-hollow-victory.mp3 0:06 6 full