Book Review: On Gladsmuir Shall the Battle Be!: The Battle of Prestonpans 1745 By Arran Johnston

Dear Reader,



Today, we are going to examine a book by Arran Johnston, describing the key battle of Prestonpans during the 1745 Jacobite uprising. In this detailed battle study published by Helion & Co's "From Reason to Revolution" series, Johnston argues that the Jacobite army won an astounding victory at Prestonpans. He also indicates that previous historians have undervalued the battle, placing it only as part of a narrative which leads to final Jacobite defeat at Culloden.  Johnston sums up this sentiment near the end of the book, stating, "Hindsight makes us blind, but in 1745, nothing was certain. In fact after the Battle of Prestonpans, after victory at Gladsmuir, nothing seemed impossible at all." [1] Thus, far from a simple campaign and battle narrative, Johnston presents a call for understanding contingency in history, one which many historians would do well to heed.

The book is roughly 220 pages, with copious maps and black and white illustrations of key figures. On Gladsmuir breaks down into eight chapters, with one describing the geographic setting, two giving background information on the Jacobite movement in Scotland, two describing the operational movements before the battle, and three on the battle and its aftermath. The heart of the book is absolutely the final three chapters, where Johnston treats the battle in fine detail. The book also contains two appendices, detailing forces at the battle, as well as a letter from British Colonel Witney describing how best to fight the Jacobite army.

Johnston writes well throughout the book, but chapters four and seven are especially strong. Chapter four, "The Race to the Capital" depicts the attempt by both the Jacobite and British forces to concentrate on Edinburgh, and suggests that popular support, and weather enabled the Jacobites to occupy the capital before Cope's army could arrive.[2] The chapter describing the actual fighting at Prestonpans, chapter seven, is especially strong. Johnston suggests that Jacobite fire wounded Lt. Colonel Shugborough Whitney, who commanded the 1st Squadron of Gardiner's Dragoons, at a pivotal moment in the battle.[3] With their officer wounded and temporarily unable to command, the Dragoons took flight, setting of a costly chain of retreats for the British. Johnston uses previously unseen sources to provide details on this part of the fight.

The book's bibliography is a bit small for a work of this size and detail, but Johnston has conducted archival research in both London and Edinburgh, and at the Derbyshire Records Office. With that said, the work contains many quotations, particularly block quotations of correspondence, which really allow the reader to place themselves in the historical narrative. This book will be of great interest to both military historians of Britain and military history enthusiasts. It has much new information to offer reenactors and wargamers of the '45, and the maps are particularly good.

Arran Johnston knows how to write in an interesting manner, and is an excellent storyteller. The book's title, On Gladsmuir Shall the Battle Be! actually comes from a medieval prophecy.The author has spent a lifetime researching this battle, and is able to weave the history of Scotland, military history, and the history of the '45 together in a book ostensibly about a single battle. I highly recommend this book.



Thanks for Reading,



Alex Burns



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[1]Arran Johnston, On Gladsmuir Shall the Batlte Be!: The Battle of Presontonpans 1745, 212.
[2]Ibid, 95.
[3]Ibid, 164.

Fight for a Throne: The Jacobite '45 Reconsidered

Front Cover

Dear Reader,

I know it has been some time since I published a post, and I hope to return to work on Kabinettskriege more in the summer months. My first year of doctoral work is going quite well, and I am settling in to my new home at West Virginia University. So, without further ado, let's jump into the matter at hand, the latest book from Dr. Christopher Duffy.

For many students of eighteenth century warfare, the Jacobite rising of 1745-46 (the '45) is old hat. Many books have been published on the subject, including a previous volume from the same author. Dr. Duffy's return to the '45 is a matter of some import, as he is without question the leading scholar of this rebellion, and of mid-eighteenth century warfare as a whole.

Those who have read Duffy's previous volume on the last great Jacobite rebellion, (The '45) will recall the major facets of the rebellion- the initial Jacobite rising, let by Charles Edward Stuart, the "Bonnie Prince Charlie" of 19th century romanticism, and the Scottish Jacobite victory over Hanoverian British forces at Prestonpans. This first success was followed  a Jacobite surge southward into England, eventual retreat to Scotland, and destruction by the Hanoverian forces at Culloden Moor on April 16th, 1746.

Duffy's new study offers something for everyone. Filled with an impressive amount of social and cultural information, Duffy examines the conflict in never before seen detail. Though the book will disappoint readers hoping for a comprehensive examination of Hanoverian fighting forces, Jacobite forces are discussed at extreme length. New appendices provide detailed information about sea conditions, meteorological observations, detailed geography, and a unit by unit evaluation of the highland army.

Duffy spends a great deal of time discussing the Jacobite rising as a modernizing force- as opposed to the traditional historical view of Jacobitism: a backwards movement supporting a bygone dynasty (the Stuarts) and bygone religious movement in England (Catholicism). Rather, Duffy crafts a persuasive argument that the Jacobites were a forward-looking movement, based (via necessity) on Enlightenment ideas of religious toleration, and military innovation. Duffy makes a convincing argument that the Jacobites pioneered a divisional system which gave them an extreme advantage in strategic operations.
The monograph also makes a parallel argument that the Hanoverian system of government was bogged down in pervasive corruption, and that the politicians of the 1740s Britain made poor strategic thinkers in comparison with the Stuart prince and his advisers. In this way, Fight for a Throne turns the traditional interpretation of the '45 on its head.

The book also contains a wealth of new information on the military history of the Jacobite Rising. In Duffy's description of Culloden alone, he provides persuasive evidence that the Highlanders discarded (or perhaps neglected to pick up)  their shields in the hectic assembly to confront rapidly advancing Hanoverian forces. In addition, Fight for a Throne makes it clear that Cumberland's soldiers did NOT adapt a new style of bayonet drill, in which each soldier stabbed the highlander attacking the man next to him.

Rather, according to a eyewitness, the Hanoverian infantry

"...first gave one fire, the fore rank kept [the Jacobites] off with their bayonets till the second rank charged [loaded] again and gave them so close a fire that our fore rank was bespattered with their blood and brains..." (Quoted in Duffy, Fight for a Throne, 466.)

Undeterred by this mauling, the Highlanders pushed into close combat with Barrel's regiment, but were unable to break the British line. The chapter on Culloden alone makes this volume worth the price, but be careful- Duffy will entrance you with his wider social and cultural narrative of this vital event in British history.

Thanks for Reading!

Alex Burns