Page "Charles Edward Stuart" Paragraph 10

The Jacobite cause was still supported by many Highland clans, both Catholic and Protestant.

Charles hoped for a warm welcome from these clans to start an insurgency by Jacobites throughout Britain, and the Highland clans indeed provided him with a warm welcome.

Charles raised his father's standard at Glenfinnan and gathered a force large enough to enable him to march on Edinburgh.

The city, under the control of the Lord Provost Archibald Stewart, quickly surrendered.

On 21 September 1745, he defeated the only government army in Scotland at the Battle of Prestonpans.

The government army was led by General John Cope, and their disastrous defence against the Jacobites is immortalised in the song ' Johnnie Cope '.

By November, Charles was marching south at the head of approximately 6, 000 men.

Having taken Carlisle, Charles's army progressed as far as Swarkestone Bridge in Derbyshire.

Here, despite the objections of the Prince, the decision was made by his council to return to Scotland, largely because of rumours of a large government force being amassed.

The Jacobites marched north once more, winning several more battles.

The reports of a government army turned out to have been false, but Charles's retreat gave the English time to muster an actual army.

The Jacobites were pursued by King George II's son, the Duke of Cumberland, who caught up with them at the Battle of Culloden on 16 April 1746.