The Jacobite army was never a regular, professional or trained army like the government forces, although they were in theory all volunteers. The overwhelming majority of the troops in the Jacobite army were infantry, and they in turn were divided into different divisions according to where they had come from - the Highlands, Lowlands and Foreign troops. At its height the Jacobite army numbered around 9000, although it’s first victory at Prestonpans was won by only 2500 poorly armed men.

1) The Highland Division - The largest (and best known) of the parts of the Jacobite army was the Highland Division, consisting of the regiments raised by the Highland Clans. Whilst some of the Clan regiments attempted to enforce some form of regimental structure like regular units, they were essentially feudal in nature as they always had been. Highland society worked on the basis of land being given by the more powerful to the less powerful in return for loyalty and military service. Thus when a Clan was called out to fight as in the ‘45, the Chief could expect his tenants to turn out, or he would evict them and their families. In battle a Clan would be drawn up reflecting the status of the men within it. The officers would be drawn from the Clan Chief, his family and vassals. This often meant so as not to offend anyone that many commissions were given out, and as a consequence the Jacobite army was over-officered. The front ranks of the Clan would be made up of the gentlemen and senior tenants, or Tacksmen, who would be the traditionally well armed Highlander - broadsword, targe, dirk, pistols and possibly a musket as well. Behind them would be their tenants and sub-tenants, the Cairnachs. These men held reasonable farms, and might have had some military experience from cattle raids and seem in the ‘45 to have been armed mostly with muskets. At the rear were the sub-tenants of the tenants, servants and the peasant class - the Ghillies. Many of these subsistence farmers were dragged off their land to fill the ranks. Also in the ‘45 many old men and young boys - particularly later in the campaign - seem to have been dragged in to fulfil this role. They were armed with antiques mostly, old muskets and swords or lochaber axes. For further details of costume and weaponry see our page on the Highlander of the ‘45. Clan regiments called out varied anywhere between 120 and 650 men in strength. The only real tactic of the Highland Clan was the charge, not being equipped with enough muskets, ammunition, discipline or training to engage in a prolonged firefight. The charge was no mere headlong rush - it worked on intimidation, being a slow deliberate walk towards the enemy with constant musket fire, and the men howling insults at their enemy. They would pause usually some 20 yards from their enemy and fire, hoping to taunt them into firing a volley early before the last headlong rush into hand-to-hand combat.

2) The Lowland Division - Around a third of the Jacobite army consisted of men recruited from the Lowlands of Scotland, the cities such as Aberdeen and Edinburgh. These were volunteers who attached themselves to the Jacobite cause for a variety of reasons. They were organised into a more regular style of unit with companies and so on. As they tended to arrive unarmed they were given priority for what muskets the Jacobites had, so virtually all were musket armed, usually with bayonets. At several points during the campaign they were given time to train with French advisers who taught them musket drill, and it is reasonable to assume they were taught to volley. How successful this would have been, particularly in a prolonged firefight with British regulars is questionable, and in battle many Lowland units seem to have joined in the Highland charge. The Lowlanders had no uniforms either and so wore their civilian clothes, although most tended to adopt the usual ‘hodden grey’ whilst some of their officers tried to imitate Highland costume. There was also the English ‘Manchester Regiment’ of some 300 men, again civilians armed with muskets, which was left to garrison Carlisle on the retreat north and captured there.

3) The French Troops - Once the French realised the success of the ‘45, they promptly sent troops to help the Jacobites in Scotland, as well as a quantity of arms. These troops arrived too late for the invasion of England, but acquitted themselves well at Falkirk and Culloden. Two units of Infantry were sent, the only regulars the Jacobites had, the first being the Irish Picquets, some 350 strong. This was drawn from companies of the six Irish émigré units in French service and wore red coats with the facing colours of their Regiments, and tricorns. The other infantry unit, some 300 in number was the Royal Ecossois, a unit of Highland émigrés, which wore blue uniforms faced red with a Highland bonnet on campaign. In addition the French also sent a number of professional artillerymen and an Irish émigré cavalry unit, Fitzjames’ horse, which was 150 strong. Fitzjames’ was without horses for most of the campaign and wore blue coats over a breastplate, a tricorn, and had a sword and carbine.

4) Jacobite Cavalry and Artillery - The Jacobites were chronically short of both horse and guns during the campaign. They had 5 squadrons of cavalry (other than Fitzjames’), each of which never numbered more than 150, and spent most of the campaign without horses. The Prince’s Lifeguard uniformed themselves in blue with tricorns, whilst Bagot’s Hussars (the first Hussar unit in Britain) wore tartan coats and a fur hussar bonnet with a red bag. The other units - Kilmarnocks, Strathallans, Pitsligos and Balmerinos were all really in civilian clothing. Most of the cavalry had a sword, carbine and/or pistols. If the cavalry were lacklustre, the artillerymen (apart from the French) were appalling. Nearly all were untrained and undisciplined civilians with no weapons, and cannon ranging from 2 - 4pdr in size which made ammunition supplies difficult.