The Siege of Fort Augustus, 1745

The Jacobite Rising of 1745, also known as the “Forty-Five Rebellion,” was a significant event in Scottish history that saw the return of Charles Edward Stuart, also known as Bonnie Prince Charlie, to claim the British throne for his father, James Stuart. The rising ultimately ended in defeat for the Jacobites, but it was a time of great excitement and drama, with many battles and sieges taking place throughout Scotland. One such siege, which has been largely forgotten, is the Siege of Fort Augustus.

Fort Augustus was a small fort located at the southwest end of Loch Ness in Scotland. In December 1745, it was the site of a minor engagement between the Jacobites and government forces. A force of 600 men from the newly formed Independent Highland Companies, formed to support the British-Hanoverian government, liberated the fort from the Jacobite Clan Fraser of Lovat after a small skirmish. Apart from this slight skirmish, there was no fighting in the siege, and there were no casualties.

The Clan Fraser had originally supported the British Government during the Jacobite rebellion of 1715–1716. However, during the rebellion of 1745–1746, a large number of them supported the Jacobite cause. Shortly after the siege of Fort Augustus, Lord Loudoun with 600 men of the Independent Companies of Sutherland, Mackay, Grant, and Munro went in search of Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat, who was the chief of Clan Fraser. Lord Lovat had allowed his son to go off with a band of Frasers to join the Jacobite leader Prince Charles. The idea was that Lord Lovat would be “made a hostage for the peaceable behaviour of his clan.” However, Lord Lovat, who had originally agreed to this move, escaped from his home at Castle Downie, evading capture. This move was to stop any more of the Clan Fraser joining his son (the Master of Lovat) and the 300 Frasers who had already defected to the Jacobites. Lord Lovat made the excuse that “he could not govern his son and some of the young men of his name.”