Battle of Preston

The Battle of Preston began August 17, 1648, lasting until the 19^th .  Parliamentarian forces under Oliver Cromwell won the battle, over Royalist forces, in lopsided fashion. 

Main sources of information on this battle are Oliver Cromwell himself, and a memoir written by Captain Hodgson, who was on the field of battle with Cromwell.  Thomas Carlyle, in a letter written on August 14, 1844, lists Cromwell’s fields of battle, including Preston.  In his description, Carlyle includes a reference to “Original Memoirs: being written during the Civil War".  This book contains the "Memoirs of Capt. Hodgson”, which Sir Walter Scott was involved in publishing.  From Carlyle’s letter:

Preston.
Moor near Preston, between that Town and Stonyhirst, on the north bank of the Ribble, in Lancashire: 17 August 1648; the chase, over Darwen Bridge, by Wigan to Warrington, lasts two days more, with a hot skirmish by the road, at ‘Redbank’ (a place near Winwick I should suppose). Cromwell's long Letter on the subject is abridged in Rushworth; can be found entire in the King's Pamphlets for the month in question;—it and all other details have been republished last year, in a convenient manner, by the ‘Chatham Society’ at Manchester, and are procurable with little difficulty. In Sir Walter Scott's Memoirs of the Civil War (Edinburgh, 1806) are some hints and notices by one Hodgson a Yorkshire captain, who was in the Fight;—very obscure and rude, but yielding light if well meditated and compared with others. An outline of the ground, the Moor, Ribble Bridge, Darwen Bridge &c would be very useful here.

And, from Captain Hodgson’s eyewitness memoir:

‘…The bullets flew freely; then was the heat of the battle that day.  I came down to the muir, where I met with Major Jackson, that belonged to Ashton's regiment, and about three hundred men were come up; and I ordered him to march, but he said he would not, till his men were come up. A serjeant, belonging to them, asked me, where they should march? I shewed him the party he was to fight; and he, like a true bred Englishman, marched, and I caused the soldiers to follow him; which presently fell upon the enemy, and, losing that wing, the whole army gave ground, and fled. Such valiant acts were done by contemptible instruments! The major had been called to a council of war, but that he cried peccavi. The Lancashire foot were as stout men as were in the world, and as brave firemen. I have often told them, they were as good fighters, and as great plunderers, as ever went to a field. This battle was about the 20th August 1648. It was to admiration to see what a spirit of courage and resolution there was 'amongst us, and how God hid from us the fears and dangers we were exposed to; what posture the enemy were in; their numbers (46,000 men, as reported); their threatenings, what they would do; how they were accoutered, and encouraged through the nation: They had cast lots for the spoil of us…’

James Hamilton's Execution

'On arriving at Preston, in Lancashire, Lord George Murray had to combat the superstition of the soldiers whom he commanded. The defeat of tbe Duke Hamilton in the great Civil War, with the subsequent misfortune of Brigadier Macintosh in 1715 had given rise to a belief, that Preston was to a Scottish army the fatal point, beyond which they were not to pass. To counteract this superstition, Lord George led a part of his troops across the Ribble bridge, a mile beyond Preston, at which town the Chevalier arrived in the evening. The spell which arrested the progress of the Scottish was thus supposed to be broken, and the road to London was considered as laid open before them.

The people of Preston received Charles Edward with several cheers, which were the first he had heard since entering England; but on officers being appointed to beat up for recruits, no one would enlist. When this was stated to the Prince, he continued, in reply, to assure his followers with unabated confidence, that he would be joined by all his English friends when they advanced as far as Manchester; and Monsieur D'Eguilles, with similar confidence, offered to lay considerable wagers, that the French either had already landed, or would land within a week. Thus, the murmurers were once more reduced to silence.'
 
Duke James Hamilton, remembered above in text from Sir Walter Scott's "Tales of a Grandfather", suffered a terrible defeat at the Battle of Preston.  With odds of nearly 2.5:1 in his favor, Hamilton managed to lose to Oliver Cromwell's forces.  Hamilton is remembered as a weak and ineffective leader.  Hamilton was captured at Preston, tried, and on March 9, 1649, decapitated.

Landing at Peterhead

The Jacobite Rising was a favorite backdrop for Scott, and in particular Rob Roy is set with "The Fifteen"; the rising of 1715. This First Jacobite Rebellion moved into action during the summer of 1715. James Stuart, The Old Pretender as he came to be known, was in communication with John Erskine, the Earl of Mar. Stuart convinced Mar to raise the clans in rebellion to the English throne. Mar traveled to Braemar, in Aberdeenshire, for a clan "hunting match" in August of that year. On September 6th, Mar proclaimed James Stuart as lawful sovereign. Mar and the clans in attendance at the hunting match began taking the highlands by force.

Success was short lived, as the English soon reacted, and Highlanders found fewer recruits than necessary. Two of the larger battles during this uprising were the Battles of Preston and Sheriffmuir during November 1715. Finally, on December 22, 1715, James Francis Edward Stuart landed on Scottish soil, at Peterhead in Aberdeenshire. Stuart was feverish and apparently depressed over his prospects. He briefly set up a court at Scone, in Perthshire, but retreated to France on February 4, 1716, leaving the Highland Chieftans to fend for themselves.