27 March

27 March 1746: A detachment of 500 Hessian troops commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel de la Primaudaye arrived at Wade’s Taybridge, Aberfeldy where they established a defensible bridgehead on the far side to guard against any Jacobite attack, while the main Hessian contingent under Prince Frederick and Major-General John Lindsay, Earl of Crawford, concentrated at the town of Dunkeld. From Aberfeldy, Primaudaye could threaten the Jacobite right flank in Atholl and keep communications open with Castle Menzies which was being used as a depot to supply government detachments in the region.¹

27 March 1746: Major-General John Lindsay, Earl of Crawford informed the Duke of Cumberland that the Hessian troops at Dunkeld were constructing a pontoon bridge across the River Tay and that they would soon be moving to relieve the besieged garrison at Blair Castle.²

27 March 1746: During the siege of Fort William, the Jacobites unmasked a second battery of four 6-pounder guns 200 yards from the fort. A third battery would be established 200 yards from the second, up on higher ground, and a fourth battery of three 4-pounders would be established at the Craigs.³

Notes:

1. RA CP/MAIN/13 f.2-2b. ↩︎
2. Ibid. ↩︎
3. The History of the Rebellion in 1745 and 1746, Extracted from the Scots Magazine, p 163. ↩︎