Battle of Glen Shiel
The Battle of Glen Shiel (Scottish Gaelic: Blàr Ghleann Seile) took place on 10 June 1719 in the West Scottish Highlands, during the 1719 Jacobite Rising. A Jacobite army composed of Highland levies and Spanish marines, was defeated by British troops, reinforced by a Highland Independent Company.
| Battle of Glen Shiel | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Jacobite rising of 1719 | |||||||
The Battle of Glenshiel 1719, Peter Tillemans | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| British government |
Jacobites Spain | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Joseph Wightman |
William Murray James Keith Cameron of Lochiel Nicolás Bolaño | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| c. 1,100 | 1,440 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 141 killed and wounded | c. 100 killed and wounded | ||||||
Registered battlefield | |||||||
| Designated | 21 March 2011 | ||||||
| Reference no. | BTL10 | ||||||
Location within Scotland | |||||||
The rising was backed by Spain, then engaged in the 1718-1720 War of the Quadruple Alliance with Britain. It was intended to support a landing in Southwest England, which was cancelled several weeks before; contemporaries on both sides viewed its failure as having fatally damaged the Jacobite cause.
Glen Shiel was the only battle of the 1688 to 1746 Jacobite Risings where the Jacobites remained on the defensive, rather than employing the Highland Charge. The battlefield is included in the Inventory of Historic Battlefields in Scotland, and protected by Historic Scotland.
The mountain where the action was fought is called Sgurr na Ciste Duibhe; a subsidiary peak named Sgurr nan Spainteach, or 'Peak of the Spaniards', commemorates the Spanish marines.