Escape Of Bonnie Prince Charlie

One night after the famous battle of Culloden, Bonnie Prince Charlie slept at Moy, a castle belonging to the chief of the Clan Mackintosh, about two leagues from Inverness. Lord London, lieutenant-general in the service of King George, and colonel of a regiment of Highlanders, being at Inverness with about two thousand regular troops, the prince intended to wait the arrival of the other column before approaching nearer to that town.

In the meantime Lord London formed the project of seizing by surprise the person of the prince, who could have no suspicion of any attempt of the kind, conceiving himself in perfect security in the castle of Moy; and his lordslnp would have succeeded in this design but for the intervention of that invisible Being who frequently chooses to manifest His power in overturning the best contrived schemes of feeble mortals.

His lordship, at three o’clock in the afternoon, posted guards and a chain of sentinels all round Inverness, both within and without the town, with positive orders not to suffer any person to leave it on any pretext whatever, or whatever the rank of the person might be. He ordered, at the same time, fifteen hundred men to hold themselves in readiness to march at a moment’s warning; and having assembled this body of troops without noise and without alarming the inhabitants, he put himself at their head, and instantly set off, planning his march so as to arrive at the castle of Moy about eleven o’clock at night.

While some English officers were drinking in the house of Mrs Bailey, an innkeeper at Inverness, and passing the
time until the hour of their departure, her daughter, a girl of thirteen or fourteen years of age, who happened to wait on them, paid great attention to their conversation; and from certain expressions dropped from them she discovered their designs. As soon as this generous girl
was certain as to their intentions, she immediately left the house, escaped from the town, notwithstaodiog the
vigilance of the sentinels, and immediately took the road to Moy, running as fast as she was able, without shoes or stockings, which to accelerate her progress she had taken ofl in order to inform the prince thse danger that menaced him.

She reached Moy quite out of breath, before Lord London; and the prince with difficulty escaped in
his rebels sombre, nightcap, and slippers, to the neighbouring mountains, where he passed the night in concealment. This dear girl, to whom the prince owed his life, was in great danger of losing her own from excessive fatigue on this occasion ; but the care and attentions she experienced restored her to life, and her health was at length reestablished.

The prince, having no suspicion of such a daring attempt, had very few people with him at the castle of Moy. As soon as the girl had spread the alarm, the blacksmith of the village of Moy presented himself to the prince, and assured his royal highness that he had no occasion to leave the castle, as he would answer for it with his head; that Lord London and his troops would be obliged to return faster than they came.

The prince had not sufficient confidence in his assurances to neglect seeking his safety by flight to the neighbouring mountains. However, the blacksmith, for his own satisfaction, put his project in execution.

He instantly assembled a dozen of his companions, and advanced with them about a quarter of a league from the castle, on the read to Inverness. There he laid an ambuscade, placing six of his companions on each side of the highway, to wait the arrival of the detachment of Lord London, enjoining them not to fire till he should tell them, and then not to fire together, but one after the
other. When the head of the advancing party was opposite the twelve men, about eleven o’clock in the evening, the blacksmith called out with a loud voice:

“Here come the villains who intend carrying off our prince; fire, my lads; do not spare them give no quarter.“

In an instant muskets were discharged from each side of the road, and the detachment seeing their project had taken wind, began to fly in the greatest disorder, imagining that the whole army of the Scots was laying in wait for them. Such was their terror and consternation that they did not stop till they reached Inverness.

In this manner did a common blacksmith, with twelve
of his companions, put Lord London and fifteen hundred regular troopers to flight. The fifer of his lordship, who
happened to be at the head of the detachment, was killed by the first discharge, and the remainder did not wait for the second.

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