Bonnie Prince Charlie’s Troops Occupy Stirling

On January 20, 1746, during the Jacobite Rising of 1745, the forces led by Charles Edward Stuart, often referred to as Bonnie Prince Charlie, occupied the town of Stirling in Scotland. This event occurred during the Jacobite campaign to overthrow the Hanoverian monarchy in favor of the Stuart claim to the British throne.

Stirling played a strategic role during the Jacobite Rising, as it controlled a key crossing point of the River Forth. The Jacobite forces took control of the town, but the Battle of Falkirk Muir on January 17, 1746, shortly before the occupation, was a significant and indecisive engagement in which the government forces under General Henry Hawley had attempted to challenge the Jacobites.

The Jacobite cause, however, faced subsequent setbacks, culminating in the decisive Battle of Culloden on April 16, 1746, where the Jacobite forces were defeated by the government troops led by the Duke of Cumberland. This defeat marked the end of the Jacobite Rising and had far-reaching consequences for the Highlands of Scotland.