In 1715, on this day John Erskine, 6th Earl of Mar led the Jacobite rebels to a glorious victory at the Battle of Sheriffmuir fought near Dunblane in Scotland.

Battle of Sheriffmuir
By Ed and Jared MyersBoth the Scots and the English hated King George, the foreign monarch who sat on the English throne but who spoke no English. But only the Jacobites sought a restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England and Scotland.

When the Earl of Mar was seen as a political threat to the King, he was snubbed, and his response was to turn his support to the Jacobite cause.

Now the standard-bearer for the cause, he mustered Highland chiefs and on 6 September declared James Francis Edward Stuart (the "Old Pretender") as King of Scots. With a huge army of about twelve thousand men Mar proceeded to take Perth, and commanded much of the northern Highlands. Following unsuccessful skirmishes against John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll (based at Stirling), Mar was eventually persuaded to lead his full army south, on 10 November. Spies informed Argyll of Mar's actions, and he moved his army of about four thousand to Sheriffmuir, near Dunblane. The two armies met on the battlefield on 13 November where the Jacobites won a decisive victory under his command.

Argyll was seriously outnumbered by the Jacobite army and his left wing, commanded by General Whetham, was far shorter than the Jacobites' opposing right. Argyll's right wing attacked, and tried to drive the Highlanders back, while Whetham's soldiers were overpowered by a much larger force.

Forced to withdraw from the field, Argyll would eventually surrender to the Jacobite rebels at Preston. And the continued survival of the Hanoverian monarchy was placed on a knife-edge.