Thanks Jim

I'm in complete agreement with your conclusion but it's also true that your useful note about Cromdale illustrates the triumph of a rather wider mythology over fact.

In fact, as with most of the Jacobite battles in Scotland, there was no English army at Cromdale. Sir Thomas Livingston was commander of the forces at Inverness and these were very largely (possibly completely) made up of (mainly lowland) Scots loyal to the government. Both the Jacobite cause, and more especially General Buchan, were pretty unpopular in Scotland as a whole at the time which explains why the 1200 men he started with had reduced to 800 by desertion by the time of the battle (despite vigorous attempts at recruitment).

:-)
Ian