Encouraged by French victory at Fontenoy in April 1745, Charles Edward Stuart sailed for Scotland in July, hoping to take advantage of the situation.

[3] When he landed at Eriskay in the Outer Hebrides on 23 July, most of those contacted advised him to return to France, but enough were eventually persuaded, notably Donald Cameron of Lochiel, whose tenants provided a large proportion of the Jacobite force.

[5] Once Charles's location was confirmed, Cope left his cavalry and artillery at Stirling under Thomas Fowke and marched on Corrieyairack Pass, the primary access point between the Western Highlands and the Lowlands.

Cope drew up his forces facing south, with a marshy area immediately in front, park walls protecting their right and cannon behind the embankment of the Tranent to Cockenzie Waggonway, which crossed the battlefield.

[10] However, that was undermined by various factors, such as the poor quality of some senior officers, including James Gardiner, whose dragoons fled in panic from a small party of Highlanders in the so-called Coltbridge Canter of 16 September.

[14] Charles wanted to attack immediately, but Murray argued that their charge would be slowed by the marshy ground in front of Cope's centre by exposing the Highlanders to his superior firepower.

Murray convinced the majority that only an attack against the open left flank of Cope's army stood any chance of success, and Robert Anderson, a local farmer's son who knew the area well, told him of a route through the marshlands.

The remaining three companies were detailed to guard the baggage park in Cockenzie and Port Seton, and some 100 volunteers were dismissed until the next morning and missed the battle.

[17] The two dragoon regiments on the flanks panicked and rode off, leaving Gardiner mortally wounded on the battlefield, who was later carried from the field to Tranent, where he died during the night.

[19] Several hours after the battle, Cope wrote to Tweeddale to disclaim responsibility for the defeat: "I cannot reproach myself; the manner in which the enemy came on was quicker than can be described... and the cause of our men taking on a destructive panic...".

[21] The Battle of Killiecrankie (1689) had showed that even experienced troops struggled with the ferocity of the Highland charge, a lesson reinforced at Prestonpans and Falkirk Muir in January 1746.

[25] The argument prior to the battle between Prince Charles and Lord Murray was the first episode in an increasingly-fractious relationship, and the Jacobite Council spent the next six weeks arguing strategy.

Charles and his exile advisors argued the removal of the Hanoverian regime was required to ensure the end of the Union, which meant an invasion of England.

[26] On the march southward, the Council met daily to discuss strategy, and at Derby on 5 December, its members overwhelmingly counselled retreat, the only significant dissenter being Charles.

[27] News of another French supply convoy arriving in Montrose seemed to validate the original preference for remaining in Scotland, and the Jacobites turned northward the next day.

[34] Perhaps the best-known legacy of the battle are two songs written by Skirving, a local farmer who visited the battlefield later the same day and was, by his own account, mugged by the victors.