So Damned Close
22 October 1746
We were so damn close! Thought Frederick. The Jacobite's, starved and low on morale, were on the verge of defeat. Forces under his brother the Duke of Cumberland had converged on the Jacobite army and their commander, the Young Pretender, Prince Charles Stuart near the town of Culloden. How did those damned Scot’s manage to sneak their forces by patrolling Royal Navy warships without being spotted? Their surprise attack on Nairn had quickly overwhelmed the British forces capturing the Duke and the majority of his army leaving the remainder of the forces vulnerable which the Jacobite's used to their advantage delivering a decisive defeat to the British Army.
That was six months ago. Now instead of fighting in Scotland and northern England here he was, north of the battered city of Winchester, heading west with what remained of the dragoon regiment sent to protect him and his family as they retreated from a besieged London. The Prince of Wales supposed that he should count himself lucky to have gotten away at all. Most of the rest of the Royal Family dead, imprisoned, or trapped in London or the nearby Windsor.
Damn the French! Despite the setbacks, the reinstated Field Marshell George Wade had stopped the Jacobite Army’s offensive at Derby in late August. On September 11 however, the Royal Navy was surprisingly defeated by the French fleet in the Battle off Sussex. This allowed a short window of opportunity which allowed the French Army to land 12,000 troops in Kent. That was the nail in the coffin that was Great Britain.
As the Prince was lost in thought when a commotion erupted among the troops. This was where Frederick heard the horrible news, “It’s Fallen! It’s fallen! Windsor Castle has fallen! The King is dead!” It was now that the Prince of Wales, now King Frederick I, knew that Britain was lost. If he was to have any chance of saving what remained of his family and eventually liberate Britain for the House of Hanover he had to flee and regroup.
But where? The obvious was to Hanover itself. However, with the reentrance of Prussia into the war the previous July, almost all of the Electorate was occupied, and Prussian forces would almost surely capture them. That left but one place still in British hands. “Colonel Talbutt!” the King called. “Let us move to Bristol at once. Send word to the fleet that is to bring transport for us. We are to go to America!”
When London finally fell on November 3 Prince Charles Stuart knew the war was won and his father, the rightful king, James Stuart would have his country back and the House of Hanover was no more. Within days though the Charles and the Jacobite's learned of King Frederick I and his family’s escape and their flight to the Americas. Though French warships, and even some British warships that had pledged loyalty to the Stuart’s after the fall of England, pursued the fleet carrying the Royals, they were unable to capture them and on Christmas Day the HMS Lion entered Boston harbor with the king.
In the coming months, the British Isles would begin the process of reverting back to its Stuart laws and ways. The Acts of Union were dissolved, and the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland were reborn, under the same monarch of course. Charles’ father would return to London in January 1747 and be crowned King James III of England and Ireland and King James V of Scotland. Upon ascending the throne James called for an official end to the war between England and France and their allies. Soon after an official treaty of peace was signed James III and France’s King Louis XV signed the Treaty of Hastings placing an alliance between the two nations with the goal of defeating the last Hanover stronghold in the Thirteen Colonies. The two new allies soon began preparing their armies to sail to the Americas and put a final end to the Rising.
A Kingdom in exile, a Kingdom in America
While the Jacobite Rising had been going on it was, until the Fall of London, but one piece of the worldwide War of the Austrian Succession. In fact, by the time the Royal Family had fled to America Britain and France had been at war in Europe as well as the Americas for nearly seven years. Though fighting hadn’t always been consistent the colonies were still in a state of war. Luckily for the Royal Family however the forces and governments of the Thirteen Colonies were largely pro-Hanover. Upon the arrival of King Frederick, British Colonial forces quickly began rallying behind their king and raising new regiments in preparation of the almost assured Franco-Stuart assault to overthrow Frederick and bring British America under the new regimes thumb. Unfortunately for the Hanover faction it wouldn’t be long before the forces conniving to make them extinct came to the American shores.
7 May, 1747
In the early hours of the morning soldiers and citizens of Boston saw a fleet of warships bearing flags of France and others of England appearing off their shore. 12,000 French and 5,000 Stuart troops under the overall command of General Louis Georges Érasme de Contades of France. Though Loyalist forces defending the city fought valiantly there were only 1500 Loyalist troops within the city and within the day they had withdrawn. Within a month most of Massachusetts was under allied control along with Rhode Island and half of Connecticut. Outside New York however, Loyalist forces nominally led by King Frederick were gathering to drive the allied forces into the sea.
12 May, 1747
Days after the invasion of Massachusetts 2,500 Spanish soldiers under General Manuel de Montiano crossed the border between Florida and Georgia. Unlike his invasion five years prior this time around General de Montiano’s offensive seemed to prevail. In a week the port of Savannah had fallen and days later crossed into South Carolina. On 2 June de Montiano was reinforced with 1000 French soldiers who had landed in Charleston days before. Success on the southern front however would be short-lived when on 30 June General James Oglethorpe leading 2000 Loyalist soldiers as well as 2,500 Indian allies would soundly defeat the Franco-Spanish army in the Battle of Camden killing or capturing more than half of the enemy force. By the time they crossed back into Florida on 27 August scarcely 500 enemy soldiers remained.
For months de Contades’ Franco-Stuart army harassed and probed Loyalist lines making some gains and moving into eastern New York as the slowly gathered in size to destroy the Loyalist army and end the Hanover line for good. By August de Contades had roughly 25,000 French and 15,000 Stuartist troops in his command and readied his men to launch a final offensive to end the war. The Hudson Campaign was the campaign meant to end the war and began on September 28. In the months since the invasion Frederick and his generals had been gathering forces from across the colonies, its native allies, as well as as many Loyalists as could arrive from the British Isles. They now had roughly 24,000 men with which to fight. Though still lacking in numbers they now had enough to make a stand. For two weeks the armies skirmished and maneuvered across southern New York and western Connecticut. Finally, on a foggy morning of October 14 the two met in a pitched battle near Danbury Connecticut.
The Battle of Danbury would go on for most of the day and while the fog eventually cleared, the Loyalists used it while it lasted to their advantage excellently gutting the Stuartist forces before de Contades could move enough French soldiers to save them. By the end of the day it was apparent that the Loyalist’s had won a decisive victory virtually destroying the Stuartist army and delivering more than 5,000 casualties to the French.
Following Danbury General de Contades would retreat to the town of Providence, which was subsequently besieged, and await the arrival of the Allied navy bringing reinforcements and provisions. That was a fleet that would never come. On October 31 the Allied relief fleet was caught by the numerically superior Loyalist fleet, as the vast majority of the Royal Navy had sided with King Frederick, off Nova Scotia and virtually destroyed them in the Battle of Clark’s Harbor. With no relief de Contades knew his army was doomed and on November 16 officially surrendered to the Loyalist’s.
This was the last major engagement of the war to be fought in British America. War had been raging across many parts of the globe for seven years and the belligerent parties were exhausted. In January 1748 France began peace talks with its allied enemies on ending the war. Included in the conference was delegates from the Kingdom Great Britain-in-exile despite loud objections from King James in London. Though Stuartist England and the Hanoverian British crown in exile would never agree to an official peace nor recognition of one another both were as exhausted from fighting as the rest. On March 4,1748 the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle was signed ending the War of the Austrian Succession.
While both King Frederick and King James still claimed the whole of the British Empire for themselves, for the moment, neither would get all of what they wanted. King James and the House of Stuart would for now retain England, Scotland, Ireland, and the Indian possessions. King Frederick and the House of Hanover would retain all British American and West Indy possessions (aside from Ruperts Land that would be annexed by France), and the British African possessions. While a shrunken Electorate of Hanover would nominally remain in a personal union with King Frederick’s British America, the remainder of the country was under Prussia’s sphere of influence and occupation.
22 October 1746
We were so damn close! Thought Frederick. The Jacobite's, starved and low on morale, were on the verge of defeat. Forces under his brother the Duke of Cumberland had converged on the Jacobite army and their commander, the Young Pretender, Prince Charles Stuart near the town of Culloden. How did those damned Scot’s manage to sneak their forces by patrolling Royal Navy warships without being spotted? Their surprise attack on Nairn had quickly overwhelmed the British forces capturing the Duke and the majority of his army leaving the remainder of the forces vulnerable which the Jacobite's used to their advantage delivering a decisive defeat to the British Army.
That was six months ago. Now instead of fighting in Scotland and northern England here he was, north of the battered city of Winchester, heading west with what remained of the dragoon regiment sent to protect him and his family as they retreated from a besieged London. The Prince of Wales supposed that he should count himself lucky to have gotten away at all. Most of the rest of the Royal Family dead, imprisoned, or trapped in London or the nearby Windsor.
Damn the French! Despite the setbacks, the reinstated Field Marshell George Wade had stopped the Jacobite Army’s offensive at Derby in late August. On September 11 however, the Royal Navy was surprisingly defeated by the French fleet in the Battle off Sussex. This allowed a short window of opportunity which allowed the French Army to land 12,000 troops in Kent. That was the nail in the coffin that was Great Britain.
As the Prince was lost in thought when a commotion erupted among the troops. This was where Frederick heard the horrible news, “It’s Fallen! It’s fallen! Windsor Castle has fallen! The King is dead!” It was now that the Prince of Wales, now King Frederick I, knew that Britain was lost. If he was to have any chance of saving what remained of his family and eventually liberate Britain for the House of Hanover he had to flee and regroup.
But where? The obvious was to Hanover itself. However, with the reentrance of Prussia into the war the previous July, almost all of the Electorate was occupied, and Prussian forces would almost surely capture them. That left but one place still in British hands. “Colonel Talbutt!” the King called. “Let us move to Bristol at once. Send word to the fleet that is to bring transport for us. We are to go to America!”
When London finally fell on November 3 Prince Charles Stuart knew the war was won and his father, the rightful king, James Stuart would have his country back and the House of Hanover was no more. Within days though the Charles and the Jacobite's learned of King Frederick I and his family’s escape and their flight to the Americas. Though French warships, and even some British warships that had pledged loyalty to the Stuart’s after the fall of England, pursued the fleet carrying the Royals, they were unable to capture them and on Christmas Day the HMS Lion entered Boston harbor with the king.
In the coming months, the British Isles would begin the process of reverting back to its Stuart laws and ways. The Acts of Union were dissolved, and the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland were reborn, under the same monarch of course. Charles’ father would return to London in January 1747 and be crowned King James III of England and Ireland and King James V of Scotland. Upon ascending the throne James called for an official end to the war between England and France and their allies. Soon after an official treaty of peace was signed James III and France’s King Louis XV signed the Treaty of Hastings placing an alliance between the two nations with the goal of defeating the last Hanover stronghold in the Thirteen Colonies. The two new allies soon began preparing their armies to sail to the Americas and put a final end to the Rising.
A Kingdom in exile, a Kingdom in America
While the Jacobite Rising had been going on it was, until the Fall of London, but one piece of the worldwide War of the Austrian Succession. In fact, by the time the Royal Family had fled to America Britain and France had been at war in Europe as well as the Americas for nearly seven years. Though fighting hadn’t always been consistent the colonies were still in a state of war. Luckily for the Royal Family however the forces and governments of the Thirteen Colonies were largely pro-Hanover. Upon the arrival of King Frederick, British Colonial forces quickly began rallying behind their king and raising new regiments in preparation of the almost assured Franco-Stuart assault to overthrow Frederick and bring British America under the new regimes thumb. Unfortunately for the Hanover faction it wouldn’t be long before the forces conniving to make them extinct came to the American shores.
7 May, 1747
In the early hours of the morning soldiers and citizens of Boston saw a fleet of warships bearing flags of France and others of England appearing off their shore. 12,000 French and 5,000 Stuart troops under the overall command of General Louis Georges Érasme de Contades of France. Though Loyalist forces defending the city fought valiantly there were only 1500 Loyalist troops within the city and within the day they had withdrawn. Within a month most of Massachusetts was under allied control along with Rhode Island and half of Connecticut. Outside New York however, Loyalist forces nominally led by King Frederick were gathering to drive the allied forces into the sea.
12 May, 1747
Days after the invasion of Massachusetts 2,500 Spanish soldiers under General Manuel de Montiano crossed the border between Florida and Georgia. Unlike his invasion five years prior this time around General de Montiano’s offensive seemed to prevail. In a week the port of Savannah had fallen and days later crossed into South Carolina. On 2 June de Montiano was reinforced with 1000 French soldiers who had landed in Charleston days before. Success on the southern front however would be short-lived when on 30 June General James Oglethorpe leading 2000 Loyalist soldiers as well as 2,500 Indian allies would soundly defeat the Franco-Spanish army in the Battle of Camden killing or capturing more than half of the enemy force. By the time they crossed back into Florida on 27 August scarcely 500 enemy soldiers remained.
For months de Contades’ Franco-Stuart army harassed and probed Loyalist lines making some gains and moving into eastern New York as the slowly gathered in size to destroy the Loyalist army and end the Hanover line for good. By August de Contades had roughly 25,000 French and 15,000 Stuartist troops in his command and readied his men to launch a final offensive to end the war. The Hudson Campaign was the campaign meant to end the war and began on September 28. In the months since the invasion Frederick and his generals had been gathering forces from across the colonies, its native allies, as well as as many Loyalists as could arrive from the British Isles. They now had roughly 24,000 men with which to fight. Though still lacking in numbers they now had enough to make a stand. For two weeks the armies skirmished and maneuvered across southern New York and western Connecticut. Finally, on a foggy morning of October 14 the two met in a pitched battle near Danbury Connecticut.
The Battle of Danbury would go on for most of the day and while the fog eventually cleared, the Loyalists used it while it lasted to their advantage excellently gutting the Stuartist forces before de Contades could move enough French soldiers to save them. By the end of the day it was apparent that the Loyalist’s had won a decisive victory virtually destroying the Stuartist army and delivering more than 5,000 casualties to the French.
Following Danbury General de Contades would retreat to the town of Providence, which was subsequently besieged, and await the arrival of the Allied navy bringing reinforcements and provisions. That was a fleet that would never come. On October 31 the Allied relief fleet was caught by the numerically superior Loyalist fleet, as the vast majority of the Royal Navy had sided with King Frederick, off Nova Scotia and virtually destroyed them in the Battle of Clark’s Harbor. With no relief de Contades knew his army was doomed and on November 16 officially surrendered to the Loyalist’s.
This was the last major engagement of the war to be fought in British America. War had been raging across many parts of the globe for seven years and the belligerent parties were exhausted. In January 1748 France began peace talks with its allied enemies on ending the war. Included in the conference was delegates from the Kingdom Great Britain-in-exile despite loud objections from King James in London. Though Stuartist England and the Hanoverian British crown in exile would never agree to an official peace nor recognition of one another both were as exhausted from fighting as the rest. On March 4,1748 the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle was signed ending the War of the Austrian Succession.
While both King Frederick and King James still claimed the whole of the British Empire for themselves, for the moment, neither would get all of what they wanted. King James and the House of Stuart would for now retain England, Scotland, Ireland, and the Indian possessions. King Frederick and the House of Hanover would retain all British American and West Indy possessions (aside from Ruperts Land that would be annexed by France), and the British African possessions. While a shrunken Electorate of Hanover would nominally remain in a personal union with King Frederick’s British America, the remainder of the country was under Prussia’s sphere of influence and occupation.
