At Stirling, the strategic key to the Highlands, Perth was in charge of the forces blockading the Government garrison in the castle. The siege was unsuccessful and following the Jacobite victory at Falkirk on 17 January 1746, the army withdrew towards Inverness. From here, Perth was responsible for a number of minor actions including the so-called "Battle of Dornoch" on 20 March, an amphibious assault across the Dornoch Firth against Loudoun which has been called "the most accomplished that was staged by either side in the course of the rising".