page_title: Independent Highland Companies
section_title: Jacobite rising of 1715
hierarchical_section_title: Independent Highland Companies / 18th century / Jacobite rising of 1715
caption_attribution_description: The Battle of Sheriffmuir
context_page_description: The Independent Highland Companies were irregular militia raised from the Scottish clans of the Scottish Highlands by order of the Government between 1603 and 1760 in order to help keep the peace and enforce the law in the Highlands, and were officially recognized as such by the Government. The officers of the Independent Highland Companies were commissioned as officers of the British Army, but the companies themselves were not recognized as official regiments of the line of the army. The Independent Highland Companies were the progenitors of the world-famous Highland Regiments of the British Army that began when ten Independent Highland Companies were embodied to form the 43rd Regiment of Foot in 1739.
context_section_description: By 1715 the names of the commanders of the three Independent Highland Companies were recorded as Colonels Campbell, Grant and Munro, Colonel Munro having replaced Duncan Mackenzie. It is not known exactly how the Independent Companies featured in the rising of 1715, however there are unsubstantiated reports that a portion of the Grant and Munro companies actually fought at the Battle of Sheriffmuir. It is clear however that the Independent Companies played an active part before and after the battle. Colonel Sir Robert Munro, 6th Baronet was for a time governor of Inverness and forced the rebel Mackenzies to give up their arms at Brahan Castle. Munro along with parties of Grants, Rosses and Mackays also forced the surrender of the Earl of Seaforth. Colonel Grant played a lesser role; he established a garrison at Brahan and captured Gordon Castle, holding it until he was relieved by regular troops. Colonel Sir Robert Munro along with his younger brother Captain George Munro of Culcairn also accepted arms given up at Blair Atholl while the Grant company disarmed clansmen at Ruthven in Badenoch.
caption: The Battle of Sheriffmuir 1715
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