Battle of Glen Shiel The Battle of Glen Shiel ( Scottish Gaelic : ) was a battle in Glen Shiel , in the West Highlands of Scotland on 10 June 1719 , between British government troops and an alliance of Jacobites and Spaniards , resulting in a victory for the government forces . It was the last close engagement of British and foreign troops in Great Britain . The Battle of Glen Shiel is sometimes considered an extension of the 1715 rising , but is more correctly a separate rebellion and was the only rising to be extinguished by a single military action . It is sometimes known as " the Nineteen " . Currently , this battlefield has been included in the Inventory of Historic Battlefields in Scotland and is protected by Historic Scotland under the Historic Environment ( Amendment ) Act 2011 . Build - up and previous events . After the Treaty of Utrecht , Philip V was accepted as King of Spain in exchange for several concessions . Great Britain received control over Spanish possessions , such as Menorca and Gibraltar , which it could defend , as Britain possessed by far the largest navy in the world at that time . Philip ' s plans to restore Spanish power would lead to a violent clash with Britain . Philip and his Italian counsellor , Cardinal Giulio Alberoni , carried out a campaign in the western Mediterranean . In 1717 , 8500 infantry men and 500 cavalry men sailed from Barcelona and occupied Sardinia without difficulty . The next year , 38 , 000 troops did the same with Sicily . The British government responded on 11 August ; declaring a violation of Utrecht , the Royal Navy intercepted and destroyed the fleet of José Antonio de Gaztañeta in the region of Cape Passaro , ( near Syracuse ) . Spain then declared war , with Alberoni deciding to take the initiative and stir up trouble in Britain to forestall an attack on the Iberian Peninsula . Alberoni plan . Alberoni decided to meddle in the throne disputes , supporting the Jacobite claims and its Highland allies both to de - stabilise the Crown and set up a more pliant king ( and Parliament ) in its place . The original plan had two phases : Three weeks after leaving Cadiz , Ormonde ' s fleet encountered a storm near Cape Finisterre ( 29 March ) which dispersed and damaged most of the ships . Ormonde was forced to withdraw the ships to several Spanish havens ( comparable to the fate of the Spanish Armada of 1588 ) . By then , Keith had already left the Spanish port of Pasajes ( Pasaia in Basque ) and occupied the Isle of Lewis , including Stornoway where he set camp . On 13 April 1719 , Keith ' s men disembarked on the Highlands near Lochalsh , although the Highlanders did not join the " Little Rising " in the expected numbers ( the Spaniards carried 2000 guns to distribute ) , mistrusting the enterprise and waiting for news from the south . Keith could not proceed to Inverness and established his headquarter in the castle of Eilean Donan . The two Spanish frigates returned to Spain . The Spaniards were accompanied by William Mackenzie , 5th Earl of Seaforth ( ) , who was chief of the Clan Mackenzie ; the Earl Marischal ; and the Marquess of Tullibardine ; and some Irish officers . They were joined by several hundred Highlanders , including members of the Clan Mackenzie , Clan MacRae , Robert Roy MacGregor , and a party of other MacGregors . Some days later , the main body of the troop went south to stir up the Highlanders , leaving a small garrison ( 40 - 50 men ) at the castle . The Jacobite forces were to be led by the Earl of Seaforth and also John Cameron of Lochiel , 18th Captain and Chief of Clan Cameron ; along with Lord George Murray . Their plan of action was to capture Inverness . Capture and destruction of Eilean Donan Castle . At the beginning of May , the Royal Navy sent five ships to the area for reconnaissance : two patrolling off Skye and three around Lochalsh , adjacent to Loch Duich . Early in the morning on Sunday 10 May , these latter three , HMS " Worcester " , HMS " Flamborough " , and HMS " Enterprise " , anchored off Eilean Donan on the north side of Loch Duich , where the Spanish forces had established a base in Eilean Donan Castle , one of Lord Seaforth ' s residences . In the evening , under the cover of an intense cannonade , the ships ' boats went ashore and captured the castle against little resistance . The Spanish prisoners were put on board " HMS Flamborough " and taken away to Edinburgh . Forces . Jacobite army . The Jacobite army had advanced about 12 miles from Eilean Donan , as far as the narrows of Glen Shiel where a mountain spur almost blocks the valley . The great natural strength of the Jacobite position had been increased by hasty fortifications . A barricade had been constructed across the road , and along the face of the hill on the north side of the river entrenchments had been thrown up . Here the main body was posted , consisting of : British army . The government army ' s right wing was commanded by Colonel Clayton and composed of : The government army ' s left wing , which was deployed on the south side of the river , consisted of : Battle . After moving around for one month , the Spaniards had learned by the beginning of June that Ormonde would never come . In spite of this , the Jacobites gathered for a last action , with a total of just over 1 , 000 troops . On 5 June , British government forces composed of both English and Scottish soldiers under General Joseph Wightman came from Inverness to block their march . They consisted of 850 infantry , 120 dragoons and 4 mortar batteries . A detailed plan of the battlefield and the movements of the opposing forces was drawn up soon after the battle by John Henry Bastide , a subaltern in Montague ' s regiment who subsequently had a long career as a military engineer . They confronted the Jacobites at Glen Shiel , just a few miles from Loch Duich , on 10 June , near the Five Sisters hills . The Galician regiment occupied the top and the front of one of the hills , to their advantage , while the Jacobite Scots manned barricades on the sides . The engagement began between about five and six o ' clock when the left wing of the British government army advanced against Lord George Murray ' s position on the south side of the river . The position was first shelled by the mortar batteries and then attacked by four platoons of Clayton ' s regiment and Munro ' s . After some initial stubborn resistance , Lord George Murray ' s unsupported men were driven from their position and forced to retreat . Once the Jacobite right wing had been dislodged , Wightman ordered his right wing to attack the Jacobite left . The detachment , commanded by Lord Seaforth , was strongly positioned behind a group of rocks on the hillside . It was against them that Harrison ' s and Montigue ' s regiments were directed . Seaforth was reinforced by his own men under Sir John MacKenzie . Hard pressed , Seaforth sent for further reinforcements . Another group of men , under Rob Roy , went to his aid , but before it could reach him , his men gave way , and Seaforth himself was badly wounded . Wightman concentrated his troops on the flanks , while the mortars battered the whole and pinned the Spaniards in their positions . Wightman ' s whole force was now directed toward the Jacobite centre . The Spanish regulars stood their ground well , but found that most of their allies had deserted them , so they too retreated up the hill . Other clans followed and left their allies retreating uphill . Historian Peter Simpson states that the battle raged for three hours but the superior power of the government grenadiers along with the " aggressive " forays of the Munro Independent Company won the day for the government . At 9 o ' clock in the evening , they surrendered , three hours after the start of the combat , while the remaining Jacobites fled into the fog , to escape execution as traitors . The Jacobites were poorly provisioned and armed , and when the expected Jacobite support from the Lowlanders was minimal , spirits fell completely . The Rising was abandoned and the Jacobites dispersed to their homes . The mountain in Glen Shiel on which the battle took place is called Sgurr na Ciste Duibhe , it has a subsidiary peak which was named Sgurr nan Spainteach ( The Peak of the Spaniards ) in honour of the Spanish forces who fought admirably in the battle . Aftermath . Three of the Jacobite commanders , Lord George Murray , William Mackenzie , 5th Earl of Seaforth , and Robert Roy MacGregor , were badly wounded . John Cameron of Lochiel , however , after hiding for a time in the Highlands , made his way back into exile in France . George Keith , chief of Clan Keith and the last Earl Marischal , fled into exile in Prussia , where his brother Francis Keith wrote a narration of the battle . In spite of a later pardon , Keith never returned to Great Britain and became the Prussian ambassador to France and later to Spain . The 274 Spanish prisoners were reunited with their comrades in Edinburgh and by October , negotiations allowed their return to Spain . On the British government side , casualties were lighter ; George Munro of Culcairn was wounded in the legs by musket shot , but survived . A Government expedition under Lord Cobham was launched against the coast of Spain in October 1719 which succeeded in capturing Vigo .