Highbridge Skirmish The Highbridge Skirmish was the first engagement of the Jacobite Rising of 1745 between British Government troops and Jacobites loyal to Prince Charles Edward Stuart . It took place at Highbridge , Lochaber , on the River Spean on 16 August 1745 , and marked the commencement of hostilities between the two sides . Background . Shortly after Prince Charles had landed he met up firstly with the Chief of Clan Cameron of Lochiel and the Chief of the Clan MacDonald of Clan Ranald . As the Jacobites were amassing their forces the Hanoverian governor of Fort Augustus despatched two companies of the Second Battalion of the Royal Scots regiment under the command of a Captain ( later General ) Scott of the Clan Scott . They were to reinforce the government garrison at Fort William . The government troops , some 85 men strong , marched along the road which had been built by the government to link the two forts directly . They met no resistance until they reached High Bridge over the River Spean . The bridge itself had been completed by General Wade less than ten years previously , as part of a network of military roads designed to facilitate troop movements across the Highlands . Commencement of Hostilities . On the Bridge , Major Donald MacDonald of Tir nan dris with a mere 11 men and 1 piper , all of the Clan MacDonald of Keppoch , stood armed with swords and muskets , ready to meet the approaching enemy . It is said that by using the now demolished High Bridge Inn as cover , leaping and skipping about , moving from place to place , and extending their plaids between one another to give themselves a formidable appearance , the Jacobites deceived Captain Scott into thinking they were of a larger number . Captain Scott halted his men and sent forward a sergeant and servant to negotiate but both were taken prisoner . Scott then ordered his men to retreat and they began marching back the way they came . As they did so , they were fired on from both sides of the road . Captain Scott ' s men returned fire but he and his men were forced to change direction and move off the road . Before this fire had been opened , bands of Jacobites were proceeding in the direction of the bridge to assist in the attack . Captain Scott continued his march rapidly along the side of Loch Lochy , and when he reached the east end , he observed some Jacobites on a hill at the west end of Loch Oich , where they had assembled apparently for the purpose of intercepting him on his retreat . Disliking the appearance of this body , which stood in the direct way of his retreat , Scott resolved to throw himself for protection into Invergarry Castle , the seat of the Clan MacDonell of Glengarry , and accordingly crossed the isthmus between the two lochs . This movement , however , only rendered his situation more embarrassing , as he had not marched far when he perceived another body of Jacobites , the Macdonells of Glengarry , coming down the opposite hill to attack him . In this dilemma he formed his men into a hollow square , and proceeded on his march . Meanwhile , MacDonald of Keppoch ' s men , headed by the chief , hastened the pursuit . The Royal Scots eventually found themselves completely surrounded on all sides by the Clan MacDonald of Keppoch and the Clan MacDonnell of Glengarry . MacDonald of Keppoch advanced alone to Scott ' s party , required them to surrender , and offered them quarters ; but assured them , that , in case of resistance , they would be cut to pieces . Fatigued with a long march , and surrounded on all sides by increasing bodies of Jacobites , Captain Scott , who had been wounded , and had had two of his men killed , accepted the terms offered , and surrendered . Soon after the chief of Clan Cameron of Lochiel arrived and took charge of the prisoners , whom he carried to his own house at Achnacarry . It is said that the Jacobites did not lose a man . Aftermath . Later that day , Tir nan dris presented Captain Scott ' s captured grey gelding to Prince Charles at the raising of his standard at Glenfinnan . This incident marked the commencement of the 1745 Jacobite uprising against the Hanoverian crown . The High Bridge itself was superseded by a later bridge in 1819 , and collapsed in 1913 .