By then, the Hanoverian forces were reacting to the invasion, reinforcing the garrison at Inverness and dispatching a number of vessels to trap the Jacobites. Three English frigates, Worcester, Enterprise and Flamborough, commanded by Captain Charles Boyle, anchored at the mouth of Loch Alsh. Although they arrived too late to catch the main invading force, on May 10 they set about retaking Eilean Donan. After a short bombardment by Worcester’s 48 guns and Enterprise’s 44 guns, the Spanish garrison surrendered, and the 343 barrels of gunpowder and 52 barrels of musket balls that remained in the keep were detonated. Most of the buildings in the castle, as well as a second magazine at the head of the loch, were destroyed. The Spanish captives were loaded aboard Flamborough and sent for detention in Leith, the port of Edinburgh.

Meanwhile, the Jacobite force was marching toward Glenshiel in two contingents via Loch Duich and Loch Long. Some Highland clans began to rally to the cause. Locheil appeared on June 5, having managed to raise only 150 of his Camerons from Lochaber to Kintail. William McKenzie, fifth Earl of Seaforth, brought a more substantial force of 400 to 500 men. They joined a small band of Perthshire men brought by Lord George Murray, the younger brother of Tullibardine. Smaller bands of clansmen probably totaled 1,000 broadswords, including Mackinnons and Mackenzies who were joined by a small contingent of MacGregors, from Stirlingshire and Argyle, led by the legendary Rob Roy MacGregor. MacGregor had also been out during the Fifteen rebellion, taking his clansmen from the field of Sheriffmuir to spare them at a time when the outcome of the battle could have gone either way (in fact it ended in a draw). His clan had since been excluded from the general pardon granted to the rebels under the Act of Grace of 1717. He therefore had little to lose from standing once again in open rebellion against the government. His son joined him in Glenshiel on June 8 with 80 recruits.

When a party of Chisholms appeared, they brought news that a government force commanded by Maj. Gen. Joseph Wightman had already left Inverness on June 5 and passed Fort Augustus. He could be expected at the head of Loch Cluanie by the 9th and in Glenshiel by the following day. Wightman, also a veteran of Sheriffmuir, brought with him a force of about 850 infantry, including a Dutch contingent: 120 dragoons, 200 grenadiers and 130 clansmen from loyal Whig clans, supported by six bronze coehorn mortars.

Now facing the prospect of being surrounded on both land and sea, the Jacobites held another council of war and decided to stand at Glenshiel. By the time the Highlanders began to take up their positions on June 9, Lord Murray’s outposts could detect the government troops four or five miles distant.

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The position the Jacobites chose made the most of the available terrain. The valley had a drover’s road that crossed the Shiel River by a stone bridge. At that point the shoulder of a hill jutted into the valley, causing it to narrow into a gorge, the steep sides of which were covered by heather, bracken and birches. The road entered the valley from the flat area above the pass on a shelf on the north side between the river and the hill. The Jacobites sought to strengthen the center of their proposed line by throwing up a series of entrenchments on the contours of the hill to the north of the Shiel. They also erected a barrier across the drover’s road that ran the length of the glen between the river and the entrenched hill. They held a strong position protected on the right by a rivulet and on the left by a ravine. The land in front of the entrenchments was steep and rugged.

On high ground south of the river the right flank of the Jacobite position was held by Lord Murray, tasting his first experience in command at age 14. On his left, entrenched on the north bank of the river, were some 250 of the remaining Spaniards, from Regimento numero 3 La Corona, a marine unit commanded by Don Nicolas Bolano. His troops wore a French-style coat in white without lapels and with blue collar, cuffs and lining, blue waistcoats with white breeches and long white linen gaiters. On their heads they wore tricornes edged with white tape and sporting a red cockade. They positioned themselves in among the assorted clans in the desolate glen under their colors, consisting of a white flag with two golden anchors crossed on a pale blue shield.

On the left of La Corona stood Locheil’s men, then the outlawed Rob Roy MacGregor and his reivers. Then came the Mackenzies under Sir John Mackenzie of Coul, the Campbells of Ormdale and GlenDarul, the Mackintoshes and, on a steep incline on the extreme left of the line, the Earl of Seaforth and his men.

Tullibardine therefore commanded a sizable force totaling 1,600 men in a strong position, making good use of hills and entrenchments that suited the Highlanders’ tactics. His rival, Marischal, who now had nothing to command save for the two departed frigates, stood with Seaforth on the left of the line. The rebel positions were spread out across the valley floor, with steep inclines on either flank. The barricaded road and the river cut through the right of the line between the Spaniards and Murray, with the river crossing via the stone bridge located behind the Spanish lines.

Wightman’s 1,100 troops struck camp at Loch Cluanie on the morning of June 10, and came within sight of the Jacobite entrenchments by 2 p.m. On his extreme right, opposite the Seaforths, he positioned his Highland contingent consisting of MacKays from Sutherland. The main body of Hanoverian troops was split into two wings. The stronger right wing, on the north side of the river and facing the bulk of the rebel forces, was commanded by Lt. Col. Jasper Clayton. It consisted of John, second Duke of Montagu’s Grenadier Regiment, standing downhill from the MacKays, then the 11th and 15th battalions of foot and the regiment of Dutch troops. The flank of the right wing, resting against the road and the river, was held by 150 dismounted dragoons. Across the river, on the south side, was situated the weaker left wing comprised of Clayton’s regiment, augmented by 80 of Captain George Munro of Culcairn’s clansmen and the mortars on the far left flank.

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