The Lord Advocates of Scotland Author:George William Thomson Omond Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: 1746. J PRESTONPANS. 21 The royal army left Dunbar on the 19th, bivouacked, that night on a field to the west of Haddington, and on the 20th reached Prestonpa... more »ns, near which they awaited the approach of the rebels, who advanced from the southwest. The whole of that day was spent by the rival forces in marching and countermarching. Craigie accompanied the General and his staff throughout the day and till late in the evening, when the watch-fires were lighted and the sentinels were posted along the margin of the morass which lay between the armies. Then, as night began to fall, dark and cold, he and Dundas rode off to Huntington. The Government in London was not seriously alarmed until the news came that the rebel army was close to Edinburgh, and that the dragoons had fled. The Ministers then saw that they had to deal with a grave crisis; and, in answering the Lord Advocate's letter, sent from Huntington on the night of the 16th, Mitchell only ventured to express a wish that Cope might reach Edinburgh in time to save the town and hang the Provost. Each day the news from Scotland was eagerly expected. At last, about midnight on the 24th of September, a messenger reached Whitehall with a despatch from the Lord Advocate. It contained the first news of the defeat of the royal army at Prestonpans. "My Lord," Craigie wrote, " I am sorry to Write to your Lop. this melancholy news, that this morning about Day Break Sir Jo" Cope and his army were attackt by the Rebells, and Intirely Defeat . The Sollicitor and I left them last night Drawn up in the field be West Seaton, and the Rebells about a Mile to the Westward. Wee heard the fireing this morning, and People that were on the field Give us account that our army is Wholly Dispersed, and a Gentleman met Brigadeer Foulks in his way to Be...« less