On 13 November 1715, two armies clashed on the bleak moorland above Sheriffmuir, near Dunblane in Perthshire, and managed to produce one of the most baffling and inconclusive battles in Scottish history. Both sides won a wing and lost a wing. Both sides claimed victory. Neither was right. The Battle of Sheriffmuir was the central engagement of the 1715 Jacobite Rising — the Fifteen — and its failure to produce a decisive Jacobite result effectively ended the most credible chance the Stuart cause would ever have of reclaiming the British throne. Scotland's clans had marched in strength, and they came home with nothing settled.
Quick Answer: What Was the Battle of Sheriffmuir?
The Battle of Sheriffmuir was fought on 13 November 1715 near Dunblane, Perthshire, during the Jacobite Rising of 1715. A Jacobite Highland army under the Earl of Mar engaged a government force under the Duke of Argyll. Both armies routed the opposite flank simultaneously, leaving the result deeply ambiguous. Mar's larger Jacobite force failed to press its advantage, Argyll's smaller government army held its ground, and the rising lost the decisive victory it desperately needed. The battle is remembered in Scotland through the sardonic folk saying: Some say that we wan, some say that they wan, and some say that nane wan at a', man.
What Led to the Battle of Sheriffmuir?
The 1715 rising had better material conditions than any other Jacobite attempt. Queen Anne had died in August 1714 without a Protestant heir, and the throne had passed to George I of Hanover — a German prince who spoke little English and had no personal connection to Scotland. Jacobite sentiment was high across the Highlands and parts of the Lowlands, and the exiled James Francis Edward Stuart — the Old Pretender, son of James VII — had genuine support among significant sections of the Scottish nobility.
The Earl of Mar, John Erskine, raised the Jacobite standard at Braemar in September 1715 and assembled the largest Jacobite army ever mustered — somewhere between 7,000 and 12,000 men, drawn from clans across the Highlands. It was a remarkable mobilisation. The problem was Mar himself. A man of political skill but limited military experience, he spent weeks at Perth doing very little while the government scrambled to organise a response. The Duke of Argyll, commanding government forces, used that time to fortify his position at Stirling and block the road south.
By November, pressure from his own chiefs forced Mar to act. He marched his army out of Perth and moved to cross the Allan Water and push past Stirling. Argyll moved out to meet him on Sheriffmuir. The two armies found each other on the open moorland above Dunblane on the morning of 13 November.
Which Clans Fought at Sheriffmuir?
Sheriffmuir was one of the largest clan musters of the Jacobite era. Mar's army represented a broad coalition of Highland and north-eastern clans, while Argyll commanded a mix of government regulars, Lowland troops, and Campbell-aligned forces.
Jacobite clans who fought for the Old Pretender:
- Clan Mar — the Earl of Mar commanded the entire Jacobite army and gave the rising its name — the Fifteen. His hesitation before and after the battle defined its outcome. See Clan Mar history.
- Clan Gordon — the Gordon Earl of Huntly brought one of the largest contingents to Sheriffmuir, as befitted the dominant power of the north-east. Gordon loyalty to the Jacobite cause was strong throughout the period. See Clan Gordon history.
- Clan MacDonald — multiple MacDonald contingents marched under Mar's banner, continuing the clan's consistent Jacobite commitment across every rising from 1689 to 1745. See Clan Donald history.
- Clan MacLean — the MacLeans were present at Sheriffmuir, maintaining the Jacobite loyalty they had shown at Killiecrankie and would show again at Culloden. See Clan MacLean history.
- Clan Murray — Murray connections ran through the Jacobite officer structure at Sheriffmuir. The family's deep Perthshire roots placed them at the heart of the rising's geography. See Clan Murray history.
- Clan MacGregor — Rob Roy MacGregor, the most famous MacGregor of the era, was present at Sheriffmuir with a contingent of his clan. His controversial conduct during the battle — reportedly watching from a hilltop rather than committing his men to the fight — became one of the enduring stories of the day. See Clan MacGregor history.
Government side:
- Clan Campbell — the Duke of Argyll was himself a Campbell, and Campbell forces formed a significant component of the government army. Argyll's personal military ability was the government's greatest asset throughout the 1715 rising. See Clan Campbell history.
What Happened During the Battle of Sheriffmuir?
The two armies deployed on the moorland above Dunblane in conditions of poor visibility and difficult terrain. Mar's force significantly outnumbered Argyll's — estimates suggest the Jacobites had roughly twice as many men — but the ground broke up formations and made coordination difficult.
The battle opened with both armies advancing, and almost immediately the situation became chaotic. On the Jacobite right, the Highland charge was devastating. The government left wing, outnumbered and caught in difficult ground, was routed and driven from the field. The Jacobite right pursued the fleeing government troops well beyond the battlefield, removing itself from any further useful role in the engagement.
On the Jacobite left, the situation was reversed. Argyll personally commanded the government right and led a disciplined cavalry and infantry advance that broke the Jacobite left wing. The Jacobite forces there were driven back in disorder. When the dust settled, both sides held part of the field and both sides had lost part of their army. Mar's surviving Jacobite force was still numerically superior and held the higher ground, but he did not press forward to finish the battle. Argyll, recognising the danger of his position, withdrew in good order toward Dunblane.
Rob Roy MacGregor's decision to hold his men on a nearby hill rather than intervene at the critical moment has been debated ever since. Whether it was caution, calculation, or something else entirely, his inaction became one of the famous controversies of the battle.
Mar retreated to Perth. Argyll held Stirling. Nothing had changed — except that the Jacobites had demonstrated they could not deliver a decisive blow even with a numerical advantage.
What Were the Consequences for the Clans?
The failure at Sheriffmuir was fatal to the Fifteen. James Francis Edward Stuart — the Old Pretender himself — landed in Scotland in December 1715, weeks after the battle, but arrived to a rising that had already lost its momentum. He spent two months in Scotland, made little impression, and left again in February 1716 as the government tightened its grip. The rising collapsed without a second major engagement.
The aftermath brought significant reprisals. Clan chiefs who had joined the rising faced forfeiture of their estates. Some fled to France with the Old Pretender. Government garrisons were extended further into the Highlands. The military road-building programme that General Wade would begin in the 1720s was a direct response to the difficulty of moving government troops through Highland terrain — itself a consequence of how nearly the Fifteen had succeeded.
For the clans, the period after Sheriffmuir brought a generation of uneasy peace. The Gordon, MacDonald, MacLean, and Murray families who had committed to the Jacobite cause managed their estates under government suspicion. The fires of the Forty-Five — the 1745 rising — were still thirty years away, but their roots lay in the unresolved grievances of the Fifteen and the sense that the Stuart cause remained unfinished business.
Can You Visit the Sheriffmuir Battlefield Today?
Yes — the Sheriffmuir battlefield is accessible on the open moorland above Dunblane, a short drive from Stirling. The battlefield is unmarked by any major monument, which gives it a raw and undeveloped quality rare among Scottish battle sites. The Sheriffmuir Inn, which sits on the moorland road across the site, has long associations with the battle and is one of the few landmarks directly tied to the engagement.
The nearby town of Dunblane has good visitor facilities, and Stirling — with its castle, Wallace Monument, and Bannockburn visitor centre — is less than ten miles to the south. For those following the Jacobite trail across Scotland, Sheriffmuir sits naturally between Killiecrankie to the north and the Stirling area's broader Wars of Independence heritage to the south.
The moorland itself is open access land and can be walked freely, though the ground is exposed and weather can change quickly. Walking the site gives a clear sense of why the terrain caused such confusion on the day of the battle — visibility on the open moor is deceptive, and the ground rises and falls in ways that would have made coordination between wings extremely difficult.
Why Does Sheriffmuir Still Matter Today?
Sheriffmuir matters because it was the moment the Jacobite cause came closest to genuine success and threw it away. Mar had the numbers, the momentum of a broad national rising, and an opponent whose forces were stretched thin. A decisive victory on that November morning might have changed everything — might have forced a negotiation, might have opened the road south, might have restored the Stuarts. Instead, hesitation and a chaotic battle produced nothing.
For the clans who marched — Gordon, MacDonald, MacLean, Murray, MacGregor, and many others — Sheriffmuir was the beginning of a long reckoning. The cause would be tried again in 1745, and that attempt would end at Culloden with consequences far more severe than anything the Fifteen had produced. The families who committed to the Stuart cause at Sheriffmuir were often the same families who suffered most severely thirty years later.
Their descendants — across North America, Australia, New Zealand, and beyond — carry the clan names that were on that moorland in November 1715. At Celtic Ancestry Gifts, those names are woven into blankets, printed on mugs, stitched onto apparel, and displayed on garden flags and ornaments. Search your clan name on our homepage and find the heritage that connects you to Scotland's story.
