Andrew Hillhouse

Victorious Jacobites inspect the corpses of Government troops in the aftermath of the Battle of Prestonpans. Almost 300 soldiers lost their lives in the short fifteen minute battle and around 1300 were taken prisoner by the victorious highlanders. A significant amount of the Government casualties were sustained at the high estate walls of Bankton House and Preston House. These barriers which blocked the redcoats’ line of escape had initially been used by them as a means of defence. Between 150 and 300 of Cope’s troops had been killed, most of them mutilated in the heat of the action by broadswords and Lochaber axes. The abandoned field looked as if a hurricane had spread the contents of a slaughterhouse over the ground.