Volume 1 / Part 1 — CHAPTER XXXI. (continued 2)
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When congratulating themselves on the victory they had obtained, the Highlanders related to each other what they had done or seen. Instances were given of individual prowess which might appear incredible, were it not well-known that when fear seizes an army all confidence in themselves or their numbers is completely destroyed. On this occasion “the panic-terror of the English surpassed all imagination. They threw down their arms that they might run with more speed, thus depriving themselves by their fears of the only means of arresting the vengeance of the Highlanders. Of so many, in a condition from their numbers to preserve order in their retreat, not one thought of defending himself. Terror had taken entire possession of their minds.”[950] Of the cases mentioned, one was that of a young Highlander about fourteen years of age, scarcely formed, who was presented to the prince as a prodigy, having, it was said, killed fourteen of the enemy. Charles asking him if this was true, he replied, “I do not know if I killed them, but I brought fourteen soldiers to the ground with my sword.” Another instance was that of a Highlander, who brought ten soldiers, whom he had made prisoners, to the prince, driving them before him like a flock of sheep. With unexampled rashness, he had pursued a party of Cope’s men to some distance from the field of battle, along a road between two inclosures, and striking down the hindermost man of the party with a blow of his sword, called aloud at the same time, “Down with your arms.” The soldiers, terror-struck, complied with the order without looking behind them; and the Highlander, with a pistol in one hand and a sword in the other, made them do as he pleased. Yet, as the Chevalier Johnstone observes, these were “the same English soldiers who had distinguished themselves at Dettingen and Fontenoy, and who might justly he ranked amongst the bravest troops of Europe.”[951]
After doing every thing in his power for the relief of the wounded of both armies, and giving directions for the disposal of his prisoners, Charles partook of a small repast upon the field of battle, and thereafter proceeded to Pinkie House, a seat of the Marquis of Tweeddale, where he passed the night.