ABSTRACT
Despite the failure of the 1715 rebellion the Jacobite cause remained active, particularly in Scotland where rising had fizzled out rather than been defeated. Forty-five Spaniards had been left there to guard the expedition's ammunition and supplies. Following the rebellions of 1715 and 1719 the Hanoverian regime did little to tackle the problem of the Highlands as a source of Jacobite support. What was needed, Wade believed, was a system of roads in the Highlands to link the main forts and to allow troops to penetrate the region quickly in the event of a further rebellion. It began at Dunkeld, following the Tay and then the Garry through gorge of Killiecrankie and past Blair Castle. Like many of the military roads it followed the line of an existing drove road, a pass used by Marquis of Montrose's small but mobile Highland army through the grim weather of January 1645, in his cross-country march to surprise a Campbell army at Inverlochy.
