In mid-September, the Earl of Mar had marched south from Braemar, passing through the Spittal of Glenshee before reaching the village of Kirkmichael in Strathardle, where he halted for a day or two. At this point, he probably commanded only a few hundred men under John Farquharson of Inverey, together with a party of Gordons under the young Earl of Aboyne. However, numbers were growing quickly. At Kirkmichael, they were reinforced by 300 cavalry under the joint command of the Earl of Linlithgow and Lord Drummond, together with 500 foot soldiers from Atholl (mostly Murrays, Stewarts and Robertsons). They were commanded by William Murray, Marquis of Tullibardine, whose father, the Duke of Atholl, remained loyal to the government, while his two younger brothers Charles and George Murray and his uncle Lord Nairne, sup- ported the Jacobites. Whether this actually reflected a real division in loyalties or simply a family arrangement intended to preserve the Atholl estates whatever happened is a matter for debate. Many other families were similarly divided with their younger sons joining Mar’s army, while the eldest son and heir remained at home, giving his nominal support to the government.

Meanwhile, the city magistrates in Perth were sufficiently alarmed by the proximity of Mar’s forces at Kirkmichael, only thirty-five miles north, to appeal for help to the Duke of Atholl who sent 200 men to defend the city. They also turned to the Earl of Rothes, Sheriff and Lord Lieutenant of Fife, who started to raise a local militia. However, Colonel John Hay of Cromlix now seized the initiative for the Jacobites. While recruiting in Fife, he was approached by Jacobite sympathisers from Perth, who offered to deliver the city to him. On 14 September 1715, Hay entered the city from the north with around 200 horsemen, after crossing the River Tay. The Athollmen promptly switched sides and the local militia from Fife, hearing of the city’s capture, `threw down their arms and ran’. On 22 September, the Jacobite forces in the city were strengthened by a party of Robertsons under their chief, Alexander Robertson of Struan. The scale of the Jacobite uprising under Mar now became apparent as James Edward Stuart was proclaimed king throughout the north-east of Scotland at places as far apart as Inverness, Forres, Gordon Castle, Aberdeen, Brechin, Montrose, Dundee, Perth and Dunkeld. Mar finally entered Perth itself on 28 September 1715, after a leisurely journey from Kirkmichael by way of Moulinearn and Logierait. He had apparently spent much of the intervening time writing a `barrage of letters, declarations and manifestoes to all and sundry’.

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