Battles are sometimes won by the environment, as much as soldiers and generals. At The Battle of Falkirk Muir there were several environmental factors which helped shaped the outcome, not least the weather - the main conflict started not long before dark on an overcast January afternoon and as the two forces approached Falkirk Muir, it was bitterly cold. Snow began to fall and the Hanoverian's road up to the Muir became a mudbath. This was made worse by one of a few bad decisions made that day by the Hanoverian Commander - Henry Hawley - who sent the cavalry up the road first, churning it up and making it very difficult for the following Hanoverian soldiers and artillery. Hawley had seen cavalry triumph at The Battle of Sheriffmuir in the 1715 Jacobite rebellion, so felt them leading the way was a winning tactic. However, because of the mud-churned road leading up to the battlefield, the artillery pieces became enmired and could not be used in the battle. Describing Hawley's order to send the cavalry up the road first, one of Hawley's deputies later called it "the most extraordinary decision ever made".
The Jacobeans had lined up in their positions first, taking the higher ground on the Muir, but the heavy snow descended just as the Hanoverian troops were moving into position, and the wind drove it into their faces as they marched, with the result that the Hanoverian equipment was soaked. The Hanoverian's musket cartridges were so damp it caused them to misfire one in four times. The other environmental factor was the lie of the land - Falkirk Muir was the site of Scotland's biggest cattle tryst (open-air market) at the time, and the ground was badly rutted from livestock, making it difficult for the Hanoverian's favoured cavalry attacks to be as effective as usual. It didn't go all the Jacobite's way however, as Hawley exploited the lower terrain to protect his northern troops from Jacobean cavalry, and where there was no cavalry in front of his men to counteract the highland charge. To the north of the battle lines was a large V-shaped ravine in the hillside that was difficult to pass through (marked on the map below), making Jacobean cavalry ineffective on that flank. Hawley however was hemmed in on his south flank by the marshy ground next to the Glen Burn, running east/west, which prevented his cavalry from doing a flank attack by looping south.
Probably realising that Hawley had a sound defensible position, even on lower ground, Lord George Murray, the Jacobean Commander, managed to maintain discipline in his own highland troops to an extent, and didn't rush into the attack. He waited, and the Hanoverians soon went on the offensive, predictably Hawley had given the command for his cavalry to attack. This may have been exactly what Murray expected, as a veteran of the 1715 Rebellion, who's brother faced Hawley's cavalry across the battlefield at Sherrifmuir.
The Battlefield Shown On The Modern OS Map
