The young adventurer having assembled about fifteen hundred men, encamped in the neighbourhood of Fort William: two newly-raised companies, of the regiments of St. Clair and Murray, proceeding to Fort William, were attacked by a body of mountaineers, and after a resolute resistance, the soldiers, having expended all their ammunition, were forced to surrender. Lieutenant-General Sir John Cope, the commander-in-chief in Scotland, assembled the disposable force under his orders at Stirling, and advanced towards the road leading through the Highlands to Inverlochy, taking with him a thousand arms, in the expectation of being joined at Crieff by a body of well-affected Highlanders. A detachment of the SIXTH accompanied Sir John Cope in this advance through a wild country, where the soldiers were obliged to take their provision with them, and being disappointed of the Highlanders, the spare arms were sent back for want of carriage. On arriving at Dalwhinnie,--the place where the Fort Augustus and Inverness roads meet, information was received that the rebels were in force in a position in the winding of the road up the mountain, of such difficult approach and natural strength, that it was thought impossible to force it, and the soldiers, having only two days' provision with them, retired by Ruthven to Inverness. A veteran serjeant of the regiment, named MOLLOY, and twelve men were left in charge of the little fort at _Ruthven_, which they defended against the rebel host with such distinguished bravery, that the following letter from this brave man to Sir John Cope deserves a place in this memoir. "_Ruthven Redoubt, 30th August, 1745._ "HON. GENERAL,