The insurgents proposed to cross the Forth by detaching a portion of their army for the apparent purpose of effecting a passage at Stirling, and by sending their main body by the upper fords while the Royalists were engaged at the bridge. Argyll, however, having heard of his enemies’ intentions, determined to take the initiative. Marching out of Stirling on November 12th, he blocked the Highlanders’ way at Sheriffmuir, where on the following day an indecisive battle was fought. The right wing of each army was successful, and both sides claimed the victory, but as Mar was prevented from crossing the Forth the advantage really lay with Argyll. During the absence of the army at Sheriffmuir the town and castle of Stirling were garrisoned by five hundred volunteers from Glasgow, who had camped for nearly two months in the Park with Wightman’s regular troops. The next appearance of Stirling Castle in history is during the Rebellion of the Forty-five, although not until after the retreat from Derby did the enemy come before its gates. True, in September, 1745, the Highlanders passed so close to the castle that guns were fired from the battlements, but Charles was pushing on rapidly to Edinburgh and had no mind for a siege by the way. It was on the 6th of January, 1746, that the Highland army appeared again in the neighbourhood of Stirling. Charles Edward took up residence in Bannockburn House, while his soldiers camped in the vicinity, and on the same day the town of Stirling was summoned to surrender. Seeing no prospect of holding out against the dreaded mountaineers, the citizens capitulated on the 8th of the month, but the castle garrison under General Blakeney prepared to resist to the last extremity. To Charles’s demand for the delivery of the fortress the General proudly replied that His Royal Highness must have a bad opinion of him to think him capable of surrendering the castle in such a cowardly manner.[88]