glencoe07 General Wade The Year is ... 1783 The MacDonalds along with many other Highland Clans were Jacobites, supports of James VII's attempts to regain the throne after the Revolution of 1688-89. From 1689 to 1746, a series of uprising took place in the Highlands against the government. As a direct response to the Jacobite Risings of 1689 at Killiecrankie and 1715, the then king, George I, sent the experienced soldier General Wade of Scotland to inspect the present situation of the Highlanders. Wade reported back that there were 12,000 men ready to rise in favor of the Pretender, and he noted, from the want of roads and bridges government troops were grossly disadvantaged. The king and government took swift action and Wade was appointed to build roads that would link the military strongholds of Fort William, Fort Augustus and Fort George. The old drove road, which links Allt na Feadh at the East end of Glencoe to Kinlochleven was built as a military road in the 1700s by Wade's Inspector of Roads, General Caulfield. It's zigzagging route has earned it the name of the Devil's Staircase. Today it forms part of the West Highland Way.