On 11 May 1745, a British, Hanoverian and Dutch army under the command of King George II’s second son, the Duke of Cumberland, was defeated by a French army under the command of Marshal de Saxe at the battle of Fontenoy. Today the battle is remembered as a striking example of European Enlightenment warfare, characterized by disciplined close-order ghting according to ‘civilized’ rules of engagement.2 As I will show however, much of this legacy rests on tales of battle eld civility that may never have taken place. Curiously, among the ctions of that day are some that relate to the purported presence at and participation in the battle by one of the Scottish Enlightenment’s most prescient social and political theorists, Adam Ferguson.