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Battle of Culloden
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The Battle of Culloden was the final clash between the French-supported Jacobites and the Hanoverian British Government in the 1745 Jacobite Rising. Culloden brought the Jacobite cause—to restore the House of Stuart to the throne of the Kingdom of Great Britain—to a decisive defeat.
The Jacobites—the majority of them Highland Scots, although containing significant numbers of Lowland forces—supported the claim of James Francis Edward Stuart ("The Old Pretender") to the throne; the government army, under the Duke of Cumberland, younger son of the Hanoverian sovereign, King George II, supported his father's cause. It too included significant numbers of Highland Scots, as well as Scottish Lowlanders and some English troops.
The aftermath of the battle was brutal and earned the victorious general the nickname "Butcher" Cumberland. Charles Edward Stuart eventually left Britain and went to Rome, never to attempt to take the throne again. Civil penalties were also severe. New laws attacked the Highlanders' clan system, and Highland dress was outlawed.
The last battle on British soil?It is often claimed that Culloden was the last land battle to be fought on mainland Britain. This is highly questionable for a number of reasons, firstly in Scotland, the Battle of Bonnymuir took place in 1820, and in England, the Battle of Bossenden Wood took place in Kent in 1838.
Opposing forcesJacobite Army
The bulk of the Jacobite Army was made up of both "Highlanders" and "Lowlanders" and was raised by both volunteers and forced recruits. A large number of men which made up the Jacobite Army were volunteers. These men made up the gentlemen (officers), cavalry and lowland units, and as such did much of the fighting during the campaign. The clans which supported the Jacobite cause tended to be Roman Catholic and Scottish Episcopalian, while clans which tended to be Presbyterian sided more with the British Government. Nearly three quarters of the Jacobite army was composed of highland clansmen, the majority of them being Roman Catholic, but more than a third being Scottish Episcopalians. The Highlanders served in the clan regiments which were recruited largely from the western highlands of Scotland. The bulk of these men were forced to join by their clan chiefs, landlords or feudal superiors. In consequence it mattered little whether the average clansmen believed in the Jacobite cause or not. Because of recruiting in this manner, when the campaign began to fizzle out in the lead up to the battle, desertion was major handicap to the Highland regiments within the Jacobite Army.
One of the fundamental problems with the Jacobite Army was the lack of trained officers. The Jacobite Army's lack of professionalism and training was readily apparent, even the colonels of the Macdonald regiments of Clanranald and Keppoch considered their men to be uncontrollable. A typical clan regiment was made up of a small minority of gentlemen who would bear the "clan name", and under them the common soldiers or "clansmen" who bore a mixed bag of names. The clan gentlemen formed the front ranks of the unit and were more heavily armed than their impoverished tenants who made up the bulk of the regiment. Because they served in the front ranks the gentlemen suffered higher proportional casualties than the common clansman. The gentlemen of the Appin Regiment suffered one quarter of those killed, and one third of those wounded from their regiment. The Jacobites started the campaign poorly armed. At the Battle of Prestonpans, some only had swords, Lochaber Axes, pitchforks and scythes. Even though popular lore attributes a common highlander equipped with a broadsword, targe and pistol - it was only an officer or gentleman who was equipped this way. Further illustrating this point, following the conclusion of the battle, Cumberland reported that there were 2,320 firelocks recovered from the battlefield, but only 190 broadswords. From this it can be determined that of the roughly 1,000 Jacobites killed at Culloden, only one in five carried a sword. As the campaign progressed the Jacobites improved their equipment considerably. For instance, 1,500–1,600 stack of arms were landed in October. In consequence, by the time of the Battle of Culloden the Jacobite Army was equipped with .69 calibre French and Spanish firelocks.
During the later stage of the campaign the Jacobites were reinforced with several units of French regulars. These units, like Fitzjames' Horse, and the Irish Picquets were drawn from the Irish Brigade (Irish units in the French service). Another unit was the Royal Écossois ("Royal Scots"), which was a Scottish unit in the French service. A high proportion of these units were made up of mercenaries and "turned" prisoners of war. In fact, Fitzjames' Horse was mostly made up of English troops, not Irish, and also included a number of merchant sailors. Also, almost half of the Irish Picquets who fought the battle had been press-ganged from 6th (Guise's) Foot at Fort Augustus. The Royal Écossois also contained deserters, and the commander, Drummond, attempted to raise a second battalion after the unit had arrived in Scotland. The Jacobite artillery has been generally regarded as being ineffective at the Battle of Culloden. Several modern accounts of the Battle of Culloden claim that the Jacobite artillery suffered from having several cannon with different calibres of shot. In fact, all but one of the cannon employed by the Jacobite Army were 3-pounders.
British ArmyThe British Army at the Battle of Culloden was made up of infantry, cavalry, and artillery. Of the Army's 16 infantry battalions present, 4 were Scottish units. The officers of the infantry were made up of the upper classes and aristocracy. While the rank and file of the army was made up of the poor agricultural workers. On the outbreak of the Jacobite Rising extra incentives were given to lure recruits to fill the ranks of depleted units. For instance, on September 6 1745 every new recruit who joined the Guards before September 24 were given £6, and those who joined in the last days of the mounth were given £4. Regiments were named after their Colonel. In theory an infantry regiment would comprise up to ten companies of up to 70 men. They would then be 815 strong, including officers. However, regiments were rarely anywhere near this large, and at the Battle of Culloden the regiments were not much larger than about 400 men.
The British Cavalry arrived in Scotland in January 1746. They were not combat experienced, having spent the last several years in service in anti smuggling duties. A standard cavalryman had a Land Service pistol and a carbine. However the main weapon used by the British Cavalry was a sword with a 35-inch blade.
The Royal Artillery vastly out performed their Jacobite counterparts during the Battle of Culloden. However up until this point in the campaign the British artillery had performed dismally. The main weapon of the artillery was the 3-pounder. This weapon had a range of and fire two kinds of shot: round iron and canister. The other weapon utilised by the artillery was the Coehorn mortar. These had a calibre of 4 inches (11 cm).
The BattleThe Duke of Cumberland and his army of around 8,811 men arrived at Nairn on 14 April. The Jacobite forces of about 5,400 left their base at Inverness, leaving most of their supplies, and assembled 5 miles (8 km) to the east near Drummossie, around 12 miles (19 km) before Nairn. Charles Edward Stuart had decided to personally command his forces and took the advice of his adjutant general, Secretary O’Sullivan, who chose to stage a defensive action at Drummossie Moor, a stretch of open moorland enclosed between the walled Culloden enclosures to the North and the walls of Culloden Park to the South . Lord George Murray "did not like the ground" and with other senior officers pointed out the unsuitability of the rough moorland terrain which was highly advantageous to the Duke with the marshy and uneven ground making the famed Highland charge somewhat more difficult while remaining open to Cumberland’s powerful artillery. They had argued for a guerrilla campaign, but Charles Edward Stuart refused to change his mind.
On 15 April the Government army celebrated Cumberland's birthday, drinking his health at his expense. At the suggestion of Murray the Jacobites tried that evening to repeat the success of Prestonpans by carrying out a night attack on the government army encampment, but the half-starved Highlanders who had only had one biscuit apiece during the day were still 2 miles (3 km) short of Nairn by dawn and had to march back, then dispersed to search for food or fell asleep in ditches and outbuildings. Many of them lay exhausted in the grounds of Culloden House throughout the battle.
Early on 16 April the Government army marched from Nairn, and Jacobite guns sounded the alarm (though not all heard) to bring their troops to form two lines. The front line of exhausted highland foot soldiers had guns in the centre and on the flanks, the second line included their horse regiments, worn out from the night march, and the Scots and Irish regiments of the French army. The weather was very poor with a gale driving sleety rain into the faces of the Jacobites. The Duke's forces arrived around mid day and initially deployed in three lines. Upon observing the ground and rebel dispositions, the Duke thinned his army to two lines, which he extended to his left, their left flank anchored on a low stone wall running along the south end of the field towards Culloden Park. The Duke posted Wolfe's Regiment forward of his left flank, able to enfilade any attack by the Jacobite right wing. Horse Dragoons and Government militia moved round behind the wall to infiltrate the park around the Jacobite flank. The Jacobite Army's artillery, outnumbered some three to one, opened fire first but due to a lack of trained gunners had little impact.
Over the next twenty minutes Cumberland's superior artillery continued to batter the Jacobite lines, while Charles, moved for safety out of sight of his own forces, waited for the government forces to move. Inexplicably, he left his forces arrayed under the Government fire for over half an hour. Although the marshy terrain minimized casualties, the morale of the Jacobites began to suffer. Several clan leaders, angry at the lack of action, pressured Charles to issue the order to charge. When he was eventually persuaded to issue the order, the McDonalds refused, angry because they had been placed on the left flank overturning their traditional right to take the right flank. The Clan Chattan was first away, but an area of boggy ground in front of them forced them to veer right so that they obstructed the following regiments and the attack was pushed towards the wall. The Highlanders advanced on the left flank of the Government troops but were subjected to several volleys of musket fire and the artillery which had switched from roundshot to grapeshot.
Despite this, a large number of Jacobites reached the Government lines, and for the first time a battle was decided by a direct clash between charging highlanders and formed redcoats equipped with muskets and socket bayonets. The highland charge broke and failed, the few rebels who managed to penetrate Cumberland's first line simply being shot down by the battalions in the second line. The fiercest fighting took place between Barrell's Regiment on the Royal left and Clan Cameron.
While the attack was still in progress, a small number of the Government forces had breached the park wall and the Campbell militia advanced unseen to fire at the right flank of the Jacobite lines. This added to all the other brutal gunfire, and threatened by cavalry the Jacobites were forced to retreat. The Duke ordered in his dragoons to rout the Jacobite forces, but the small contingent of Irish and other regular regiments covered the retreat as the Jacobites withdrew.
In a total of about 60 minutes the Duke was victorious, around 1,250 Jacobites were dead, a similar number were wounded, and 558 prisoners (336 Scots and Irish as well as 222 Frenchmen) were taken. Cumberland had about 52 dead and 259 wounded among his Government forces.
AftermathThe aftermath of the battle witnessed the last in a series of efforts by post-Restoration governments to tackle dissent in Scotland. A persecution committed by the Stuart regimes of Charles II and James VII and II inflicted upon the Covenanters, known as The Killing Time, helped provoke the Glorious Revolution. In the reign of William III, the Massacre of Glencoe served as a small-scale, demonstrative act of persecution, following which Scotland was at peace internally. Following the rebellion of 1715, the Hanoverian regime had pursued a mild and indulgent, 'softly softly' approach, but further rebellions took place in 1719 and 1745–6.
After the battle, Lord George Murray's general orders of the previous day fell into Hanoverian hands. Cumberland sent an order, "Officers and men will take notice that the Public orders of the rebels yesterday was to give us no quarter." It was later found that this was untrue, and the 'no quarter' section was nothing but a forgery. With this implicit order the Jacobite wounded and most prisoners were killed with bayonets, pistols and clubs. Indiscriminate killing went on for several days, all men bearing arms were hanged on location, and their womanfolk raped. Families fled from their scorched hovels and were left to starve. In total over 20,000 head of livestock, sheep and goats were driven off and sold at Fort Augustus, where the soldiers split the profits.
Certain higher-ranking prisoners survived to be tried and executed later in Inverness and three "rebel lords" were taken to London. It was for his insistence that these aristocrats were not pardoned, not for his actions in Scotland, that Cumberland was nicknamed "Butcher" by some. To most Scots, other Britons and inhabitants of the British colonies he was "Sweet William", and received, amongst other tokens of thanks, an honorary doctorate from the University of Glasgow and the gift of a house and garden from the Committee of Perth.
The Charles Edward Stuart fled the battlefield and survived for five months in Scotland despite a £30,000 reward for his capture. He eventually returned to France, making a dramatic if humiliating escape disguised as a "lady's maid" to Flora MacDonald.
Immediately after the battle, Cumberland rode into Inverness, his drawn sword still covered in blood, a symbolic and menacing gesture. The following day, the slaughter continued, when patrols were sent back to the battlefield to kill any survivors. Cumberland emptied the jails of British prisoners, and replaced them with Jacobite sympathisers. A number of the prisoners were taken south to England to stand trial for high treason. Trials took place at Berwick upon Tweed, York and London with many Jacobite prisoners being held in hulks on the Thames or in Tilbury Fort where there is a memorial stone. Executions were conducted on the basis of drawing lots on a ratio of about 1 in 20. In total 3,471 Jacobites supporters and others were taken prisoner in the aftermath of Culloden, with 120 of them being executed and 88 dying in prison; 936 transported to the colonies and 121 more "banished". While 1,287 were eventually released or exchanged, the fate of the others is lost to history. As well as dealing out summary justice to his captives Cumberland was equally ruthless, executing 36 deserters from his own forces found amongst the prisoners.
By contrast to the ruthless treatment of many captured clansmen, the detachments of Irish soldiers from the French army were permitted to formally surrender and were treated well and eventually returned to France. They were considered as regular soldiers of a foreign ruler and accordingly subject to the normal practices of warfare. The captured Jacobites were regarded as traitors (even if many had had no choice but to follow their clan leaders) and treated accordingly.
The Hanoverian forces' assault on the Jacobite sympathizers continued in the coming months—destroying the clan system with the Act of Proscription disarming them, banning the kilt and the tartan, the Tenures Abolition Act ending the feudal bond of military service and the Heritable Jurisdictions Act removing the virtually sovereign power the chiefs had over their clan. Statute provisions were aimed at proscribing the perceived religion of the Jacobites, Episcopalianism (Catholicism was already banned). Government troops were stationed in the Highlands and built more roads and barracks to better control the region, adding to the Wade roads constructed for Major-General George Wade after the 'Fifteen rising, as well a new fortress at Fort George to the east of Inverness. The proscribed clan dress of kilt and tartan was, at least officially, only permitted in the Highland regiments serving in the British Army.
Order of Battle: Culloden, April 16 1746British Army casualties| Regiment | Killed | Wounded |
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| 1st (Royal) Regiment | 0 | 4 | | 3rd Foot (Buffs) | 1 | 2 | | 4th (Barrell's) Foot | 17 | 108 | | 8th (Wolfe's) Foot | 0 | 1 | | 13th (Pulteney's) Foot | 0 | 0 | | 14th (Price's) Foot | 1 | 9 | | 20th (Sackville's) Foot | 4 | 17 | | 21st (North British) Fusiliers | 0 | 7 | | 25th (Sempill's) Foot | 1 | 13 | | 13th (Pulteney's) Foot | 0 | 0 | | 34th (Cholmondley's) Foot | 1 | 2 | | 36th (Fleming's) Foot | 0 | 6 | | 37th (Dejean's) Foot | 14 | 68 | | 59th (Ligonier's) Foot | 1 | 5 | | 62nd (Batereau's) Foot | 0 | 3 | | 64th (Loudon's) Foot | 6 | 3 | | Argyll Militia | 0 | 1 | | Royal Artillery | 0 | 6 | | Duke of Kingston's 10th Horse | 0
Horses: 2 | 1
Horses: 1 | | 10th (Cobham's) Dragoons | 1
Horses: 4 | 0
Horses: 5 | | 11th (Kerr's) Dragoons | 3
Horses: 4 | 3
Horses: 15 |
See footnote for source of table
Film and documentaries- Watkins, Peter, Culloden, BBC documentary, 1964 (based on Prebble).
- Battlefield Britain episode, BBC documentary.
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