Battle of Culloden

The Battle of Culloden, fought on 16 April 1746, was the final confrontation of the Jacobite Rising of 1745 and the last pitched battle fought on British soil.[3][1] The forces of Prince Charles Edward Stuart, attempting to reclaim the throne for his family, met a British army led by the Duke of Cumberland, son of the Hanoverian King George II.[1] The battle, which lasted only 40 minutes, resulted in bitter defeat for the heavily outnumbered Jacobites. Some 1,000 of the Young Pretender's army of 5,000 weak and starving Highlanders were killed by the 9,000 Redcoats, who lost only 50 men.[3]

Background and Context

In 1688, in an act that was immediately hailed as a 'Glorious Revolution', Parliament and an overwhelmingly Protestant political nation deposed the Roman Catholic King James II. His arbitrary actions and fostering of a powerful standing army had appeared to presage the establishment of an absolute Catholic monarchy.[1] The Jacobites, supporters of King James II and his descendants, sought to restore the House of Stuart to the British throne. In 1715, 1719 and again in 1745, they tried to overthrow the ruling Hanoverian Royal Family.[1]

The 1745 Jacobite Rising, also known as "The Forty-Five," was the most famous and ambitious of all the Jacobite rebellions. Led by Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie), the grandson of James VII & II, this uprising was the last and most determined attempt to restore the House of Stuart to the throne of Britain.[5]

The Campaign Leading to Culloden

In spring 1746, the Jacobite rising was in trouble. The decision to return north from Derby, rather than press on to London, had marked a turning point in their fortunes. Despite victory at the Battle of Falkirk in January, the Jacobites had not capitalised on their success.[2] After receiving French reinforcements the highlanders defeated the first government army sent against them at Falkirk (17 January 1746). But by the time the highland army came up against the Duke of Cumberland's forces on Culloden Moor on 16 April, it was dispirited, poorly supplied and suffering heavy desertion.[1]

While at Aberdeen Cumberland prepared his troops for the forthcoming battle against the highlanders. Cumberland and his soldiers were determined there should not be another defeat like the Battles of Prestonpans and Falkirk. In addition to practising volley firing the troops were taught a form of bayonet fighting; the first time in the British army that the use of the bayonet was the subject of tuition.[4]

The Failed Night Attack

On 15th April 1746, the Royal Army camped at Nairn, where it celebrated the Duke of Cumberland's birthday. On that night, the Jacobites attempted a night attack on Cumberland's camp. The approach march was a failure with men falling far behind and losing themselves in the boggy country. With dawn breaking the Jacobites were not near enough to launch their attack and were forced to return to Culloden, exhausted, discouraged and hungry.[4]

The Battle

The Royal Army rose early on 16th April 1746 and began its approach march to Culloden, moving onto the moor in four columns. The troops were well fed and rested, confident and determined.[4] The highland army mustered only 5,000 men at Culloden; some 2,000 were on operations elsewhere. Its mounted arm was very weak and the motley collection of 12 cannon available was of different calibres and poorly served.[1]

At around 1pm, the Jacobite artillery opened fire on government soldiers. The government responded with their own cannon, and the Battle of Culloden began.[2] Over the first half-hour of the battle, Cumberland's artillery battered the Jacobite lines, first with roundshot and then grapeshot.[10]

Bombarded by cannon shot and mortar bombs, the Jacobite clans held back, waiting for the order to attack. When at last they moved forward, it was through driving rain, smoke, gunfire and grapeshot. Upon reaching the government lines, some fought ferociously; many others never reached their goal. This time the government troops were prepared for the dreaded Highland charge; under brutal gunfire and faced with deadly bayonets, the Jacobites were forced to retreat.[2]

The devastating slaughter of the Jacobites was the result of the opening British cannonade and subsequent tactics of the Redcoats during the attack of the Highlanders, when each British soldier, instead of attacking the Highlander directly in front of him, bayoneted the exposed side of the man to his right.[3]

Casualties and Aftermath

Culloden was the last pitched battle on British soil and, in less than an hour, around 1,300 men were slain – about 1,250 of them Jacobites.[2] Between 1,000 and 1,500 of Prince Charles Edward's men were killed. Few were wounded. The casualties on Cumberland's side were significantly lower: 50 dead and 259 wounded.[1]

Cumberland's men harried the highlands, burning homes and driving off cattle. The British government determined to destroy the highland way of life, forbidding the wearing of highland dress, the carrying of weapons and passing laws against the clan system.[1] The Duke of Cumberland's ruthless tactics spared no quarter, and in the aftermath of the battle, hundreds of Jacobite prisoners were executed, while many more were subjected to harsh reprisals and punitive measures.[6]

Impact on Gaelic Culture and Highland Society

The fall of the Gaelic world came with the collapse of the clan system after the Jacobite risings of the 18th century. The defeat at Culloden in 1746 marked not only the end of the Jacobite cause but also the destruction of Gaelic culture.[22]

The aftermath of the battle resulted in the burning of many homes, and a mandate to further supress the highland way of life. The wearing of highland dress, including the kilt was forbidden in a law known as the Dress Act 1746, although an exemption allowed the kilt to be worn in the army, continuing the tradition established by the Black Watch regiment. Carrying weapons was also outlawed, and new laws were passed to dismantle the clan system in the Act of Proscription 1746.[11]

It banned Highland dress (most notably the wearing of the kilt), the playing of the bagpipes and the speaking of Gaelic.[21] Bagpipes were classified as an instrument of war. The clan chief system — the backbone of Highland society for centuries — was systematically dismantled. A whole culture was targeted for erasure.[15]

The Act of Proscription was followed by the Heritable Jurisdictions Act 1746 which removed the feudal authority of the Clan Chieftains. Scottish heritable sheriffdoms reverted to the Crown, and other heritable jurisdictions, including regalities, came under the power of the courts.[11]

The Decline of Gaelic Language and Culture

A large part of this would be to do with the final loss of the Jacobites in 1746 which was damaging to Gaelic, with this the British Government banned everything related to Highland culture. This caused a significant decline in the number of Gaelic speakers in Scotland and has led to the language running the risk of dying out.[20]

As English became the dominant language of administration and education, Gaelic culture was further eroded. The Gaelic language was discouraged, and Highland customs, once central to Scottish identity, began to fade.[5] The population of the Highlands fell by over 25% between 1755 and 1800, while the percentage of Gaelic speakers in Scotland dropped from 30% to just 6% (Lynch, 1992). It was a cultural as well as a physical displacement, with the old Highland way of life effectively destroyed.[19]

And the effects of this narrative and everything that came after the Battle were pretty far reaching as we already know with the banning of tartans, bagpipes, speaking the Gaelic language, carrying any sort of weapon, really anything that signified Gaelic culture was out. Which is so sad and disappointing, not only for those living through it, but for us here in the future, so many things were lost forever in the ban, bagpipe tunes that had been passed down by ear for centuries, plaid designs that were taught by eye, stories of origin that were told to the children.[18]

The Highland Clearances

The aftermath of the Battle of Culloden was swift and brutal, marking the beginning of a dark chapter in Scottish history known as the Highland Clearances. In the wake of the defeat, the British government embarked on a ruthless campaign to suppress Highland culture and dismantle the traditional clan system. The wearing of tartan and the carrying of weapons were banned, while clan chiefs were stripped of their powers and landholdings, leading to widespread social upheaval and economic hardship.[6]

And then we get to the Highland Clearances, where inhabitants of land in the highlands are forced to vacate their home and lands, so that livestock could be brought in. This began in the mid-to-late 18th century, so around the time of Culloden, and continued on and off well into the 19th century. And this removal really put a stop to the clan system with many leaving Scotland for good.[18]

A significant number of tenants in the Scottish Highlands and Islands were also evicted in a period known as the "Highland Clearances", replacing the open fields managed on the run rig system and shared grazing with large-scale pastoral farms. Tenants were unable to afford the higher rents, and landowners would often pay for them to emigrate with little choice on their destination. The primary motivation for the clearances was economic, as many of the clan Chiefs found themselves in financial debt and chose to ignore their obligations under the 'Duthcas' system.[11]

Transformation of Highland Warriors

The Act of Proscription provided a way out, for it was a deliberately double-edged sword – whilst it banned the traditional form of the martial culture so central to Highland life, it permitted a new form of it to flourish in the service of the British Army. Highlanders who took the King's shilling and donned the red coat could again carry their swords and muskets and wear the plaid and bonnet, recapturing the essence of their warlike traditions. These incentives combined with their dire economic situation overcame much of the animosity felt by Highland Scots towards the British Establishment.[17]

Legacy and Historical Significance

The Battle of Culloden marked the end of any serious attempt by the Jacobites to restore the Stuart dynasty to the British throne.[3] In fact, the rebellion was small, but it had enormous psychological impact upon the Highland Scots, and severe civil penalties thereafter (for example, it became a criminal offense to wear tartan plaid). What followed can be described as cultural vandalism, with the destruction of a way of life that many had found meaningful, giving them a sense of identity and kinship.[8]

For Highlanders, Culloden was not simply a lost battle. It set in motion the Highland Clearances — the forced removal of communities from their ancestral lands across the following century.[15] On a broader level, Culloden marked a major turning point in British history. By ending the last armed challenge to Hanoverian rule, it cemented the Protestant succession and parliamentary monarchy established by the Glorious Revolution.[19]