Introduction
An Incident in the Rebellion of 1745
by David Morier
Woe is me! the white bodies
That lie out on yonder hillsides,
Uncoffined, unshrouded,
Not even buried in holes;
Those who survived the disaster
Are carried to exile o’erseas by the winds,
The Whigs have got their will of us,
And ‘rebels’ the name that we’re given.
This verse, from John Roy Stewart’s poem “Culloden Day” (Highland Songs of the Forty-five,, Scottish Gaelic Texts Society, 1984 - page 169), describes the aftermath of the last battle fought on British soil. “No quarter given” was the watchword of the day, and the British Army carried out the command to the letter. Of those Jacobite soldiers who survived, many were transported overseas sentenced to forced labor until they died.
The Rising of 1745 began in August 1745 with great promise against overwhelming odds. When the opposing armies met on Scotland’s Drummossie Moor eight months later, the Jacobite cause was lost and the Crown insured that the Highlands would never again rise up against the Hanoverian kings. Charles Edward Stuart’s hopes of regaining the British throne for his father, James Francis Edward, were shattered and the Highlanders who fought for him paid a dear price.
Today, the tragic battle fought on 16 April 1746 is known as the Battle of Culloden. On that fateful day, half of the undefeated Jacobite Army wasn’t on the battlefield and the half who fought there were hungry and exhausted. The chosen ground ill-suited their tactics, but Prince Charles refused to heed sounder advice. When the Duke of Cumberland ordered the British Army to form up on the moor, his men were well rested and well fed. These trained and disciplined soldiers numbered twice as many as the Jacobite Army, and they used superior weaponry.
The ‘Forty-five didn’t end on that fateful day. In the months afterward, a systematic subjugation of the Scottish Highlands ensued. Culloden and its horrific aftermath remain engraved in the pages of history and in the hearts and souls of the Scots. Like the American Civil War, brother fought against brother and father against son. Innocent people were forever changed. A way of life died.
In 1984 the National Trust for Scotland, which manages Culloden, dedicated a new visitor center. Colonel Sir Donald Hamish Cameron of Lochiel, the twenty-sixth chief of Clan Cameron, addressed those who gathered. “Highland gallantry and defiance were not enough to stem the tide of defeat. If one stands where the Highland army was drawn up and looks across the moor to where the Hanoverian army stood, less than five hundred yards away, one can only marvel at the gallantry shown by the clans when the order at last came to charge, and they unhesitatingly obeyed, sometimes over the fallen bodies of their comrades, charging with only their claymores into that cauldron of fire.”(1) His ancestor, the Gentle Lochiel, brought out the clan in support of Bonnie Prince Charlie. Many believe that had Lochiel chosen not to come out, the Rising of 1745 would have ended before it began.
Hindsight, though, is always perfect and loyalty ran deep amongst Highlanders of yore. The House of Stewart(2) had ruled Scotland for over one hundred years, and many believed that James Francis Edward Stuart was the rightful ruler, the Ard Righ or High King, of Scotland. Whether the chiefs believed in the Jacobite cause or not, they had pledged their loyalty to the Stuarts and their words were their bonds. Some clan chiefs, however, thought otherwise and either supported the Hanoverians or remained neutral during the ‘Forty-five. The Duke of Cumberland, who led the Royal Army, preferred not to distinguish between friend and foe in the aftermath of Culloden. All Highlanders paid the price for what the House of Stuart wrought.
What inspired the Rising of 1745?
Who were the key participants?
What major battles preceded Culloden?
How did the Hanoverian and Jacobite armies differ?
Why did the Hanoverian Army succeed at Culloden when previous encounters had failed?
What happened after the Battle of Culloden?
What became of those who supported the Jacobite cause?
This course answers these questions and others as we examine the events that culminated in the Battle of Culloden.
(1) Lochiel’s Address at the Dedication of Culloden’s new Visitor Centre can be read in its entirety at Clan Cameron’s Archives (http://www.lochiel.net/archives/arch008.html).
(2) Until Mary Queen of Scots returned from France after the death of her husband, the king of France, the Scottish kings spelled their name “Stewart.” Mary, however, had been educated in France and French doesn’t have a “w”. She signed her name “Mary Stuart,” which is how subsequent Stuarts also spelled their name. Therefore, House of Stewart refers to the Scottish royal house while House of Stuart refers to those who ruled both Scotland and England.
Lessons
Click here to see course syllabus
