A long shadow--Culloden

Culloden.  The very word evokes almost a hushed silence as it falls from the lips...yes in reverence to courage.  But also in memory of the sorrow of indefensible loss, the near obliteration of the Highland way of life and the incalculable pain by the Crown's response--forced eviction in the "Highland Clearances" and oppressive edicts designed to do away with Gaelic culture altogether.

Mass graves of the Clans--Culloden April 9, 2022

Culloden was a tragedy in every sense of the word.  "Bonnie Prince Charlie's" vain pretense to the throne of Great Britain died at Culloden on April 16, 1746.  Unfortunately, his royal ambition took to the grave nearly 2000 Scot Highlanders along with it at Drummossie Moor, now generally called Culloden.

According to Historic Environment Scotland: "There is little doubt that Culloden is one of the most emotive battles to have been fought in the UK."  Emotive?  Aye.  No denying and far more.  Culloden "cast a long shadow" as historian Murray Pittock with the University of Glasgow puts it.  Its shadow is still cast.   

On the thankful side, Culloden is the last pitched battle on Great Britain's soil.  The battle is also a testament to the inadvisability of having a prince (or aspirant king) lead troops in battle. 

Not until after June 24, 1859 would the advice to keep princes out of the battle take hold in Europe.  Hindsight after horrific losses under Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph at the Battle of Solferino during the Second Italian War of Independence.  300,000 troops were engaged.  Suffering of the wounded left on the field literally to fend for themselves (the military custom of princes in that day) was so terrible, the Swiss merchant Jean-Henri Dunant who had ministered aid to Solferino's abandoned wounded would ultimately drive the enactment of the Geneva Conventions and establish the International Red Cross.

Leanach Cottage, Culloden, April 9, 2022

Culloden had its princely horrors in the shadows too...the sufferings, suppression and genocidal massacres afterwards.  It is said, in one example, Duke of Cumberland (e.g. Prince William, third and youngest son of Hanoverian King George II of Great Britain) pointed at a wounded highlander, apparently at Lieutenant Colonel Charles Fraser, after the battle at Culloden and directed Major James Wolfe to shoot him.  Wolfe refused, reputedly saying that his commission was at the disposal of the Duke...but not his honor.  Wolfe incidentally would go on to glory in the French and Indian War in America, dying on the Plains of Abraham below Quebec on September 17, 1759 in victory over the French.

Some always seem willing to carry out dark deeds in war.  Upon Wolfe's refusal, the Duke commanded a private to shoot the highlander.  So he was.  Government troops were sent across Culloden battlefield to bayonet all surviving Highlanders, wounded or otherwise, earning Cumberland his epithet, either "Sweet William" or "The Butcher" depending on one's sensitivities.  Over next several years, some 80 Jacobite were hung.  Hundreds more were sent as slaves to the sugar plantations in the Caribbean. 

Well of the Dead, Culloden April 9, 2022

Culloden was, but it should not have been.  Bonny Prince Charlie and his advisors chose the battleground at Drummosie Moor (against advice from the Jacobite's able Lord General John Murray).  And while Prince Charlie chose it, the government troops defined its  range by its massed its artillery--ten 3 pounders and 6 mortars--behind the Government's forward line.  

The Jacobite had more or less been successful in all their battles during "the 45" uprising--except their last at Culloden.  Success and ambition have a way of distorting things, true then, true now.  The reality then was that the Jacobite army was exhausted on the day of the Culloden battle, poorly provisioned, dispirited, in dissension and...outnumbered.  It was in no position to offer a set piece battle that day at that hour.  Highland reinforcements had yet to arrive, as the Jacobite army began to take up its positions at Culloden.  

Among the strategies suggested was to break off contact, move to the northern Highlands and to carry out a guerilla campaign to give the army time to refurbish and resupply.  This would not, however, get Bonnie Prince Charlie to the throne.  And it was all about Bonnie Charlie.  So, Prince Charlie formed up on the battleground suggested by his Secretary, Sir John William O'Sullivan, the adjutant and quartermaster general of the Jacobite army.  Remaining at odds with that choice, Murray went on record.  He believed the moorland would nullify the one battle tactic Scots had--it would hamper a Highland charge.

Location of the Jacobite Line, Culloden, April 9, 2022

To offset their disadvantages, the Jacobite attempted a surprise attack during the night of April 15th.  About 4,500 Jacobite set off to strike Duke of Cumberland's army in camp, some ten miles distant.  The night march was chaotic and slow.  It was called off before dawn.  The Duke awoke his army at 4 a.m., prior to arrival of the struggling Jacobite units.  With the element of surprise lost, Jacobite troops returned to Culloden...hungry and exhausted.  At 5 a.m., the Duke put his army to field.  By late morning, about 11 a.m., the two armies came into view of each other, and formed into their battle positions by 1 p.m.  

A few minutes later, artillery fire was exchanged, initiated by the Jacobite without effect.  Unlike the Jacobite, however, government gunners were well-trained under William Belford, part of the first generation of artillery officers to be promoted based on merit, not political connections.  The government's artillery wrecked havoc on the Highland lines for half an hour.  Prince Charlie delayed because he anticipated the Government line would advance.  They did not comply with Charlie's assumptions.  So, a great part of whatever field advantage he presumed he had was abandoned.  Unable to sustain the Government's artillery fire on his Highlander lines by further waiting for the Duke to advance, Prince Charlie ordered the clansmen forward...across the boggy terrain of Drummosie Moor directly onto the Duke's killing field, which was ranged by effective artillery fire and massed muskets.

Highland cattle grazing to recreate bog, April 9, 2022

Recent geophysical surveys and metal detection sweeps indicate that Culloden's courageous Highlanders had, even so, came much closer to breaking the government lines in the "Field of the English" than has once been assumed.  Some fought their way, temporarily, to the second line.  Those who survived the charge across the moor collided with government line about 5 minutes after the advance was ordered.  

They closed in ferocious close quarter combat, but the Battle of Culloden was decided within fifteen minutes of the Highland charge even being ordered.  From start to finish, the battle lasted less than an hour.  

An hour...it cast a long shadow.  Archaic weapons with antiquated tactics were simply no match.  Culloden had changed everything.  

Government line from enclosure, April 9, 2022

Not all agree with this "older" characterization of Culloden as a battle between a professional army with artillery and muskets beating wild Highlanders with swords.  Battlefield archeological research now suggests the Jacobite had far more muskets than was once assumed.  They were well supplied with Spanish and French muskets.  

Positions of opposing infantry fights have been determined by metal detection because of the difference in caliber between the Spanish and French supplied muskets of the Jacobite, and the the British "Brown Bess".  That is not absolute, however, since the Jacobite also deployed British muskets taken in earlier "45" battles.  

A reversal in roles has been suggested.  Rather than Royal muskets cutting down Highland swordsmen, it has been speculated that Royal Dragoons (i.e. British swords) cut down Jacobite musketeers.  Perhaps.  That may be too fine distinction.  Horse in that day were used to flank lines, reconnoiter and finish the fight, or prevent their own lines from being flanked.  The Jacobite infantry began a retreat at 1:50 p.m.  Immediately upon their retreat, Government dragoons were set loose to flank them, to turn what was a Jacobite defeat into a strategic rout.  The Government dragoons succeeded in their mission.  Further, it cannot be ignored that Government artillery forced Prince Charlie to order the disastrous charge over Drummosie Moor rather than hope to lure the Duke's army toward the waiting Highland swordsmen, Jacobite muskets or British horse notwithstanding. 

Culwhiniac enclosure, Culloden, April 9, 2022

Our visit to Culloden came a week shy of the battle's 276th year commemoration.  Little doubt, we had similar weather.  The fighters at Culloden are said to have endured "a howling, freezing gale, on Wednesday, April 16, 1746."  Our Saturday, April 9th visit was also cold, a very blustery day of mixed skies.  

Blue skies attempted to break through; but each time they tried, they were hurled back by cells of sleet and hard kernel snow.  It was disorienting, near the edge of hypothermia.  The wind found ways around our sleeves, collars and pant legs to rob anything that might resemble body heat.  And in a final act of contempt of our presence on the battlefield, it pelted us with hard snow or stung us with wet sleet.

We had wanted to walk to the Clava Cairns from the battlefield, but low-lying snow squalls concealed the route and direction over the River Nairn, which we would have needed to cross.  I won't call these squalls fog.  No fog packs that much wind in it.  We opted for the bus back to the warmth of our accommodations in Inverness. 

Memorial Cairn, Clan Cemetery, Culloden April 9, 2022

Having walked Culloden, its "long shadow" is understandable.  While at the Battlefield Cairn, we spoke with a Scot family, three generations of them actually.  Beyond routine casual comments about the battlefield, our respective homes, and events so similar today (like Ukraine) the older gentleman chuckled that he remembered coming here as a youth.  His son, now a middle aged man, was taking picture of his sons, who posed at the memorial cairn like he did years ago. The cairn was erected by Duncan Forbes in 1881 in the Clan Cemetery to memorialize the fallen Highlanders.    

Culloden is now an inalienable part of the Highland people.  Its lines woven into the very fabric of their generations.