The Battle of Culloden

Scotland, 16th April 1746

By seven o'clock on the morning of 16th April 1746, the Highland army (mainly Scots but containing contingents of French, Irish and some English) of Prince Charles Edward Stuart (the 'young pretender') had assembled on Drummossie Moor, near Inverness. There were approximately 5,000 of them. They had responded to the call of the pipes and were waiting for the beginning of what was to be the last battle ever fought on British soil. Everything seemed to be against them. They were exhausted after a failed attempt to attack the Royal troops (mainly English but including some Scots battalions) by night at Nairn. The Royal troops numbered between 8,000 and 9,000. The idea was a sound one because the night before the Duke of Cumberland (the Royal commander, son of George II and a cousin of Prince Charles) had celebrated his birthday by issuing  brandy to the Royal troops. The Highlanders were hungry, the supply train having failed to provide food to the army for two days. But perhaps the worst of it was the field of battle itself. Prince Charles had chosen Drummossie Moor to fight but Lord George Murray (his Lieutenant-General) was dead-set against it. Even the Marquis d'Eguilles (the French ambassador to the rebel army) implored Prince Charles not to fight on the moor. The ground was flat and suited to regular troops and cavalry. The rebels had no real cavalry to speak of and the strength of the Highlanders lay in a downhill charge, not in exchanging volleys with regular troops.

The Duke of Cumberland, Charles Edward Stuart and Lord George Murray

Drummossie Moor as it is today

The Duke of Cumberland marched his army from Nairn and formed them on the battlefield as shown on the map below. The Royal troops had been trained in a new technique which they were to use this day for the first time in combat. Instead of engaging the man to their front, they had been trained to engage the unprotected right side of the attacker to their right. They had to trust to their colleague on their left to deal with the attacker to their front.

The Opposing Armies at Culloden

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