The Jacobites And The Battle Of Culloden
In 1688 King James VII of Scotland and II of England and Ireland had been King for only three years - but already a lot of people disliked him. Most Protestants did not like being ruled by a Catholic King who did not get on well with his Parliaments. When his new Italian wife, Mary Beatrox of Modena, had a baby son, Prince James Francis, it seemed there was going to be a long line of Catholic kings just like James. In 1686, a group of conspirators met at Charborough House in Dorset to plan the overthrow of "the tyrant race of Stuarts". In 1688, a further conspiracy was launched at Old Whittington, Derbyshire to depose James and replace him with his daughter Mary and her husband, William of Orange — both Protestants and both grandchildren of Charles I of England. Before the birth of James's son, Mary was the heir to the throne and William was third in line. William was also stadtholder of the Netherlands, then in the early stages of the War of the Grand Alliance against France. Jumping at the chance to ally with England, William and Mary laid careful plans over a number of months for an invasion. Landing with a large army at Brixham, Devon on November 5, 1688, William was greeted with much popular support, and local men joined his army. On December 23 James then escaped to France.
In Scotland a special Convention Parliament (The term Convention Parliament has been applied to three different English Parliaments, of 1399, 1660 and 1689) met in Edinburgh in March 1689. King James and King William had sent letters to the convention so the members could choose who they wanted to be king. They chose William. Already King William III of England, he became William II of Scots. But not everyone was happy with this. James had supporters who called themselves Jacobites, from Jacobus, which is Latin for James. One Jacobite, General John Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee, rode out of Edinburgh in protest, with 50 followers, and began a rebellion. He raised King James' banner on Dundee Law and gathered an army in the Highlands. He beat a government army led by a Highlander, General Hugh Mackay of Scourie, in the battle of Killicrankie on 27 July 1689, but was fatally wounded. Less than a month later the Jacobite army of Highlanders were unable to capitalise on their success, following the loss of their leader, and were decisively defeated by only 800 government troops in a fierce battle at Dunkeld. A series of government expeditions to subdue the Highlands eventually led to Jacobite defeat in May 1690 and lingering hopes faded with news of the Battle of the Boyne. A year later the Jacobites were forced to agree to a truce while the Clan chieftains sent requests to the exiled James VII and II for permission to submit to William, and in January 1692 the Jacobite Clans formally surrendered to the government.
In 1701 James II and VII died. He was succeeded in his claims by his son, James Francis Edward Stuart. He was recognised as King James III of England and King James VIII of Scotland by the courts of France, Spain, and Modena, and by the pope; to his detractors he was eventually to be known as the Old Pretender. King William died in 1702. He had fallen off his horse when it tripped over a molehill. The Jacobites drank toasts to “the little gentleman in the black velvet waistcoat” meaning the mole, which had killed their enemy. Years later, Sir Winston Churchill, in his epic the History of the English Speaking Peoples, put it more poetically when he said that the fall "opened the trapdoor to a host of lurking foes".
Thus to the die-hard believers in the hereditary right of James were added the dissatisfied. Jacobitism became a magnet for almost anyone with a grudge against the government. The Union of 1707 then produced what was for many Scots the grudge to end all grudges.
Scotland is ripe for sedition
The ink was hardly dry on the treaty before it was being widely denounced, and Scotland was ripe for sedition. The French, who were at war with Britain, suddenly saw an advantage to be gained here. They would land the new Jacobite heir, James III 'The Old Pretender' in his ancestral kingdom and start a rebellion. It was an excellent opportunity to unite much of the nation, even many Presbyterians, on the Jacobite side against the Union.
The abortive 1708 rising was dogged with bad luck, however, and possible sabotage. Louis XIV of France provided him with 30 ships and 6,000 men to invade in 1708. The fleet anchored off the Fife coast, but retreated when the Royal Navy arrived. Many of the French ships were lost in bad weather on their way home.
Six years later a motion in the House of Lords to dismantle the Union only just failed by four votes. Then, in the same year, Queen Anne died and was succeeded by George I of Hanover. The controversial question of succession intensified and the following year many nobles and Tories, disaffected with their lot within the union, rose in favour of a Stuart monarchy.
Jacobites Faile To Win A Decisive Victory
In 1715, a more serious effort was made when John Erskine, 11th Earl of Mar, raised the Jacobite standard in the northeast and proclaimed James Francis as the rightful king. Yet despite being supported by influential nobles and powerful clans, Mar hesitated. He proved to be no great military leader. He fought a badly commanded battle at Sherriffmuir, where the Jacobites outnumbered the Hanoverian forces under the Duke of Argyll by two to one, but failed to win a decisive victory. Not even the arrival and coronation of James Stuart as King James VIII could reverse Jacobite fortunes. Eventually the rising fizzled out when 6000 Dutch troops landed in support of the Hanoverian government and the forces of King James scattered under the pressure of bad leadership and lack of foreign aid. By the time The Old Pretender landed in Peterhead in December, the revolt was over and he left for Rome six weeks later, never to return.
Argyll along with many other Scots viewed Jacobitism as a political problem which could be resolved through political means by persuading the Jacobite nobles of the benefits of a regime in London. The Government in London saw things differently, viewing Jacobitism as a military problem which required a military solution. Like Cromwell before them, they opted to garrison the Highlands, building barracks like Ruthven to quash further rebellion and constructing a system of roads and bridges, under the command of General Wade, in order to supply the new system of forts and allow the rapid deployment of troops. Wade oversaw the construction of over 250 miles of road and numerous bridges which are in use to this day. It was a hugely expensive operation which was scaled down by the early 1740’s when the Jacobite threat appeared to have receded, but it showed how seriously the House of Hanover took the Jacobite threat. (See separate story of General Wade).
With France still at peace, the Jacobites found a new ally in Spain's Minister to the King, Cardinal Giulio Alberoni, but an invasion force which set sail in 1719 failed to reach England and the party of Jacobites and Spanish soldiers which reached Scotland met only lukewarm support and the Spanish soldiers were forced to surrender at the Battle of Glen Shiel. Now it was left to the next generation to make the most dramatic but ultimately the most tragic attempt to reinstate the Stewart dynasty.
France Declares War
During 1743 the War of the Austrian Succession drew Britain and France into open, though unofficial, hostilities against each other. Through Semphill, English Jacobites made a formal request to France for armed intervention. The French king's Master of Horse toured southern England meeting Tories and discussing their proposals, and in November 1743 Louis XV of France authorised a large-scale invasion of southern England in February 1744. Charles Edward Stuart (later known as Bonnie Prince Charlie or the Young Pretender) who was in exile in Rome with his father (James Francis) was invited to accompany the expedition and rushed to France, but a storm destroyed the attempt. The British lodged strong diplomatic objections to the presence of Charles, and France declared war but abandoned ideas of Jacobite risings and gave Charles no more encouragement.
The final threat to the Union came with the 1745 Jacobite Rising when Charles Edward Stuart, or Bonnie Prince Charlie as he was known, disappointed at French unwillingness to invade in 1744, decided to finance his own rising. When Charles arrived in Scotland he had one ship and seven close advisers with him. The other vessel which had most of his men and weapons on board was attacked by the Royal Navy and had to go home. Not surprisingly, the first chiefs he met told him to go home. With support from some of the Catholic MacDonalds, Charles was able to gather his men at Glenfinnan. There the standard was raised on 19 August 1745, and his father was proclaimed King James III and VIII.
The rebellion had remarkable initial success. Many Hanoverian troops had been withdrawn to fight the regime's wars abroad, and only a handful remained to defend Scotland. This, plus the general reluctance of the population to martyr themselves for George II, allowed Charles to occupy Edinburgh virtually unopposed.
Jacobites defeat General Sir John Cope
In a move to whip up popular support, he decreed the Union to be abolished. General Sir John Cope and his government army at last caught up and camped outside Edinburgh. But in the morning of 21 September, the Jacobites surprised and defeated his troops in battle at Prestonpans. Charles Edward assured his commanders that his loyal English subjects would join them, and that massive French military aid would be forthcoming. It soon turned out that the Prince's promises were mostly empty.
There was alarm in England, and in London a patriotic song was performed including the defiant verse:
Lord grant that Marshal Wade
Shall by thy mighty aid
Victory bring
May he sedition hush,
And like a torrent rush
Rebellious Scots to crush
God save the King.
This song was widely adopted and was to become the National Anthem (usually sung without that verse)
Lord grant that Marshal Wade
Shall by thy mighty aid
Victory bring
May he sedition hush,
And like a torrent rush
Rebellious Scots to crush
God save the King.
This song was widely adopted and was to become the National Anthem (usually sung without that verse)
Charles and his army then marched into the north-west of England. Some English Jacobites came to join him - but not many. At Derby Lord George Murray and the other chiefs advised Charles to return to Scotland and wait for French help, instead of going on to London. He was forced to agree. A government army, led by the king's younger son, Prince William, Duke of Cumberland, was following them.
Back in Scotland the Jacobites tried and failed to capture Stirling Castle, but defeated General Henry Hawley's army at Falkirk on 17 January 1746. They then withdrew further north and on 18 February captured Inverness. They stayed there for 2 months. Meanwhile Cumberland was catching up.
The Duke of Cumberland Marches North
The Duke of Cumberland arrived in Edinburgh on 30th January 1746 to take over command of the Royal Army from General Hawley, following the unsuccessful battle of Falkirk. The next day Cumberland marched north taking the circuitous route along the coast so the army could be supplied by the fleet. The army halted for some weeks at Aberdeen.
Unable to capture Stirling Castle from the redoubtable General Blakeney, Prince Charles’s Army retreated north to Inverness. From there he undertook operations across the Highlands, capturing Fort George and Fort Augustus and harrying the remaining government forces.
While at Aberdeen, Cumberland prepared his troops for the forthcoming battle against the highlanders. He and his soldiers were determined there should not be another defeat like 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 had been the subject of tuition.
The Duke of Cumberland and his army of around 8,000 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. Prince Charles had decided to take personal command of 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 guerilla campaign, but the Prince refused to change his mind.
Highland Army Discouraged And Hungry
On 15th April 1746 the Royal Army camped at Nairn, where it celebrated the Duke’s birthday. On that night the Highland Army 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 Highland Army was not near enough to launch its attack and was forced to return to Culloden, exhausted, discouraged and hungry.
Early on 16 April the Government army marched from Nairn, and Jacobite guns sounded the alarm 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 arrayed themselves in two lines to face the Jacobite forces, their left flank anchored on a low stone wall running along the south end of the field towards Culloden Park. Horse Dragoons and Government militia moved round behind the wall to infiltrate the park around the Jacobite flank. The Duke of Cumberland is reputed to have said to his army before the battle “If there is any man who does not wish to fight the highlanders, I beg him in God’s name to go. I would rather fight with one thousand resolute men than ten thousand half-hearted.”
The Prince's artillery, outnumbered some three to one, opened fire first but due to a lack of trained gunners had little impact. It quickly became a one sided affair, as the Jacobite gunners were vastly outnumbered and outclassed. 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 minimised 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.
The Line Arrives Piecemeal
Despite this, a large number of Jacobites reached the Government lines; however, unlike in previous battles, their uncoordinated charge meant that the line arrived piecemeal. The newly introduced bayonet drill used by the government troops meant that in many places the charge, already flagging, was crushed against the Government lines. Despite this, the right flank of the Jacobites broke through the first line of Government troops and was only halted by Cumberland's second line of defence.
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 elite 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 were taken. Cumberland lost about 52 dead and 259 wounded among his Government forces.
The Prince fled the battlefield and survived for five months in Scotland despite a £30,000 reward for his capture. The Prince eventually returned to France, and died, a sad old drunkard, in Florence.
A Symbolic And Menacing Gesture
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; contemporary sources indicate that about 70 more Jacobites were killed as a result of this. Cumberland emptied the jails of English prisoners, and replaced them with Jacobite sympathisers. Numbers of the prisoners were brought south to England to stand trial, charged with high treason, with trials taking place at Berwick, York and London. Executions were conducted on the basis of drawing lots on a ratio of about 1 in 20. In total 3,470 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 222 more "banished". While many were eventually released, the fate of nearly 700 is unknown. As well as dealing out summary justice to his captives, Cumberland was equally ruthless with deserters from his own forces found amongst the prisoners, executing 36 of them.
The Government now decided to end the Jacobite threat once and for all by destroying its Highland base. Through ethnic cleansing and a raft of draconian legislation, the social, military, economic and customary structure of the clan system was destroyed and with it, the likelihood of any further Jacobite insurrections.
