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The Battle of Culloden took place on 16 April 1746 at Culloden, Highland, near Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. A Jacobite army under Charles Edward Stuart was decisively defeated by a British government force under Duke of Cumberland, ending the Jacobite rising of 1745.

Jacobite Army

Composition

The Jacobite Army is often assumed to have been largely composed of Gaelic-speaking Catholic Highlanders. In reality, nearly half of the rank and file were from the more urbanised areas of the Scottish Lowlands. While predominantly Scottish, it also contained some English recruits, the majority deserters from the government army. During the latter stages of the campaign, these were reinforced by detachments of Irish and Scots professionals in French service, mainly from the Royal Ecossais and Irish Brigade. Around 500 fought at Culloden, including 100 reputedly recruited from government troops captured at Fort Augustus in March.

The Jacobites initially relied heavily on the traditional right of Highland chiefs to recruit their tenants for military service. However, this obligation had largely fallen into disuse, and many had to be compelled to serve with threats of eviction. As a result, desertion was an ongoing issue, while the colonels of some Highland regiments considered their men to be uncontrollable.

A typical Highland regiment was officered by tacksmen, with their subtenants providing the rank and file. Tacksmen served in the front rank, and thus incurred a disproportionate number of casualties, accounting for over 25% of those incurred by the Appin regiment. Although often pictured equipped with a broadsword, shield, and pistol, most of the Highland troops used muskets as their main weapon.

Many Jacobite regiments, notably those recruited from Lowland areas, were organised along conventional European lines, but as with the Highland levies, these were inexperienced and poorly equipped. As the campaign progressed, supplies from France improved their equipment considerably and by April 1746 many were equipped with 0.69 in (17.5 mm) calibre French and Spanish firelocks.

By the time of Culloden, most of the Jacobite cavalry had been disbanded due to a shortage of horses, with only minor elements taking part. Their heavy artillery was also largely absent, with all but one of the cannon present being light 3-pounders.

Jacobite Order of Battle

Commander-in-Chief Charles Edward Stuart
Chief of staff Colonel John William Sullivan

Government army

Composition

Cumberland's army at Culloden comprised 16 infantry battalions, including four Scottish units and one Irish. The bulk of the infantry units had already seen action at Falkirk, but had been further drilled, rested and resupplied since then.

Many of the infantry were experienced veterans of Continental service, but on the outbreak of the Jacobite rising, extra incentives were given to recruits to fill the ranks of depleted units. On 6 September 1745, every recruit who joined the Guards before 24 September was given £6, and those who joined in the last days of the month were given £4. In theory, a standard single-battalion British infantry regiment was 815 strong, including officers, but was often smaller in practice and at Culloden, the regiments were not much larger than about 400 men.

The government cavalry arrived in Scotland in January 1746. Many were not combat experienced, having spent the preceding years on anti-smuggling duties. A standard cavalryman had a Land Service pistol and a carbine, but the main weapon used by the British cavalry was a sword with a 35-inch blade.

The Royal Artillery vastly outperformed their Jacobite counterparts during the Battle of Culloden. However, until this point in the campaign, the government artillery had performed dismally. The main weapon of the artillery was the 3-pounder. This weapon had a range of 500 yards (460 m) and fired two kinds of shot: round iron and canister. The other weapon used was the Coehorn mortar. These had a calibre of 4+2⁄5 inches (11 cm).

Government Order of Battle

Captain-General: Duke of Cumberland
Commander-in-Chief North Britain: Lieutenant-General Henry Hawley

See the following reference for source of tables

British Army casualties

See following reference for source of table

See also

• List of orders of battle

Footnotes

1. Unless noted elsewhere, units and unit sizes are from, Reid (2002), pp. 26–27
2. Renamed the 48th Foot in 1748.

1. Jacobite chief of staff, John O'Sullivan wrote, "All was confused ... such a chiefe of a tribe had sixty men, another thiry, another twenty, more or lesse; they would not mix nor seperat, & wou'd have double officers, yt is two Captns & two Lts, to each Compagny, strong or weak ... but by little, were brought into a certain regulation".
2. The latter was commanded by Alexander MacDonald of Glencoe. It surrendered on 12 May 1746, having allegedly lost 52 killed and 36 wounded.
3. Grant of Glenmoriston's Battalion was commanded by Maj Patrick Grant of Glenmoriston and Alexander Grant, younger of Shewglie. About 30 men were killed at Culloden, though both Glenmoriston and Shewglie, younger escaped. Almost all of the survivors who surrendered on 4 May were transported.
4. Sometimes referred to as the "Strathbogie" Battalion of Lord Lewis Gordon's Regiment, an intelligence report of 11 December 1745 stated most were "herds and hiremen from about Strathbogie and unaquainted with the use of arms, many are pressed and intend to desert ...".

References

1. Harrington 1991, p. 53.
2. Pittock 1998, p. 99.
3. Aikman 2001, p. 93.
4. ^ Reid 2006, pp. 20–22.
5. Harrington 1991, pp. 35–40.
6. Reid 2006, pp. 20–21.
7. ^ Reid 1997, p. 58.
8. Barthorp 1982, pp. 17–18.
9. Reid 2006, p. 16.
10. Reid 2006, p. 25.
11. Reid 2002, p. 26.
12. Reid 2006, p. 20.
13. ^ Reid 2006, p. 22.
14. Reid 2006, p. 18.
15. ^ Reid 2006, pp. 15–26.
16. Reid 2006, p. 17.
17. ^ Reid 2006, p. 19.
18. Reid 2006, p. 26.
19. Reid 2006, pp. 19–20.
20. Reid (2002), p. author's note.
21. Harrington (1991), pp. 25–29.
22. Harrington (1991), pp. 29–33.
23. Harrington (1991), p. 33.
24. ^ Pollard, Tony (2009). Culloden: The History and Archaeology of the last Clan Battle. South Yorkshire: Pen and Sword Books. pp. 71–72. ISBN 978-1-84884-020-1.
25. Simpson, Peter (1996). The Independent Highland Companies, 1603–1760. Edinburgh: John Donald Publishers. p. 136. ISBN 0-85976-432-X.
26. "Sutherland, William, Lord Strathnaver (1708–50)". historyofparliamentonline.org. Retrieved August 8, 2017. Quoting: Sutherland Bk. i. 405–424
27. Reid lists this as "Howard's", Reid (1996), p. 195.; and "Howard's (3rd)", Reid (1996), p. 196.
28. Reid lists this as "Bligh's", Reid (1996), p. 195; and "Bligh's (20th)", Reid (1996), p. 197.
29. Reid lists this as "Campbells", Reid (1996), p. 195; and "Campbell's (21st)", Reid (1996), p. 197.
30. Reid (2002), p. author's note.
31. Reid (1996), pp. 195–198.

Sources

• Aikman, Christian (2001). No Quarter Given: The Muster Roll of Prince Charles Edward Stuart's Army, 1745–46. Neil Wilson Publishing. ISBN 978-1903238028.
• Barthorp, Michael (1982). The Jacobite Rebellions 1689–1745 (Men-at-arms series). Osprey Publishing. ISBN 0-85045-432-8.
• Harrington, Peter (1991). Chandler, David G. (ed.). Culloden 1746, The Highland Clans' Last Charge. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85532-158-8.
• Pittock, Murray (1998). Jacobitism (British History in Perspective). Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0312213060.
• Reid, Stuart (1996). 1745, A Military History of the Last Jacobite Rising. Sarpedon. ISBN 978-1-885119-28-5.
• Reid, Stuart (1997). Highland Clansman 1689–1746. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85532-660-6.
• Reid, Stuart (2002). Culloden Moor 1746: The Death of the Jacobite Cause. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84176-412-2.
• Reid, Stuart (2006). The Scottish Jacobite Army 1745–46. Elite series. Vol. 149. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84603-073-4.
• Szechi, Daniel; Sankey, Margaret (November 2001). "Elite Culture and the Decline of Scottish Jacobitism 1716–1745". Past & Present (2): 90–128. doi:10.1093/past/173.1.90. JSTOR 3600841.

• Orders of battle
• Jacobite rising of 1745