The Battle Of Culloden 17 April 1746.
The Jacobite Uprising of 1745 saw Charles Edward Stuart attempting to overthrow the Hanoverian George II, and restore the Stuart dynasty to the throne of Great Britain.
After a successful campaign in England, Charles returned to Scotland under the false pretence that a large English army was blocking their way to London, waiting for him in Scotland was an English army of 8000 under the Duke Of Cumberland.
The demoralised and under equipped Highland army met with the Duke of Cumberland at Culloden Moor, and faced up against musket troops who had been drilled to combat the highlander’s style of fighting, were repulsed, and then slaughtered after a demoralising retreat.
The aftermath of Culloden was murderous, the English force gave no quarter to the wounded, killing all who remained on the field, and when Cumberland chased the remaining Jacobites into the Highlands, he slaughtered all those who sheltered the rebels, earning him the nickname ‘Butcher’.
The Legislation that followed more or less destroyed the Highland way of life, banning traditional weapons, tartan and bagpipes, as well as confiscating the land of many resident; and to me indicates a sadder truth about British Imperialism. As much as we look back on the history of Empire and remark on how it has made us a multicultural nation, tolerant of all the cultures we have encountered, it is impossible to ignore incidents where entire ways of life were annhilated when they came to be at odds with ours.
