The Battle of Culloden took place on 16 April 1746, near Inverness, in the Scottish Highlands. A Jacobite army under Charles Edward Stuart was decisively defeated by a British government force commanded by the Duke of Cumberland, thereby ending the Jacobite rising of 1745.
Charles landed in Scotland in July 1745, seeking to restore his father James Francis Edward Stuart to the British throne. He quickly won control of large parts of Scotland, and an invasion of England reached as far south as Derby before being forced to turn back. However by April 1746 the Jacobites were short of supplies, facing a superior and better-equipped opponent.
The Jacobite commanders decided their only option was to stand and fight. When the two armies met at Culloden, the battle was brief, lasting less than an hour, with the Jacobites suffering an overwhelming and bloody defeat. This effectively ended both the 1745 rising and Jacobitism as a significant element in British politics.
The Jacobite rising of 1745 began on 23 July when Charles Edward Stuart landed in the Western Isles and launched an attempt to reclaim the British throne for the exiled House of Stuart. After their victory at Prestonpans in September, the Jacobites controlled much of Scotland, and Charles persuaded his colleagues to invade England. The Jacobite army reached Derby before successfully retreating across the border.
Despite its lack of tangible results, the invasion boosted recruitment, bringing Jacobite strength to more than 8,000. These troops, along with French-supplied artillery, were used to besiege Stirling Castle, the strategic key to the Scottish Highlands. On 17 January the Jacobites repulsed a government relief force under Henry Hawley at the Battle of Falkirk Muir, although the siege itself made little progress.
Soon after, Cumberland arrived in Edinburgh to take over command from Hawley. On 1 February, the Jacobite army abandoned the siege and withdrew to Inverness. Cumberland's army entered Aberdeen on 27 February and both sides halted operations until the weather improved. Although several French shipments were received during the winter, the Royal Navy blockade left the Jacobites short of money and food. When Cumberland resumed the campaign on 8 April, Charles and his advisers agreed their best option was to gamble on a set-piece battle.
On 12 April, Cumberland's army forded the River Spey, which was guarded by 2,000 Jacobites under Lord John Drummond, who withdrew towards Nairn, an action for which he was later criticised. The Jacobites evacuated the town on 14 April, and Cumberland's troops camped just to the west. Although significant elements were absent elsewhere, the main Jacobite army of about 5,400 left Inverness on 15 April and assembled on the Culloden estate, five miles (eight kilometres) to the east.
The Jacobite command ultimately decided abandoning Inverness, which held most of their dwindling supplies, meant the army might disintegrate. Sir John O'Sullivan, the adjutant-general, identified a suitable site for a defensive action at Drummossie Moor, but Lord George Murray felt it favoured the government troops. He suggested an alternative, steeply sloping site near Daviot Castle, which was inspected by Brigadier Stapleton of the Irish Brigade and Colonel Ker on the morning of 15 April. They rejected Murray's suggestion, arguing the ground was "mossy and soft" and would fail to protect the road into Inverness. The Jacobites ultimately formed their line west of the site originally chosen by O'Sullivan.
On 15 April the government army celebrated Cumberland's 25th birthday by issuing two imperial gallons (nine litres) of brandy to each regiment. Hoping they would be less vigilant as a result, the Jacobite leaders decided to conduct a night attack on the government encampment. Murray's instructions were for his troops to use only swords, dirks and bayonets, to overturn tents and subsequently to locate "a swelling or bulge in the fallen tent, there to strike and push vigorously".
The plan drawn up by Murray called for simultaneous attacks on Cumberland's front and rear by his troops and a second force under the Duke of Perth, supported by Lord John Drummond and Prince Charles. The Jacobite force did not begin its march until well after dark, partly to avoid being spotted by ships of the Royal Navy then in the Moray Firth. Murray led it across country to avoid government outposts, but one participant, James Johnson, later wrote "this march...on a dark night [was] accompanied with confusion and disorder".
As a result, it was one hour before dawn when Murray's leading elements reached Culraick, still two miles (three kilometres) from the intended crossing point over the River Nairn. After a heated debate, Murray concluded the attack should be aborted, but this message was not communicated to the 1,200 men under Perth. While Murray led his detachment back to camp along the Inverness road, Perth continued, unaware of the change in plan. One account claims his troops made contact with government sentries before realising their colleagues had turned around. Although some historians suggest the night attack might have remained viable if he had continued, most argue their numbers were too small to have any effect.
Not long after the exhausted Jacobite forces had made it back to Culloden, an officer of Lochiel's regiment, who had been left behind after falling asleep in a wood, arrived with a report of advancing government troops. By then, many Jacobite soldiers had dispersed in search of food or returned to Inverness, and others were asleep in ditches and outbuildings. Several hundred of their army may have missed the battle.
After the abortive night attack, the Jacobites formed up in substantially the same battle order as the previous day, the Highland regiments forming the first line. They faced north-east over common grazing land, with the River Nairn about 1 km to their right. Their left wing, anchored on the Culloden Park walls, was nominally led by James Drummond, titular Duke of Perth, while his brother John commanded the centre. The right wing, flanked by the Culwhiniac enclosure walls, was led by Murray. Behind them, the conventionally trained Lowland regiments were drawn up in accordance with French practice. During the morning, heavy snow and rain saturated the already wet ground, although the weather cleared just before the battle started.
Cumberland's army left their encampment by 5 am, leaving the main Inverness road and marching across country. By 10 am the Jacobites finally saw them approaching at a distance of around 4 km. At 3 km from the Jacobite position, Cumberland gave the order to form line, and the army marched forward in full battle order. John Daniel, an Englishman serving with Charles's army, recorded that on seeing the government troops, the Jacobites began calling out insults, but without response. Once within 500 metres, Cumberland moved his artillery up through the ranks.
As his troops formed up, it became clear that Cumberland's right flank was exposed, and so he moved additional units up to reinforce it. Meanwhile, Sullivan ordered two battalions of Lord Lewis Gordon's regiment to cover the walls at Culwhiniac against a possible flank attack, while Murray shifted the right wing slightly forward. Since these alterations had the unintended result of skewing the Jacobite line and opening gaps, Sullivan transferred the Edinburgh Regiment, along with those of Perth and Glenbucket, from the second line into the first. This meant the Jacobite front rank now substantially outnumbered that of Cumberland, but depleted their reserve and increased their reliance on a successful initial attack.
At 1:30 pm, Finlayson's Jacobite batteries opened fire; possibly in response to Cumberland sending forward Lord Bury to within 100 m of the Jacobite lines to "ascertain the strength of their battery". The government artillery returned fire shortly afterwards. Some later Jacobite memoirs suggest that their troops were then subjected to artillery bombardment for 30 minutes or more while Charles delayed an advance, but government accounts suggest a much shorter exchange before the Jacobites attacked. Campbell of Airds, in the rear, timed it at 9 minutes, but Cumberland's aide-de-camp Yorke suggested only 2 or 3 minutes.