Before Culloden

 

Since the 1630s Britain had suffered political and religious upheaval. Civil war was a constant fear as Scotland, Ireland and England struggled to find a way to live and prosper together.

But by 1688 the divisions were so deep that the king, James VII of Scotland and II of England, a Catholic and a Stuart, had to flee to France. The English and Scottish parliaments invited the Protestant William of Orange and his wife Mary to come from Europe to rule in his place. In the constitutional upheaval the Scottish parliament made Presbyterianism the state religion in Scotland, overthrowing the established Protestant Episcopal Church.

Scotland faced an uncertain economic and political future. Under extreme pressure its parliament accepted the Act of Union in 1707, combining the parliaments of Scotland and England. Three issues now divided British society: the Union, the restoration of the Stuarts and which form of Protestantism would dominate in Scotland.

By 1745, Britain had been governed for over 30 years by the loose political party known as the Whigs. Whigs were deeply committed British and Scottish patriots, who opposed the Stuarts'

belief in absolute monarchy. Instead, they argued for a balance of power between king and parliament - as under the Hanoverians. They were Protestants - but so were many of the Jacobites.

However, political infighting, charges of corruption and military setbacks abroad meant that the government was not in a strong position at the time of the Forty-Five. It was taken by surprise by the Jacobite Rising but eventually found its military leader in Prince William Augustus, the Duke of Cumberland.

War between Britain and France had been simmering below the surface since 1740. In order to divide the British further, groups in the French government had encouraged Jacobite plotting. Without support from the Continent, the Jacobites knew they would never succeed in regaining the throne for the exiled Stuart King James VIII and III.

Then, on 11 May 1745 at Fontenoy in Flanders, the French crushed British and allied forces under the Duke of Cumberland. During the battle Irish Jacobite troops fought bravely alongside the French while Highlanders in the Black Watch regiment, fighting for the government, were hailed as British heroes.

The defeat of the British army offered the perfect opportunity for a co-ordinated rising and invasion of Britain. Prince Charles Edward Stuart seized the moment.

The Prince left France with the essential troops and arms to start his campaign. But he arrived in the Highlands with only a handful of men - an unimpressive start. However, Charles's charm and promises of French aid eventually persuaded local chiefs to support his cause. The Jacobite flag was raised at Glenfinnan, the army gathered and the Prince's campaign began.

Just over a week later, rumours of the Prince's arrival were confirmed. But the government was confident that Sir John Cope, commander of forces in Scotland, would quell the disturbance, using a new network of forts and roads in the Highlands. Yet barely a month later Edinburgh would be in Jacobite hands, and Cope's forces would suffer a disastrous defeat at Prestonpans.

At a council of war in Edinburgh, the Jacobites were faced with a critical choice. They could remain in Scotland to strengthen their grip on the country. They could march south to Newcastle to cut off London's coal supply. Instead, they chose to march south-west into England and then to head straight for London. This would encourage the English Jacobites to rise and then, surely, the French would launch an invasion in support as the Prince had promised.

The government, shocked by the defeat at Prestonpans, also called a council of war. It decided to assemble two armies. One army under Field Marshal Wade was concentrated in the north-east near Newcastle. The other was positioned to defend the English Midlands.

Showing astonishing speed, the Jacobite army reached Derby, only 125 miles from London, by 4 December. Banks and businesses in the city were panicking. But doubt had been growing among Jacobite officers, primarily Lord George Murray.

In their opinion, it was madness to continue. There were two government armies behind them and they believed that a third defended London. There was little support from English Jacobites and no sign of the promised help from the French. During angry meetings on 5 December, the Prince's leadership was challenged by his senior commanders.

Within a few days' march of London, Jacobite commanders were losing confidence in their strategy - and in their Prince. At a crisis meeting, they decided to turn round and withdraw to Scotland. What if they had continued? What if they had known that a French invasion fleet was at that moment preparing to cross the Channel?

Though retreating, the Jacobite army was still a force to be reckoned with. Government troops led by the Duke of Cumberland were close behind the Jacobites, but rumours of a French invasion briefly drove the Duke and his army back to the south coast.

On returning to Scotland, the Jacobites defeated the northern government forces at Falkirk on 17 January 1746. But in the confusion after the battle, the Jacobites failed to build on their victory. Against the Prince's will, they took the decision to retreat further north into the Highlands. They would gather their strength over the winter months and the Jacobite campaign would start again in the spring. Hearing the news of the government's defeat at Falkirk, Cumberland raced north to Scotland to take charge.

Towards the end of the long, hard winter, the Rising was entering a new phase. Both sides split their forces and engaged in operations across the Highlands and the north-east.

The Jacobites were keen to capture government military centres. The government successfully held Fort William but lost Fort Augustus at the beginning of March. But, thinly stretched, the Jacobites gradually began to struggle to keep their own lines of supply open. The army was now dispersed across the Highlands.

As winter eased into spring, the two sides drew closer together. The Jacobite army took Inverness at the end of February; at the beginning of April Cumberland's forces began their advance west from Aberdeen.

For the Prince, however, time and money were running out.

Many Jacobite troops were still far from Inverness and were urgently summoned to join the Prince's army. Those who were with the Prince seemed to be in high spirits, but in reality the Jacobite army was stretched to breaking point. Food and money were in short supply and the army was not at full force. Few commanders thought they could win a battle in this state.

Cumberland marched his troops from Aberdeen in good order. They were closing in on the Jacobite army for what would surely be the decisive battle. Morale was high as they camped at Nairn on 15 April - Cumberland's 25th birthday.

Rather than risk a pitched battle in their weakened state, the Jacobites agreed a final desperate plan: a surprise night attack. This night march to surprise the enemy in their camp could have been a brilliant strategy. Sleeping redcoats would have been no match for Jacobite troops. In reality, as the trailing Jacobite column stumbled along in the dark, it turned into a chaotic disaster. The Jacobites had failed in a critical gamble.

As dawn broke, battle was still not inevitable. Even now there was time for the army to draw back to Inverness and regain their strength at a safe distance. Bitter arguments broke out between the senior commanders - even the French envoy pleaded on his knees for the Prince to withdraw.

But the Prince was determined and took the decision to fight then and there. Many of his soldiers were asleep, exhausted from the night march, while others were away looking for food or had yet to arrive in the area.

Some Jacobite leaders favoured a retreat to high ground south of the River Nairn, others a withdrawal to Inverness. The Prince preferred to fight where they stood, on the moor at Culloden. With Cumberland's army in sight, Charles's luck was finally running out. The pipers began to play and the tired army struggled into position.