Bonnie Prince Charlie had landed in Scotland in 1745 to reclaim the British throne for his exiled father and had marched as far as Derby before retreating. At Culloden his hungry, exhausted army of about 5,000 faced some 8,000 well-supplied government soldiers on open, boggy ground. Government artillery cut down the Highlanders before their charge could land. About 1,500 Jacobites were killed, many of them wounded men hunted down after the battle. It was the last pitched battle fought on British soil.
The night before the battle, the Jacobites attempted a surprise attack on the government camp at Nairn, where Cumberland's soldiers were celebrating his 25th birthday. The march went badly in the dark and was abandoned, and the Highlanders stumbled back to Culloden exhausted and hungry. Many were asleep or away looking for food when the government army appeared on the morning of April 16, 1746.
Charles, overruling his experienced commander Lord George Murray, chose to fight on flat, marshy moorland ideal for his enemy's artillery and musketry. For some time the Jacobite lines stood under cannon fire before the order to charge came. The clans that reached the government lines met bayonets drilled in a new technique, each soldier thrusting at the Highlander to his right, whose sword arm was raised.
The battle was over within an hour. Cumberland's troops gave no quarter, killing wounded men on the field, and in the months that followed they burned and plundered across the Highlands, earning him the name "Butcher". Charles escaped, hidden by supporters for five months before sailing for France. The government then banned Highland dress and dismantled the power of the clan chiefs.
Key people: Charles Edward Stuart, Prince William, Duke of Cumberland, Lord George Murray