Culloden and its aftermath
Defeat of the Jacobites
The final encounter took place at Culloden Moor, four miles east of Inverness, on 16 April 1746. The Jacobite army of 5,000 Highlanders faced a government force of 9,000 commanded by the King's younger son, William, Duke of Cumberland. Lord George Murray had argued for a guerrilla campaign, but Charles Edward took command himself and chose to give battle on poor, marshy terrain. When the Highlanders began their charge they were met by a hail of cannon and musket fire, and were decimated within half an hour. Some 2,000 were killed and another 1,000 taken prisoner.
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Family tree of the English and Scottish royal dynasties.
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A campaign of terror
Having secured his victory, Cumberland ordered the Jacobite wounded to be executed. Between April and mid-July 1746 he unleashed a campaign of terror in the Highlands, systematically rounding up Jacobites for execution or transportation, and destroying their homes and communities. As a result, by his enemies, and often still today, he became known as 'Butcher Cumberland'; but at the time he was acclaimed throughout Britain as 'Sweet William', the nation's saviour.
Charles Edward, meanwhile, escaped back to France, his story becoming the stuff of romantic legend and storytelling. Culloden and its aftermath marked the end for practical purposes of Jacobitism in Britain.
The lessons of the 1745 rebellion
The British government was caught badly off guard by the 1745 rising. The Jacobite army was not in itself large or threatening, but had caused panic, momentarily threatening London itself. The government's real concern, however, was that the French might have taken the opportunity to invade while the Jacobite army was still at large. British forces would have been insufficient to deal with both threats at the same time.
From the government's point of view, therefore, it was essential that the rebellion was speedily defeated. It was appropriate that the Duke of Cumberland, the first royal prince of the House of Hanover born on British soil, should have had the task of finally crushing the threat posed by the Stuart dynasty within his father's realm.
In Scotland the 1745 rebellion, despite its successes, revealed the gradual weakening of the Jacobite cause. Several of the larger clans had in fact fought on the government side at Culloden, while among nationalistic Presbyterian Lowlanders the prospect of a Catholic king of a restored 'kingdom of Scotland' had no appeal. Charles Edward's failure to summon a Scottish parliament when in Edinburgh during September-October 1745 offered a reminder of the Stuarts' dislike of parliamentary institutions and suggested what life might be like under a Stuart king.
Dismantling the clan system
From 1746 on the British government passed a series of laws to dismantle the clan system entirely thereby eliminating the basis of Jacobite support in the Highlands. The wearing of Highland dress and the bearing of arms were forbidden. More importantly for the long-term social structure of the Highlands, the feudal relationships and heritable jurisdictions which underpinned the power and authority of clan chiefs over their clansmen were abolished.
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The 1745 rebellion