CULLODEN APRIL 16TH 1746

The last battle to be fought on British soil, Culloden was to be the catalyst for the destruction of the highland way of life and the dismantling of the Clan system once and for all. Today, it is known as ethnic cleansing.
To the British Government of the day, however, it was nothing more than the rebellious highlanders and their Chiefs deserved. They saw their actions as being necessary to prevent any repeat of such defiance.

The battle itself took place on the 16th April 1746 on a bleak, windswept moor just to the south of Inverness.
It must be remembered that this was no Scotland V England match though, but a full-scale British Civil War with many Scots families deeply divided and even with sons in both camps.
Prince Charles Edward Stuart wanted to reclaim the Crown he believed had been wrongfully taken from the Stuart Dynasty by the "illegal" coup d'etat against his Grandfather, King James VII in 1688, and which led to the Hanoverian succession.
King George II wasn't about to give it back.

In the Blue corner then, Bonnie Prince Charlie and the remnants of an exhausted and unfed highland army.
In the Red Corner, William Duke of Cumberland, son of King George, and his army of mainly seasoned and trained professional troops, outnumbering their foes by 2 to 1. It was no contest. Rather, it was a massacre.

Not content with winning the battle, Cumberland unleashed his troops upon the survivors and the wounded, ordering their wholesale slaughter with "no quarter to be given." Even innocent spectators to the battle were savagely murdered. It was just the beginning.

There followed a ruthless and brutal reduction of the highland clans, a deliberate assault on an ancient way of life. Chiefs were stripped of all their powers. Homes were burned to the ground. People were jailed and transported often for no other reason than belonging to certain clans. Crops and stock were appropriated. Even the wearing of tartan and the playing of bagpipes was forbidden.

After 9 months backpacking around the highlands and islands, Charles eventually escaped back to Rome, and he lived for another 43 years, a broken and squalid alcoholic who never ceased to berate the brave highlanders who literally gave up everything and suffered so greatly in his cause.

The Highland Clearances effectively finished what "Butcher" Cumberland started and by the middle of the 19th century, the highlands had become a deserted wasteland.

Cumberland's name is still remembered with obvious affection in Scotland and the flower named as "Sweet William" in his honour is otherwise known as "Stinking Billy" north of Stirling.

The Sons Of Scotland would like to thank First Foot .com for all they're help with this history lesson