Quote:
Originally Posted by M ELEY
Jim, that is an amazing description of the battlefield at Culloden, both exciting and terrible in the slaughter. It would have been a sight to see. What I found interesting is that there were no clear lines as to who was friend or foe to either side. Jacobites were, after all, made up of many Scots (both from the Highlands and some Lowlanders, many Irish, the French forces who supported the Bonnie Prince and a mishmash of Englishmen and others who hated the Hanoverian king.
Not all Highlanders supported the Jacobites. The two main branches of the Clan Campbell, for instance, fought against each other on rival sides. I always wondered how that worked for the clans that supported the king having to surrender their pipes, weapons after they fought for him!
I'm assuming from the reports of the battle that the vast majority of casualty at the '45 were Scots, though, as I've never heard of any French weapons being picked up off of the field at Culloden.
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Actually the CB (=casus belli) for individuals varied, and mostly the reason was protest of the 1707 combining of Scottish and English parliaments.
Naturally there were Jacobites (those in support of the Stuart right to the throne) but many had other reasons. You're right, there were Highlanders, Lowlanders, English, Irish, and a few French. There were supposed to be many more, but only small numbers of French were present.
The muskets carried by the Jacobite forces were primarily Spanish, French and numbers of captured English examples. As noted, while they were carrying these, the pent up fury of the Scots compelled them to charge wildly, throwing these guns aside to wield the deadly broadswords.
Good note on the proscription of Highland dress and weapons, and how it would have effected the Campbells. Actually there seems to have been some degree of circumvention through military involvement in British Highland forces.