Scottish Landscapes - Photographs of travels around Scotland by Artist Lorraine G Huber: June 2008

Monday, 9 June 2008

MORE OF MY TRAVELS AROUND BEAUTIFUL SCOTLAND by LORRAINE G HUBER 2008

THE BATTLE OF CULLODEN

My husband & I went to Culloden Moor the site of the infamous bloody battle while we were touring the Scottish Highlands around the Inverness area. Please see my photographs and read the brief historical account below:

Read a potted account here: See my own photographs of Culloden Moor as it is today.

The Battle of Culloden (Scottish Gaelic: Blàr Chùil Lodair) (16 April 1746) was the final clash between the French-supported Jacobites and the Hanoverian British Government in the 1745 Jacobite Rising. It was the last land battle to be fought on mainland Britain. Culloden brought the Jacobite cause—to restore the House of Stuart to the throne of the Kingdom of Great Britain—to a decisive defeat.

The Jacobites—the majority of them Highland Scots, although containing significant numbers of Lowland forces—supported the claim of James Francis Edward Stuart ("The Old Pretender") to the throne; the government army, under the Duke of Cumberland, younger son of the Hanoverian sovereign, King George II, supported his father's cause. It too included significant numbers of Highland Scots, as well as Scottish Lowlanders and some English troops.

The aftermath of the battle was brutal and earned the victorious general the name "Butcher" Cumberland. Charles Edward Stuart eventually left Britain and went to Rome, never to attempt to take the throne again. Civil penalties were also severe. New laws attacked the Highlanders' clan system, and Highland dress was outlawed.

If you would like an eye witness account by a highland survivor please click on the link below

http://www.highlanderweb.co.uk/bloody/culloden/bloody2.htm

Below are some photographs I took as we walked round the site of the former battle field. It was a grey dreich day and the atmosphere of that awful day seemed to still pervade the area. It was difficult walking around the fields where so many of my fellow highland countrymen lost their lives, I felt very moved and humbled by the experience. War is such a terrible thing, and this battle field is a hauntingly chilling, reminder of the horror of dying in a bloody battle for a cause you believe in (rightly or wrongly). I must say that it left an indellible impression on me, both as I walked the battle field and visited the Culloden Museum and read the historic accounts of the battle.