Page 232 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL FALL 2021 DISCOVERING SANTA FE

On April 16, 1746, the Battle of Culloden, fives certain terms the violence and atrocities that took
miles east of Inverness, Scotland, sent belated place just outside on the Culloden moor, starting
shockwaves around the world. It was here that the with a dramatic video reenactment of the battle
Jacobite Uprising under "Bonnie Prince Charlie" that places visitors in the center of the action. On
was squashed by the British army, putting an end one side, tartan-clad soldiers, many from Highland
to those threatening the reign of British King clans, advance in a run with broadswords drawn
George II. The prince, Charles Edward Stuart, with toward the assembled red coats, muskets ready, of
a ragtag army and little battle experience, faced a the British forces, backed by cannon.
far superior British army force under the Duke of In the center, you can see armaments used in the
Cumberland, son of the king. battle and a demonstration of the effective tartan
People arrive today at the Culloden battle site "uniform" worn by the Jacobites, giving soldiers
with many preconceived ideas of what happened warmth and flexibility as well as a portable blan-
here. That the battle was between Highlanders ket. The visit then heads outside to a walk along
and Lowlanders, or that paths to the fields of
it was between English battle. Along the way are
and Scots, or a religious large stone markers,
war of Catholics vs. some with names of
Protestants. "Yet none combatants.
of these is true," says the A civil war, the fighting
official battlefield guide here was of the most vi-
by the National Trust for cious type, hand to hand
Scotland. combat -- summoning up
But it can be said the images of Gettysburg in
battle cemented the de- the United States. The
cline of the family clan Jacobite force, starving
system in the Scottish and tired from an
Highlands and the rise of aborted overnight raid
a Scottish mercantile class, and in years to follow to attack the British forces, were set up by the
sent Jacobite supporters emigrating to North prince for defeat on a battlefield many of his advi-
America and Australia as the British government sors said was pure insanity. Famished and fa-
expanded its control through the far reaches of tigued, a good many of the Jacobites just
the Scotland Highlands. It also allowed Britain to disappeared before the battle or collapsed on the
focus more on its overseas colonies. way to Culloden.
The most immediate root of the battle was the 'I do not like the ground. It was certainly not
clandestine arrival of Charles Stuart in Scotland proper for Highlanders," wrote Jacobite leader
from France in 1745 to restore the House of Stu- Lord George Murray after the battle. What he saw
art to the British throne and to overthrow King was essentially a marsh, sticky and oozing with
George II, a Hanoverian Protestant. He was hoping mud, with few trees and few ridge lines for protec-
on support from France, which proved to be a wa- tion. The prince had thought, erroneously, that the
vering ally. He built a mixed bag of followers, in- marshy moor would not be good for mounted cav-
cluding clansmen, some Englishmen as well as alry or cannon used by the British.
Protestants and with this group secured a series of After it was over, decisively won by the British
surprising victories over the British, including a by mid-afternoon, the carnage continued as those
push toward London. The name Jacobite derives Jacobites remaining on the field, mostly wounded,
from the Latin form Jacobus, for the deposed Stu- were dispatched by British bayonet thrusts or the
art King James VII. slitting of throats while others of Cumberland's
A handsome visitors center here shows in no un- men celebrated their victory with an extra ration

232 WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE FALL 2021