An Incident in the Rebellion of 1745

The Battle of Culloden was the last battle of the Jacobite rising of 1745. This rising was an attempt by Charles Edward Stuart to remove King George II from the British throne, and replace him with his father, James Francis Edward Stuart.

The battle was fought on 16 April 1746, on Drummossie Moor near Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. The Jacobite army was commanded by Charles Stuart and the British government army commanded by Prince William, Duke of Cumberland, the son of George II. The battle lasted around an hour and resulted in a bloody defeat of the Jacobites.

Swiss-born artist David Morier began working for the Duke of Cumberland in 1747, and continued to receive payments from him until 1767.[1] At an unknown date before 1765 he completed An Incident in the Rebellion of 1745.[Note 1] The painting is thought to be one of a set of four he painted for Cumberland that depict battle scenes.[4][Note 2]

Morier may have been present at the Battle of Culloden.[7] Many sources state he used Jacobite prisoners as models,[7][8] but this is disputed, and claimed to be a legend that arose in the 19th century.[2]

The eight Jacobite soldiers wear 20 different tartans between them.[9] Tartan was often worn by the Jacobite forces and sympathisers to signify the defence of Scottish nationality, as well as distinct clans. They also wear white cockades in their bonnets, which show their allegiance to the Stuart cause.[10] They are primitively armed - none carry firearms, instead they are armed with broadswords, dirks and targes (shields).[7] Some have Lochaber axes, a nearly obsolete type of Scottish pole weapon.[11] This may reflect Hanoverian, anti-Jacobite propaganda, which sought to portray the Jacobite highlanders as barbaric, backward and savage.[12][11][13]

While the Jacobites were poorly armed at the start of the rising, by the time of the Battle of Culloden they had in fact been supplied with around 5000 modern muskets and bayonets that had come from France and Spain.[14] Many other Jacobites were equipped with captured British Brown Bess muskets or Scottish-made pistols.[12] It is known that all Jacobite soldiers were eventually armed with muskets,[14] but some employed the tactic of firing one shot, then dropping their firearm to engage in hand-to-hand combat with their broadswords and dirks.[15] The author James Ray, who was present during the battle, notes this happened in the fighting the painting depicts.[16]

A painting by Morier c.1751-1760, illustrating the uniforms of grenadiers from different regiments. A soldier from the 4th King's Own is on the left

The government troops depicted are grenadiers of the 4th King's Own (Barrell's) Regiment.[4][Note 3] The regiment fought on the left flank of the government army, at the southern end of the battlefield, and took the brunt of the Jacobite charge - it suffered the heaviest casualties on the government side, with 18 dead and 108 wounded out of 373.[17] The regiment's commander was among the wounded, losing his left hand.[18][19]

The soldiers can be identified as grenadiers by the mitre caps they wear,[20] and would be the regiment's tallest, strongest and most experienced men.[21] The most prominent soldier, nearest the viewer, wears a red sash. This indicates he's an officer.[22] He is armed with a fusil - a smaller, lighter version of the muskets carried by his men.[23] This was usual for grenadier officers. Other officers (such as the half-obscured one behind the group) carried a spontoon.[24][22][Note 4] In the distance, more soldiers can be seen, as well as part of the King's Colour, one of the regiment's flags.[Note 5]

Two walled farm enclosures were features of the southern end of the battlefield, where the 4th Regiment fought.[27] A small part of a stone structure may be seen in the left of the painting, which may be part of one of the enclosures.

The painting now hangs in the lobby of the Palace of Holyroodhouse.[4] The room contains a number of items associated with the 1745 rising. These include portraits of James Francis Edward Stuart[28] and the Duke of Cumberland.[29] There is a late-19th century, historical painting of Charles Edward Stuart,[30] a knife and fork that belonged to him,[31] and a sword and pistols that were traditionally said to have belonged to him.[32][33]

A later engraving based on the painting is the collections of the Scottish National Gallery.[34]

Citations

Bibliography

• Barthorp, Michael (1982). The Jacobite rebellions, 1689-1745. Osprey Pub. ISBN 0850454328. OCLC 13042065.
• Martin, Maureen. Mighty Scot, The: Nation, Gender, and the Nineteenth-Century Mystique of Scottish Masculinity. SUNY Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-7730-4. OCLC 230056387.
• Pittock, Murray (2009). The myth of the Jacobite clans : the Jacobite Army in 1745 (2 ed.). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0-7486-3159-9. OCLC 768351887.
• Pittock, Murray (2016). Culloden : (Cùil Lodair). Oxford, United Kingdom. ISBN 9780191640681. OCLC 953456230.
• Reid, Stuart (1995). King George's Army 1740-93. London: Osprey. ISBN 1855325152. OCLC 32937078.
• Reid, Stuart (1996). British Redcoat : 1740-1793. London: Osprey Military. ISBN 1-85532-554-3. OCLC 38590224.
• Reid, Stuart (2006). The Scottish Jacobite Army 1745-46. Oxford, UK: Osprey Pub. ISBN 978-1-84603-073-4. OCLC 77476784.
• Reid, Stuart (2012). Cumberland's Culloden Army, 1745-46. Oxford. ISBN 978-1-84908-846-6. OCLC 775415588.
• Royle, Trevor (2016). Culloden : Scotland's last battle and the forging of the British Empire. London. ISBN 978-1-4087-0401-1. OCLC 920728736.