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The Battle of Culloden:
How
the Jacobites Might have Won
Michael
Bishop
elekton@blueyonder.co.uk
1) Bonny Prince Charlie had demobbed
part of his army before the battle so they could go home and see their families.
Thus the Jacobites only fielded 5000 men vis 9000 by the British. He need not
have released so many. Anyway, in spite of the numbers, the Highlanders were
better than their enemies in that they were the finest hand to hand fighters of
their day. They would not have needed to outnumber their foes to win.
2) O Sullivan, the commander whom Bonny Prince Charlie appointed just
before the battle, ordered the wrong size cannon ball (this is absolutely true!)
Had he bought the right sized ones, the Jacobites would have had three guns vs
ten British as opposed zero v ten on the day.
3) If General Murray had not been sacked, it is likely that the battle would
have fought with the Jacobites on a nearby hill line instead on the flat land
where Bonny Prince Charlie actually decided to fight the battle. Had his suggestion
been followed, the terrain would have been in their favour as opposed to as
neutral as in OTL.
4) If the Jacobites had not expected to fight the previous day (it was
Cumberland's birthday so his army remained at Nairn to celebrate it instead of
continuing their advance from Aberdeen) they would neither have stood on the
battle field in the rain waiting for an enemy who never came nor attempted a
night march. Instead they would have been fresh as the British.
5) During the battle a messenger sent to order the first line forward was killed
before he could deliver the order to half the troops. Thus, the first
charge was by only half the front line.m The other half of it charged a
short while later.
On another time line where the above cock ups did not take place, things went
very differently....
Having won the first three battles in the Third Scottish War of Independence
(the First being against Edward Longshanks, the Second against Oliver Cromwell),
the morale of the Jacobite army at Culloden was good. Murray formed his
8000 Highland infantry on a ridge facing the British camp. After an initial
bombardment with their cannon, the Jacobites launched a thunderous charge at
Cumberland's army, sweeping them off the battlefield. Only 5000 including
Cumberland managed to evade the pursuit and make it to Aberdeen. Before the
British navy could reinforce the town, patriots opened the gates and it fell to
the Jacobites. Three months later, the rest of Scotland was in Stuart hands.
A stand-off between the two sides then materialised: it was painfully obvious
that neither could prevail in the territory of the other yet both could hold
their own. In the light of this, an English delegation met Bonny Prince Charlie at
Berwick and agreed to the secession of Scotland from Britain in return for the
House of Stuart renouncing all claims on the throne of England. In the following
year, the English Parliament voted through the Act of Dissolution in which the
crowns of England and Scotland were separated and renounced all claim on the
Scottish crown.
A further meeting was held in which the borders between the two countries was
defined, the agreement being ratified in the Treaty of York. On 1st June
James VIII was crowned King of Scotland. In recognition of his deeds, his son
Prince Charles (the future Charles III) was proclaimed Guardian of the Realm.
For having fought for the British at Battle of Culloden the entire
Campbell clan was expelled from the realm. Most were ferried to America or
Ireland.
In
1756 the Highland Reform Act was past in which the lands of the clans were
apportioned amongst the male members of them. Whilst, this was unpopular with
the chieftains, it gave the monarchy a solid power base from which it could
resist the power of leading nobles for the next hundred and fifty years)
(In OTL, the chieftains gained title to clan titles and eventually evicted many
crofters from their homes).
In order to block any future invasions from Scotland, the British built two
large forts on the border, one on the east coast (Fort George) and one on the
west (Fort Frederick).
In the longer term??
1) Outside the British Isles England military potential was reduced:
England deemed it necessary to station an army in the north well into the
nineteenth century (just in case). This tied up troops which could otherwise
been deployed on "empire building".
2) On OTL Scots played an important role in the industrialisation of
Britain. On the ATL whilst they would still have some impact, their part in the
English Industrial Revolution was not as great as it might have been. When
Scotland finally industrialised at the end (and not beginning) of the ineteenth
century, it was with English ideas and England money. Consequently,
much of generated wealth flowed south.
3) Being both geographically
and culturally close, Scotland governments were sympathetic to Irish rebels
and often actively supported them. In doing so they weakened the English
position there to the extent that in 1917 a second Celtic state was born.
4) It is unlikely that a
succession crisis like that of Elizabeth I would have be re-occurred. It
is also reasonable to assume that post Culloden Scottish governments would have
avoided hacking off England to the point where the latter would launch a full
scale invasion. Thus, thanks to the Jacobite Victory at Culloden, on the
ATL Scotland has been an independent state for the last two hundred and seventy
five years. During the First and Second World Wars it remained neutral although
many Scots join the English army in both conflicts. In 1973 it joined the EEC
along with its southern neighbors.
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