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        Scotland in 1746 was experiencing the dawn of an extraordinary intellectual renaissance that gave the world such luminaries as:

• architect Robert Adam (Edinburgh New Town)
• chemist Joseph Black (discover of carbon dioxide)
• biographer James Boswell (Dr. Johnson’s companion)
• poet Robert Burns
• physician George Cleghorn (discovered malaria cure)
• industrialist David Dale (built mills throughout Scotland)
• inventor Sir Hugh Dalrymple (developed drainage techniques that increased arable land)
• father of sociology Adam Ferguson
• inventor William Ged (metal casting process)
• philosopher David Hume (recognized leader of the "Scottish Enlightenment")
• pioneer obstetrician William Hunter
• father of modern geology James Hutton
• hero of American independence John Paul Jones
• physician James Lind (cured scurvy)
• road builder John McAdam (the concrete alterntive)
• inventor Charles Mackintosh (waterproof raincoats)
• inventor Andrew Meikle (threshing machine)
• anatomist/educator Alexander Monro
• inventor William Murdock (coal gas lighting)
• artist Alexander Nasmyth
• merchant/banker/unionist William Patterson (Bank of England)
• artist Allan Ramsay
• engineer John Rennie (London Bridge & many others)
• writer/poet Sir Walter Scott
• inventor James Small (iron plow)
• landmark printer William Smellie ("Encyclopedia Britannica")
• capitalist philosopher Adam Smith ("Wealth of Nations")
• philosopher Dugald Stewart (common sense philosophy)
• engineer Thomas Telford (St. Katharine’s Docks, London, among many)
• inventor James Watt (steam engine)
• signer of the Declaration of Independence John Witherspoon

        It is incongruous that the tribal Highlands clan system still survived while the Scottish Enlightenment flowered. About the only things the two movements had in common were affiliations with France and a penchant for rugged, moral individualism. (Both of these elements were shared with many intellectuals in the American Colonies.)

        Scotland had already been officially merged into the United Kingdom with England and Wales in 1707. The Industrial Revolution was underway in England, Wales and Lowland Scotland. The Enlightenment was already stirring in France, with its dual themes of nation and society soon to rock traditional systems throughout Western Europe and North America. But in 1746 the traditional Highland clans still lived and died by the sword. Therefore, Culloden was inevitable. And, when it did happen, the end was swift, bloody, and absolute.

        The Battle of Culloden was a disaster for the 5,000 or so Highland clansmen, Irish volunteers, and the few French troops who were quickly overwhelmed by King George’s army of 9,000 redcoats made up of English, Irish, Lowland Scots, and Argyll Campbells. Likely 1,500 or more of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s forces died that day, many of them slaughtered while laying wounded on the battlefield well after the hour-long battle was over. (Perhaps 50 redcoats died.)                                THE BATTLE OF CULLODEN MOOR
                                                                                                                                   Painting by Mark Churms

        Charles Edward Stuart, the Young Pretender, Bonnie Prince Charlie, evidently pretended to be field commander on April 16, 1746, taking direct field command of his army for the only time. After Culloden he was whisked away to safe houses throughout the Highlands, ultimately placed in the safekeeping of Flora Macdonald on the Isle of Skye. It was from Skye that the Young Pretender was rescued by a French warship and taken to exile on the Continent. He died an unhappy alcoholic’s death in Rome. Flora Macdonald was briefly jailed by the English, then relocated to the American Colonies where she helped recruit Scots for the British army in North Carolina during the American Revolution.

BONNIE PRINCE CHARLIE BIDS
GOOD-BYE TO FLORA MACDONALD
Painting by George W. Joy

        Following Culloden, King George’s men ransacked the Highlands, carrying out the order to put an end to whatever vestiges of the clan system remained. For some time afterwards the playing of bagpipes, wearing of tartan, and carrying of weapons were viewed as serious crimes against the state.

        The Battle of Culloden changed Highlands Scotland the way the Battle of Gettysburg changed the American Southland. In each case, a venerable, romantic, and thoroughly outdated way of life met a sudden, disastrous end at the hands of the overwhelming might of a more modern, technological society. In each case the defeat was so total, and the accompanying cultural change so monumental that not long afterwards societies formed to commemorate and even perpetuate the old ways.

MEMORIAL CAIRN AT CULLODEN BATTLEFIELD

        The Culloden Battlefield—site of the last military battle on British soil—remains barren today, hosting solemn, curious visitors from all over the world, plus one flock of sheep to help keep the land virtually as it was in 1746. The site is owned and maintained by The National Trust for Scotland, who acquired the battlefield in various parcels over time. Although it is the heathland (also called moor: Merriam-Webster on-line again:

"1 chiefly British: an expanse of open rolling infertile land
2: a boggy area; especially : one that is peaty and dominated by grasses and sedges")

Nearest Home at First Cottages: are in Inverness city about 15 minutes drive and on the Northern Highlands Estate about 35 minutes drive from Culloden Moor Battlefield

Getting There: take the A96 five miles east from Inverness. Turn right on the B9006, and follow signs to the Culloden Moor Battlefield.

Open: Battlefield open daily all year, daily. The Visitor Centre, restaurant and shop is open daily 11AM-4PM Feb-Mar & Nov-Dec (except Dec. 24-26), and daily from 9AM-6PM Apr-Oct.

Admission: Battlefield: free admission; Visitor Center: £7/adults, £5.25/seniors & students, £1/child, £19/family (prices subject to change).

        Home at First’s Northern Scotland cottages are a short day trip away from Culloden Battlefield in Inverness city and on a large Northern Highland estate. You can visit Culloden and most of Northern Scotland from your home base in
NORTHERN SCOTLAND