After the battle, the onslaught: Historian reveals the true toll of Culloden
Expert revisits the final and bloodiest battle in Britain
On screen, in class, or between the covers of history books, the story of Culloden, the last and bloodiest battle on British soil, has been told and retold through the centuries.
While there have numerous accounts of the historic clash between Bonnie Prince Charlie’s Jacobite Army and English troops led by the Duke of Cumberland, far less attention has been given
to what happened next. In his new book, Culloden: Battle and Aftermath, Paul O’keeffe gives equal attention to the battle itself and the events that followed. This includes the fate of Scottish survivors, including some who dragged themselves from the battlefield, or escaped a firing squad. The author and social historian also shines a light on the impact the decisive battle left on culture, society and communities north and south of the border.
“It seems a likely story for now. I’m not a military historian, so what has always fascinated me is less the battle itself but what happens afterwards. This is usually glossed over at the end of a book, in a short chapter usually titled ‘Aftermath’,” said Paul.
“I’m hopefully finding a new way of telling the story. A lot of my book concerns incidents that might be passed over in a sentence, such as the victimisation and antiCatholic destruction that went on across Scotland, especially in Aberdeen.”
The battle, which ended “the Forty-five” Jacobite rebellion and its dreams of putting a Stuart on the throne, was an onslaught that saw 1,500 Highland troops massacred by English swords and artillery in just 30 minutes.
A further 3,000 men were captured, facing grim fates as bloody repercussions spread across Scotland at the hands of Cumberland’s men. Paul spent five years meticulously researching the history of Culloden and tracking what happened to the key protagonists and combatants following the clash on Drummossie Moor near Inverness on April 16, 1746.
He scoured historical archives and searched for valuable first-hand accounts, memoirs, autobiographies and additional newspaper and journal reports from the time. Paul, whose previous work explores the aftermath of Waterloo, believes that “when you start putting names to the bodies, to the survivors, and look at what happened afterwards, it humanises Culloden.”
Here, he recounts Culloden’s protagonists and its survivors.