BattlefieldsRuthven Barracks — Jacobite survivors assemble post-Culloden 1746
Jacobite Risings

Ruthven Barracks — Jacobite survivors assemble post-Culloden 1746

1746
Inverness-shire, Scotland
Also known as: Dispersal at Ruthven 1746 · Jacobite remnant at Ruthven April 1746
Era
Jacobite Risings
Battle Type
Skirmish
Location
Inverness-shire, Scotland
Status
Unregistered
The Combatants

Who Fought

Defeated
Jacobites
Forces
Prince Charles in flight with a handful of companions
VS
Victor
Government (by default)
Forces
c.1,500 Jacobite survivors gathered
Outcome
Jacobite survivors rally at Ruthven hoping for orders to continue; receive message to disperse
The Battle

History & Significance

In the days after Culloden, scattered Jacobite survivors made their way to Ruthven Barracks in Badenoch — the agreed rendezvous. Some 1,500 men gathered there over several days, including Lord George Murray. They still had an army capable of continuing guerrilla warfare. But the message came from Prince Charles: each man should seek his own safety. The message was heartbreaking. Men who had staked everything on the rising dissolved in tears and dispersed. Lord George Murray wrote a furious letter to Charles, blaming him for the disaster. The gathering and dispersal at Ruthven marked the last organised Jacobite moment of the '45.

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