BattlefieldsJacobite army at Culloden — pre-battle starvation and dispersal 1746
Jacobite Risings

Jacobite army at Culloden — pre-battle starvation and dispersal 1746

1746
Nairnshire, Scotland
Also known as: Jacobite condition before Culloden 1746 · Jacobite army unfed before battle 1746
Era
Jacobite Risings
Battle Type
Skirmish
Location
Nairnshire, Scotland
Status
Unregistered
The Combatants

Who Fought

Defeated
Jacobites
Forces
Government: c.9,000 fresh troops (Cumberland)
VS
Victor
Government (strategic)
Forces
Jacobite army: perhaps 5,000-6,000 present of 8,000 enrolled (many absent foraging)
Outcome
Jacobite army fights Culloden after failed night march, no food and significant absentees
The Battle

History & Significance

The conditions of the Jacobite army on the morning of Culloden are essential context for understanding the battle's outcome. After the failed night march to Nairn, men had been marching and fighting on a handful of biscuits for two days. Hundreds had left to forage for food — some as far as Inverness. When Cumberland advanced on 16 April, Lord George Murray estimated that a quarter of the Jacobite army was absent. The men who fought were exhausted, hungry and demoralised by the night march failure. Fighting on Drumossie Moor — an open, flat expanse wholly unsuited to Highland fighting methods — made defeat inevitable against Cumberland's fresh, well-supplied army.

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