| Lord Strathallan was the only person of
distinction that fell among the low country regiments. Lord Kilmarnock and sir John
Wedderburn were taken prisoners. The former, in the confusion of the battle, mistook,
amidst the smoke, a party of English dragoons for Fitz-James's horse, and was taken.
Having lost his hat, he was led bare-headed to the front line of the English infantry. His
son, Lord Boyd, who held a commission in the English army, unable to restrain his
feelings, left the ranks, and going up to his unfortunate parent, took off his own hat,
placed it on his father's head, and returned to his place without uttering a word. At other times, and under different circumstances, a battle like
that of Culloden would have been regarded as an ordinary occurrence, of which, when all
matters were duly considered, the victors could have little to boast. The Highland army
did not exceed 5,000 fighting men; and when it is considered that the men had been two
days without sleep, were exhausted by the march of the preceding night, and had scarcely
tasted food for forty-eight hours, the wonder is that they fought so well as they did,
against an army almost double in point of numbers, and which laboured under none of the
disadvantages to which, in a more especial manner, the overthrow of the Highlanders is to
be ascribed. Nevertheless, as the spirits of the great majority of the nation had been
sunk to the lowest state of despondency by the reverses of the royal arms at Preston and
Falkirk, this unlooked-for event was hailed as one of the greatest military achievements
of ancient or modern times; and the Duke of Cumberland, who had, in consequence, an
addition of £25,000 per annum made to his income by parliament, was regarded as the
greatest hero of ancient or modern times. In its consequencs, as entirely and for ever
destructive of the claims of the unfortunate house of Stuart, the battle was perhaps one
of the most important ever fought. Though vanquished the Highlanders retired from the
field with honour, and free from that foul reproach which has fixed an indelible stain
upon the memories of the victors.
After the carnage of the day had ceased, the brutal
soldiery, who, from the fiendish delight which they took in sprinkling one another with
the blood of the slain, "looked," as stated by one of themselves, "like so
many butchers rather than an army of Christian soldiers," dined upon the field of
battle. After his men had finished their repast, the Duke of Cumberland marched forward to
take possession of Inverness, and on his way received a letter, which had been addressed
to General Bland, signed by six of the French officers in the insurgent army, offering in
behalf of themselves and their men to surrender unconditionally to his royal highness. As
he was about to enter the town he was met by a drummer, who brought him a message from
General Stapleton, offering to surrender and asking quarter. On receiving this
communication, the duke ordered Sir Josepth Yorke, one of his officers, to alight from his
horse, who with his pencil wrote a note to General Stapleton, assuring him of fair quarter
an honourable treatment. The town was then taken possession of by Captain Campbell, of
Sempill's regiment, with his company of grenadiers. |
