The last battle on British soil
The Battle of Culloden on 16 April 1746 was the last pitched battle fought on British soil, and it destroyed the Jacobite cause forever. On the bleak, open moorland of Drummossie Moor, five miles east of Inverness, the Highland army of Bonnie Prince Charlie was annihilated by Government forces under the Duke of Cumberland.
The battle lasted barely 40 minutes. The Jacobite army was exhausted, half-starved, and badly positioned on open ground that suited the Government artillery. Prince Charlie had overruled Lord George Murray's advice to fight on more favourable terrain. When the Highland charge finally came, it was met by devastating volleys of grapeshot and musketry. The clansmen who reached the Government lines found them prepared — bayonets angled to counter the broadsword. The charge broke apart. The retreat became a rout.
The aftermath was worse than the battle. Cumberland ordered his troops to kill all wounded Jacobites where they lay. Prisoners were executed. The army swept through the Highlands in the weeks and months that followed, burning homes, seizing cattle, and hunting fugitives. Cumberland earned the nickname "the Butcher." The Government then enacted a programme of cultural destruction: the Act of Proscription banned Highland dress and tartan, the Disarming Act confiscated weapons, and the Heritable Jurisdictions Act stripped clan chiefs of their traditional legal powers. The Highland way of life was systematically dismantled.
Culloden battlefield today is one of the most moving places in Scotland. The clan graves, the memorial cairn, and the visitor centre (operated by the National Trust for Scotland) tell the story with dignity and clarity. The battlefield is fifteen minutes from Inverness and remains an essential stop on any Highland tour. The events of 16 April 1746 reshaped Scotland and reverberate to this day.