Culloden Battlefield

This is one of my first tests using Photoshop CS3's merging power on my Mac G5 at work.

An ominous sky over Culloden Moor, the location of the Battle of Culloden in Scotland during my vacation in May of 2007. I think this is 10-12 photos (I can't remember), handheld, and assembled using the new Photoshop CS3 technology. Actual file size is approximately 7 inches by 28 inches @300 dpi. Other tweaks were done in Photoshop CS on my PC at home.

Canon 17-40mm L series lens

Extra strong watermarks will probably be the norm from now on, sorry.

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Read the full story on Wikipedia; [link]

The Battle of Culloden (Scottish Gaelic: Blàr Chùil Lodair) (16 April 1746) was the final clash between the French-supported Jacobites and the Hanoverian British Government in the 1745 Jacobite Rising. It was the last land battle to be fought on mainland Britain. Culloden brought the Jacobite cause—to restore the House of Stuart to the throne of the Kingdom of Great Britain—to a decisive defeat.

Charles Edward Stuart, known as Bonnie Prince Charlie or the Young Pretender brought a force of about 5,400 men, mostly Scottish Highlanders but some Irish and French. General George Wade and William Augustus, the Duke of Cumberland, brought an army of around 8,800 with heavy artillery support.

The weather was very poor with a gale driving sleety rain into the faces of the Jacobites. The Duke's forces arrived around mid day and initially deployed in three lines. Upon observing the ground and rebel dispositions, the Duke thinned his army to two lines, which he extended to his left, their left flank anchored on a low stone wall running along the south end of the field towards Culloden Park.

The Pretender's artillery, outnumbered some three to one, opened fire first but due to a lack of trained gunners had little impact. Over the next twenty minutes Cumberland's superior artillery continued to batter the Jacobite lines, while Charles, moved for safety out of sight of his own forces, waited for the government forces to move.

The terrain was poor and boggy, and arguments broke out amongst Prince Charlie's troops as some Clans disliked the way they were positioned on the battlefield. Finally, the Highlanders advanced on the left flank of the Government troops but were subjected to several volleys of musket fire and the artillery which had switched from roundshot to grapeshot.

The highland charge broke and failed.

In a total of about 60 minutes the Duke of Cumberland was victorious--1,250 Jacobites were dead, a similar number were wounded, and 558 prisoners were taken. This battle earned the Duke the nickname of "Butcher." The Pretender (Prince Charlie) fled the battlefield and survived for five months in Scotland despite a £30,000 reward for his capture. He eventually returned to France, making a dramatic if humiliating escape disguised as a "lady's maid" to Flora MacDonald, but that's another story.

The dead (and some say the wounded were also killed) were buried in mass graves on the Culloden battlefield mostly according to their Clans. Today, you can still see the stones that mark these mass graves with the Clan names carved into them.

This horrible loss spelled the end of the Highland way of life. The clan system was destroyed with the Act of Proscription disarming them, banning the kilt and the tartan, the Tenures Abolition Act ending the feudal bond of military service and the Heritable Jurisdictions Act removing the virtually sovereign power the chiefs had over their clan.

The Culloden Battlefield is administered by the National Trust for Scotland. The NTS is building a brand new Culloden Battlefield Memorial Centre, due to open on the 16th of April 2008. You can just see this new centre on the far left of the photo.

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