The Aftermath of Culloden – and the English/Germans called the Scots savages!
Culloden, April 1746. Written by Robert Forbes who witnessed the Battle
” But the most shocking part of the story is yet to come, – I mean the horrid barbarities committed in cold blood, after the battle was over. I do not know precisely how many days the dead bodies lay upon the field to glut the eyes of the merciless conqueror ; but certain it is , that there they lay till the stench obliged him to cause to bury them. In the meantime the soldiers , like so many savages , went up and down, knocking such on the head as had any remains of life in them and except in a few instances, refusing all manner of relief to the wounded, many of whom, had they been properly taken care of , would have undoubtedly recovered . A little house into which a good many of the wounded had been carried , was set on fire about their ears and every soul in it burnt alive , of which number was Colonel Orelli, a brave old gentleman, who was either in the French or Spanish service . One Mr Shaw , younger of Kinrara, in Badenoch, had likewise been carried into another hut with wounded men and amongst the rest a servant of his own. He had only been wounded in the arm and could have left but chose rather to stay, in order to attend his master . The Presbyterian Minister at Petty, Mr Laughlan Shaw (being a cousin of this Kinrara’s), had obtained leave of the Duke of Cumberland to carry off his friend, in return to the good services Mr Laughlan had done the government. He had been very active in dissuading his parishioners and clan from joining the Prince and had likewise, as I am told, sent the Duke very pointed intelligence of all the Prince’s. In consequence of this, on the Saturday after the battle, he went to the place where his friend was, planning to carry him to his own house. But as he came near, he saw an officer’s command, with the officer at their head, fire a platoon at fourteen of the wounded Highlanders, whom they had taken all out of that house and bring them all down at once ;and when he came up , he found his cousin and his servant were two of the unfortunate number .
I questioned Mr Shaw himself about the story, who plainly acknowledged the fact and indeed was the person who informed me of the precise number. When I asked him if he knew of any more that were murdered in that manner on the same day, he told me that he believed there were in all two and twenty. At the same time, they were busy in Inverness hanging up the poor men, whom they call deserters, many of whom had been obliged to enlist in the Highland army for mere subsidence – the government never vouchsafing to send any relief to such of their men as were taken well knowing what a merciful enemy they had to do with . And so great was the pleasure they took in looking at those unhappy creatures , that they never hurried any of them till the gallows were full, so that, I am credibly informed there were sometimes fourteen hanging in it altogether. Their treatment of the prisoners may easily be guessed, from what I have already said, and indeed history, I believ , can scarce afford a parallel to it. For some days it was dangerous for any person to go near them, or to pretend to give them the least relief, so that all of them, especially the wounded, were in a most dismal state. After they were put on board the ships, numbers of them died every day and were thrown overboard like so many dogs. Several of them before they were really dead : yea one of them ,’tis said, came alive shore near Kessack, though, as to this last circumstance, I will not be quite positive . But the best idea I can give you of their usage, is by transcribing part of a letter from one of themselves, an authentic copy of which lies just now before me. The writer was Willian Jack, sometime a merchant and after that a messenger in Elgin who had been with the Prince and was taken prisoner some weeks after the battle and went aboard one of their ships from Inverness to London.
“ Gentlemen,- this comes to acquaint you, that I was eight months and eight days at sea, of which time, I was eight weeks upon half a pound twelve ounces oat- meal and a bottle of water in the twenty four hours, which was obliged to make meal and water in the bottom of an old bottle. There was one hundred and twenty- five put on board at Inverness on The James and Mary of Fife. In the latter end of June , we were put on board of a transport of four hundred and fifty ton, called the Liberty and Property, in which we continued the rest of eight months upon twelve ounces of oat sheelin as it came from the mill. There was thirty-two prisoners put on board of the said Liberty and Property which makes one hundred and fifty -seven and when we came ashore, there was only in life forty-nin , which would been no great surprise if there had not been one, conform to our usage. They would take us from the hold in a rope and a hoisted us up to the yard –arm and let us fall in the sea in order for ducking of us; and tying us to the mast and whipping us if we did anything however innocent, that offended them : this was done to us when we was not able to stand. I will leave it to the readers to judge what conditions they might be in themselves with the above treatment . We had neither bed nor bed- clothes, nor clothes to keep us warm in day time. The ship’s ballast was black earth and small stones which we was obliged to dig holes to lie in to keep warm, till the first of November las , that every ma got about three “ of gross harn (sacking) filled up with straw but no bed -clothes. I will not trouble you no more till I see you. There is none in life that went from Elgin with me, but William Innes in Fochabers ….”
( signed ) Will. Jack Tilbury Fort, March 17th , 1747 ” Even today when I read this (I found this on a website years ago) chills run up my spine, pure hatred emerges from the very pores of me, people don’t understand today what actually happened at Culloden, many think it was “just a battlefield up in Scotland”, well think/read again. The museum is very good, I never tire of taking people there and looking again myself – especially the surround movie. The very fact it was not a two sided affair still shocks people/visitors, also the unescapable fact of the sneaky Campbells hiding behind the wall, the grim well of the dead, so much more, even as far as the high cost of the shop and restaurant! History is a thing of the past aye, but from the past we learn to use the future, get yourself down there and see it, live it for yourself. Paul McLean