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Culloden
Culloden
352 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1961
34 people are currently reading
884 people want to read
About the author
John Prebble
49 books28 followersJohn Edward Curtis Prebble, FRSL, OBE was an English/Canadian journalist, novelist, documentarian and historian. He is best known for his studies of Scottish history.
He was born in Edmonton, Middlesex, England, but he grew up in Saskatchewan, Canada, where his father had a brother. His parents emigrated there after World War I. Returning to England with his family, he attended the Latymer School. He joined the Communist Party of Great Britain but abandoned it after World War II.
He was born in Edmonton, Middlesex, England, but he grew up in Saskatchewan, Canada, where his father had a brother. His parents emigrated there after World War I. Returning to England with his family, he attended the Latymer School. He joined the Communist Party of Great Britain but abandoned it after World War II.
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August 21, 2017Many years ago when the world was young and the Big Bang a recent memory, I went to a concert of the Missa Solemnis, to my misfortune this was preceded by a musicological sermon in which the preacher, much to the happy sighs of the congregation spoke of the beauty and nobility and excellence of music and how it refined our rough souls, brought people together in peace and happiness and rendered us in capable of harming one another. Nasty person that I am and was, I remain fairly sure that when the ancestors had shouldered arms and marched off to war there had been singing and music involved, indeed that it was a pretty unavoidable part of the entire procedure to get everybody in the correct mood, hence this review comes with a soundtrack, for God, King George, and Uncle Toby , Lilibulero, while for all you Jacobites The White Cockade. In addition to a soundtrack there is also a film, which was made in 1964 (shot in black and white and made in documentary style ) is well worth watching and based on this book.
I'm nervous as to what I can say, seeing as I want to avoid spoilers, and who is to know, for someone the 1745 Jacobite rising is an adventure that has not yet begun nor ended, it might be cruel to make an assumption and on the basis of that reveal inadvertently the sorry end of the whole business, silly and sordid.
The first third of the book deals with the battle and its immediate aftermath and the rest of the book with the reprisals and the fates of the prisoners. So for those that want it, there is no general account of the rebellion nor of the state of the kingdoms united of England and Scotland, look elsewhere for that, I didn't feel the lack of it personally. The account is vivid, drawn very much from primary sources, sharply biased against the cruelties and exploitations, but also against the Highland society of this period, this Prebble regards as savage and not prefixed by 'noble' either. He also regards the passing of the Highland social structures as a 'good thing', and some readers won't find that much to their taste. He is so un-Romantic in his view of the rebellion that it is almost, but perhaps for his treatment of the Manchester regiment virtually a form of bias as well. There's an up the workers! view, so he mentions both that the private soldier of King George served for tuppence a day minus deductions for his uniform and munitions (and he had to pay for beef and ale if he wanted it, bread and cheese out of the boundless generosity of the crown were provided) , Adam's Ale , perhaps too freely provided by God, gave them their daily drink, brandy on the high days of the House of Hannover< spoiler> of which there were not nearly enough for tuppence a day and that the senior men of a clan considered themselves well within their rights to burn the roof off a junior clansman's hut to ensure that he voluntarily and of his own freewill answered the call of his clan chief to go to war. While the clan chief himself was a man who also had rights of the pit and the gallows over his clan and did on occasion sell some of his people into indentured servitude to meet the intemperate demands of his wine merchant or tailor .
Prebble is explicitly writing against a sentimental Jacobite tradition, which makes this book interesting at the current moment with the rumble of a second independence referendum rattling the window panes of the union of 1707, if not the long bred for union of the crowns achieved in 1603. One of the good things about being subsumed into a larger political unit, is that in sentiment the Patria can become a most perfect place. Prebble against this sets himself as an alarm clock of the modern variety that splashes the face with cold coffee at the first light of dawn - enthusiasm was limited, those who were enthusiastic were not shy in forcing others to fight, those who volunteered for the Manchester regiment - Prebble considers only the officers - who were a sad bunch who died for a fairly silly young man. Once the Highlands had been broken and depopulated then for Prebble it was safe for a silly and sentimental Jacobitism to emerge in the Lowlands . Among the prisoners were a blind bagpiper (who had been left to march into the Hannoverian lines), two deaf-mutes, more than a dozen priests (four of whom were Jesuits) and a sprinkling of men over seventy, ie it was at least, an equal opportunities rebellion (no part of the barrel unscraped ). I suppose, reading between the lines, one can say that Prebble is a disappointed Romantic, arguing that if you scrap away the sentimentalism you can find in the truths of history a reality that one can be genuinely passionate about and that sense does give this book a good deal of energy.
I'm nervous as to what I can say, seeing as I want to avoid spoilers, and who is to know, for someone the 1745 Jacobite rising is an adventure that has not yet begun nor ended, it might be cruel to make an assumption and on the basis of that reveal inadvertently the sorry end of the whole business, silly and sordid.
The first third of the book deals with the battle and its immediate aftermath and the rest of the book with the reprisals and the fates of the prisoners. So for those that want it, there is no general account of the rebellion nor of the state of the kingdoms united of England and Scotland, look elsewhere for that, I didn't feel the lack of it personally. The account is vivid, drawn very much from primary sources, sharply biased against the cruelties and exploitations, but also against the Highland society of this period, this Prebble regards as savage and not prefixed by 'noble' either. He also regards the passing of the Highland social structures as a 'good thing', and some readers won't find that much to their taste. He is so un-Romantic in his view of the rebellion that it is almost, but perhaps for his treatment of the Manchester regiment virtually a form of bias as well. There's an up the workers! view, so he mentions both that the private soldier of King George served for tuppence a day minus deductions for his uniform and munitions (and he had to pay for beef and ale if he wanted it, bread and cheese out of the boundless generosity of the crown were provided) , Adam's Ale , perhaps too freely provided by God, gave them their daily drink, brandy on the high days of the House of Hannover< spoiler> of which there were not nearly enough for tuppence a day and that the senior men of a clan considered themselves well within their rights to burn the roof off a junior clansman's hut to ensure that he voluntarily and of his own freewill answered the call of his clan chief to go to war. While the clan chief himself was a man who also had rights of the pit and the gallows over his clan and did on occasion sell some of his people into indentured servitude to meet the intemperate demands of his wine merchant or tailor .
Prebble is explicitly writing against a sentimental Jacobite tradition, which makes this book interesting at the current moment with the rumble of a second independence referendum rattling the window panes of the union of 1707, if not the long bred for union of the crowns achieved in 1603. One of the good things about being subsumed into a larger political unit, is that in sentiment the Patria can become a most perfect place. Prebble against this sets himself as an alarm clock of the modern variety that splashes the face with cold coffee at the first light of dawn - enthusiasm was limited, those who were enthusiastic were not shy in forcing others to fight, those who volunteered for the Manchester regiment - Prebble considers only the officers - who were a sad bunch who died for a fairly silly young man. Once the Highlands had been broken and depopulated then for Prebble it was safe for a silly and sentimental Jacobitism to emerge in the Lowlands . Among the prisoners were a blind bagpiper (who had been left to march into the Hannoverian lines), two deaf-mutes, more than a dozen priests (four of whom were Jesuits) and a sprinkling of men over seventy, ie it was at least, an equal opportunities rebellion (no part of the barrel unscraped ). I suppose, reading between the lines, one can say that Prebble is a disappointed Romantic, arguing that if you scrap away the sentimentalism you can find in the truths of history a reality that one can be genuinely passionate about and that sense does give this book a good deal of energy.
January 29, 2015
One of the most heartbreaking books I've ever read but I couldn't set it down. Stayed up too late two nights running and read on my lunch break at work. I was already somewhat familiar with the basic facts of the battle on account of various books I've read over the years. But I walked Drumossie Moor on a cold, wet, windy day a few weeks ago and found the place entirely haunting. Upon returning home I wanted to learn more about the battle, as walking the ground really touched me.
I believe this book to be incredibly well researched. The author does a painfully thorough job of adding names and personal stories to an already well documented battle. The author really does a superb job of describing what (and who) was truly lost in the battle and its aftermath. The prologue states that it is a non-partisan book that does not take sides. I do not believe this to be true, but will let others decide.
The simplest review I can state about this work is this: I'm not sure whether my journey through the Highlands would have benefited from reading this book prior to it. The striking and quiet beauty of the deserted Highlands was haunting enough without the full picture of the tragedy that was Culloden and the events that followed. Just as Scotland is a place I cannot wait to revisit, this is a work that I will undoubtedly stay up too late reading again.
I believe this book to be incredibly well researched. The author does a painfully thorough job of adding names and personal stories to an already well documented battle. The author really does a superb job of describing what (and who) was truly lost in the battle and its aftermath. The prologue states that it is a non-partisan book that does not take sides. I do not believe this to be true, but will let others decide.
The simplest review I can state about this work is this: I'm not sure whether my journey through the Highlands would have benefited from reading this book prior to it. The striking and quiet beauty of the deserted Highlands was haunting enough without the full picture of the tragedy that was Culloden and the events that followed. Just as Scotland is a place I cannot wait to revisit, this is a work that I will undoubtedly stay up too late reading again.
February 26, 2017
The last formal pitched battle involving British soldiers on British soil – I choose my words carefully to avoid bringing in the brawls between black and white GIs in WW2 which are a whole other story – was a tawdry affair of 1746 that has been elevated to a romanticism that it does not deserve. It was a well-organised force raised by the Hanoverian George II under the command of his son William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, set against a rag-tag army raised, often on pain of loss of land, livestock and home, by Highland chiefs still loyal to the Stuart monarchy. Cannon and musket against broadswords, fought on a foul April day on a boggy moor between Inverness and Nairn with a bitter east wind blowing sleet and snow into the faces of the Highlanders. It was a rout; the moor afterwards littered with bodies of Highlanders many of them broken by grapeshot. It was also the end of serious resistance to the triumphant Whigs, who like all big winners went on to write the history of the times as self-righteous, self-justifying truth. The aftermath of Culloden isn't generally part of that history; it's not much taught in British school history and it's a shameful blot on the nation. What followed the events on Drumossie Moor was an act of genocide.
John Prebble, working in the 1950s and early 1960s (the book was published in 1961, just a year after Macmillan's "Wind of Change" speech) dug up the dirty truth of Culloden and its aftermath from accounts and journals of people who took part on both sides as ordinary soldiers. He is sympathetic those on both sides, they were the hapless pawns of history after all, but not to their leaders. Charles Edward "Bonnie Prince Charlie" Stewart, the hero of the romantic version, is only ever a shadowy presence in the background, flitting from one bolthole to another as the slaughter went on.
Prebble gives a clear and detailed account of the battle itself but that is less than half of the book and, for me, the least interesting part (although I'm sure those interested mainly in military history would be fascinated) but from the common soldier's perspective. The triumphant Whig soldiers, many Lowland Scots amongst them, marched from the battlefield into Inverness slaughtering any hapless civilian they met on the way, unrestrained by their officers. Inverness was occupied and prisoners crammed into the town's Tollbooth and, when that would take no more, into any available cellar until the stench of death and neglect became unbearable. From Inverness the Whigs spread out over the Highlands and Islands with a scorched earth, slaughtering, burning and pillaging the lands of the clansmen, driving off and selling the cattle into the Lowlands and England, starving the Highlanders, who were regarded as savages much as the Indians in the American colonies were, into submission. Unrepenting Highland chiefs were taken to London to be eviscerated for the entertainment of the Tyburn mob. The wearing of tartan and Highland dress and the speaking of the Gaelic language was proscribed; the law was repealed forty years later but by then it was much too late. The clan system was broken, the clan chiefs who survived were assimilated and their landholdings consolidated so that they could finish the job of clearing the Highland people so the land could be sold to English sheep-farmers. And all was safe for the romanticising of the Highlands, the invention of "clan tartans" made possible by chemical dyes and the Yorkshire woollen industry, and the whole shortbread-tin, tartan-tat Scottish tourism industry.
Culloden isn't an easy read; it's intensely harrowing in places as befits the subject matter. But it really ought to take its proper place in the history syllabus just to teach the point that national history and myth isn't all as glorious as some would have us believe. The winds of change are blowing once again, not through Africa this time but through Scotland itself, a Scotland which is waking up to its own history and regaining its self-confidence. The kilt – the authentic, homespun, vegetable-dyed version – is being worn with pride once again outside the tourist areas. There are Gaelic road signs in the Highlands and Islands and bilingual station names on the railways even in places where Gaelic was never much spoken. The true story of Culloden is not being forgotten.
John Prebble, working in the 1950s and early 1960s (the book was published in 1961, just a year after Macmillan's "Wind of Change" speech) dug up the dirty truth of Culloden and its aftermath from accounts and journals of people who took part on both sides as ordinary soldiers. He is sympathetic those on both sides, they were the hapless pawns of history after all, but not to their leaders. Charles Edward "Bonnie Prince Charlie" Stewart, the hero of the romantic version, is only ever a shadowy presence in the background, flitting from one bolthole to another as the slaughter went on.
Prebble gives a clear and detailed account of the battle itself but that is less than half of the book and, for me, the least interesting part (although I'm sure those interested mainly in military history would be fascinated) but from the common soldier's perspective. The triumphant Whig soldiers, many Lowland Scots amongst them, marched from the battlefield into Inverness slaughtering any hapless civilian they met on the way, unrestrained by their officers. Inverness was occupied and prisoners crammed into the town's Tollbooth and, when that would take no more, into any available cellar until the stench of death and neglect became unbearable. From Inverness the Whigs spread out over the Highlands and Islands with a scorched earth, slaughtering, burning and pillaging the lands of the clansmen, driving off and selling the cattle into the Lowlands and England, starving the Highlanders, who were regarded as savages much as the Indians in the American colonies were, into submission. Unrepenting Highland chiefs were taken to London to be eviscerated for the entertainment of the Tyburn mob. The wearing of tartan and Highland dress and the speaking of the Gaelic language was proscribed; the law was repealed forty years later but by then it was much too late. The clan system was broken, the clan chiefs who survived were assimilated and their landholdings consolidated so that they could finish the job of clearing the Highland people so the land could be sold to English sheep-farmers. And all was safe for the romanticising of the Highlands, the invention of "clan tartans" made possible by chemical dyes and the Yorkshire woollen industry, and the whole shortbread-tin, tartan-tat Scottish tourism industry.
Culloden isn't an easy read; it's intensely harrowing in places as befits the subject matter. But it really ought to take its proper place in the history syllabus just to teach the point that national history and myth isn't all as glorious as some would have us believe. The winds of change are blowing once again, not through Africa this time but through Scotland itself, a Scotland which is waking up to its own history and regaining its self-confidence. The kilt – the authentic, homespun, vegetable-dyed version – is being worn with pride once again outside the tourist areas. There are Gaelic road signs in the Highlands and Islands and bilingual station names on the railways even in places where Gaelic was never much spoken. The true story of Culloden is not being forgotten.
November 19, 2020
This book was really personal to me. My grandfather came to America in 1926 from the Glencoe region of Scotland. He was so very proud of obtaining his United States citizenship but his heart and soul wandered those beautiful hills and glens of his beloved Scotland until the day he died. This book is well researched but you have to have connections to actually say you enjoyed reading it. There is nothing enjoyable about what happened here on the cold, rainy, foggy April day when the British and the Scots fought the battle known as Culloden on Culloden Moor. Culloden Moor is a tract of moorland in the county of Inverness, Scotland, forming a part of the northeast of Drummossie Moor and lying about 6 miles (10 km) east of Inverness. A great deal of it is bogs and that was one factors that made it the “wrong” choice for a battle…as if there is a ”right” one. Mr. Prebble discusses the battle and its consequences for the Highlands in terms of the “ordinary “men of both sides. There is little ordinary or equal about the men that fought this disaster…but I found out after 16 years of living around my grandfather that nothing is as hard headed or as determined to protect his own and his country as a Scotsman. Only about a third of the book is devoted to the actual battle, although a clear account is given of the slaughter in which nearly half the 5,000 Scottish clansmen gathered on Drummossie Moor were killed. Trying to define “fault” is about as useless as trying to say who was right and who was wrong in any long ago dispute…everyone has an opinion. I…of course was for the Scots…this was my grandfather after all, and as he pointed out often... “my people’. He was always forgetting that the other half of “my people” were Irish. I know that no matter the outcome or who was right and who was wrong…I will never forget standing in the rain as a 7 year old child beside my grandfather at the Visitor’s Center honoring the Scottish dead that fought in this battle and seeing this strong, but never silent man that I loved more than anything on this Earth…weep for his long lost
September 15, 2021
Perhaps the best-known account of the last pitched battle to be fought on British soil; a classic of its type. It has been said that JP had an agenda and that he was overly sympathetic to the Highland cause, but I think that's a little simplistic. If you've read JP's accounts of "Glencoe" and "The Highland Clearances", it is clear that he had no illusions as to the brutal realities of Highland existence, the near-slavery of the clansmen and the narcissistic self-indulgence of their chiefs. In "Culloden" he makes it perfectly clear that the Highlanders were betrayed by the misjudgement and incompetence of their leaders - not to mention the fact that there were almost as many Scots within the Government army as the Jacobite one. The horrors of linear warfare are only too apparent (as they are in the 1960's film of the same name), and so too the carnage unleashed upon the defeated forces. For such a meticulously detailed book, it is in fact incredibly moving.
January 23, 2011
I like historical studies to make at least a gesture towards objectivity. Prebble so identifies himself with the Jacobites rebelling against the Hannoverian government that such a gesture is not made. The first half of the book, detailing events leading up to the fateful battle of Culloden is moderately interesting, what follows is a dreary litany of complaint rendering the study mostly pathetic and well nigh unreadable. Poor. Avoid if possible.
March 6, 2023
"I should be reading more books on Scotland than I am" says my conscience, accusingly "after all, as an English tour leader in Scotland, you need to make sure you especially know your stuff, so that random drunk, jetlagged and bitter men in pubs in Inverness don't embarrass you in front of your guests by acting like you are an idiot for not knowing that Prince Charlie went down the North side of Loch Ness after the battle of Cullodon." (Honestly, I don't know why this was so important to him, he literally asked me "what happened to Prince Charlie after the battle of Cullodon" and I gave him a whole spiel about hiding out with the Seven Men of Moidart and then going Over the Sea to Sky with Flora MacDonold and finally getting rescued by the French, crying as Scotland faded from sight and then living out his life in Rome as a bitter alcoholic. The man then turned to me and said "You don't even know what he did right after the battle! He went up the North side of Loch Ness to avoid the British troups!" As though I was a stupid Englishman who really shouldn't be telling anyone any kind of history at all if I don't know that. Nort that I'm still hung up on this nine months later... And not that I am now researching as much as I can about the '45 uprising, Jacobitism, Cullodon and Bonny Prince C as I can just in case I bump into the guy again!)
"Okay conscience, fine, I'll read more, especially since Scottish history is interesting and that Prebble is a great writer... It's totally not because I let that guy get to me... Nope... He means nothing to me. Who even is he? I don't know... I can't even remember what you're talking about!"
So... Yes I'm reading more Scottish history this year, that's the plan! And this was a great place to start. At least, it was a great place to start for someone who knows the origins of the Jacobites and the background of Bonny Prince C et al and the reasons for the uprising in '45. Because it doesn't really cover all that stuff, but I'm kind of glad as I have been through that several times before in other books (a good one for anyone visiting the battlefield is their guidebook which is a really great, short summary of the uprising, history, battle and aftermath.)
Where Prebble's book is great is that he is not telling all of the dry, background stuff, but he is basically telling the story, beginning the night before the battle, through the lens of the ordinary people effected by the battle and the cruel repercussions visited upon the Highlands of Scotland after the Jacobite defeat. It is one thing when you are told how many people died and how they were punished, it is another reading first hand accounts of that. Prebble also knows how to write about history in a human way. It is very easy to distance ourselves from historical events, but the thing we should always bear in mind is that these were real people, just like us today. He puts the human into the history and I am happy that I have another 3 of his books sitting on my bookshelf about other important, historical events in the history of Scotland ready to enlighten me. So next time I see you Mr. KnowitallInvernessianman I'll tell you that it doesn't matter what happend to Bonny PC after the battle, it's the common people who suffered after the rebellion whose stories I will recite to you at length, as they are the people who suffered the most for the folly of princes and politics.
"Okay conscience, fine, I'll read more, especially since Scottish history is interesting and that Prebble is a great writer... It's totally not because I let that guy get to me... Nope... He means nothing to me. Who even is he? I don't know... I can't even remember what you're talking about!"
So... Yes I'm reading more Scottish history this year, that's the plan! And this was a great place to start. At least, it was a great place to start for someone who knows the origins of the Jacobites and the background of Bonny Prince C et al and the reasons for the uprising in '45. Because it doesn't really cover all that stuff, but I'm kind of glad as I have been through that several times before in other books (a good one for anyone visiting the battlefield is their guidebook which is a really great, short summary of the uprising, history, battle and aftermath.)
Where Prebble's book is great is that he is not telling all of the dry, background stuff, but he is basically telling the story, beginning the night before the battle, through the lens of the ordinary people effected by the battle and the cruel repercussions visited upon the Highlands of Scotland after the Jacobite defeat. It is one thing when you are told how many people died and how they were punished, it is another reading first hand accounts of that. Prebble also knows how to write about history in a human way. It is very easy to distance ourselves from historical events, but the thing we should always bear in mind is that these were real people, just like us today. He puts the human into the history and I am happy that I have another 3 of his books sitting on my bookshelf about other important, historical events in the history of Scotland ready to enlighten me. So next time I see you Mr. KnowitallInvernessianman I'll tell you that it doesn't matter what happend to Bonny PC after the battle, it's the common people who suffered after the rebellion whose stories I will recite to you at length, as they are the people who suffered the most for the folly of princes and politics.
August 20, 2019
My summer of Outlander continues. . .John Prebble's Culloden added all the gritty, realistic details to what was my limited general knowledge of the battle of Culloden. While it was definitely easier to watch the romantic version of the battle unfold as it does on the TV series, this well-researched, intense account of the battle and its aftermath left me feeling as if I had been there in the rainy, cold Highlands, observing the atrocities firsthand.
Starting his story on the morning of April 16, 1746, Prebble uses primary sources to tell the narratives of the individuals on both sides who fought in this historic battle. As the author writes in his foreword, his book is "an attempt to tell the story of the many ordinary men and women who were involved in the last Jacobite Rising, often against their will."
From reading Outlander and watching the TV show, I had already been well acquainted with the depth of loyalty that existed within the Scottish Highlander clans. But reading about their choices and interactions here takes it to another level. Highlanders sacrificed everything to protect their fellow clan members and their way of life. When Prebble describes how the Jacobite soldiers charged full force into battle, knowing that the British army was equipped far beyond their own limited resources, he highlights this dedication and fearlessness. His description of the brutal killing reminds me of just how barbaric war is, no matter what century it is fought in. The fact that well-to-do Londoners celebrated the English victory by putting on war plays on Drury Lane and dramatizing war during their high society social events shows the stark contrast between the lives of those who had been entrenched in English life and those who had been secluded in their own world of the Highlanders.
The majority of the book focuses on the aftermath of the battle of Culloden, during which the Highland Clans were essentially destroyed. Though the battle itself was relatively quick, the killing and torture continued for years afterward, as British soldiers carried out orders to hunt and kill Jacobites in hiding, and to deport hundreds of others to America, Canada, and the West Indies. Since the British viewed these men and women as savages, this was not only done with revenge in mind, but also with the idea of destroying a people who were thought to be a stain on the country. At one point Prebble compares the British treatment of the Jacobites to the way the Nazis acted in WWII and the comparison seems completely appropriate. Not only was clan life impossible to return to, but laws were enacted to prevent clan members from wearing kilts or any other clan attire.
Although Prebble seems to have a bias toward the Jacobites, the materials he collected as sources for his book tell their own stories, ones that point to abuse and destruction beyond imagination. Culloden is an important book that meticulously details the events of a critical part of Scottish history.
Starting his story on the morning of April 16, 1746, Prebble uses primary sources to tell the narratives of the individuals on both sides who fought in this historic battle. As the author writes in his foreword, his book is "an attempt to tell the story of the many ordinary men and women who were involved in the last Jacobite Rising, often against their will."
From reading Outlander and watching the TV show, I had already been well acquainted with the depth of loyalty that existed within the Scottish Highlander clans. But reading about their choices and interactions here takes it to another level. Highlanders sacrificed everything to protect their fellow clan members and their way of life. When Prebble describes how the Jacobite soldiers charged full force into battle, knowing that the British army was equipped far beyond their own limited resources, he highlights this dedication and fearlessness. His description of the brutal killing reminds me of just how barbaric war is, no matter what century it is fought in. The fact that well-to-do Londoners celebrated the English victory by putting on war plays on Drury Lane and dramatizing war during their high society social events shows the stark contrast between the lives of those who had been entrenched in English life and those who had been secluded in their own world of the Highlanders.
The majority of the book focuses on the aftermath of the battle of Culloden, during which the Highland Clans were essentially destroyed. Though the battle itself was relatively quick, the killing and torture continued for years afterward, as British soldiers carried out orders to hunt and kill Jacobites in hiding, and to deport hundreds of others to America, Canada, and the West Indies. Since the British viewed these men and women as savages, this was not only done with revenge in mind, but also with the idea of destroying a people who were thought to be a stain on the country. At one point Prebble compares the British treatment of the Jacobites to the way the Nazis acted in WWII and the comparison seems completely appropriate. Not only was clan life impossible to return to, but laws were enacted to prevent clan members from wearing kilts or any other clan attire.
Although Prebble seems to have a bias toward the Jacobites, the materials he collected as sources for his book tell their own stories, ones that point to abuse and destruction beyond imagination. Culloden is an important book that meticulously details the events of a critical part of Scottish history.
April 1, 2020
This is a meticulously researched narrative hostory of the events leading up to Culloden and that fateful battle itself. The author does an amazing job of describing the situation in the Scottish highlands of the time, and exploring the various threads and political intrigues that led up to this rebellion. He describes the conditions in the British army and amongst the highlanders, and no holds are barred in his description of the bloody aftermarth either.
This is no romantic fairy tale history. This is the story of what happeend at Culloden, and why. The author considers all points of view, without bias, in his presentation.
If you only read one book about Culloden ever, this should be the one you read.
This is no romantic fairy tale history. This is the story of what happeend at Culloden, and why. The author considers all points of view, without bias, in his presentation.
If you only read one book about Culloden ever, this should be the one you read.
October 8, 2020
An excellent book, looking at the "Jacobite Rebellion" from the point of view, as far as it's possible, of the ordinary soldier. It's remarkably even handed too - Prebble is as dismissive of the romance that subsequently attached itself to the tale of Bonnie Prince Charlie as he is of the justification for the English brutality in "pacifying" Scotland. Equally, the terrifying conditions for the common soldier in the King's army is set against the way many of the Highland clansmen could be described as unwilling participants, tribal loyalty and kinship often being brutally enforced. The book also gives the lie to the view that the "Glorious Revolution" was a bloodless transfer of power, since its impact was clearly being felt and contested three generations on upon Culloden moor.
March 12, 2013
Good book. Informative yet interesting at the same time.
Not sure I agree with accusations of Jacobite bias. I assuming this comes from the fact that Cumberland and his officers come across as brutal, however the book starts at Culloden and follows the period thereafter which was pretty much all one way traffic. Nothing Prebble could have done about historical fact, other than perhaps cover the whole rebellion to make it more balanced.
Not sure I agree with accusations of Jacobite bias. I assuming this comes from the fact that Cumberland and his officers come across as brutal, however the book starts at Culloden and follows the period thereafter which was pretty much all one way traffic. Nothing Prebble could have done about historical fact, other than perhaps cover the whole rebellion to make it more balanced.
May 12, 2022
A incredibly visceral account of the Battle of Culloden and the aftermath of that, especially the violence that the civilian populace of the Highlands went through. I knew a fair amount about Culloden and the period afterward, but this book helped me to visualise what it must have been like for those involved, whether they were Jacobite or Government troops, or the civilians caught in the crossfire.
December 19, 2023
A lot of this was vividly reminiscent of D.K. Broster's Jacobite novels, which speaks well for her level of research (and suggests that they were quite probably using the same historical sources!)
The book is both unsentimental and humane, giving us a view of the Highlands both as their English contemporaries saw them, as alien as any race of cannibal islanders (and therefore in as much need of proper civilisation ) and, without romanticising, of the values that the Highlanders themselves regarded as desirable and the internal enmities that drove them. The author has the invaluable quality of being able to see both sides of a question and to evaluate without anachronism; if the clan chiefs had to threaten some of their tenants with having their roofs burnt in order to persuade them to turn out for the Prince, then from the clan's perspective this was only right and proper, since failing to follow one's chief was in itself treasonable.
This is not, as the author says, a book about 'Bonnie Prince Charlie", other than peripherally where the Prince appears; it is an examination, so far as possible, of what happened to the great mass of ordinary men and women who were caught up in the Rebellion, as deduced through the unromantic sources of regimental order books, prison records, newspaper reports, contemporary correspondence, prisoner statements, and transportation lists. Surprisingly few rebels were actually executed out of the thousands who took part, but those who were put to death formally were probably in a minority compared to those who died at the hands of out-of-control troopers, appalling prison conditions, widespread starvation, and transportation for sale abroad. The book suggests that the subsequent 'Highland Clearances' can be laid at the foot of Government policies post-Culloden as well, which deliberately set out to break the bonds of feudal loyalty and transformed the descendants of the clan chieftains into mere landowners with no reciprocal bond to their tenants - though, as the author points out, offending clansmen had been sold abroad to the colonies before the Forty-Five by their own chiefs as part of feudal justice!
The book manages to be both meticulous and rigorous in its deductions from dry scraps of recorded evidence, and yet highly evocative of the world described, whether that be of the starry-eyed schoolboy who played truant to watch the battle or the English infantryman with his stiff leather stock and strategems against his officers. The author by and large doesn't take sides - or, rather, he takes both sides, with the talent of letting us see the different perspectives. An impressive work of history that reconstructs the past and brings it vividly to life, without hiding the academic bones of the process.
The book is both unsentimental and humane, giving us a view of the Highlands both as their English contemporaries saw them, as alien as any race of cannibal islanders (and therefore in as much need of proper civilisation ) and, without romanticising, of the values that the Highlanders themselves regarded as desirable and the internal enmities that drove them. The author has the invaluable quality of being able to see both sides of a question and to evaluate without anachronism; if the clan chiefs had to threaten some of their tenants with having their roofs burnt in order to persuade them to turn out for the Prince, then from the clan's perspective this was only right and proper, since failing to follow one's chief was in itself treasonable.
This is not, as the author says, a book about 'Bonnie Prince Charlie", other than peripherally where the Prince appears; it is an examination, so far as possible, of what happened to the great mass of ordinary men and women who were caught up in the Rebellion, as deduced through the unromantic sources of regimental order books, prison records, newspaper reports, contemporary correspondence, prisoner statements, and transportation lists. Surprisingly few rebels were actually executed out of the thousands who took part, but those who were put to death formally were probably in a minority compared to those who died at the hands of out-of-control troopers, appalling prison conditions, widespread starvation, and transportation for sale abroad. The book suggests that the subsequent 'Highland Clearances' can be laid at the foot of Government policies post-Culloden as well, which deliberately set out to break the bonds of feudal loyalty and transformed the descendants of the clan chieftains into mere landowners with no reciprocal bond to their tenants - though, as the author points out, offending clansmen had been sold abroad to the colonies before the Forty-Five by their own chiefs as part of feudal justice!
The book manages to be both meticulous and rigorous in its deductions from dry scraps of recorded evidence, and yet highly evocative of the world described, whether that be of the starry-eyed schoolboy who played truant to watch the battle or the English infantryman with his stiff leather stock and strategems against his officers. The author by and large doesn't take sides - or, rather, he takes both sides, with the talent of letting us see the different perspectives. An impressive work of history that reconstructs the past and brings it vividly to life, without hiding the academic bones of the process.
July 8, 2017
Prebble writes marvelously about battles, carefully processing official accounts with eyewitnesses and survivors. In the case of Culloden, the battle itself took little time, but the gathering and placement of the English troops and the clans is laid out in detail.
The aftermath of the battle and the rapine practiced in the Highlands and on the islands suspected of harboring the Pretender over the next year saw the reduction of the clans to pauperized starvation an the growing bitterness of the isolated English officers and men, many of whom saw the Highlanders as mere savages.
Prebble spares no one in his depiction of the irresolute and feckless would-be king, his followers, and their opponents. His disdain for the romanticization of the Highlanders (Walter Scott, etc) in the 19th century effectively undermines that attitude. Lukas's Marxist interpretation of the historical novel does, however, give another life to the Scott vision of the burial of the feudalistic clans and the emergence of the propertied leaders who, in the Highland clearances (the subject of a third Prebble volume), preferred monies made from sheep-grazing to the presence of clansmen and became capitalists of the worst sort, populating, among other places, Canada with their exiled "families."
Well written and lively, an informative book, indeed.
The aftermath of the battle and the rapine practiced in the Highlands and on the islands suspected of harboring the Pretender over the next year saw the reduction of the clans to pauperized starvation an the growing bitterness of the isolated English officers and men, many of whom saw the Highlanders as mere savages.
Prebble spares no one in his depiction of the irresolute and feckless would-be king, his followers, and their opponents. His disdain for the romanticization of the Highlanders (Walter Scott, etc) in the 19th century effectively undermines that attitude. Lukas's Marxist interpretation of the historical novel does, however, give another life to the Scott vision of the burial of the feudalistic clans and the emergence of the propertied leaders who, in the Highland clearances (the subject of a third Prebble volume), preferred monies made from sheep-grazing to the presence of clansmen and became capitalists of the worst sort, populating, among other places, Canada with their exiled "families."
Well written and lively, an informative book, indeed.
January 25, 2025
An absolutely brutal period of Scottish History excellently told by Prebble. I found the descriptions of the morning before the battle at Culloden Moore instantly sucked me in immediately, conjuring vivid images of the time and place.
The only places this loses points for me are a few (now debunked) myths mentioned near the start of the book, that, while pretty inconsequential to the overall narrative of the book, do cause me to take some of the more outlandish sounding parts of the book, with a grain of salt.
The only places this loses points for me are a few (now debunked) myths mentioned near the start of the book, that, while pretty inconsequential to the overall narrative of the book, do cause me to take some of the more outlandish sounding parts of the book, with a grain of salt.
December 22, 2018
Av bokens titel kan man lätt tro att det handlar om en detaljgenomgång av slagets alla vinklar och moment. Men boken handlar inte alls om någon detaljerad militärhistoria utan är historian om hur klansystemet i Skottland destruerades. Det mest minnesvärda är inte slaget, som avhandlas på ca 75 sidor av 345, utan alla övergrepp, allt våld och all misär som följde slaget när centralmakten när högländerna skulle tyglas. Rekommenderar verkligen denna bok till den som vill förstå ett krigs våldsamma natur bortom de regelrätta slagen.
May 16, 2020
there is a reason Prebble's books are not on the reading lists of any major Scottish University. He was not an historian, he wrote with an agenda and an axe to grind. His sources where largely secondary 19th century, most of which have long since been debunked by more accurate research. Read Murray Pittock's Culloden or the magnificent work of Dr. Christopher Duffy in Fight for a Throne.
July 9, 2017
It's taken me many months to read. There was some horrific things that went on during that war. This story was hard for me to read. So glad I've finished it. Now it's time to go to Culloden and pay my respects to the fallen
August 8, 2019
The battle actually took place on Drumossie Moor not Culloden Moor ( no such thing ) Culloden Battlefield on Drumossie Moor... love the Scottish history cannae wait to sink my teeth in to this book
September 3, 2022
After visiting the Highlands, this is quite an interesting read. If you are familiar with some Scottish history, and you’d like it to extend your knowledge, I can recommend this book. I enjoyed the pace in which it was written.
October 14, 2025
A great read. The battle is over by the end of the second Chapter, with the rest of the book dedicated to the aftermath of the battle, and the systematic oppression inflicted on the Highlanders by the government.
July 29, 2017
I bought this in the gift shop of the Culloden battlefield, a solemn place as befits the event described in this book. I learned a great deal about this battle.
July 17, 2018
Great one. ...
Poignantly portrayed. ..
One of the must read for pacification /small War studies
Poignantly portrayed. ..
One of the must read for pacification /small War studies
December 3, 2019
Compelling, rather like an Alan moorehead books in my opinion
August 11, 2022
4.5 stars.
August 17, 2023
Good explanation of the last major battle of a feudal army in Western Europe, and how Scotland was forced to remain controlled by England for centuries. Exciting, tragic.
May 20, 2024
Brilliantly observed narrative of the Battle of Culloden. Very little context but a well researched description of the battle and, more particularly, the aftermath.
July 1, 2024
Although its language is cumbersome at times it is filled to the brim with knowledge and analysis.
June 22, 2016
If you like detail and personal accounts, you'll like this book. From the opening paragraphs describing the British Army's equipment, drill and maneuvers to the closing paragraphs that summed up the end of Highland Culture, I was captivated by this book. I am undeniably a history enthusiast, a Scotophile and the proud progeny of Lowlanders so this book had me captivated. Culloden was the beginning of the end of the Highland clan system, and as the book points out, it was a curious and outdated system that was on its way to obsolescence anyway. The brutality that the Brits used to crush the Rebellion and destroy the Highlanders' morale and way of life is described in no uncertain terms in this book. I liked about this account that Prince Charlie is not talked any more than the ordinary people who fought and suffered for a cause that they did not alway fully understand. A good read. Maybe too dry for some, but fascinating to me.
February 23, 2009
I never finished the book. I read the first hundred some odd pages, enough to take in the battle and couldn't bring myself to continue. Painstakingly detailed, Culloden tells the sad tale of the last great battle between the English and the Scots. As an aside, I actually visited the site of the battle. It is a desolate, wind swept moor. A hard place. I can't imagine what it must have been like to have marched several miles in the cold April rain and fog, half starved to stand in a line and let the English fire cannons at me. The visitors center at Culloden is extremely well done, and I'd recommend it over the book any day.
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