Battle of Culloden - Lead Up To Battle

Lead Up To Battle

On 30 January, the Duke of Cumberland arrived in Scotland to take command of the government forces after the previous failures by Cope and Hawley. Cumberland decided to wait out the winter, and moved his troops northwards to Aberdeen. Around this time, the army was increased by 5,000 Hessian troops. The Hessian force, led by Prince Frederick of Hesse, took up position to the south to cut off any path of retreat for the Jacobites. The weather had improved to such an extent by 8 April that Cumberland again resumed the campaign. The government army reached Cullen on 11 April, where it was joined by six battalions and two cavalry regiments. Days later, the government army approached the River Spey, which was guarded by a Jacobite force of 2,000, made up of the Jacobite cavalry, the Lowland regiments and over half of the army's French regulars. The Jacobites quickly turned and fled, first towards Elgin and then to Nairn. By 14 April, the Jacobites had evacuated Nairn, and Cumberland camped his army at Balblair just west of the town.

The Jacobite forces of about 5,400 left their base at Inverness, leaving most of their supplies, and assembled 5 miles (8 km) to the east near Drummossie, around 12 miles (19 km) before Nairn. Charles Edward Stuart had decided to personally command his forces and took the advice of his adjutant general, Secretary O’Sullivan, who chose to stage a defensive action at Drummossie Moor, a stretch of open moorland enclosed between the walled Culloden enclosures to the North and the walls of Culloden Park to the South. Lord George Murray "did not like the ground" and with other senior officers pointed out the unsuitability of the rough moorland terrain which was highly advantageous to the Duke with the marshy and uneven ground making the famed Highland charge somewhat more difficult while remaining open to Cumberland’s powerful artillery. They had argued for a guerrilla campaign, but Charles Edward Stuart refused to change his mind.