IN this week 275 years ago, Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, had his army carry out his orders that no quarter be given to the survivors of the Battle of Culloden.
Cumberland had used the excuse that Prince Charles Edward Stuart had given a “no quarter” order to his army. According to Lord Balmerino, who was executed for his leading part in the Rising, no such order was ever given.
A written version supposedly made by Jacobite commander Lord George Murray was a doctored forgery, no doubt to deflect criticism, and no matter his “excuse” there is no doubt that Cumberland ordered that wounded Jacobites on the field at Drumossie Moor were to be killed and their bodies left to rot.