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Russell M. Middleton
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Culloden 2002 and other pictures
Springfield, OH, May 18, 2002
Shortly after Prince Charles Edward Stuart landed at Glenfinnan and began to raise his army I (on the left) was promoted to Standard Bearer for Life Guards. Even though I felt like a gey muckle target carrying a great flag on the battlefield, it was an honor to be so close to His Highness during the campaign. Besides the Sassenachs (a pejorative Gaelic term for the English) couldn't hit the broadside of a 'Munro'. (What's a Munro? In 1891 Sir Hugh T. Munro, of Lindertis, Angus, surveyed Scotland's mountains above 3000 feet (914.4 meters) and produced his "Tables" cataloging 236 peaks which he considered to be separate mountains. For this reason Scottish peaks above 3000 feet are called Munros.)
We soundly defeated a group of Hanoverians under the command of general Sir John Cope at Prestonpans near Edinburgh. But when we met the Duke of Cumberland, younger son of George II, on Culloden Moor things went badly for us. I believe as many as a 1,000 men were cut down by the English artillery alone.
When it became obvious that we would not prevail that day the Prince was entreated to withdraw. The Life Guards and His Highness made good our withdrawal toward Inverness but upon hearing of pursuit by Cumberland (now known as "the butcher" for cutting down a father and son plowing a field on the road to Inverness, among other atrocities) most of us were ordered to scatter into the heather.
The Prince will make his way back to France and again attempt to raise an army, with whose help we will reclaim the throne. There are days when I fear this will never come to pass. I have heard the English Parliament is considering an 'Act of Proscription' a reiteration of 'The Disarming Act of 1716', and a 'Heritable Jurisdictions Act'. I think the English are bent on genocide against we Highlanders.
To: The viewer
I would like to thank two men who have created organizations and staged events that have paved the path for me to learn about my cultural heritage by living it.
Elliot MacFarlane, FSA(Scot) of MacFarlane's Company, A Living History Troupe based in Toledo, OH.
Chris Timm of Highlanders & Hanoverians, Kitchener, Ontario.
"A sure way to learn is to associate oneself with others who continue to learn." ~ Russell M. Middleton
More Pictures!
Beth and Russ
Russell, Karen and Elliot
Russ, Carole, Bill
Links to further pictures of Russell:
Highland Impression:
HRH 'Bonnie Prince Charlie' and I at Glenfinnan, April 2003
At the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, April 2003
Jacobite Rebellion May 2002
Detroit Highland Games, August 2003
North American campaign of the Seven Years War called the French and Indian War:
Chatham Heritage Days, October 2002
No. 1 | No. 2 | No. 3 | No. 4
The Scottish Parliament: holyrood.tv - Festival of Politics 2006
Culloden ! 26/08/2006
Dan Snow, star of BBC TV's Battlefield Britain, delivers a thought-provoking lecture on Culloden 1746, and what it meant for Scotland. Chaired by Nora Radcliffe MSP.
BBC 2 Bitesize Secondary is all that is left.
Yesterday Channel — "SLAUGHTER IN THE HIGHLANDS"
"Culloden is a chilling and evocative place for reasons. Not only is it the site of the last full-scale battle to take place on British soil, and the last stand of an ancient royal dynasty that traced its ancestry back to the Dark Age Gaelic Kingdom of Dal Riata and beyond, but it is also the place where the Highland clan culture of Scotland sang its last song.
The Battle of Culloden in 1746 meant, quite simply, the end of an era for Scotland. The Scots were heavily outnumbered and were decimated by heavy artillery as they awaited the command to charge.
In a particularly brutal move by the victorious Duke of Cumberland and his men, practically all the fleeting Scots were hunted down and massacred. Many have claimed to see the ghosts of the slaughtered men, bloody and cleaved, as they stagger across the misty moor to this day."
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