THE MACPHERSONS WHO MADE IT TO CULLODEN, TWO HUNDRED AND SIXTY TWO YEARS TOO LATE!
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| The CMA memorial stone at the new Culloden Visitors Centre |
Webmaster's Note: The National Trust for Scotland have promised to provide photos to accompany this article but as of the publication date, these have not arrived. In the interest of getting Sandy's article online, we are publishing his essay whilst it is still "current news" (relatively speaking). If and when the promised photos arrive, a slide-show or other appropriate display method will be added to this article.
The date of the 16th of April 1746 is of huge significance today to many people in many places. To descendants of those participants in the battle on that day it provides poignant and sometimes bitter memories, to others it is an important date in British history which has left its mark on world events.
We, as members of Clan Macpherson, look on Culloden with mixed feelings. We can recognise it as a vastly important event but can take a more academic viewpoint as we were not present at the time of the battle.
Had the Macpherson regiment arrived in time to take part in the battle, the effect it might have had is a subject which will be debated for ever, but we can all recognise both the horror and courage of that tumultuous day which must have affected many of our lives.
The National Trust for Scotland, who owns the battlefield of Culloden, have honoured the occasion by constructing a new Visitor Centre which now displays details of the battle in a very new and effective manner.
The objective of telling the story in an impartial and non-emotional narrative is entirely successful, any notion of romanticising events is dismissed and we are left to make up our own minds.
The keynote of fairness is set by the first exhibit you encounter, a set of bagpipes carried at Culloden, but no one knows if Scotland's national musical instrument was used by a Jacobite or Government piper. It emphasises that the struggle was not between Scots and English but between two dynasties, each seeking the throne. It divided countries, clans and families in a way that few wars have done since.
The essence of the display is the use of voices, words spoken by those men who took part in the conflict and left their memories for us to share. The march south through England, the fateful Jacobite conference at Derby which decided to return to Scotland and finally, on the eve of Culloden, the failed attempt to attack the Government camp by night are all displayed by an emotive series of voices representing both opposing sides.
Finally, you arrive at the field of Culloden, a large square windowless room with a cinema screen on each of the four walls. The images start with an empty moorland with only the whistling of the wind to be heard. Gradually the rival armies appear, the Highlanders restless and eager to attack, the Government forces facing them forming a solid wall of red.
A cannon roars, you hear the ball whistle over your head and when you turn to face the opposite wall, a casualty lies screaming in pain.
The Highlanders charge, shouting with swords raised and ready for action, the redcoats come to present, take aim and fire, men are falling as you watch from the middle of the room. Suddenly the charge goes home and you are in the centre of a brutal hand to hand struggle with men fighting at close quarters for their lives.
Then, as quickly as it began, it is all over, the Highlanders have fallen back and you are looking at a field strewn with bodies which fade from sight leaving you with the same empty landscape you started with.
The Centre is a mixture of very modern hi-tech display methods:- the battlefield, moving electronic maps which show the strategic moves of armies and fleets, voices coming out of the walls and good displays of the weapons of the period and many Jacobite relics.
Finally, outside to the battlefield, wide and bare and marked with coloured flags showing the position of the opposing armies, only when you see the ground can you realise the distance travelled and the furthest extent of the doomed Highland charge.
Although they were not present on the battlefield on that fateful day, the Clan Macpherson has left its mark. A path from the car park leading to the centre is paved with slabs of slate engraved with the names of those sponsors who have contributed to the project. We counted the names of six Macpherson families and other associated family names, with, of course, our own Association stone in a good prominent position.
Following the opening ceremony, with the entrance tape being cut by two small boys, the direct descendants of men who had fought on opposing sides in the battle, we had the pleasure of watching a very good display of Highland Dancing by the Edith Macpherson Dancing Troup and met the lady herself later.
Finally, the Chairman of The National Trust for Scotland, who welcomed us all to the event and set the tone of the proceedings, is no less than Shonaig Macpherson, a Life Member of our Association and one of the Macpherson Women of Note in our Museum display.
So, by the end of the day, although h Macphersons came in late two hundred and sixty years ago, we still have a lot to be proud of on the field of Culloden.
