[12] Although significant elements were absent elsewhere, the main Jacobite army of about 5,400 left Inverness on 15 April, and assembled in battle order at the Culloden estate, 5 miles (8 km) to the east.

[13] The leadership was divided on whether to give battle or abandon Inverness, but with most of their dwindling supplies stored in the town, they feared retreat meant the army might disintegrate.

[14] Sir John O'Sullivan, the Jacobite adjutant-general, identified a suitable site for a defensive action at Drummossie Moor,[15] a stretch of open moorland between the walled enclosures of Culloden Park to the north,[16] and those of Culwhiniac to the south.

[17] Jacobite Lieutenant-General Lord George Murray felt the relatively flat and open ground selected by O'Sullivan favoured the government troops.

He suggested an alternative steeply sloping site near Daviot Castle, which was inspected by Brigadier Stapleton of the Irish Brigade and Colonel Ker on the morning of 15 April.

[18] The debate remained unresolved by the time of the battle, while the Jacobite army ultimately formed their line west of the site originally chosen by O'Sullivan.

[20][note 1] The plan drawn up by Murray called for simultaneous attacks on Cumberland's front and rear by his troops, and a second force under the Duke of Perth, supported by Lord John Drummond and Prince Charles.

Murray led it across country in order to avoid government outposts, but one participant, James Johnson, later wrote "this march...on a dark night [was] accompanied with confusion and disorder".

[22] As a result, it was one hour before dawn when Murray's leading elements reached Culraick, still 2 miles (3.2 km) from the intended crossing point over the River Nairn.

[23][24] Not long after the exhausted Jacobite forces had made it back to Culloden, an officer of Lochiel's regiment, who had been left behind after falling asleep in a wood, arrived with a report of advancing government troops.

[27] John Daniel, an Englishman serving with Charles's army, recorded that on seeing the government troops the Jacobites began to "huzza and bravado them" but without response: "on the contrary, they continued proceeding, like a deep sullen river".

[29] In the Jacobite lines, Sullivan moved two battalions of Lord Lewis Gordon's regiment to cover the walls at Culwhiniac against a possible flank attack by government dragoons.

[32] The duration implies that the government artillery is unlikely to have fired more than thirty rounds at extreme range: statistical analysis concludes that would have caused only 20–30 Jacobite casualties at that stage, rather than the hundreds suggested by some accounts.

Within a few hundred yards, however, the centre regiments, Lady Mackintosh's and Lovat's, had begun to swerve rightwards to try to avoid canister fire or to follow the firmer ground along the road running diagonally across Drummossie Moor.

The confusion was worsened when the three largest regiments lost their commanding officers, all at the front of the advance: MacGillivray and MacBean of Lady Mackintosh's both went down; Inverallochie of Lovat's fell and Lochiel had his ankles broken by canister within a few yards of the government lines.

According to the account of Andrew Henderson, Lord John Drummond walked across the front of the Jacobite lines to try and tempt the government infantry into firing early, but they maintained their discipline.

The smaller units on their right (Maclachlan's Regiment and Chisholm's and Monaltrie's battalions) advanced into an area swept by artillery fire and suffered heavy losses before falling back.

The boggy ground, however, impeded the cavalry, and they turned to engage the Irish Picquets whom Sullivan and Lord John Drummond had brought up in an attempt to stabilise the deteriorating Jacobite left flank.

Cumberland later wrote: "They came running on in their wild manner, and upon the right where I had placed myself, imagining the greatest push would be there, they came down there several times within a hundred yards of our men, firing their pistols and brandishing their swords, but the Royal Scots and Pulteneys hardly took their fire-locks from their shoulders, so that after those faint attempts they made off; and the little squadrons on our right were sent to pursue them".

Immediately, the half battalion of Highland militia, commanded by Captain Colin Campbell of Ballimore, which had stood inside the enclosure ambushed them.

and called for a final charge into the government lines:[45] Shea, however, followed Sullivan's advice and led Charles from the field, accompanied by Perth and Glenbucket's regiments.

[46] Several senior Jacobite commanding officers were casualties, including Keppoch; Viscount Strathallan; Commissary-General Lachlan Maclachlan; and Walter Stapleton, who died of wounds shortly after the battle.

It has been suggested that Lovat shrewdly switched sides and turned upon the retreating Jacobites, an act that would explain his remarkable rise in fortune in the years that followed.

[48] At least two of those present at Ruthven, James Johnstone and John Daniel, recorded that the Highland troops remained in good spirits despite the defeat and eager to resume the campaign.

[49] However the roughly 1,500 men who assembled at Ruthven Barracks received orders from Charles to the effect that the army should disperse until he returned with French support.

[51] For five months, Charles crisscrossed the Hebrides, constantly pursued by government supporters and under threat from local lairds, who were tempted to betray him for the £30,000 upon his head.

Finally, on 19 September, Charles reached Borrodale on Loch nan Uamh in Arisaig, where his party boarded two small French ships, which ferried them to France.

Following up on the military success won by their forces, the British government enacted laws to further integrate Scotland, specifically the Scottish Highlands, with the rest of Britain.

The Inverness Courier's account of the events surrounding the centenary in the spring of 1846 suggest that they had a recreational dimension, but as the century progressed commemoration became more solemn and elegiac.

An annual commemoration ceremony under the auspices of the Gaelic Society of Inverness began in 1925, and a major event, attended by up to 500 people, marked the 200th anniversary of the battle in 1946.