ABSTRACT
The Jacobite army returned to Culloden at about six o’clock on the morning of Wednesday, April 16. At Culloden House the principal officers were “sullen and dejected,” having gone the entire night without sleep. They threw themselves “on beds, others on tables, Chairs & on the floors, for the fatigue and the hunger had been felt as much amongst the officers as the Soldiers.” The night’s effort also caused O’Sullivan to faint, forcing him to lie down for a while. His narrative, which was written after he escaped to France, was quaintly worded and flowed relatively smoothly until the events leading up to the Battle of Culloden. No order had actually been issued by the Jacobite army to deny quarter. But the plan of the previous evening’s aborted attack may have been conveyed to Cumberland by some of the deserting Highlanders.
