Battle of Culloden
0Loading crowd target
0Loading crowd target
7correct to beat the crowd
40 free Battle of Culloden trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
On 16 April 1746, on a wet stretch of Highland moorland, the Jacobite rising led by Charles Edward Stuart came to a sudden and violent end. Culloden settled who would rule Britain, and what followed reshaped Highland life for generations. This quiz covers the whole story: the march into England and the retreat north, the commanders on both sides, the weapons and tactics on the day, the prince's months on the run, and the laws and reprisals that came afterwards. It also looks at how the battle is remembered in songs, paintings, novels and television. It is written for history fans, visitors planning a trip to the battlefield, and viewers who met Culloden through historical drama and want the real events. Every answer comes with a short explanation.
30 of 40 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The Battle of Culloden was fought on a moor about five miles east of which Scottish city?
Inverness
Inverness held most of the Jacobites' dwindling supplies, so their commanders chose to stand and fight outside it rather than abandon the town and watch the army fall apart.
Q 02Roughly how long did the fighting at the Battle of Culloden last before the Jacobite army broke and fled?
Under an hour
Under an hour was all it took: the Jacobite charge stalled in boggy ground and close-range cannon fire, ending a rising that had begun the previous summer.
Q 03Which Hebridean woman helped Prince Charles flee after Culloden by disguising him as her Irish maid?
Flora MacDonald
Flora MacDonald was locked in the Tower of London for it, then freed under a 1747 amnesty; she later emigrated to North Carolina.
Q 04Which English city was the furthest south the Jacobite army marched in 1745 before turning back for Scotland?
Derby
Derby was reached on 4 December 1745, and with no sign of English reinforcements or a French landing, the Jacobite council there voted to retreat.
Q 05Which TV drama adapted from Diana Gabaldon's novels sends its Highland hero Jamie Fraser to fight at Culloden?
Outlander
Outlander has Jamie kill his enemy Jack Randall on the battlefield, then survive his own wounds and be spared execution.
Q 06What grim nickname did the Duke of Cumberland's opponents give him after his army's brutality following Culloden?
The Butcher
The Butcher was a taunt from his Tory opponents, first recorded in the City of London; by 1868 he was so reviled that his statue in Cavendish Square was removed.
Q 07Which BBC science-fiction series set a 1966 story just after Culloden, introducing the Highland piper Jamie McCrimmon?
Doctor Who
Doctor Who meant to call the serial Culloden, but the BBC had recently aired a docudrama of that name, so it became The Highlanders.
Q 08Culloden, fought in April 1746, usually holds which distinction in United Kingdom military history?
Last pitched battle on British soil
Last pitched battle on British soil is its usual billing, and the defeat ended Jacobitism as a serious force in British politics.
Q 09Culloden ended the Stuart threat and secured the British throne for which royal house, reigning since 1714?
Hanover
Hanover was a German electorate whose ruler had inherited the British crown, and the Duke of Cumberland who won the battle was the reigning king's son.
Q 10Which composer wrote the oratorio Judas Maccabaeus as a compliment to the Duke of Cumberland after Culloden?
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel composed it within months of the battle, and after its London premiere in April 1747 it became one of his most popular oratorios.
Q 11A famous boat song recalls Prince Charles's escape after Culloden from Benbecula to which Hebridean island?
Skye
Skye owes the song to Sir Harold Boulton, who published the English words in 1884 for a tune Anne Campbell MacLeod had heard in the 1870s.
Q 12At which September 1745 battle did the Jacobites scatter Sir John Cope's government army in under 20 minutes?
Prestonpans
Prestonpans left the Jacobites in control of much of Scotland, and the win helped Charles persuade his colleagues to invade England.
Q 13Three months before Culloden, the Jacobites drove back Henry Hawley's government army at which battle?
Falkirk Muir
Falkirk Muir was fought in failing light and heavy snow, and Hawley was soon replaced in command by the Duke of Cumberland.
Q 21The night before Culloden, the Jacobites abandoned a surprise march on the government camp beside which coastal town?
Nairn
Nairn was never reached: an hour before dawn the column was still short of the river crossing, so the attack was called off and the exhausted men walked back.
Q 22By what other name is the boggy ground where the Battle of Culloden was fought in 1746 also known?
Drummossie Moor
Drummossie Moor was chosen by the Jacobite adjutant-general, and heavy snow and rain on the morning of the battle soaked its already wet ground.
Q 23Under what alias did Prince Charles travel when disguised as an Irish maid during his escape after Culloden?
Betty Burke
Q 14Where in the western Highlands did Prince Charles raise his standard in August 1745 to launch the Jacobite rising?
Glenfinnan
Glenfinnan lies at the head of Loch Shiel, where a monument tower topped by a lone Highlander now honours the clansmen who rallied to the standard.
Q 15Which Jacobite commander argued that the open moor at Culloden favoured the government army and proposed steeper ground?
Lord George Murray
Lord George Murray wanted a steeply sloping site near Daviot Castle instead, but fellow officers rejected it; he died in Dutch exile in 1760.
Q 16Which elderly Fraser clan chief, convicted of treason after Culloden, was the last man beheaded in Britain?
Lord Lovat
Lord Lovat went to the block on Tower Hill in April 1747, moments after an overcrowded timber stand collapsed and killed several spectators.
Q 17Which liqueur's makers claim its recipe was Prince Charles's gift to Captain John MacKinnon after Culloden?
Drambuie
Drambuie's origin story is a family legend that historians dispute as a tale concocted to boost sales; the MacKinnon family owned the brand for 100 years.
Q 18What nickname was given to the British Army's standard musket, carried by government infantry at Culloden?
Brown Bess
Brown Bess fired a slightly larger ball than the French muskets many Jacobites carried, which helps archaeologists tell which side fired the shot they dig up.
Q 19Which officer who fought under Cumberland at Culloden later died capturing Quebec from the French in 1759?
James Wolfe
James Wolfe was 19 at Culloden, and a famous anecdote has him refusing an order to shoot a wounded Jacobite officer after the battle.
Q 20Which spirit was issued to the government regiments on the eve of Culloden for the Duke of Cumberland's birthday?
Brandy
Brandy went out at two gallons per regiment, and the Jacobites hoped the celebration would leave the camp less vigilant against a surprise attack.
Betty Burke was so unconvincing that one host told Charles to take the disguise off, as it simply made him more conspicuous.
Q 24Besides Bonnie Prince Charlie, by which title is Charles Edward Stuart, the Jacobite leader at Culloden, also known?
The Young Pretender
The Young Pretender was Charles III to his Jacobite followers, though he never reigned; his exiled father was known as the Old one.
Q 25Charles Edward Stuart, the prince beaten at Culloden, was born and later died in which European capital?
Rome
Rome hosted the exiled Stuart court in the Palazzo Muti, a residence the Pope had given his father, and Charles died there of a stroke in 1788.
Q 26How large a reward for Prince Charles went unclaimed during his five months as a fugitive after Culloden?
£30,000
£30,000 was a fortune in 1746, yet none of the many Highlanders who helped him during his escape betrayed him for it.
Q 27After Culloden, the Dress Act banned Highland men from wearing the kilt unless they did what?
Joined the army
Joined the army is the exemption: the kilt stayed legal in the Highland regiments, and the ban itself was not repealed until 1782.
Q 28What name is given to the round strapped shield that Highland swordsmen carried into battle at Culloden?
Targe
Targe shields were banned by the Disarming Act after Culloden, and many were destroyed or put to other uses.
Q 29As the Jacobites charged at Culloden, government gunners switched to which close-range ammunition?
Canister shot
Canister shot needed no careful aiming, so the guns' rate of fire rose dramatically just as the Highlanders came into range.
Q 30Which British fashion designer named his Autumn/Winter 2006 collection The Widows of Culloden?
Alexander McQueen
Alexander McQueen used his own family tartan throughout, and closed the show with a ghostly illusion of Kate Moss inside a glass pyramid.