"The King's Regiment at the Battle of Culloden"

by David Rowlands

Image Size 58 x 38 cm

The King's Regiment and the Atholl Brigade at the Battle of Culloden

16 April 1746: At the Battle of Culloden the King’s Regiment was on the extreme left flank of the Royal army. However, it was positioned en potence, at right angles to the line. The regiment was on rising ground, protected to some degree by the crumbling Leanach dyke, made of turf. The soldiers were in a position to open a deadly fire on the Highland right, should it make an attack. The Highlanders of the Atholl Brigade made a spirited charge, sword in hand, towards their right, and the King's Regiment opened a deadly flanking fire on the crowded mass of men. Wind and smoke blew towards the Highlanders. With bayonets fixed, and drawn up in three ranks, they were unable to miss at such close quarters. The officers carried spontoons, and sergeants, halberds.
The Highlanders were mainly armed with old-fashioned muskets and powder horns, targes and broadswords.

King George I granted the regiment its title of The King's in 1716. It ranked in order of precedence as the 8th Regiment of Foot, and in 1746 was known as Wolfe’s Regiment (named after its Colonel, Lieutenant-General Edward Wolfe).