Editor says, what if the Jacobite Night Attack at Nairn was a stunning success? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the March 2011 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.

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Editor says, in authoring this article we explore an idea from Richard Roper and have repurposed significant amounts of content from Wikipedia which concludes ~ The Jacobite force however started out well after dark at about 20:00. Murray led the force cross country with the intention of avoiding government outposts. This however led to very slow going in the dark. Murray's one time aide-de-camp, James Chevalier de Johnstone later wrote, "this march across country in a dark night which did not allow us to follow any track, and accompanied with confusion and disorder". By the time the leading troop had reached Culraick, still 2 miles (3.2 km) from where Murray's wing was to cross the River Nairn and encircle the town, there was only one hour left before dawn. After a heated council with other officers, Murray concluded that there was not enough time to mount a surprise attack and that the offensive should be aborted. Sullivan went to inform Charles Edward Stuart of the change of plan, but missed the prince in the dark. Meanwhile, instead of retracing his path back, Murray led his men left, down the Inverness road. In the darkness, while Murray led one-third of the Jacobite forces back to camp, the other two-thirds continued towards their original objective, unaware of the change in plan. One account of that night even records that Perth and Drummond made contact with government troops before realising the rest of the Jacobite force had turned home. Not long after the exhausted Jacobite forces had made it back to Culloden, reports came of the advancing government troops. By then, many Jacobite soldiers had dispersed in search of food, while others were asleep in ditches and outbuildings.

Richard Roper commented on 2012-03-07 11:41:36 ~ This would create a crisis point in the War of the Austrian Succession. Do they make peace or risk French troops landing in Scotland to support the Jacobite army which can then advance on London?

Christopher Lee commented on 2012-03-07 23:28:19 ~ I think the main problem here is that Culloden came well after Bonnie Prince Charlie had already had, and lost, his chance to seize London. When he advanced as far as Derby he decided that his support was too weak and tenuous to advance any further south away from his Scottish base of operations. Although, arguably, he could have possibly succeeded given the paucity of British troops with the European war sucking in all British forces of note; he judged it too risky. So I think that by the time of Culloden he was already a busted flush. Many of his commanders had come to dislike him, the chances of renewed French assistance was remote as they were also tied up in Europe. It was clear that the Lowlands did not support him and he had been forced back into the Highlands. Even if he had been able to stage this attack it would not have changed the overall dynamic. He was now restricted to the resource-barren Highlands with a restricted base of followers. Even if he had been able to repel Cumberland I imagine that he would have only been able to consolidate his hold on the Highlands, possilby being quickly tied down in campaigns to suppress clans who had sided with the government. The vast bulk of his support were Highlanders with recent negative experience of the Lowlands and England who probably had little stomach for another march 'down south'. Having cast their lots against the Gaelic and Catholic Highlanders the Lowlanders would likely have looked to their defences and set up bulwarks to prevent the prince from coming south again. The British government would have then rebuilt its units and come back again, probably before Charlie could convince his followers to march south again. Even tied down on the continent England and Lowland Scotland had a huge preponderance of manpower and resources compared to what Charlie could tap into. He was already on the defensive and his days were numbered. I see this as only a potential short stay of execution, not a turning point, that had already passed.

Jeff Provine commented on 2012-03-12 14:47:17 ~ If he could have gotten popular support in southern England, there'd be no problem of reclaiming a Stuart throne. Wonder how he would have dealt with the American Colonies' demand for representation.