01x08 - Battle of Culloden

[bunniefuu]

[lively music plays]

[Sam & Graham]

Oh, sons of dogs!

Of dogs of the breed!

O come, come here,

on flesh to feed!

-[shouts]

-[laughs]

♪

[Sam] On the road

to Culloden.

[Graham] On the road

to Culloden.

I feel like, in a way,

all that we've done so far

have led to this point.

To this moment.

This battle

that really changed

not only the history

of Scotland,

the shape of Scotland,

but the culture.

-After this point

-[Graham] Yeah, yeah.

Scotland became

a completely different place.

We lost a lot

of the Highland culture

and Highland ways of life.

We're following

in these footsteps

of those Highlanders

that came here on that day.

-Yeah.

-We're gonna be meeting people

to talk about the weapons, and

we're gonna be talking about--

Yeah, I'm excited

about that one.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

We're gonna be talking

to a great Culloden historian.

We're gonna go

to the b*ttlefield.

I have lots of

different emotions

going through me

at the moment,

'cause we're going

to a-a sacred place really.

Hmm, gonna be a really

interesting experience,

and I think, whew, pretty,

pretty intense, right?

Yep, I-I-I agree,

and I'm looking forward

to taking a moment today

to really think

about what those men

went through.

In the spring of 1746,

Scottish Jacobite forces

met the British

government army

on a marshy b*ttlefield

in the Highlands

called Culloden.

They fought to determine

who should rightfully ascend

the throne

of Scotland and England.

The skirmish only lasted

60 minutes,

but its legacy has endured

for centuries.

Highland warriors

on the Jacobite side

launched into

the British line

with one of their legendary

Highland charges,

a headlong rush

into enemy g*nf*re

with swords and shields drawn.

Boggy conditions

and newly devised tactics

by the British commander,

the Duke of Cumberland,

neutralized the charge.

The Jacobites suffered

a devastating loss,

but the greater blow

was to Highland culture.

The victorious British

outlawed wearing tartan,

playing bagpipes,

and speaking Gaelic,

Scotland's native language.

An entire way of life

was consigned to history,

and Scotland

was forever changed.

[Graham] We are absolutely

delighted that you're here,

Alistair.

[Sam] Positively quivering.

Oh, I-I am.

No, I--really.

I'm a fan of your work,

and I've been

to a few battlefields.

I've got a sort of morbid

fascination with them, really.

But Culloden is the one

that gets me the most.

Well, it's appropriate

in a way

-because it was

a hugely pivotal moment.

-Yeah.

It was the last pitched battle

ever fought in Britain.

It was a battle fought

with bladed weapons.

-[Sam] Hmm.

-I mean, think about that.

People sh**t each other

with r*fles

and drones and a*tillery

and aircraft,

but this was up close

and very personal.

The Highlanders always put

the oldest men in front,

because they believed

that courage

flowed down the generations,

because the older men

were more experienced.

And remember,

this is a family army.

You know, brothers are

standing next to each other,

-cousins and uncles

-[Graham] Yeah.

[Alistair]

nephews and so on.

And they stand

in family groups.

Now if we have the discipline

to stand together,

to march together,

and to fight together,

then, by God,

I ken we will win together.

[all shout indistinctly]

[Alistair] In Gaelic,

there's something called

the fiadhaich,

which is the rage fit.

The fiadhaich.

A warrior gets himself

into the rage fit,

you know, before they charge.

[Graham] Almost like berserk.

My character definitely

had the--that.

-The fiadhaich.

-Yeah, fiadhaich.

Yes, I-I went

completely mental.

He generally has that

if he's hungry as well.

[yelling]

[shouting indistinctly]

I have no-no quarter, nothing.

-[Alistair] Absolutely.

-Just contempt and hatred.

But you have to because

you're not-you're not wielding

a g*n.

You get right in their face.

You can smell the sweat

and you can smell the fear,

and if you don't k*ll 'em,

they'll k*ll you.

That's how you beat

the Redcoats, eh?

With a Highland charge!

[Jamie] We need surprise

for the charge to work.

-I doubt we'll be that lucky.

-[spits]

[Alistair] They gather

on the moor,

and they form up.

The sergeants march up

and down the line saying,

"Look to your fronts

and stand fast.

Don't run."

And the government army

begin an absolutely

murderous cannonade,

because they got many,

many more cannons

than-than the Jacobite army.

And then something

remarkable takes place.

Something that only

a Highland army would ever do.

The government soldiers think

that they're singing.

But they weren't

singing songs.

What they were doing, they were

reciting their genealogies.

-Yes.

-Ah.

-The incitement of battle.

-Yes.

And many men could go back

20 generations,

sometimes to

mythical ancestors.

And so each man would say

[speaking Gaelic].

And so on, "I'm the son of Rory,

the son of Dom,

the son of James,

and so on."

-And it's like a chant.

-[Graham] Yes.

[Alistair] And they recite it.

What they were doing

was they were summoning

the army of the dead.

-[Sam] Ah.

-[men shouting]

[Alistair] Unable to withstand

the cannonade any longer,

they break away

into the charge.

[men yelling]

So they charge across the moor,

but unfortunately

they'd chosen bad ground,

and so they- they slew into each other as they're charging,

and then the government army

march on,

you know,

with the red silk standards

and the taradiddle

on the drums.

What they realize

is that when a Highlander

lifts his sword arm,

he exposes his right side.

-Most of them are right-handed.

-[both] Hmm.

And so with your bayonet

on your musket,

you don't try and skewer

the guy in front.

You skewer the guy

on your right.

-[Sam] So a new tactic.

-New tactic, exactly.

And it works.

[men yelling]

[Alistair] The charge fails.

[solemn music plays]

In Outlanderwhen--

after the Battle of Culloden,

you know, and this group

of Highlanders

are sort of surrounded

by Brits,

and it's their sort of

last moments

as they're being taken out

one by one and-and ex*cuted.

[g*nf*re]

[Sam] It really was

quite an emotional moment,

not only for-for us

as the actors,

but also just sort of saying

good-bye to each character,

but sort of saying good-bye

in a way to Scotland as well.

It was the beginning of

the death of Highland culture.

-[Graham] Yes.

-[Sam] Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

You know, without any doubt,

because on the b*ttlefield

there were terrible

atrocities went on.

But afterwards, the Duke

of Cumberland's soldiers

were committing a genocide.

-[Sam] Mm.

-[Graham] Yes.

[Alistair]

I mean, Highlanders

were scattered

to the ends of the earth.

-[Sam] To the New World and--

-[Alistair] Yeah, I mean,

when the white-sailed ships

slipped over the horizon,

they never saw it again.

I don't want

to overdramatize it,

but the end of a--of a version

of Scotland, certainly,

-that has never returned.

-That's absolutely right.

-Thank you so much, Alistair.

-Great pleasure.

Absolutely wonderful.

Good luck on the journey, guys.

Thank you.

We're off to see an old friend

and some very sharp implements.

[Alistair laughs]

Yeah, something else

to look forward to.

[upbeat rock music plays]

[Graham] What time did you

tell him to come?

[Sam] Anytime now.

You did tell him

the right place, didn't you?

-I said--

-Doune Castle.

I said Doune Castle,

meet us here,

come for a fight,

come prepared.

-Come for a fight?

-Come for a fight, yeah.

♪

[Graham] Good lord.

-Oh God.

-[chuckles]

[Graham] You invited Charlie,

Outlander's combat expert

for a fight?

Good luck, Sam.

Guys, how you doing?

-Hello.

-How's it going?

Charlie Allan, my God.

It's been a long time.

-Yes.

-Guys, you look fantastic.

You look like uh,

Scottish warriors.

[Graham] Yeah, we're heading

to Culloden, right?

So uh, we just wanted

to talk a little bit

about um, what that

would have been like

from a Highland warrior

point of view.

These days, you know,

we're in-in a battle,

you know, you're- you're

practically miles away from

someone.

You know, it's all

kind of automated.

But in those days,

it was man v. man.

It was pretty brutal.

You can smell the breath of the

guy you were gonna be fighting.

You know, you've been

building up to it.

The adrenaline

woulda been pumping.

There woulda been

an element of fear, you know?

If any man said he had no fear

when he stepped on the field,

you know, that's mostly

what kept them alive,

'cause you fought harder.

We're gonna do some drills

with you, I think.

[Charles] First,

I'm gonna get you guys

to mirror what they're doing,

so be, like, you know,

-follow what they're doing.

-Yes.

'Cause I don't want

to put you up

against these guys

straightaway.

-Yeah, good.

-Let's get to it.

[Charles] Yeah.

So to keep you guys, uh, safe,

we're uh, gonna use

these training swords.

Okay, so setting their moves,

the first move is a thrust.

One.

Drop the sword to your left.

Cut.

Two, come back up in an X.

Three.

Four.

Five.

-[indistinct]

-Across the body, six.

-[Graham] Six.

-Across the body, seven.

-[Graham] Mm-hmm.

-Up to the groin, eight.

And over the head, nine.

And you're dead.

[Charles] Okay, so now,

we're gonna put these down

and train

with the real weapons.

Let's quickly get into it,

in your positions.

[Sam] All right,

I'm ready, come on.

[Charles] Okay, one.

-[all grunt]

-Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

Six.

Seven.

Eight.

-Nine.

-[shouting]

-[Sam] And bash.

-[chuckles]

That's the one.

It's- it's amazing how different

it is with this-this weapon,

how the-the weight of it,

and you start to realize

it's actually quite dangerous.

[Graham] If this was brought

down with force

and razor sharp

on someone's shoulder,

it would just cut through

them like butter.

Yeah.

[Charles] So let's put these

down, grab the Lochaber.

-Yeah.

-Ooh, yes, now this--

[Graham] Ooh, good dear.

That's gonna do a lot more

damage, isn't it?

Yes, maybe we should get one

of these for the caravan.

-The moves I showed you.

-[Graham] Yeah.

-You should be able to do

with one of these as well.

-[Sam] Yeah.

-A variation of that.

-See if we can remember it.

-Sure, that's gonna be quite--

-That's gonna be interesting.

[Charles]

You've got the basic moves.

So the thrust would be more--

[Charles] Yeah, you're gonna

have to move your feet more.

So thrust,

and then it would be over.

[Charles] One, two.

-There.

-Up three.

Four, yeah.

-Five.

-Nice one, Graham.

-Up.

-Six.

Oh, my God.

Ah!

[both] Seven, eight.

-Nine, to finish off.

-Nine.

Thank you, gentlemen, so much.

We are delighted to--

-We're ready.

-I feel we're ready.

-We've had such great training.

-We're totally ready.

We'll take these with us,

if that's all right.

-[Charles] Yeah, sure.

-Thank you.

Let's go.

[Sam] How do you get through

a door with one of these?

[Graham] Well, you're never

gonna get out, no.

[upbeat music plays]

[Sam] We're super excited.

We're on the road to Culloden.

We're ready to-to k*ll

some people, to be honest.

-Jim Elliot--

-Not you, not you.

No, don't worry.

You'll be okay.

You'll be safe.

Iain Bowden.

-Thanks for coming.

-Ah.

From Outlander,obviously you

are our chief armorer

-Yeah.

-On Outlander.

Iain, you-you make a lot

of the-the weapons.

-Yeah.

-That's fantastic.

What-what a skill.

Remember when

we were all lined up,

-all the Highlanders.

-In the armory.

And you sort of,

you kitted us all out

with our own

personal swords, dirks.

Yes, that's right,

and our dirks, yeah.

And uh, it was a really good

day, and you could see all these

men

basically become big-big kids,

and we were all super excited.

And the- and the characters

coming to life, actually,

because those weapons

informed the character.

It makes a difference rather

than standing just in costume.

[Graham] Totally, yeah, yeah.

I mean,

it-it gave you the weight

and the- and the sort of power

that you needed for the show.

-Boys with toys.

-Definitely boys with toys.

Well, the first thing

you gave me

was my own personal dirk,

which is, you know,

this long knife,

which I think we've got

a couple of examples of here.

Yes, oh, yeah, that--

[Graham] The dirk,

in some ways,

is, um, my favorite.

[chuckles]

[gentle music plays]

[echoing]

My favorite.

[Jamie] Leave now.

[grunting]

[chuckling]

-Very interesting.

-Ah, ah, ah.

'Cause it's just

pure aggression.

You get the--what is it,

you get the shoulder?

b*stard!

And you just pull it out of

him like that.

And then you get him

and then [indistinct],

get him like that.

Around the back

of the hamstring.

Get him on the ground,

and then get that,

and bang, bang, bang

in his face.

Sorry.

Now, the basket hilt,

here we are.

This is one of

my favorite weapons

-that we had on Outlander.

-Hmm.

So the grip here,

it's got a great grip.

Now what is that?

-That's ray skin.

-Ray skin.

[Sam] Ray skin, so it's

basically a-a shark skin.

-You got so much grip.

-[Iain] Supposedly,

even if your hands

are covered in blood,

-it won't slip.

-You'll still be able to--

Yeah, you'll still be able

to hold on to it.

Soaked in blood?

Yeah, and it wouldn't slip.

It wouldn't twist in your hand.

Alright, I just wonder whether

when they made these,

they-they sort of had that

as part of their advertising.

When your hand

is covered in blood,

it won't go slipping.

Get yourself

a shark skin blade.

Buy one of my broadswords.

[Sam] Let's talk

about the r*fles.

This one's a Brown Bess.

You can see the Bess.

The British

all always had brass.

Uh-huh.

-'Cause it doesn't spark.

-Right.

But the French all would

favor the chrome.

So you can immediately

tell the difference.

The Brown Bess was

a very good weapon, wasn't it?

-[Jim] Yes, 128 years.

-Yeah.

Lasted way into

the 19th century.

Yeah, in the Napoleonic wars,

that's what- that's what stopped

Napoleon at uh, at Waterloo.

Yep.

It's quite a process,

isn't it?

To-to reload a-a musket.

You would start off.

Putting the g*n in half-c*ck,

fill up the touch hole

with just enough g*n powder

to fill it up.

-You close that.

-Close it.

Then up.

So then you put

the-the ball in here.

You'd put the ball down here,

then you take your ramrod out,

and you ram it home.

Four, five.

Reseat the ramrod

back into the pipes.

Uh-huh.

-Shoulder the g*n.

-Yep.

Full c*ck, and then

when you're ordered to fire.

And in the meantime,

you're doing all of this

while a crazed madman

like this man--

Is coming at you and running.

[indistinct chatter]

[g*nf*re]

The British were really quick

at it though, weren't they?

Yes.

How many rounds

could they get off?

Well-trained,

three in a minute.

Three in a minute.

So load, fire, reload, fire.

-Three in a minute.

-And under pressure.

Well, you're gonna

show us maybe uh,

a little bit about, you know,

the-the tactic with the--

-The bayonet.

-The bayonet.

-Do we have a bayonet?

-Let's show you.

Let's ram on a bayonet.

Wow.

[Sam] This is the

bayonet technique Alistair

explained earlier.

So we got the bayonet on,

and uh, normally you'd go

for the man in front of you,

but I think you were gonna show

us what would happen at

Culloden.

Right, so there's a line of us.

We're the British.

[Graham] Yeah,

so we're the Redcoats.

Traditionally,

the man coming towards you,

I would go straight for him,

and then you'd k*ll me.

-Yes.

-Got it.

But I believe Cumberland--

Cumberland advised

a different tactic,

which was you went

for the man to your right.

So as you're

coming towards me,

I got for the man over there

like you do as well.

[Graham] Bash.

And all youse jocks are dead,

innit ya?

And-and importantly,

it was the discipline

that won the day

really for the British,

because if one man

didn't do that

-Uh-huh.

-You'd be dead.

If I was still going

for the guy in front of me,

I'd be, "Oh, sorry, Sam."

You'd be dead.

-Yeah, you're dead.

-And that, indeed,

did happen

further down the-the line.

It's amazing,

so it's a new modern,

or a new- a new tactic

to basically beat

this traditional

Highland charge

that was, you know,

very, very effective.

Imagining what

it would have been like,

the noise, the screaming.

Hmm.

The mist, the fog.

Basically, it was

a cold, horrible day.

The aftermath of the battle,

you know,

these just dead or dying

Highlanders on the ground,

and then the-the Brit- British

soldiers would go around

-and just finish them off.

-Finish people off.

And all they found, you know,

stab them on the ground,

and it was just horrific.

There was a British officer

that described the ground

writhing with the bodies,

the heather was writhing.

-[officer] Sergeant.

-[sergeant] Yes, sir.

[breathing raggedly]

-[blade plunges]

-[groans softly]

[strained breathing]

[light music plays]

♪

[Graham]

"Our revels now are ended.

"These our actors,

as I foretold you,

"were all spirits

and melted into air.

"And like this insubstantial

pageant faded,

"leave not a rag behind.

"We are such stuff

as dreams are made of.

And our little life

is rounded with a sleep."

♪

Here we are,

next to Leanach Cottage,

which, I believe, at the time

of Culloden was a farm,

but it was used

as a field hospital.

-[Graham] Is that right?

-Yes, it was.

It was used

for a field hospital

for about 254 men,

who were injured during

the 60 minutes of battle.

-Yeah.

-So they're coming here

to be treated, but this

is the government soldiers

and officers;

this isn't the Jacobites.

[Sam] Well, Culloden,

the Gaelic of it,

it sounds something like--

it means a bog.

-Is it a boggy place?

-[Catriona] Boggy place.

Yeah, and we're on

one of the drier spots.

-Yes.

-At the moment.

Incredibly chosen

as a b*ttlefield

for the Highland charge.

What you've got to remember

is the Jacobites

had been here

for around six weeks

before the Battle of Culloden.

-[Sam] Six weeks, wow.

-And they are waiting

desperately on the French

breaking through

the British blockade

and delivering

men, money, and arms.

And the last seaport the

Jacobites have is Inverness,

so they've got

to hang on to it.

The main road into Inverness

runs through this place.

If you're gonna defend a city,

you need to defend

its access point,

-and that's what they do.

-[Graham] Good point.

[Catriona] And there's

very little choice.

There are five and a half

thousand Jacobites that fight

here.

The battle is 60 minutes,

and they count the casualties

from the 60 minutes of battle

and the three days following,

and there are around one and

a half thousand men that died,

and I use the word "men."

Understand the youngest people

fighting here are 13 years old.

And there are women and

children in the baggage train.

-Can I ask you a question?

-Yes.

Did Jamie Fraser

fight in this battle?

-We have-

-He's a fictional character,

Sam.

-We have

-He is?

-Five James Frasers.

-There are five James Frasers?

There are five,

but none of them are James

[both] Alexander Malcolm

MacKenzie Fraser.

Well, I think we should go and

have a look at the front line.

-Let's go take a look.

-Yes, yes.

-Amazing.

-All right, this way?

-[Catriona] This way.

-[Graham] Okay.

[gentle music plays]

♪

We're walking along

the Jacobite front line.

So this is where the Highland

charge would have started.

You are standing

on the front line.

And-and this here is where

the Frasers of Lovat were.

Yep.

[Sam] And you can see

right here

we are looking out

towards British line.

[Catriona] Yes, where you're

looking at right now

is where the Highland charge

worked.

[Sam]

And this was the distance

that these Highlanders

had to run?

[Graham] Nearly 300 yards.

[Catriona] So when it comes

to that Highland charge,

you want it to be released and

move forward at the same time

so it impacts

at the same time.

The problem is that 20 minutes

of sustained cannon fire

before the Highland charge

is released.

[men groaning]

[Catriona] The men at

the southern end are going,

"Hang on a minute,

we want to go."

[Sam] Let's go.

This is nothing

but a diversion!

Cumberland wants

to rattle our nerves.

If we stand fast

and force them

to come to us

across the moor

-[cannon ball crashes]

-Then we will have them, sir.

-The time is now.

-[all] Aye.

Sire, give the command

to charge

while there is still a chance.

[Catriona] There are

700 men who break through.

Cumberland studied

the Highland charge.

He knows how it works.

He surrounds

the 700 Jacobites

who have completed

that Highland charge,

and at that point,

the battle's over.

It is a terrible place

to have a battle,

a terrible place to die.

[birds chirping]

[man] Pipes and drums!

Far right, quick, march!

[bagpipes and drums playing]

♪

[Sam] Now we charge,

300 yards,

Just like our Highlander

ancestors.

♪

[cannon blasts echoing]

♪

[wind whistling]

[bagpipes playing]

♪

♪

[Graham] It was good of our

friend Iain to join us again,

playing "Lochaber No More,"

which was composed

in the immediate aftermath

of the Battle of Culloden.

[bell rings distantly]

Tell you what,

my heart is still

actually pounding

after that experience

at Culloden.

I mean, it was just--

what a-what a cl*max

to that trip--

-Epic.

-It was.

-It was.

-Because it felt like,

in a weird way,

all the roads

led to that point.

The history and-and our past

is still very much present,

and-and I feel proud to be,

I feel proud to be Scottish.

I feel proud to share this

with the rest of the world.

Yeah, the entirety of it,

the arc of it,

to end on that

was pretty special.

I do have one more surprise.

Finally, it's arrived.

No.

-Your own wee Sassenach.

-It's not true.

-Wow. Thank you.

-That's for you, mate.

You might have to share it

with me though.

What, I was gonna, like,

keep it for special--

No, you have to share it.

Come on, come on.

I'll get it for you.

There we go.

Thanks, mate.

[upbeat music plays]

[Graham] You really do get

to know somebody

when you're on

a-a trip like this.

Stuck in a shoebox.

Cheers to an amazing roadtrip.

Yeah, really.

[both] Men in Kilts:

A Roadtrip

with Sam and Graham.

Beautiful day.

What can go wrong?

Midges, agh!

Go away, midges.

It feels a little bit

like sensory overload.

-Boo!

-Ahh-ah-ah-ohh.

We've experienced the terror.

Oh.

Jesus.

-Jesus. f*ck.

-[laughs]

We are still alive.

I'm not gonna say

no thanks to you, but--

[Graham] Are you

actually peddling?

[Sam] Debatable.

You know, mate,

as much as I've enjoyed

-winding you up

-Surely not.

I couldn't think

of anyone else

I'd rather share

a roadtrip with.

[both yelling]

[groans]

Oh, it's heaven.

Is he breathing hard?

I don't think he is.

You would be my- my choice,

if we were to do it

all over again--

I really hope we do

do it all over again,

and I mean that.

It's been lovely.

It--it really has.

[upbeat music]

♪

A wee deoch an doris.

Oh, yeah,

we ended on a good one.

♪

[upbeat rock music plays]

[Graham] What are you doing?

[Sam] Someone's got to drive

us there, haven't they?

Is this yet another

of your childish ploys?

No, come on, get out.

I mean, you've--

this whole journey--

I haven't driven

the thing once.

[Sam scoffs]

Oh, it's nice here, isn't it?

It's quite comfortable.

This is lovely.

I like being driven around.

No, it's this-this way.

This side of the road.

Shut your big mouth.

Try and stay on the left-hand

side of the road.

Still got it, haven't you?

Can I ask you a question?

And this is a serious one.

-Do you need these?

-My glasses? Yes.

Well, you better put them on,

please.

Where- where are we going?

[both laugh]

Oh, my God.

[Sam] That's better.

[bagpipes and drums playing

Outlandertheme song]