In the context of An Incident in the Rebellion of 1745, explore the The Jacobite soldiers of the Painting.
The eight Jacobite soldiers wear 20 different tartans between them. This served as a reflection of the diverse amounts of Scottish clans which contributed troops, many of whom were conscripted, towards the Jacobite cause and in defence of Scottish nationality . The wearing of tartans would go on to be proscribed in the Dress Act 1746, though this was poorly enforced. They also wear white cockades in their bonnets, which show their allegiance to the Stuart cause. The Jacobite troops depicted are armed with outdate weaponry – none carry firearms, instead being armed with broadswords, dirks, and targes. Some are carrying Lochaber axes, an obsolete type of Scottish polearm. This may reflect Hanoverian anti-Jacobite propaganda, which sought to portray the Jacobite Highlanders as barbaric, backwards and savage.The Jacobites had been poorly armed at the start of the rising, due to the Disarming Act 1715. But by the time of Culloden, France and Spain had supplied them with around 5,000 modern muskets and bayonets. Some Jacobite troops carried captured Brown Bess muskets or Scottish-made pistols. It is known that all Jacobite Army soldiers were eventually armed with muskets, but some employed the tactic of firing one shot, then dropping their firearm to engage in hand-to-hand combat with their broadswords and dirks. James Ray, who was present during the battle on the government side, notes in his later book that this happened in the fighting the painting depicts.
tartan targe bayonet James Ray Scottish clan cockade broadsword dirk Jacobite Army Dress Act 1746 Lochaber axe conscripted Brown Bess polearm Disarming Act 1715