Yorke’s
sketch map of the battle
This is a sketch of the battlefield of Culloden in Colonel Yorke’s
orderly book, done at the time or immediately after the battle. Colonel
Yorke was a young officer on the Government side. The map is quite hard
to interpret, but appears to show cannons, some of the buildings and enclosures
on the moor, and the movements of some of the regiments. Perhaps surprisingly,
he seems to show the Jacobite lines rather than the Government –
perhaps the angles shown are his attempts to explain what happened with
the Jacobite charge. Its greatest value is perhaps its immediacy –
it has a ‘back of the envelope’ quality.
Pupils can:
- Try to match it up with the battle maps shown elsewhere – is Yorke showing the Jacobite or the - Government lines?
- Can they match up any of the buildings shown on the map?
- Discuss what value if any sketches like these have to historians.
- This sketch map is reproduced by kind permission of the British Library.
