Culloden Battlefield preserves the ground where the Jacobite Rising of 1745 ended on 16 April 1746. The rising began when Charles Edward Stuart landed in Scotland and claimed the British thrones for his father, James Francis Edward Stuart. Jacobite forces won at Prestonpans, occupied Edinburgh, and marched into England as far as Derby before retreating. They defeated a government army at Falkirk in January 1746, but shortages of money, food, and weapons weakened the campaign. Government forces under William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, advanced into the Highlands with improved training and supply.

The Jacobite army gathered near Inverness while Cumberland's troops camped at Nairn. On the night of 15–16 April, Jacobite commanders attempted a surprise march against the government camp. Delays, exhaustion, darkness, and confusion forced them to turn back without attacking. Many men were still scattered in search of food or sleep when Cumberland advanced onto Drummossie Moor. Charles chose to fight on open, boggy ground that restricted the momentum of the Highland charge and favored disciplined infantry and artillery.

Government cannon opened fire as the Jacobite line waited for orders. When the charge finally began, clans on the Jacobite right encountered walls, uneven ground, and concentrated musket and grapeshot fire. Some broke into the government front line, producing savage close combat, but Cumberland's battalions supported one another and fired into the attackers' flanks. Government cavalry moved around the Jacobite position. The battle lasted less than an hour. Roughly 1,200 to 1,500 Jacobites were killed, compared with about fifty government dead, although precise totals remain debated.

The violence continued after organized resistance collapsed. Government troops killed wounded fugitives on and around the moor, and prisoners faced execution, transportation, or confinement. Charles escaped and eventually reached France, but the government systematically dismantled the military basis of Jacobitism. Estates were forfeited, troops occupied the Highlands, and legislation restricted weapons, Highland dress, and aspects of clan authority. These measures, followed by longer-term economic change and displacement, made Culloden a symbol not only of a defeated dynasty but of the transformation of Highland society.

Families remembered the dead in oral tradition and by visiting clan graves on the field. In 1881 Duncan Forbes of Culloden erected the memorial cairn and headstones identifying clan burial areas, shaping the landscape seen today. The National Trust for Scotland acquired responsibility for much of the battlefield in the twentieth century and later developed archaeological research and a visitor center. Musket balls, artillery evidence, and geophysical survey continue to refine understanding of troop movements.

Culloden was the last pitched battle fought on British soil. Its significance lies in the convergence of dynastic conflict, civil war, European geopolitics, and competing Scottish loyalties. The preserved moor allows the battle to be understood as a human catastrophe with identifiable terrain, decisions, and consequences rather than as romantic legend alone. Preservation has also involved resisting development around the moor and correcting myths that obscure the participants' varied motives. Scots fought on both sides, and the Jacobite army included more than Highland clans. Present interpretation emphasizes those divided loyalties and the experiences of soldiers, civilians, prisoners, and bereaved families.