Nova Scotians honour Battle of Culloden 272 years later

Remembering the Battle of Culloden in N.S. A ceremony marked the 272nd anniversary of the Battle of Culloden in N.S. CTV's Dan McIntosh explains.

Nova Scotians are remembering the battle that changed Scottish and Canadian history forever.

The Battle of Culloden marked the beginning of waves of Scottish settlers coming to places like Nova Scotia. It also turned out to be a training ground for the British officer that founded the city of Halifax.

The wailing skirl of bagpipes cut through the biting wind, as a crowd marched to the Culloden Memorial Cairn Saturday.

More than 2,000 highland Scots were killed by British soldiers in April, 1746.

Three survivors made their way to the province and the stone monument was built in Knoydart, N.S., in 1938.

“Actually there's three stones that came over from Scotland in memory of these three fellows that are buried here, that fought in the battle of Culloden and they're intermingled with native stones to form the cairn that we have,” says event organizer Bill McVicar.

Men in kilts and babies wrapped in tartan cloth, remained silent, in honour of their Scottish ancestors.

Following the battle, the British continued a campaign of wiping out Scottish highlanders.

Edward Cornwallis was later credited with founding Halifax in 1749. Cornwallis led troops that looted, burned and killed families in their homes.

“People were saying that, you know, they were obeying orders and maybe he was, but as we know from the highland clearances, human life wasn't worth a whole lot and sheep and wool were,” says Ross MacIntosh.

In Halifax, a statue of Cornwallis was taken down because of controversy over his actions against Indigenous people.

MacIntosh says the statue wouldn't be welcome at the monument either.

“My Ross ancestry would like to see it melted down some place,” says Ross MacIntosh. “I wouldn't necessarily be enthusiastic about seeing it anywhere, certainly not in Pictou County.”

“He won't be on this property, I can assure you there,” says McVicar.

Prior to the laying of wreaths, a bottle of whiskey called the 'water of life' was splashed on the monument.

Wreaths were then laid at the foot of the cairn, to honour those who survived the uprising and ocean crossing.

“It’s the history of our people, like you know, and you look back at what happened to Scottish people when they left Scotland and moved here and I think it's important to remember,” says Eileen MacKinnon.

“Many of the events we have throughout the year, especially the summer time with highland games, festivals, concerts, events, it would be a very different world,” says George MacLean.

It’s been said that while the battle resulted in signiant losses for highland Scots and also led to major developments in North America.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Dan MacIntosh