“The Skye Boat Song” is a popular song from Scotland, dealing with the Battle of Culloden, Inverness-shire, near Croy, Scotland, and the defeat of Charles Edward Stuart, pretender to the throne and grandchild of James Stuart. On April 10, 1746, Cumberland crossed the River Spey with 10,000 men whereas Charles Edward only gathered 6,000 men. The highlanders fought the enemy through snow and smoke, but the British people shot down the first two lines of their troop, making them fall back. French volunteers and British officers tried vainly to continue the battle, but the Jacobite army broke up into the mountains, and about a thousand men were abandoned on the battlefield. This spirited song can be performed by every choir.
