The men appear to have regarded the targes as an encumbrance and threw most of them away prior to Culloden.Reid (2009) 1109 Many Jacobites, even Highlanders as depicted here by the Penicuik artist, would have used a firelock and bayonet as their main weapon.
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Once he received the news, Tikiri Bandara divided his forces into three groups. The first group consisted of militia men from Athurugiriya, Hewagama, Koratota, Hokandara, and 1000 Sitawakan swordsmen with targes. He sent them in a flanking maneuver to cut off enemy's retreat and to attack in the rear. Then he reinforced Wickramasinghe Mudali's remaining forces with elephants and elite targe bearers and deployed them in left and right wings.
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"Duncan Macgregor of Dalnasplutrach", the Penicuik artist's depiction of a Jacobite officer: The use of the broadsword and targe, a style of weaponry first popular in 16th century Spain, was limited largely to officers in Highland regiments. Traditional depictions of the Jacobite army often showed men dressed in Highland fashion and armed with broadswords and targes, weaponry essentially unchanged since the 17th century. Such imagery suited both Government propaganda and the heroic traditions of Gaelic verse but was fundamentally exaggerated.Pittock (2016), p.
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When built, the castles would have been more colourful than today, in keeping with the fashions of the 13th century. At Conwy, for example, the walls were white-washed with a lime render, and the putlog holes in the walls may have been used to display painted shields called targes from the walls. The castles made a clear, imperial statement about Edward's intentions to rule North Wales on a permanent basis. As already noted, they were typically located on sites that had been associated with the former Welsh princes.
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Barriers were erected to stop spectators encroaching on the battlefield and King Robert III took up his position on a platform from which the combat could easily be seen. The warriors were armed with swords, targes, bows and arrows, knives, and battle-axes. The two clans lined up in a purpose-built enclosure on the North Inch at Perth. As the combat was about to commence one of the Macphersons of Clan Chattan fell sick and it was proposed that their enemy should leave one man out so that the numbers on each side remained even.
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These designs developed into systematized heraldic devices during the High Middle Ages for purposes of battlefield identification. Even after the introduction of gunpowder and firearms to the battlefield, shields continued to be used by certain groups. In the 18th century, for example, Scottish Highland fighters liked to wield small shields known as targes, and as late as the 19th century, some non-industrialized peoples (such as Zulu warriors) employed them when waging war. In the 20th and 21st century, shields have been used by military and police units that specialize in anti-terrorist actions, hostage rescue, riot control and siege-breaking.
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According to Alexander Mackenzie, on 4 August 1688 MacDonald of Keppoch, with about half of the number of men that Mackintosh had, easily defeated the invading force and took their leader, Mackintosh of Mackintosh, prisoner. However, according to Alexander Mackintosh-Shaw, the MacDonalds of Keppoch had been reinforced by their kinsmen, the Clan MacDonell of Glengarry and the MacDonalds of Glencoe, and had the numerically superior force. Mackintosh-Shaw states that as the daylight had appeared, Mackintosh discovered that the MacDonalds had drawn up on a ridge above them which gave them a decided advantage over his own force down below. Both Mackintosh and Mackenzie of Suddie ordered their men to advance up the hill and attack, with the MacDonalds coming down the hill upon them armed with swords, targes and Lochaber axes which obliged them to give way.
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This would allow him to block a bayonet with the targe and then attack his opponent. At range, this strategy would do little against musket armed troops firing in volleys or artillery using canister shot (while effective against bayonets, the target would not fare so well against a musket ball), which necessitated tactics such as the "Highland Charge", which required a Jacobite war band to close with their targets as quickly as possible, normally under heavy fire, using the smoke from musket and cannon fire to cover the last leg of the assault before attacking the line. This risky strategy led to many casualties among the Jacobite clansmen against disciplined volley fire and massed artillery firing grape and canister shot. In between rebellions, after the disastrous Jacobite defeat at the Battle of Culloden and the overall failure of the rebellions, it became illegal to carry claymores and targes.
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40 While tacksmen and urban volunteers from the professions might carry a backsword, or a broadsword if they were officers,Pittock (2016), p.42 in reality it appears that most men carried firelocks, and were drilled in accordance with up to date military practises. At the start many of the Highland levies were poorly armed: one Edinburgh resident reported that the Jacobites carried a mixture of antiquated guns, agricultural tools like pitchforks and scythes and a few Lochaber axes and swords.Reid (2009), 1078 Many officers and cavalrymen had pistols of local manufacture, the trade being centred in Doune. At the start of the Rising Charles managed to procure a shipment of broadswords made cheaply in Germany (famously carrying the inscription "Prosperity to Schotland and no Union") and 2,000 targes. However, following the victory at Prestonpans and subsequent shipments of French and Spanish pattern 17.5 mm muskets into Montrose and Stonehaven, the army had access to modern firelocks fitted with bayonets, which formed the main weaponry of the rank and file.
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