With new focuses on themes such as gender and material culture within Jacobite history, military history has taken a step back to make room for these new perspectives. However, military history remains vital to any understanding of the Jacobites, as armed conflict was the Jacobites primary tool of restoring the Stuart line to the throne. Maps, such as the one in this exhibit, allow for a deeper understanding of Jacobite military history. They provide a much needed visual element which is not present in written descriptions of battles. They allow the observer and researcher to understand the tactical and strategic situations that field commanders had to consider. The geography and topography of the area are displayed, which allows for greater understanding of troop movements and the reasoning behind them. Maps of battles also provide a sense of how many troops were present, where they were deployed, which regiments took part in the fighting and who commanded them. All of this adds to the visual factor, which allows both researchers and casual observers to have a much greater understanding of a battle and how it unfolded. 

While the strengths of maps for military history are very strong, the map’s author’s bias must be recognized. Exact troop numbers and casualties are difficult to calculate after an engagement, and maps will often include these statistics, which are usually somewhat inaccurate. Specifically in Jacobite history, maps were often imbued with either pro or anti-Jacobite sentiments, which resulted in false information such as inflated troop numbers and casualties being included.  Keeping the creator’s and printer’s bias in mind, maps are a very insightful tool for understanding Jacobite military history, and they provide an excellent visual element for both casual observers and researchers.