Battle of Mulroy

The Battle of Mulroy was fought in August 1688 in the Lochaber district of Scotland between the Chattan Confederation led by the Clan MacKintosh against the Clan MacDonald of Keppoch and the Clan Cameron. [ [http://www.clan-cameron.org/battles/1688.html The Battle of Mulroy ] ]

It is sometimes described as the last of the private battles between clans of the kind fought in the Highlands in ages past; but the Mackintoshes had official support for their actions against the Macdonalds, and their army was in part made up of government troops.

The encounter at Mulroy is notable for one other reason: it was the prototype for Dundee's victory at Killiecrankie the following summer.

Clan Donald of Lochaber

For centuries the Macdonalds of Keppoch had maintained their hold in Lochaber, despite the best efforts of the Mackintosh landlords. For much of the time there was an uneasy stalemate between the two parties. This ended in the 1670s when Lachlan Mackintosh of Torcastle decided to press the ancient claim with considerably more vigour. In 1681 the Scottish Privy Council granted him a Commission of fire and sword against Archibald MacDonald, then leader of the Keppoch clan, allowing him to take extra-judicial action. The issue, however, remained unsettled at the time of Archibald's death in 1682. He was succeeded by his son, Coll, fifthteenth chief of Keppoch.

Coll had been a student at St. Andrews University at the time of his father's death; and far from being the Highland terror he subsequently became, he came down with the educated man's belief that the matter could be solved by peaceful means. On the advice of the Marquess of Huntly, he came with some of his clan gentry to Inverness to meet Lachlan with the offer to pay increased rent in return for a legal charter. With incredible lack of sensitivity, the Mackintosh chief had him thrown into prison, a mistake for which he was to pay a high price. Coll did not spend long in captivity, but his pride had been badly wounded, leaving him with a deep sense of resentment against Mackintosh and Inverness.

Lachlan continued in his campaign to have the awkward squatters removed from Lochaber. In the summer of 1684 he petitioned the Privy Council, saying that "by mere force and bangistry, the Macdonnels had possessed part of his country this 100 years and more, tho he hes interrupted then alwayes and gotten all that the lawes could give him; yet they still despised all." But the government was too preoccupied at the time with the threatened invasion of the rebel Earl of Argyll to offer much practical assistance. Four years later it was in a more accommodating mood.

In 1688, During the latter part of the reign of James VII, Mackintosh's commission of fire and sword was renewed. This time there was one major difference: he was to be aided by Captain Kenneth Mackenzie of Suddie, commanding a company of regular troops based at Inverness. With probably as many government soldiers as clansmen Lachlan marched unopposed into Lochaber in late July. Coll had only 200 fighting men, not nearly enough to counter the invasion. Instead he withdrew into the hills and called on the aid of his neighbours and kin. In response the men of Glengarry, Glencoe, as well as the Macmartins, a sept of Clan Cameron, joined him on 4 August.

Moal Ruadh

With 800 men Coll was still half as strong as his enemy. He made up for this by placing his army on Moal Ruadh, the hill overlooking Keppoch to the north-east. Mackintosh and Suddie made the mistake of advancing up to meet him, setting the scene for one of the great Highland charges. Serving in Suddie's company was one Donald MacBane, formerly a tobacco spinner in Inverness. Years later he wrote of his experience as a soldier in a vivid and unintentionally humorous manner. This is what he records of the Battle of Mulroy;

"The two clans was both on Foot and our Companie was still with McIntosh, who marched towards McDonald and his Clan, until we came in sight of them, (which made me wish I had been spinning tobacco). McIntosh sent one of his friends to McDonald to treat with him, and see if he would come to reasonable terms, McDonald directly denyed, but would fight it be the event as it would: Then both parties ordered their men to march up the hill, a company being in the front, we drew up in line of battle as we could, our company being on the right: we were no sooner in order, but there appears double our number of the McDonalds, which made us then fear the worst, at least for my part, I repeated my former wish, (I never having seen the like). The McDonalds came down the hill upon us without either shoe, stocking, or bonnet on their head, they gave a shout, and then the fire began on both sides, and continued a hot dispute for an hour; then they brok in upon us with sword and target, and Lochaber axes, which obliged us to give way, seeing my captain sore wounded, and a great many more with heads lying cloven on every side, I was sadly affrighted, never having seen the like before, a Highlander attacked me with sword and targe, and cut mt wouden handled bayonet out of the muzel of my gun; I then clubbed my gun and gave him a stroke with it, which made the butt-end to fly off; seeing the Highland men to come fast upon me, I took to my heels and run thirty miles before I looked behind me, every person I saw or met, I took for my enemy..."

Suddie was mortally wounded, dying later at Inverness. Many more were killed and many taken captive, Lachalan Mackintosh among them. He was later said to have been rescued by his friends, although it seems just as likely that Coll, embarrassed by his presence in Lochaber, allowed him to be rescued. Coll was later to express regret over his encounter with Mackintosh, describing it as an unhappy accident, but at the time it greatly enhanced his prestige among his kin. The pibroch "Blar na Maoile Ruaidh"-the Battle of Mulroy- was composed in celebration.

Fire and Sword

Mulroy is often described as the last private clan battle. It was, however, no more a private matter than the clash between the Campbells and Camerons in the dying stages of the Battle of Culloden. If it had been a private affair the government is unlikely to have reacted with such anger. As far as the Privy Council was concerned, government soldiers had come under attack, and their commander had been killed. Before the end of the month dragoons and infantry were ordered into Lochaber, reputedly with orders to "destroy man, woman and child pertaining to the laird of Cappagh, and burn houses and corn."

Coll sensibly released his remaining prisoners and took to the hills, not willing to risk the further displeasure another fight with the royal army would bring on his house. Under the command of Captain John Crichton, the soldiers remained in the area to 10 September, burning crops and houses. They were then called back south as a great political crisis was beginning to overtake King James.

There is no evidence that Crichton and his men murdered women and children; but the suggestion that they might provides and interesting light on Lowland thinking towards Highland communities. A few years before during the rebellion of the Earl of Argyll, the government, in a state of panic, ordered that all who joined the Campbell chief should be killed or disabled, so that they would never be able to fight again. Women and children were to be transported to the remote Isles. Earlier still James V had ordered the destruction of Clan Chattan, and James VI had given permission for the wholesale extermination of the Macleods of Lewis. After the Restoration unrepentant Covenanters had caused repeated problems for the authorities in south-west Scotland, but there was never any suggestion that whole communities should be wiped out. Highlanders, even Campbells, could be perceived as savages and thus treated in a savage way. This was a shadow that was soon to fall on the people of Glencoe.

Colla nam Bo

Later that year James fled the kingdom, to be replaced on the throne by William of Orange. Coll was one of the first of the Highland chiefs to join Dundee's rebellion against the new regime, though he was still technically an outlaw under the old. He was thus conceivably the only man in British history to be in rebellion against two kings at the same time. He was engaged in terrorising the hated town of Inverness when Dundee arrived in the Highlands. Even after he became a Jacobite he never quite abandoned his private war, to the obvious disgust of his commander. He was, nevertheless, a highly useful addition to the rebel army. His particular talent lay in rounding up cattle for Dundee's hungry troops, which earned him the unenviable but lasting nickname of "Colla nam Bo"-Coll of the Cows. But his true value lay in another area altogether.

In the high summer of 1689 Dundee met glory and death by charging dowhhill with his Highland army at Killiecrankie. This is often described as the Jacobite chief's 'greatest victory'. It was, in fact, his only victory. It is important to remember that, prior to 1689, Dundee had never commanded Highland troops. Indeed, his military career up to this point can hardly be described as one of much distinction. Ten years before, when he had been a captain of dragoons, his troop was badly cut by poorly armed Covenanters at Drumclog. He would, of course, been aware how Montrose, a distant kinsman, had made use of irregular armies. But all of Montrose's battles, with the exception of Kilsyth, where the Highlanders had charged uphill, had been fought on fairly level ground. Dundee, in contrast, had stationed his army on the slope of Creag Eallach, north of the River Garry and high above the government army, twice as strong as his own. Inferior in strength, a downhill charge would add weight and momentum to his ranks. This was, in essence, the same tactic used by Coll at Mulroy. Though this cannot be proved one way or the other, it seems likely that Coll made some input into Dundee's thinking.

Among those fleeing from the victorious Highlanders was none other than Donald McBane, who in making an astonishing eighteen-foot leap across the Garry achieved his own immortality.

References

* Barron, E. M., "Inverness and the Macdonalds", 1930.
* "Fountainhall Historical Notices, 1661-1683", 1848.
* Hopkins, P., "Glencoe and the End of the Highland War", 1986.
* McBane, D. "The Expert Sword-Mans Companion", 1728.
* "The Register of the Privy Council of Scotland", variously edited, 1877-1933.