BATTLE OF INVERLOCHY. 65 



Inverlochy has been at different periods the scene of internal conflicts, of which 

 history has preserved some melancholy details. Alexander, Lord of the Isles, 

 having been imprisoned in Tan tall on Castle by James I. for burning Inverness, and 

 other acts of violence, his cousin, Donald Balloch, either to insult or intimidate 

 the king, and thereby procure Alexander's release, carried fire and sword into the 

 district of Lochaber. Two of the king's officers, the earls of Mar and Caithness, 

 having encountered the islesmen at Inverlochy, the latter nobleman was slain ; but 

 the king, advancing in person, Donald fled to Ireland, from which his head was 

 afterwards sent over to the king as an efficient guarantee for his future conduct. 



The scene represented in the engraving, exhibits the battle, or rather flight, 

 of Inverlochy a battle which proved so destructive to the army under the 

 marquess of Argyll, and so triumphant to his rival, the marquess of Montrose. 

 It was on Sunday, the 3d of February, 164*5, "just as the sun had risen over 

 the shoulder of Ben Nevis, that the troops under Montrose advanced to the 

 attack. Taken by surprise, and with a great portion of their strength already 

 cut off, the Argyll force was drawn up in a line of somewhat formidable extent. 

 In the centre were the Highlanders, on the right and left the Lowlanders, on an 

 eminence behind stood a small body of reserve, and within the fortress itself was 

 a garrison of fifty men. The ground on which they met was perfectly level, 

 formed by the junction of the river Lochy with Locheil. Behind them, and 

 still nearer the embouchure of the river, the castle of Inverlochy raised its vast 

 square form into the cold winter air. Behind were the provision galleys ; and 

 that in which Argyll had taken shelter* lay upon the placid face of the estuary, 

 as if quietly waiting to contemplate the dreadful scene that was to ensue." . . 

 When the Campbells, waiting to receive the attack, saw the disorderly band of 

 Montrose issue at sound of trumpet from the dusky glen before them " when 

 they saw their uplifted weapons flashing under the rays of the sun as they 

 rushed forward at full speed when they heard the wild yell with which they 

 accompanied the discharge of their muskets, and sprang forward to close in active 

 conflict their hearts, unexcited by motion as those of their enemies had been, 

 fairly sunk within them, and they might be said to have lost the battle 

 before it was commenced. The greater part of them discharged their firelocks 

 against the royalists only once, and then, without drawing a sword, turned and 

 fled. A few only, and those in detached portions throughout the field, waited 



t Argyll himself, suffering from a hurt in his arm and face, caused by a fall, and which disabled him for 

 (he use of sword and pistol, retired on board his galley, moored hard by, while his cousin, the veteran 

 Auchinbreck, took the command. This fact alone the absence of iheir chief must have contributed not 

 a little to discourage the troops. Chambers' Histor. Details of the Rebellion. 



VOL. II. S 



