336 HISTORY OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES. 



renown. The insurrection, ill-timed, ill-organised, and ill- 

 conducted, was soon suppressed by General David Leslie, 

 who surprised the insurgents at Balveny and dispersed 

 them. In 1650, Montrose returned to Scotland, and 

 embarked upon his ill-fated campaign, which, had it 

 synchronised with Pluscardine's insurrection, would pro- 

 bably have had a different result. His raw, foreign and 

 Orcadian troops were overwhelmed at Carbisdale, his 

 opponent, Lieutenant-Colonel Strachan, having previously 

 accomplished the great feat of outwitting so incomparable 

 a strategist as Montrose. His subsequent so-called be- 

 trayal by Neil Macleod of Assynt (or his wife), and his 

 trial and execution in Edinburgh, are familiar incidents. 

 A great soldier ; a commander who inspired the love and 

 implicit confidence of his followers ; a man capable of 

 going anywhere and doing anything; his death proved 

 a serious loss to Scotland in the troublous times which 

 were close at hand. 



When Cromwell had brought Scotland under his iron 

 heel ; when clerical interference with military matters had 

 borne fruit in the terrible slaughter at Dunbar ; when the 

 Protector and Argyll were negotiating for the total sup- 

 pression of monarchy throughout the length and breadth 

 of Britain ; the independence of the country, the influence 

 of the Covenant, and the fortunes of Charles II. appeared 

 to be equally at their lowest ebb. But it has ever been at 

 such crises that the spirit of the Scottish nation has shown 

 itself at its best. 



The tocsin of alarm resounded throughout the length 

 and breadth of the kingdom. " For King and Covenant " 

 was the rallying cry, which brought fighters alike from 

 the remote Hebrides and the Border counties. On 23rd 

 December, 1650, a levy was called out, in which were 

 included all the chiefs of the Long Island, viz. : Lord 

 Kintail (Seaforth's son and heir) ; Sir James Macdonald of 

 Sleat and North Uist ; Roderick Macleod of Talisker, the 

 uncle and tutor of Roderick Macleod of Harris (then a 

 minor by the death of his father, John Macleod); the 





