38317: Battle of Glenshiel

The Battle of Glenshiel was fought in 1719 between government forces and Jacobite rebels allied with the Spanish.

In April 1719 the Earl Marischal and the Fifth Earl of Seaforth (a staunch Jacobite) with 300 Spanish troops sailed from Stornoway to Lochalsh and established headquarters at Eilean Donan Castle on Loch Duich. They had some difficulty in raising support locally and a garrison was left at the castle while the main force – a few hundred highlanders, including Rob Roy Macgregor, under the command of Seaforth and Cameron of Lochiel – set off to raise men and capture Inverness.

In May several Royal Navy ships arrived and destroyed the castle, and expected Spanish reinforcements never materialised. On 10 June government troops set out from Inverness to block the Jacobites. The met at Glenshiel, near Loch Duich, and after a disorganised battle that left a hundred dead, the Jacobites retreated. The spirit was lost and the Rising abandoned.

Seaforth was badly wounded and carried to Lewis and thence to France.