The chiefs of Grant - Electric Scotland

308 LUDOVICK GRAM', KIGlITll OF FliKUCUlE AND OF GKAXT. [1CG3-
Mackhitosh, anaed witli a commission fium tlic l^'iivy Council, and sup-
])orted by a company of rei^nlar ti'ooji.s unLlcr tlicir orders, niarclied into
Keppocli, and arrived there about tlie end of July 1GS8/ Ke])poch and
liis clan ])rudently ke])t out of the way for a day or {••:>> until I'euiforeed
]i\' their kinsmen of ( denu'arr\' and i.Mier clans. On le 4th o!' Auij'ust,
]\eppoch, better known at a later date as "Coll of he Cowes," found
liimself strong enough to ofler battle, and the two armies nu't on the
side of the hill called Mulroy, near the river Hoy, the result being that
after a severe contest, ^lackintosh's forces were defeated and himself taken
prisoner.
The Laird of ]\btckintosh, however, was not long a captive. The
Council's commission to him had, as usual, re(juired the concuri'ence of
neighbouring clans to execute the Council's will, and among these were
the Grants and Macphersons. The last-named clan refused to follow
^lackintosh into the Braes of Lochaber, but yet mustered strongly and
set out for the scene of operations. The}- arrived too late for the battle,
but as they otTered to renew it, Kep])och deemed it best to surrender
Mackintosh, who, it is said, was thus doulily humiliated, in being beaten
by the ^lacdonalds and rescued by the Macphersons, both of which clans he
despised." Nothing is said of the conduct of the Crants in the afi'air, but
the unknown chronicler of the clan claims the honour of the rescue for his
own chief He says that "'Laird Louis esjioused Macintosh's cause agaLu.st
Capach, after the battle of Mulroy. Capach defeated Macintosh's clan, and
took both Laird and Lady prisoners, but hearing the Laird of Grant was
fast apj>roaching to relieve Macintosh, thought it advisable to set both
Laii'd and Lady at liberty."^ The chronicler adds that Keppoch and his
followers then dispersed among the hills, and that '" Laird Lewis," after
burning, at ]\Li,ckintosh's desire, the houses of Keppoch and some others,
which was actually done by a body of regular troops under the Council's
orders, marched homewards with his men, "safe to his own country."
But for the truth of this story there is no evidence, while it is more than
' The Mackintoshes and Clan Chattaii, ]i, .'inO.
2 /'-(./. j.p. 3CIS, .3'J9; Skene's Plighhuileis, vol. ii. y[i. ISS, ISO.
' Ms. AueeJute.i at Castle Grant.