The Highlanders of Scotland - Clan Strachan Society

CHAP. VII] O F S C O T L A N D 309
them, Lachlan was selected ; and
that unvaried tradition asserts
that his son commanded as Heutenant-general at the battle of
the Harlaw ; it seems probable, that Lachlan was the eldest
brother, and consequently, that the Macleans of Dowart were
chiefs of the clan Gille-eon.
Lachlan Lubanich was succeeded b\- his son Eachin Ruoidh
ni Cath or Red Hector of the battles. He commanded, as we
have said, at the battle of Harlaw, under the Earl of Ross, and
it is said, that the Maclean and Irvine of Drum, having encoun-
tered on the field of battle, slew each other in single combat.
He appears to have well maintained his epithet of " ni cath,"
although the Sennachy is scarcely borne out in history, when he
asserts that he " commanded an army in Ireland, took the cit\'
of Dublin, and a fleet that lay in the harbour."
His eldest son, Lachlan, was taken prisoner at the battle of
Harlaw, and detained in captivity for a long time by the Earl of
Mar ; his brother John, however, followed Donald Balloch with
the Macleans in his expedition into Lochaber, and was present
at the victory of Inverlochy. From this period until the
forfeiture of the lords of the Isles, the Macleans adhered to these
powerful chiefs, taking a share in all the transactions in which
the Macdonalds were engaged. In the dissensions which arose
between John, the last lord, and his son Angus Og, the chief of
the Macleans took part with the former, and was present at the
sea fight in the bloody bay, where both Macdonald the father,
and Maclean, were made prisoners.
On the forfeiture of the last lord of the Isles, the Macleans
assumed independence, and appear to have gradually risen upon
the ruins of that great clan, in the same manner as the
Mackenzies, Campbells, Macintoshes and others. The possessions
of the Macleans now comprehended the greater part of the
island of Mull, Movern, and many of the smaller isles, and
became divided into the powerful branches of Dowart, Lochbu)-,
Coll, Ardgowr, Morvern, &c. Their history after this period
exhibits merely a succession of feuds between them and the
Macdonalds and Campbells, in which they were enabled to
maintain their ground against both, by reason of their great
numbers, and the nature of the country they possessed. But at
length, towards the close of the sixteenth century, the Mac