"Battle of Lagganmore 1646 MacColla v Campbells" Topic

Hello all,

I came across mention of this battle in Furgol (A Regimental History of the Covenanting Armies) and there's even a very small Wikipedia page link .

Sometime in Spring 1646 MaColla is busy ravaging the lands of the Campbells with around 1500 men. These include his own men (perhaps his 'Lifeguard'), maybe a few surviving Irish (this being well after Philiphaugh), and Highlanders of Clans MacDougall and MacAulay.

The Campbells gather a force to oppose him under 'blue-eyed' Donald Campbell of Lochnell and 'little John of the Glen' John Campbell of Bragleen, supported by Clans MacCallum (Malcolm) and MacNaghten.

The battle is a victory for MacColla, who proceeds to massacre his prisoners and Campbell civilians at the 'Barn of Bones'.

Does anyone know anything more on this battle? The date would be a good start as 'spring' seems rather imprecise! Any more information on troops and the layout of the battle?

I may be wrong but I would be prudent in attributing this Clan MacCallum to the same as "Malcolm" – it is probably from the same root but most septs of the Clan Campbell have some reference to the Clan Chief – Cailean Mór – in their name, e.g. MacCailean Mór and this I suspect is the sept you are talking of.
Have you thought of contacting the Campbell Clan centre or society, they may be able to help and most Clan associations are delighted to air the archane legends of their pasts?
In this case if it was indeed one of the times when the Campbells got their comeuppance they are probably still greetin about it… murtherin bairstards!!!

Hhihi – Bleep doesn'ae have the vernacular!!!! :-) :-) :-)

Hi Chokidar,

yes indeed some Highland clan expertise would be very welcome over at the BCW Project regimental Wiki wiki.bcw-project.org , I'm trying to include the clans among the Royalist Scots and Covenanters but it's not my strong point!

Looking at Furgol again it does seem likely to be the MacCallums as Zachary MacCallum of Portalloch was probably killed at Lagganmore by MacColla (the alternative story is he was killed on a cattle raid in Glen Euchar), this ties in roughly with the info on the MacCallum/Malcolm clan wiki page link

As ever any clarification is very welcome!

Hi Timbo,
Wish I could add more. Frugol seems to use Stevenson (Highland Warrior)
for his sourcing (or same original sources – what ever they might be). I assume you have looked at Stevenson but if not he does expand a little on several more versions of stories – no details of the battle however.

I have also looked at MaCKay's Clan Warfare in the Scottish Highlands (1922) but he skips over Lagganmore – concentrating on the Campbell's pursuit of the Lamonts and siege of Castle Toward (Tower House?) in June, 1646. So presumably Lagganmore occurred before – not much help I'm afraid.

As always keep up the good work on Project-BCW. Maybe we will hear from someone with more details

There are a number of these Highland Clan battles that would make for some interesting wargaming.

…and the forthcoming Witchfinder General supplement -Malificium- has rules for Highlanders, and a scenario based around a cattle raid.

Cheers all,

Guillaume, I saw Stevenson in snippet view online but don't have the book. Ah, Castle Toward according to my notes the siege ended on 3rd June 1646 but not sure when it started… ho hum!

I'd imagine both sides lined up, popped off whatever muskets they've had and charged at each other hell for leather, but it'd be nice to know some real details. According to the MacCallum wiki page Zachery was killed by a Maclean with a scythe who sneaked up behind him – yet another option to arm highlanders with I suppose.

Interesting topic, must do some digging myself, there would be some great wargaming potential.

So now it becomes clearer why the Campbells felt some what aggrieved by the time of Glencoe. The 'barn of bones' sounds unpleasantly like an episode of 'Game of Thrones'.

One of a series of many Beaumap!

Campbells & co. v MacDonalds & co. seems to have been the direct forerunner of Old Firm Derbys…..