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THE BATTLE OF
INVERNAHAVON

1370 or 1386 

Cameron of Lochiel's Own Website

After the Battle of Drumlui and the resulting war which was carried out in the years following, between Clan Cameron and Clan Mackintosh, the battle of Invernahavon (said to have taken place in either 1370 or sixteen years later by some accounts) was where enemy forces finally met in large numbers.  The Camerons, numbering approximately 400 men, having made a raid into Badenoch were returning home with the booty they had acquired when they were overtaken at Invernahavon by a body of Clan Chattan led by Lachlan, Laird of Macintosh.

The Clan Chattan forces consisted of the Mackintoshes, Davidsons and Macphersons.  As a result of a disagreement as to whether the Davidsons or Macphersons would occupy the right wing (the post of honor) the Macphersons withdrew in disgust from the army.  Whereas the combined Clan Chattan forces outnumbered the Camerons, the loss of the Macphersons resulted in their being inferior to the number of Camerons.

The battle resulted in the total defeat of the remaining Clan Chattan members (the Macintoshes and Davidsons) with the Davidsons being almost entirely cut off.  A singular Cameron, one Charles MacGilony, was said to have bravely led the clan and supposedly changed the outcome with his uncanny abilities as an archer.  At this point (said to have occurred either immediately after the battle or perhaps during the early morning hours of the next day) the Macphersons, deciding to forget the "slight" which had been put upon them, returned to the battle.  They attacked the Camerons with such vigor that the Cameron victory was changed into defeat, putting the Camerons "to flight."  They are said to have retreated towards Drumouchter, skirting the end of Loch Ericht and then westwards in the direction of the River Treig.  A Mackintosh version of the story states that the Macphersons were coaxed into fighting by Mackintosh's own bard, who pretending to represent the Camerons arrived at the Macpherson camp the evening immediately after the battle.  In short, the bard supposedly stated that the Macphersons were cowards.  As a result, the Macphersons were stirred from their camp and are said to have attacked Clan Cameron that same night in their camp, making "a dreadful slaughter" of them and killing Charles MacGilony (at a place afterwards referred to as Coire Thearlaich - "Charles's Valley.")