Key Facts
- Year
- 1649
- Date of entry into Inverness
- 22 February 1649
- Council of war held
- 26 February 1649
- Northern counties controlled
- 6 (customs and excise seized)
- Conflict context
- Scottish Civil War / Wars of the Three Kingdoms
Strategic Narrative Overview
On 22 February 1649 the Royalist clans entered Inverness, expelled the castle garrison, demolished the town's walls, and seized customs and excise of six northern counties. General David Leslie was dispatched north to suppress them. The clans retreated into Ross-shire; Leslie garrisoned Chanonry Castle and negotiated surrenders with most clans. The Mackenzies refused terms, and upon Leslie's departure retook Chanonry Castle.
01 / The Origins
Following the execution of Charles I, Charles II was proclaimed king on 5 February 1649. Royalist exiles, including James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, devised plans to recover the kingdom. In response, a rising broke out in northern Scotland led by Colonel Hugh Fraser, joined by John Munro of Lemlair, Thomas Mackenzie of Pluscarden, and Sir Thomas Urquhart of Cromarty, aiming to assert Royalist control over the region.
03 / The Outcome
Leslie's diplomacy successfully detached the Munros and Rosses from the Mackenzies, who subsequently joined the Covenanters at the Battle of Carbisdale in 1650. The Mackenzies neither supported Montrose at Carbisdale nor formally submitted. Participants who had helped seize Inverness were brought before a Presbytery court but dismissed after swearing oaths not to take up arms against Parliament again.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Colonel Hugh Fraser, Thomas Mackenzie of Pluscarden, Sir Thomas Urquhart of Cromarty, John Munro of Lemlair.
Side B
1 belligerent
General David Leslie, Lord Newark.
Kinetic Engagement Axis
Scroll horizontally to view full axis. Events plotted relatively.