Battle of Carbisdale

Wars of the Three Kingdoms
Part of the Scottish Civil War
The Royalists were in the field to the left of the village, and fled up the hill in the top-left of this photo
Date 27 April 1650 Location Scroggie Wood, Ross-shire 57°54′58″N 4°25′16″W / 57.916°N 4.421°W / 57.916; -4.421Coordinates: 57°54′58″N 4°25′16″W / 57.916°N 4.421°W / 57.916; -4.421 Result Scottish Covenanter Government Victory
Belligerents
Scottish Covenanter Government clans	Royalist supporters: Danish & German mercenaries, Orcadian infantry
Commanders and leaders
Colonel Archibald Strachan Colonel John Munro of Lemlair	James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose Sir John Hurry
Strength
300 men including five troops of cavalry and a group of musketeers. 400 clansmen of Clan Munro and Clan Ross.	50 cavalry. 1000 Orcadian infantry. 500 German and Dutch mercenaries.
Casualties and losses
A few men lost.	Over 400 lost.
Location within Scotland

The Battle of Carbisdale (also known as Invercarron) took place close to the Village of Culrain on 27 April 1650 and was part of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It was fought by the Royalist leader James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, against the Scottish Government of the time, dominated by Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll and a grouping of radical Covenanters, known as the Kirk Party. The battlefield has been inventoried and protected by Historic Scotland under the Scottish Historical Environment Policy of 2009.

After the execution of Charles I in January 1649, Scotland entered a period of complex political maneuvering. His son was immediately proclaimed as Charles II in Edinburgh, though it was soon to be made clear to him that if he were ever to exercise real power he would be obliged to subscribe to a radical Presbyterian agenda. Amongst other things he would be required to take the Covenants of 1638 and 1643, a move his father had always resisted.

In exile at the Hague, Charles was anxious to take the quickest way back to the throne. He initially favoured calling on the assistance of the Catholic Irish authorities at Kilkenny, until this option was removed by Oliver Cromwell in the summer of 1649. In falling back on the Covenanters Charles hoped to put them in a more accommodating frame of mind. One way of doing this was to take the advice of the ultra-royalist James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, who had led a military campaign against the Covenanters in 1644 and 1645, enjoying some notable successes.

On 22 February 1649 Charles appointed Montrose as Lieutenant-Governor of Scotland and Captain General of all of his forces there. Although he was about to receive a deputation from the government in Edinburgh he was prepared to listen to Montrose's more militant advice, especially as there were already some stirrings against the Covenanters in northern Scotland.