Battle of Littleferry

View from Rhives above Golspie looking south across battlefield towards Littleferry & Loch Fleet.

Date	15 April 1746
Location	Littleferry, Sutherland, Scotland grid reference NH8198 Coordinates: 57°57′37″N 4°0′11″W / 57.96028°N 4.00306°W / 57.96028; -4.00306
Result	British-Hanoverian Government victory

Belligerents

Scottish Hanoverians, Independent Highland Companies, drawn from:

Clan Mackay
Clan Sutherland

Jacobites drawn from:
Clan Mackenzie
Clan Gregor
Clan Mackinnon

Commanders and leaders

Ensign John Mackay of Moudale

George Mackenzie, 3rd Earl of Cromartie

Strength

200 men.

400-500

Casualties and losses

Unknown

100 killed.
150 or 172 captured.

Scottish Hanoverians, Independent Highland Companies, drawn from:

The Battle of Littleferry (also known as the Skirmish at Golspie) took place during the Jacobite rising in 1746, just before the Battle of Culloden. Scottish forces loyal to the British-Hanoverian Government defeated a rebel Scottish Jacobite force.

Following the Skirmish of Tongue where a significant amount of money and urgent supplies had been captured from the Jacobites by forces under Captain Hugh Mackay, a strong force of Jacobites was sent north in an attempt to recover the supplies. This Jacobite force comprised some of their best fighting men; the MacGregors, Coll Macdonnell of Barrisdale, the Mackinnons and the Jacobite Mackenzies under George Mackenzie, 3rd Earl of Cromartie. This force arrived too late to be of any assistance to their allies who had been captured at the Skirmish of Tongue.

William Sutherland, 17th Earl of Sutherland was loyal to the British-Hanoverian Government, but he had not raised and armed his clan quickly enough to take action against the Jacobite Charles Edward Stuart. This led to a suspicion in London that Sutherland might be disloyal. However, the Jacobites also questioned Sutherland's loyalty, and the Jacobite Earl of Cromartie was sent with 500 men against the Earl of Sutherland. Cromartie's force stormed Dunrobin Castle; the Earl of Sutherland narrowly escaped them through a back door of the castle.

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