The family had been supporters of the House of Stuart since the Civil War, when 12th chief Donald 'Glas' had joined Montrose's campaign against the Scottish Parliament. Alexander's father had used the 1689 Jacobite rising to further his local grievances; the questionable legal status of the Keppoch estates, ostensibly held on a lease from the chiefs of Clan Mackintosh, had been recognised by the government for many years as one of the main sources of political instability in the western Highlands. In 1715 Alexander joined his father in the rising in support of the Stuart claimant James, fighting at the Battle of Sheriffmuir.