The situation was soon complicated by the Civil War, when Archibald, the head of the most powerful branch of the Campbells, was the de facto head of Covenanter government, while other branches (and even Archibald's son) were committed Royalists. A Covenanter army under Sir David Leslie arrived on Islay in 1647, and besieged the royalist garrison at Dunnyvaig, laying waste to the island. It was not until 1677 that the Campbells felt sufficiently at ease to construct Islay House at Bridgend to be their principal, and unfortified, island residence.