Battle of Carbisdale 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 . Charles and Montrose . 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 . Landing in Orkney . Throughout the course of the year Montrose kept busy using his commission in an attempt to raise troops and money in the German state of Brandenburg , as well as Sweden and Denmark . This met with limited success ; but by September he had managed to raise and equip a small force of 80 officers and 100 Danish soldiers . Under the leadership of the Earl of Kinnoul these men were sent as an advance party to occupy the Orkney Isles , charged with recruiting local forces , while Montrose remained on the Continent employing professional troops . In March 1650 Montrose came in person , landing a Kirkwall with some more foreign mercenaries to join his advance party and the Orcadian levies . Amongst his officers was Sir John Hurry , his old opponent at the Battle of Auldearn in 1645 . Altogether he had 40 horse , 500 mercenaries and 700 Orcadians , completely unskilled in the arts of war . On board his ship , the " Herderinnan " , anchored in Scapa Flow , Montrose issued his orders to Hurry at a conference on 9 April . He was instructed to cross to Caithness that same evening with part of the little army and advance to Ord of Caithness , a high hill overhanging the sea just north of Kildonan . Montrose crossed with the rest of his force a few days later . Montrose had heard that the local Highland Scottish clans of Clan Munro , Clan Ross and Clan Mackenzie were up in arms and were likely to join him , although as it turned out , they did not . Montrose hoped to meet up with the Clan Munro and Clan Ross . When none of the clans arrived he pressed on the Strathoikell and into the narrow valley of Carbisdale . For two days he waited in the valley for the Munros and Rosses . Waiting for them was his biggest mistake as the clans had sided with the Scottish government , and Argyll had already set his counter plans in operation . Strachan ' s Ride . In Edinburgh the Committee of Estates , the executive authority of the Scottish Parliament , was soon aware that Montrose had crossed to the mainland . General David Leslie , Lord Newark was instructed to take his forces north to prevent this incursion from developing into a major rising . A rendezvous was held at Brechin on 25 April . From here Colonel Archibald Strachan was sent ahead to gather the cavalry that had wintered in the north . He now had five troops of horse under his command , including three that had been with him at the rout of an anti - Covenanter army at Balvenie Castle near Dufftown in May 1649 . This episode , known as the ' Bourd of Balvenie ' , convinced Strachan and the more extreme Covenanters that all that was needed to disperse the mighty was a small band of righteous men , after the example of Gideon in the Book of Judges . Strachan now rode on to Rossshire , convinced that victory was already his . Montrose Moves South . Montrose joined Hurry at the Ord of Caithness . From here their combined force advanced along the coast to Dunrobin Castle , garrisoned for the government by the tenants of the Earl of Sutherland , as were the smaller fortresses at Skelbo Castle , Skibo Castle and Dornoch Castle . Avoiding these obstacles , the royalists turned aside , marching up Strathfleet towards Strathoykell . The Oykell was forded just to the west of its junction with the Cassley , and the trek continued along the southern bank . Montrose had counted on the support of the Mackenzies , but their chief , the Earl of Seaforth , was in exile , and even his brother , Sir Thomas Mackenzie of Pluscardine , who led the rising the previous year , remained quiet . With no support in the hills the rebels continued back towards the coastal plain , halting at Carbisdale on the southern side of the Kyle of Sutherland on 27 April . By now Strachan was at Tain conferring with the earl of Sutherland . Learning of Montrose ' s whereabouts , he decided on an immediate surprise attack . Carbisdale . Montrose ' s army was in a narrow glen , where the Culrain Burn flows into the Kyle of Sutherland . To his rear the ground rose up to the wooded hill of Creag a ' Choineachan . With a good view of the surrounding countryside he would be able to deploy his men on the hill if subject to a sudden attack . Yet , believing there was only a small body of enemy horse in the area , he failed to carry out a thorough reconnaissance , thus making the same mistake that led to the disaster at the Battle of Philiphaugh . Strachan had now reached Wester Fern to the south - east of Carbisdale . On his onward march he still had the River Carron to cross by a ford which left him some miles short of the enemy position . A direct approach would only alert the royalists to his position . Fortunately , much of the way was covered by thick broom , which ended just before the Culrain Burn was reached . Close to the Burn , Strachan concealed his men in a gully overshadowed by broom , allowing only a single troop to emerge into the open . Montrose sent his cavalry under Major John Lisle to investigate , while the infantry took cover in the woods of Creag a ' Choineachan . Before these deployments were complete Strachan ' s whole force emerged and charged . Lisle was immediately overwhelmed , as the Covenanters rode on towards the infantry . The Germans and Danes , seeing their cavalry defeated , retreated into nearby Scroggie Wood . Here Clan Munro and Clan Ross joined in the fight , eager to grab their share of any plunder . The Germans and Danes fought gallantly , retreating deeper and deeper into the wood , but they were losing the battle . The need for self - preservation took over and those that were left attempted to flee , with the bloodshed in the wood continuing for over two hours . Even after the battle ended the slaughter did not cease ; the clansmen of Ross - shire and Sutherland for many days after continued pursuing and killing those who had escaped the battle . Hurry and some of the Danish and German musketeers attempted to make a stand , but the Orcadians crumbled in panic . Two hundred of them were drowned trying to escape across the waters of the Kyle of Sutherland . In a matter of minutes the whole affair was over . Carbisdale was not a battle : it was a rout . The defeated soldiers were hunted over the slopes of Creag a ' Choineachan by Strachan ' s troopers and local hostile clansmen for two hours . Four hundred were killed , and over four hundred and fifty taken prisoner , including Sir John Hurry , whose amazing career as a soldier was shortly to come to an end . Colonel Strachan ' s scout had been Andrew Monro of Lemlair while Montrose ' s scout had been Robert Monro of Achness . Historians have speculated whether Monro of Achness had lured Montrose into a trap by giving him false information . Death of Montrose . Despite his wounds Montrose managed to escape from the debacle at Carbisdale with help from Major Sinclair . For some days he managed to avoid capture , disguised as a shepherd , until he finally made it to Ardvreck Castle , seat of MacLeod of Assynt . There is a strong tradition that MacLeod had served with Montrose at the siege of Inverness in 1645 and Montrose would have gone there expecting a place of refuge . However when Montrose arrived MacLeod was away and he was met instead by MacLeod ' s wife , Christian Monro , daughter of Monro of Lemlair who had fought on the opposite side at Carbisdale . Montrose was confined in the vaulted cellars of the castle along with Sinclair , who had been found wandering in the hills . MacLeod took credit for the capture of Montrose . Montrose was taken to Edinburgh where he was hanged on 21 May . After execution his body was dismembered , the quarters were publicly displayed in Aberdeen , Glasgow Perth and Stirling and the head on the Tolbooth in Edinburgh , where it remained for eleven years . With all options now exhausted Charles took the Covenants , against his conscience and judgement . He arrived in Scotland that summer . Unfortunately for him so did Cromwell .