Battle of Killiecrankie The Battle of Killiecrankie ( Scottish Gaelic - ) was fought between Highland Scottish clans supporting King James VII of Scotland ( also known as James II of England ) and troops supporting King William of Orange on 27 July 1689 , during the first Jacobite uprising . Although it was a stunning victory for the Jacobites , it had little overall effect on the outcome of the war and left their leader dead . Their forces were scattered at the Battle of Dunkeld the next month . The battlefield has been included in the Inventory of Historic Battlefields in Scotland and protected by Historic Scotland under the Scottish Historical Environment Policy of 2009 . The battle is remembered in four songs known as The Braes o ' Killiecrankie , the best known was published by James Hogg . Historical settings . A new king . William of Orange , invited to England by a Parliament displeased to have a Catholic king , invaded in 1688 . King James fled the country on 23 December and , in February 1689 , the English Parliament declaring that , by fleeing , James had abdicated . Parliament then offered the throne jointly to William and Mary , the Protestant daughter of James to whom William owed his claim to the throne . Scotland was a divided country politically , culturally , and religiously . The Stuarts had ruled Scotland since the time of Robert II in late 14th century , and had also sat on the English throne since 1603 . The Scottish Gaelic - speaking , mostly Catholic and Episcopalian Highlanders tended to stay loyal to the Stuart king James VII , while the English - speaking , mostly Presbyterian Lowlanders - who were the majority and held most of the political power in Scotland - tended to support William of Orange . Birth of Jacobitism . A convention held on 14 March 1689 in Edinburgh decided that the Scottish government would pledge loyalty to William of Orange . A number of people opposed this , including many of the Highland clans and John Graham of Claverhouse , Viscount Dundee , a lowland Scot and Episcopalian . Dundee left the Convention , planning , with others loyal to King James ( called Jacobites , from the Latin for James , " Jacobus " ) to summon another convention at Stirling in James ' name . The others , irresolute , decided to attend the Edinburgh Convention once more , and asked Dundee to delay his departure . He refused , and with some retainers retired to his home , Dudhope Castle near Dundee . When summoned to lay down his arms and return to the Convention , he wrote back , pointing out that he was not , in fact , in arms , that there were threats against his life in Edinburgh , and that his wife was about to give birth , and requested that the summons be either revoked or delayed . Instead , the Estates declared him a rebel and a fugitive on 30 March . On 4 April they declared that King James had forfeited the throne , and on 11 April offered it to William and Mary . Dundee raised the royal standard on Dundee Law , and left for the Highlands to raise an army . Prelude . Sir Ewen Cameron of Lochiel , Chief of Clan Cameron , had set about forming a confederation of Highland clans loyal to James as soon as William had arrived in England , and Dundee was in contact with him . When Dundee went north , he was pursued by a governmental force of about 3 , 500 , led by General Hugh Mackay of Scourie , a Highlander who had been in Dutch service with the Scots Brigade for many years . Dundee , moving quickly , outmanoeuvered Mackay , and on 16 May arrived in Glenroy , where the clans had been summoned to meet him on 18 May . With a total of some 1800 men , Dundee marched , in hopes of meeting Mackay on grounds favourable to the Highlanders . Unable to do so , he retreated back to Glenroy , where he arrived on 11 June . Many of the Highlanders returned to their homes , but some remained . Blair Castle was a key position that controlled access to the Lowlands . It was owned by the Marquis of Atholl ; he promptly headed south to Bath to take the waters for his health . His heir , Lord Murray , was on the government ' s side . Dundee ordered Patrick Steuart of Ballechin , a relative of the Murrays ' , to hold Blair Castle for the King ; Lord Murray ended up besieging his own castle . Dundee learned that Mackay was at Perth , on his way to assist in taking Blair Castle . Dundee was determined to intercept Mackay near Blair Atholl , astride the road through the hills that Mackay would have to pass . Many of the clans had not arrived yet , but he set out anyway and ordered them to follow " with all haste . " Ewen himself also had a force of about 240 Camerons with him at the time , and tried to catch up while he dispatched his sons to raise support along the path of march . Ewen overtook Dundee just before he reached Athole , where they were joined by about 300 Irish , under the command of Major - General Cannon . Battle . Dundee held a quick war council with those clan leaders who had arrived , and then immediately set out for the field with his force , now numbering about 2 , 400 . He arrived at the pass before Mackay and set up position on a ridge above the pass . When Mackay ' s troops arrived , they saw they had no hope of attacking Dundee ' s force . They instead deployed in a line and started firing on them with musket s . The Jacobite line was shorter than the Government , due to the disparity in numbers , leaving Ewen in the middle with an open flank on the left . By the time all of the forces were formed up it was late afternoon and the Jacobites had the sun in their eyes , so they simply waited for sunset under the desultory fire from Mackay ' s forces . At seven o ' clock , Dundee gave the order to advance , at which point the entirety of the Highlanders dropped their gear , fired what muskets they had , and charged . Mackay ' s forces , realising the battle was on , stepped up their rate of fire ; however , due to a shallow terrace on the hillside shielding the advancing Jacobites , this fire was partly masked . Eventually the lines met , and Mackay ' s men in the centre were " swept away by the furious onset of the Camerons . " So fast was the Jacobite charge that many government troops had insufficient time to fix their bayonet s , leaving them defenceless at close quarters . ( During this period , the plug bayonet was used , which fitted into the barrel of the musket and prevented further reloading or firing – this meant that fixing bayonets was delayed until the last possible moment . ) The battle soon ended with the entirety of Mackay ' s force fleeing the field , quickly turning into a rout that killed 2 , 000 . However , the cost of victory was enormous . About one - third of the Highlander force was killed , and Dundee was fatally wounded towards the end of the battle . The Jacobite advance continued until it was stopped by government forces at the Battle of Dunkeld .