Battle of Auldearn The Battle of Auldearn was an engagement of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms . It took place on 9 May 1645 , in and around the village of Auldearn in Nairn . It resulted in a victory for the royalists led by Montrose and Alasdair MacColla over a Covenanter army under the command of Sir John Hurry . The pibroch Blár Allt Earrann commemorates the battle . The battlefield has been included in the Inventory of Historic Battlefields in Scotland and is protected by Historic Scotland under the Historic Environment ( Amendment ) Act 2011 . Background . In mid - 1644 after the Scottish Covenanters sided with the English Parliamentarians and intervened in the First English Civil War , the Earl of Montrose had been given a commission by King Charles I to command his forces in Scotland . After initial setbacks , he was able to raise an army consisting of Irish regiments and Highlanders . Most of the Covenanter army had been sent into England , and Montrose began to threaten Covenanter control over the Highlands . On 2 February 1645 , Montrose won a complete victory over the pro - Covenanter Clan Campbell and its leader , the Earl of Argyll , at the Battle of Inverlochy . He then attempted to attack the Covenanter forces in the Lowlands , but found that many of his Highlanders were drifting home with plunder and the Covenanters were too strong . He fell back to the northeast , hoping to recruit more forces . In particular , he needed the support of Clan Gordon , who could provide at least some cavalry . The Covenanters divided their forces . While Lieutenant General William Baillie remained based in Perth , he sent a detachment commanded by Sir John Hurry to the north . Hurry was an experienced soldier who had deserted the English Parliamentarians to join the Royalists in 1643 , but had changed sides once again to join the Covenanters after their success at the Battle of Marston Moor in 1644 . Montrose , meanwhile , had made a couple of feints towards the Lowlands , but was unable to challenge Baillie ' s large army . On 18 April , he heard that Hurry ' s army was threatening the Gordon lands . Montrose marched north to Skene , where he was rejoined on 30 April by Alasdair MacColla , who had been recruiting fresh forces in the western Highlands , and several contingents of Gordons . From Skene , Montrose advanced against Hurry , who was near Elgin . Battle . As the area about Elgin was Covenanter in sympathy , Hurry had plenty of information about Montrose ' s approach . He withdrew westwards , hoping to lure Montrose into a position where he could launch a surprise counter - attack . His army consisted of four regiments of foot commanded by Colonels Loudoun , Lothian , Buchanan and Sir Mungo Campbell of Lawers , the Mackenzies under the Earl of Seaforth , the levies of the Earl of Sutherland , 800 other local levies and 400 cavalry . Hearing late on 8 May that Montrose had encamped at Auldearn , which was then a small hamlet , Hurry advanced , hoping to catch the Royalists unawares at dawn . In his attempt to achieve surprise , he left his artillery some distance behind . Unfortunately for Hurry , some of his men discharged their muskets to clear damp powder charges , thereby alerting the Royalists . Thus warned , Montrose hastily deployed his forces to counter - attack Hurry . On Montrose ' s right flank , Alastair MacColla commanded one Irish regiment and some Macdonalds , totalling about 500 men . They were deployed in some enclosures in front of Auldearn , and the Royal Standard was prominently displayed among them to convince Hurry that the entire Royalist force was in this position . Montrose ' s main force was concealed in a hollow on MacColla ' s left flank . There were two Irish regiments and some Gordons fighting on foot ( totalling about 800 musketeers and clansmen ) , and 200 Gordon horsemen led by Lord Aboyne and his younger brother , Lord Lewis Gordon . Hurry ' s four regular regiments of infantry advanced against the obvious position defended by Alasdair MacColla , while a small body of 50 cavalry attempted to outflank what they believed to be the Royalist left , and the various levies and Hurry ' s remaining cavalry remained in reserve . The impatient MacColla led an advance against the Covenanters but was forced back . Montrose rode up to the Gordon cavalry , who could hear the noise of battle but could not see what was going on , and claimed that the Macdonalds were driving all before them and were likely to claim all the glory . The Gordon horsemen charged out of the hollow . The small body of Covenanter cavalry trying to outflank MacColla was taken by surprise while trying to negotiate a bog and fled . Montrose ' s infantry followed his cavalry and advanced against the right flank of Hurry ' s four infantry regiments , which broke under attack from all sides . Hurry ' s three bodies of levies and his remaining cavalry fled the field . The only part of Hurry ' s army to make a stand was Clan MacLennan , styled the " Bannermen of Kintail " , who , as standard bearers to Seaforth , chief of Clan Mackenzie , remained isolated during the Covenanters ' flight . They refused to retreat and stood their ground in the face of the Royalist onslaught , refusing to give up the standard of the Mackenzies , the " Cabar Feidh . " Offered quarter by the Gordon cavalry , Ruairidh Mac Gille Fhinnein , chief of his name , and his clansmen , together with some MacRaes and Mathesons , were all cut down by an opposing force which they should have been part of . As with most of Montrose ' s victories , many of the casualties were inflicted after the Covenanter army broke and fled , in a merciless pursuit which was continued for . Aftermath . Montrose had destroyed half the Covenanter forces arrayed against him . Sir John Hurry later turned his coat once again and joined Montrose .