Skirmish of Loch Ailort
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| Skirmish of Loch Ailort | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Jacobite rising of 1745 | |||||||
 Loch Ailort | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 British-Hanoverians |
 JacobitesClan Macdonald of Clanranald | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
|
Ranald MacDonald[1] | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 500 men[2] | |||||||
The Skirmish of Loch Ailort was a conflict that took place on 9 May 1746 at Loch Ailort, in the district of Moidart, Scottish Highlands and was part of the Jacobite rising of 1745.
On 9 May 1746, almost a month after the Jacobite defeat at the Battle of Culloden, a skirmish took place at Loch Ailort, Moidart between a group of Jacobites from the Clan Macdonald of Clanranald who were led by their chief, the Young Ranald MacDonald, against a British-Hanoverian Government force.[1] It was one of the last armed conflicts of the Jacobite rising.[1]
The Young Ranald MacDonald is supposed to have gone to France shortly after the Jacobite defeat at the Battle of Culloden in April 1746.[3] However, it is clear that he secretly lingered in his own country for at least eighteen months after, mainly in the wilds of Moidart, which were apparently fraught with the greatest peril.[3]
At this time the Western Highlands of Scotland were coming under the attention of the Royal Navy and also the Campbell of Argyll Militia who supported the Government.[2] This attention was started by Captain John Fergusssone and the shore parties of his bomb vessel HMS Furnace.[2] Furgussone first cruised the Sea of the Hebrides and The Minch and then worked his way north, taking prisoners at the Isle of Canna and the Isle of Barra.[2] He then proceeded east and burnt everything of value on the Isle of Raasay.[2]