Highland Warrior: Alasdair Maccolla and the Civil Wars

In 1644 James Grahame, the Marquis of Montrose, stormed his way into legend with a series of astonishing victories over the Covenanters. At his side stalked a shadowy but terrible ally, Alasdair MacColla, who had a far more ancient agenda of his own. MacColla’s aim was nothing less than the effective destruction of the power of Clan Campbell and its replacement by the older overlordship of the Macdonalds. This work argues that it was in fact MacColla, and not Montrose, who was the true architect of the “Year of Victories,” and that without his Highland ally, Montrose’s blunders would have doomed him to disaster, thus presenting a compelling and radical reappraisal of Scottish history during the crucial years of the 1640s. Superbly written, Highland Warrior is a compelling and dramatic sweep through some of the most eventful years in Scottish history.