BattlefieldsBattle of Corpach
Medieval

Battle of Corpach

1470
Scotland
Era
Medieval
Battle Type
Pitched Battle
Location
Scotland
Status
Unregistered
The Combatants

Who Fought

Defeated
Clan Maclean
VS
Victor
Clan Cameron
Outcome
Decisive Cameron victory; the Camerons routed the Maclean forces and retained their lands around Fort William
The Battle

History & Significance

The Battle of Corpach was a Scottish clan battle fought around 1470 at Corpach, situated just north of Fort William on the west coast of Scotland, in which the Clan Cameron decisively routed the Clan Maclean. The conflict had its roots in events some four decades earlier. After Alexander, Lord of the Isles was released from Tantallon Castle in 1431, he punished the Camerons for deserting him before the Battle of Lochaber in 1429 by awarding their lands around Fort William to the Macleans under John Garve Maclean of Coll. The Macleans thus held the Cameron lands for several decades before the clash at Corpach brought matters to a head.

When the Clan Maclean invaded to assert their claim, they were confronted by the Camerons at Corpach. The Cameron forces were led by their chief Ailean nan Creach, who commanded them to a complete rout of the Maclean army, retaining their ancestral lands in the process. During the fighting, a young Maclean chieftain recorded as Ewen or John Abrach, the son of John Garve Maclean of Coll, was killed. Despite this decisive Cameron victory, the Macleans did not accept the outcome as final and would continue to attempt to dislodge the Camerons from those lands throughout the coming years.

Suspected site. The exact location is uncertain.
Buried history

The Cameron chief Ailean nan Creach led his clan to a complete rout of the invading Maclean forces at Corpach around 1470, slaying a young Maclean chieftain identified as Ewen or John Abrach, the son of John Garve Maclean of Coll, and securing the Cameron hold on the lands around Fort William that had been stripped from them as punishment some four decades before.

Casualties & Losses

A young Maclean chieftain, Ewen or John Abrach, son of John Garve Maclean of Coll, was killed; broader casualties unrecorded

Forces Involved

Clan Cameron (led by Ailean nan Creach) versus Clan Maclean (including a young chieftain, Ewen or John Abrach, son of John Garve Maclean of Coll)

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Sources