The Battle of Torran Dubh, also known as the Battle of Torran-dow or Torran Du, was a Scottish clan battle fought in 1517 in Sutherland, in the Scottish Highlands. There are two markedly different accounts of the engagement. The first, written by 17th-century historian Sir Robert Gordon, himself a younger son of the Earl of Sutherland, describes the battle as one in which forces loyal to the Earldom of Sutherland, which had recently passed to the Gordon family through marriage, defeated an invading force led by John Mackay, 11th of Strathnaver. According to Gordon, John Mackay assembled the forces of Strathnaver, Assynt and Eddrachillis, along with men from the west and north-west isles of Scotland, and invaded Sutherland burning and spoiling the country while Adam Gordon was absent in Edinburgh. The second account, advanced by early 20th-century historian Angus Mackay and supported by late 19th-century historian Sir William Fraser, holds that the battle was actually fought between Clan Mackay on one side and the Murrays of Aberscross, Clan Ross and Clan Gunn on the other, with Mackay being defeated. Both Fraser and Angus Mackay also questioned Gordon's version on the grounds that Alexander Sutherland, whom Gordon credits as one of the commanders of the Sutherland force, was reportedly imprisoned for the entire year of 1517.
According to Sir Robert Gordon's account, the Sutherland men, under the conduct of Alexander Sutherland, John Murray and William Mackames, met John Mackay and his forces at a place called Torran Dubh, beside Rogart in Strathfleet, where a fierce and cruel conflict ensued. The Sutherland men initially drove back Mackay's vanguard, whereupon Mackay personally selected his ablest men and returned to the fight, leaving his brother Donald in charge of the remainder. After prolonged resistance, the Sutherland men obtained the victory. Gordon records that 216 of the Strathnaver men were left dead in the field, besides those who died in the chase, while 38 Sutherland men were slain. Neil MacIan MacAngus of Assynt was among the notable casualties on the Mackay side. John Mackay himself narrowly escaped. Shortly after the main battle, Mackay sent two brothers, William and Donald, to attack John Murray; they met at Loch-Sallachie, where both Strathnaver chieftains were slain, though John Murray also lost his brother John Roy-Murray in the skirmish.
According to Sir Robert Gordon's account, at the height of the fighting at Torran Dubh, John Mackay personally chose the ablest men from his host and led them back into the conflict after his vanguard had been driven in, renewing a fight described as more cruel than before; in the end, after long resistance, the Sutherland men obtained the victory, and of those who returned to fight with Mackay, few escaped, with Mackay himself getting away only very hardly, while 216 of the Strathnaver men lay dead in the field besides those slain in the chase.
Gordon records 216 Strathnaver men killed in the field plus further casualties in the chase, and 38 Sutherland men slain; Neil MacIan MacAngus of Assynt also slain
Sutherland side (under Alexander Sutherland, John Murray and William Mackames) versus John Mackay of Strathnaver with forces from Strathnaver, Assynt, Eddrachillis and the west and north-west isles, according to Gordon's account
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