The Battle of Tuiteam Tarbhach, whose Scottish Gaelic name translates as 'plentiful slaughter', was a clan battle that probably took place in 1406, though the date remains uncertain from the manuscripts. It arose from a dispute between Hugh Mackay, regent for the sons of the late Angus Mackay, 6th of Strathnaver, and Sidheag, widow of Angus and sister of Roderick, chief of the Clan MacLeod of Lewis. Hearing of his sister's quarrel with Hugh Mackay, Roderick dispatched a company of men to the Reay Country under his brother Malcolm MacLeod. Failing to reach any amicable settlement, Malcolm ravaged Mackay lands in Strathnaver and in the Sutherland district of Brae-Chat around Lairg. This provoked not only the Mackays but also Robert, Earl of Sutherland, who sent a company under Alexander Murray of Culbin to join Hugh Mackay in pursuit of the raiders.
The Mackays and Sutherland men caught up with the MacLeods as they were crossing the Tutim Burn on the north bank of the River Oykel, some three miles west of where the river meets the River Cassley at the head of the Kyle of Sutherland. The MacLeods were laden with booty and stolen cattle when the pursuers arrived. Hugh Mackay initially attempted only to recover his stolen property, but when the MacLeods refused, a battle described as 'long, furious, cruel, and doubtful...rather desperate than resolute' broke out. It ended with the complete destruction of the MacLeod raiding party save for a single survivor, who managed to return to Lewis and report the defeat before dying of his wounds.
The aftermath of the battle saw Hugh Mackay's nephew Angus Dow succeed him as chief of the Mackays two years later. Despite a subsequent defeat at the Battle of Dingwall in 1411, the Mackays prospered greatly under Angus Dow, who by 1427 commanded some 4,000 men and was among the chiefs summoned to a parliament in Inverness by James I. Numerous cairns once marked the battlefield, but their stones were later used in the construction of dry stone walls, and a cemetery was built on the hillside to the east of the site. The A837 road now runs through the battlefield.
The MacLeod raiders were caught at a severe disadvantage as they forded the Tutim Burn, weighed down by their plunder and stolen cattle. When Hugh Mackay's initial attempt to simply recover his property was rebuffed, the two sides fell into what Sir Robert Gordon described as a 'long, furious, cruel, and doubtful...rather desperate than resolute' struggle. The fighting ended in the total annihilation of the MacLeod party: only one man escaped, returning to Lewis to report the catastrophe before succumbing to his wounds.
The MacLeod raiding party was wiped out save for one survivor; Mackay and Sutherland casualties unrecorded
Mackay clan and a company from the Earl of Sutherland under Alexander Murray of Culbin versus a MacLeod of Lewis raiding party led by Malcolm MacLeod
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