| Battle of Leckmelm | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theScottish clan wars | |||||||
 Leckmelm | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Clan Gunn | Clan Aberach Clan Sutherland Clan MacLeod of Lewis | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| George Gunn[1] | Niel Mackay William Sutherland James MacLeod | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 32 killed[2][3] | Unknown | ||||||
 | |||||||
TheBattle of Leckmelm was aScottish clan battle that took place in 1586, in theScottish Highlands. It was fought between theClan Gunn against theClan Sutherland,Mackays of Aberach and theMacLeods of Assynt.
The Battle of Leckmelm was fought shortly after theBattle of Allt Camhna had taken place where the Clan Gunn, supported by men of the Clan Mackay had defeated theClan Sinclair from Caithness.[4] Another branch of the Clan Mackay, the Mackays ofAberach were enemies of the Gunns at this time and fought against them atLeckmelm.[2][4][5]
An account of the Battle of Leckmelm is written in the 1829 bookHistory of the House and Clan of the Mackay by Robert Mackay, quoting from 17th-century historianSir Robert Gordon, 1st Baronet:
In consequence of this defeat at Allt Camhna,Lord Caithness was exasperated against the Guns, andHugh MacKay withdrew from them his support. Caithness and Sutherland, with their forces, met at Bengrime in Sutherland, along withSir Patrick Gordon of Achindown, who was sent north byHuntly, with a determinate resolution to exterminate them. This service was now laid upon Sutherland, as his men had not come forward at the late conflict. The Sutherland-men, under command ofWilliam Sutherland, grandson of Alexander the heir, were joined by Niel MacKay and his clan, together with James Macleod, chieften of the Slight-ean-Voir and the MacLeods of his tribe. The Guns took the alarm, and fled towards the Western Isles; "but as they were on their journey thither, James Mack-Rory (Macleod) and Niel Mack-ean-Mack-William (Mackay of Aberach), rencountered with them atLochbroom, at place called Leckmelm, where after a sharp skirmish, the clan Gun were overthrown, and most part of their company slain."[6]
George Gunn who was the Captain of the Gunns escaped by swimming a nearbyloch, but was wounded and later captured. He was handed over to the Earl of Caithness but later released, and the scattered remains of his clan found their way back to their ancestral lands. Mackay restored the Gunns to their holdings inStrathnaver, but eight years later James Sinclair of Murkle invaded theStrathy Gunns and killed some of them in revenge for his brother's death.[1]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)Written from a manuscript wrote in the reign of James VI of Scotland (Sir Robert Gordon'sA Genealogical History of the Earldom of Sutherland).
Quoting: The Miscellanea Scotia
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)Quoting: Gordon, Sir Robert, "A Genealogical History of the Earldom of Sutherland". p. 184
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)