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Mackay the intention being to fill up the ranks with Scottish recruits. The immediate purpose of its despatch was to protect the sittings of the convention at Edinburgh, but the movements of Claverhouse in the highlands widened the scope of his mission, and necessitated a general levy. Claverhouse having on 30 March been proclaimed a traitor, Mackay was sent north in his pursuit. Having appointed the town of Dundee as the rendezvous for his troops, he hastened after Claverhouse with four hundred men, but was completely baffled in his attempt to track him. He then occupied Elgin, and subsequently Inverness, where he was joined by about four hundred clansmen from the far north. The Campbells were also, of course, with the government, but this fact was of itself sufficient to prevent the adhesion of the other clans, and all Mackay's endeavours to gain them were fruitless, even Athole declining to commit himself. Reinforcements under Ramsay, sent to meet Mackay at Ruthven Castle, on the Spey, were threatened by Claverhouse, and compelled to fall back on Perth, and, as a further precaution, Claverhouse captured Ruthven Castle and razed it to the ground. He also made an attempt to surprise Mackay, who eluded him by marching down Strathspey, and succeeded in effecting a junction with Ramsay. Having grounds for suspecting that Claverhouse in his movements had been guided by information sent him by some of the dragoon officers, Mackay had them arrested and sent to Edinburgh, where they confessed their guilt. With his reinforcements Mackay now retraced his steps, prepared to give battle, but Claverhouse retired to the mountains, leaving Mackay to march safely but to no purpose to Inverness.

Experience now convinced Mackay of the hopelessness in the highlands of the usual methods of warfare. He therefore recommended the establishment of a chain of fortresses in the central highlands, beginning at Inverlochy Castle, originally erected by Monck, which he proposed to strengthen and garrison with a large force. Leaving a portion of his troops to hold Inverness, he meanwhile returned with the remainder to the south, in order to consult with the government regarding his plans, and to collect a sufficiently formidable force. Slow progress was made in his preparations, and they were still far from complete when the intrigues of Dundee in Atholl pointed to the necessity of seizing Blair Castle. It was garrisoned by a portion of the clan under Stewart of Ballochin, who, as factor for the absent marquis, held it in his name, but without his authority, for Claverhouse. Mackay, on 26 July 1689, set out from Perth with, according to his own account, 'six battalions of foot, making at the most three thousand men, with four troops of horse and as many dragoons' (Memoirs, p. 46). Of this force he also states that 'little more than one half could be said to be disciplined,' and that many of the officers had no military experience. On arriving, at midnight, at Dunkeld, an express reached him from Lord Murray announcing the arrival of a part of Dundee's forces at Blair, and his own consequent retirement to Killiecrankie, where he had posted a guard to keep the head of the pass. Resuming his march at daybreak, Mackay passed safely through the pass, only to deliver his army into the hands of Claverhouse. He made the fatal mistake of underrating his adversary, and by drawing up his forces in a thin, extended line gave Claverhouse the best chance of victory. He himself attributed his defeat to the slowness of his men in fixing bayonets, and this led him to invent the plan of firing with the fixed bayonet (ib. p. 62). In no respect did his presence of mind desert him, but his initial mistake was irretrievable, and his generalship found no further opportunity for its exercise, the battle being decided at the first charge. He did make an attempt to rally a portion of his cavalry, but they also became almost immediately infected with panic, and galloped off in wild disorder. Cutting his way through the crowd of attacking highlanders, Mackay 'turned about to see how matters stood,' and found that 'in the twinkling of an eye in a manner, our men, as well as the enemy, were out of sight,' and 'was surprised to see at first view himself alone upon the field' (ib. p. 57). But on looking further to the right he discovered that a small portion of his troops, who had not come within the sweep of the highland attack, still maintained their position, and with these, and various bodies of stragglers, he retreated across the Garry. Ultimately he determined to strike across the hilly country, towards the valley of the Tay and Stirling. Two miles from the battlefield he fell in with a portion of Ramsay's regiment, under their commander, but almost without arms, and completely panic-struck. The retreat was continued all night, and, with short halts at Weem and Drummond Castles for refreshments, Stirling was reached, after an almost continuous march of sixty hours.

In the lowlands the death of Claverhouse destroyed much of the moral effect of his victory, but it was not so in the highlands, for all the doubtful clans now flocked to the standard of King James, and Cannon, the successor of Claverhouse, found himself almost immediately in command of no less