The anti-Jacobite Whig historian Thomas Babington Macaulay mentioned Keppoch in his History of England, describing him as "an excellent specimen of the genuine Highland Jacobite [...] insulting and resisting the authority of the crown".
Colonel John Hill, governor of Fort William, was to write of Keppoch that "he speaks better than any Highlander I know, and is a pretty fellow [...] 'tis pity but he were honest".
Along with his brother he appears to have spent some time in Ireland with the recently-deposed James as part of the latter's campaign there: the town of Inverness's "unneighbourly practices" against Keppoch's people during his absence was to provoke another feud.
He was sent by Lochiel to provide an escort for Dundee, but decided to take the opportunity to settle his own business too: arriving outside Inverness, he famously threatened to burn the town to the ground unless given 4000 merks and a "scarlet lace coat".
[7] Keppoch agreed to take the 1691 oath of allegiance to King William, thereby narrowly escaping the fate of his Macdonald kinsmen at Glencoe, but he subsequently gave evidence against Robert Campbell of Glenlyon and Breadalbane accusing them of involvement in the massacre.
Keppoch is often credited with the nickname "Coll of the Cows" (Colla nam Bo); most versions of this are sourced from Macaulay.