[4] An incident demonstrating his strength and ferocity in single combat, when he bit out the throat of an enemy, is used by Sir Walter Scott in Lady of the Lake (canto v.).

[4][5] Ewen Cameron of Lochiel was born in February 1629 at Kilchurn Castle, Loch Awe, the seat of his mother's family.

[9] His father having predeceased him, Ewen was initially fostered by his brethren, the MacMartins of Letterfinlay, but then spent much of his youth under the "guardianship" (as a hostage to keep the Camerons in check) of the Marquess of Argyll at Inveraray, by whose instruction he was tutored.

[13] James Philip of Almerieclos, a standard-bearer in the 1689 rebellion, describes Lochiel's intimidating appearance and "Spanish countenance", with "flashing eyes and a moustache curled as the moon horns".

Ewen, Master of Lochiel witnessed the Battle of Inverlochy in 1645 during which his grandfather sent 300 highlanders to Montrose's aid, while he was forced to accompany Argyll.

[19] Lochiel was present at a meeting of Scottish nobles at Lochearn in August, 1653, in which they elected to rebel against the Protectorate and restore the exiled King Charles to the throne.

He had encountered a group of Monck's soldiers gathering firewood by Loch Eil, deep into Cameron territory, and a skirmish ensued.

[26] Previously based at Tor Castle, Lochiel built a new seat at Achnacarry in 1655 in order to keep his men further away from the government troops.

After lengthy discussion and debate it was decided that the King would be invited back from exile and that the Royal House of Stuart would be restored to the throne after a Republican Interregnum period.

One such bard described Achnacarry as "the generous house of feasting, pillared hall of princes, where wine goes round freely in gleaming glasses, music resounding under its rafters.

Lochiel, as a fervent Stuart loyalist, became one of the principal commanders in the Jacobite rising of 1689, having managed to rally a confederation of Highland clans loyal to that cause.

[36] The Jacobite rebellion collapsed soon after as a result of Claverhouse's death, arguments among the remaining leaders and the inept military leadership of Alexander Cannon.

By this time Sir Ewen, nearly sixty years old, had started to give his son John Cameron, Master of Lochiel greater responsibilities as he was unable to participate physically in military action.