[2] He obtained a commission of fire and sword against the MacDonalds of Islay, and summoned the Chief of the Clan Mackinnon, MacLeod of Dunvegan, and MacNeil of Barra to his assistance in 1598 at the Battle of Benbigrie.

Sir James MacDonald, 9th of Dunnyveg, in anticipation of this movement on the part of the young Lord of Duard, mustered together the whole gathering of Islay and Kintyre, and prepared himself for a conflict which he had reason to believe would be of a sanguinary nature.

The MacDonalds, goaded to desperation by a knowledge of these facts, fought with uncontrollable fury, and it was not until the heights of Benbigrie were covered with their slain, and their chief carried off the field dangerously wounded, that their assailants succeeded in routing them.

Overwhelmed by numbers the unfortunate MacDonalds were at length obliged to give way and fly in the utmost confusion, not knowing whither, neither mountain nor valley afforded them shelter from their victorious pursuers.

Every human habitation was burned to the ground; and the poor inhabitants were left to seek their only shelter in caves and clefts of rocks among the mountains, without fuel and without food.

The MacLeans and their confederates no doubt felt themselves justified in executing signal vengeance upon their enemies, for the treachery displayed during the Battle of Traigh Ghruinneart, and the loss there of so distinguished a chief.

They were also forced to make the destruction as complete as possible, for the conduct of Sir James MacDonald, 9th of Dunnyveg had made him popular with his clan, and his actions had met their approval.

In the year 1599, James VI of Scotland, finding the Royal Exchequer still in a depleted condition, again turned his eyes toward the Western Isles, and decided that the chiefs should be mulcted in a sufficient amount to meet his demands, so he appointed a new commission of lieutenandry over the whole Isles and Highlands of Inverness-shire, which was granted to the Ludovic Stewart, 2nd Duke of Lennox and George Gordon, 1st Marquess of Huntly, the latter having been recently restored to favor.

Although the official document, which sets forth the reasons for the action of the king, gives a shocking picture of the Islesmen, yet this clause establishes the true import of the commission: "And besides all their other crimes, they rebelliously withhold from his Majesty a great part of the patrimony and proper rent of the crown, deprive the country of the benefit which might redound thereto, by the trade of fishing, and of other commodities which these bounds render."