Battle of The Pass of Brander - The Battle of Ben Cruachan?

The Battle of Ben Cruachan?

Like the date there continues to be some uncertainty over the exact location of the Brander battle. R. A. MacDonald in his 1997 book, The Kingdom of the Isles, argued that the traditional site of the battle is wrong, and that it took place further north on the shores of Loch Etive. From this he concludes that the fight should be more correctly known as the Battle of Ben Cruachan. However, a fight by Loch Etive could only have taken place if Bruce, coming from the east, had first cleared the Pass of Brander, although this was the obvious place for an ambush. An advance along the difficult shores of Loch Etive north of Ben Cruachan in the full view of the enemy galleys would have been military suicide. The author further contends that John's escape after the battle would have been possible only on Loch Etive, a sea loch, and not on Loch Awe, an inland loch, which, in any case was controlled by the Campbells, allies of Bruce. As for Loch Awe being 'a Campbell lake' the author ignores his earlier point that the Campbells had been eclipsed at this time by the Macdougalls. Even on an inland loch a galley would offer the best mode of escape from slow moving land forces. A glance at the map will show that there could never have been a 'Battle of Ben Cruachan.'