often had to separate from him to help recruit more men as the army's numbers waned. While McColla was away, O'Cahan usually stayed with Montrose, with whom he became a powerful ally. O'Cahan briefly traveled to Ulster to try to recruit more fighters, but was unsuccessful. When McColla was away on a recruitment drive on 21 October 1644, Montrose and O'Cahan and their men found themselves pinned down at Fyvie Castle by Argyll's forces. O'Cahan led a daring night raid into the Campbell lines to break the siege. The Campbells fled and O'Cahan grabbed the powder supplies abandoned by the deserters. He jokingly told Montrose "We must at them again, for the rogues have forgot to leave the bullets with the powder." It is one of the few direct quotations that history record from him. McColla returned soon after the battle at Fyvie with a battle plan that Montrose regarded as impossible. McColla had raised a formidable body of Scottish Highlanders, all of whom felt a desire to completely crush the Campbell Clan. They were predominantly Macdonald allies like the Clan Ranald. McColla proposed a raid through the heartland of Campbell-owned estates, in effect the complete destruction of Argyllshire. The assault was to culminate in a near suicidal march on Argyll's personal estate at Inverlochy, which was thought impossible to capture. The march on Inverlochy was made, despite Montrose's reservations, though he accompanied the force. Argyllshire was indeed razed. The hundreds of square miles covered were more remarkable for the season–during the winter blizzards of early 1645, when the sea off the coast froze. The culminating attack, and massacre of Campbells at Inverlochy on 2 February 1645 was made after a two-day march over the foothills of Ben Nevis. Argyll abandoned his men and sailed away on his personal galley to save himself. Inverlochy was MacColla and O'Cahan's greatest moment. It is recorded that O'Cahan personally drew first blood. Few Campbell captives were allowed to live. The year of glory was now past its peak. Montrose became increasingly overconfident and began to make tactical blunders. He wrote letters claiming that the victories were all his own doing, omitting the work of his Scots-Irish allies. Decline and fall Montrose now had support from Royalist cavalry divisions supplied by the Gordon's Clan, and he barely spoke to the men who had served him all along. On 9 May 1645 came the debacle