charter of confirmation for the lands of Cochrane from Mary, Queen of Scots. In 1584 chief William Cochrane, along with several others, was charged with being involved in the murder of Patrick Maxwell, but Cochrane was never brought to trial. In 1592 the Clan MacKintosh sacked Auchindoun Castle, which had been built by Clan Cochrane but which at the time belonged to the 6th Earl of Huntly, George Gordon, in retaliation for his killing of their ally, the Bonny Earl of Moray. Also in 1592 chief William Cochrane built a high free stone tower, known as Cochrane Tower or Cochrane Castle. 17th century and Civil War In about 1350 Robert II of Scotland had built Dundonald Castle in Ayrshire. The castle came into Cochrane hands in about 1638 and it was from there that William Cochrane, 1st Earl of Dundonald took his title. During the Civil War of the 17th century the Clan Cochrane supported the royalist cause. Throughout the war clansman Sir John Cochrane travelled extensively abroad as the king's representative. The chief 'Lord Cochrane' fought in the royalist army at the Battle of Preston (1648). In 1669 the Cochrane chief's title was raised from a Lord to an Earl when Sir William Cochrane was created 1st Earl of Dundonald. After the death of the 7th Earl, the descendants of Sir William's second son became the Earls. 18th century and Jacobite risings During the Jacobite rising of 1745 the main part of Clan Cochrane supported the British government and in the government army under General Sir John Cope there were two Cochrane officers; Captain John Cochrane and Captain Basil Cochrane, both were clansmen related to the chief, Earl of Dundonald. Both were taken prisoner at the Battle of Prestonpans in 1745. However, on the Jacobite side William Cochrane of Ferguslie shared in the victory. In October 1745 the seventh Earl of Dundonald had his horse shot from underneath him by Jacobites at the West Port, Edinburgh. Later throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the Cochranes distinguished themselves in both land and naval forces, and came to be nicknamed the "Fighting Cochranes." The Cochranes are known to have played an important role during the Napoleonic Wars. The most noteworthy of these fighting Cochranes was Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald (1775–1860) who joined the Royal Navy at the age of 18. The high point of his career was when a