Few Clan Histories have contained any reliable information relating to the Davidsons, whose origin has mostly remained shrouded in obscurity as a consequence of well meaning chroniclers copying the errors of their predecessors. In view of the fascinating Highland lore and existing records it is to be regretted that the narration of this ancient tribe was allowed to lapse and become nearly lost in the confusion which has resulted from the passage of time. This was partly due to a fire which destroyed the Davidson documents during the eighteenth century. The Davidsons, as a matter of fact, were descended from one of the Chiefs of the ancient Clan Mhurich, and were therefore another branch of the MacPhersons. Their ancestor was the great Gilliechattan Mhor, son of the Parson Mhurich who had succeeded his father, Diarmid, as Chief of the Clan Chattanich in 1153. The oldest son of Gilliechattan was the ancestor of the latter branch of Mackintoshes and MacPhersons, as his granddaughter married the Mackintosh Chief, but the second son whose name was Dhai Dhu, or Black David, founded the Clan Davidson, or MacDhai line. It was one of the septs of the great Clan Chattan. During a foray against the Carnerons in 1296 a dispute arose between the Davidsons and MacPhersons regarding a matter of Military precedence not unusual occurrence in the Highlands where certain Clans were accustomed to claim stated positions and honor on the field. The Mackintosh Chief seems to have favored the Clan Dhai, and the MacPhersons withdrew. But when their allies suffered defeat by the Camerons, the MacPhersons, roused to vengeful fury by the sarcastic accusations of the Mackintosh Pipers, rushed to their aid, and the Carnerons were defeated and pursued back toward their own territory. The efficiency and survival of the Highland brother hoods was based upon steadfast loyalty and harmony among the different branches of the Tribes, but the dispute between the MacPhersons and Davidsons continued for some time. For althought the Clan Dhai had lost their Chief Lachlan Davidson, and his seven good sons in the Clan Battle, the MacPhersons were accorded the credit for the victory. They fought among themselves, with the result that the Davidsons withdrew from Chattan territory, and sought new homes elsewhere. This removal has caused interminable confusion in the writings relating to the Chattan Confederacy, mainly pertaining to the great Clan Battle on the North Inch of Perth, which was confused with the dispute between the MacPhersons and Clan Dhai. The Clan Battle, which took place in 1396, :was the Chattan men, Mackintoshes and MacPhersons, against their feudal enemies, the Camerons, or Clan Hay. The Chattan men were led by Ferquhar Shaw, or Shaw Corshiacalich, as he was called, and the Battle is described elsewhere in this book, in the record of the Shaws. Clan History is often confusing, and many tracts lean to the remarkable theory that the Clan Battle was between different septs of the Clan Chattan, though all records and representatives of Chattan vigorously refute the error. .The ancient lands of the Davidsons was the lovely picturesque valley of Glen Truim, and their stronghold was at Invernahavan, near the mouth of Truirn Water where it emptied into the Spey above Craig Dhu. The Chief of Clan Davidson, with some of his followers, went north during the early part of the fourteenth century, as a consequence of the internal trouble between the two septs of Chattan, and they settled in Cormarty, where the Chief's property became known by the appellation of Davidston. In the middle of the eighteenth century Davidston was sold and the Davidson Chief bought the estate called Tulloch, in Ross-shire. This Chief was hereditary Keeper of the Royal Castle of Dingwell, and his descendents continued to reside at Tulloch. Some of the Davidsons remained in Chattan territory, and the Davidsons of Cantray in Nairnshire, are their representatives.