The MacLeods of Lewis then joined their kinsmen, but the battle was already lost. Murcha Breac and the twelve guardians of the flag died among the dead and Murcha was said to be buried in the same tomb as the chief on Iona.
At the Battle of Glendale, placed about 1490, both MacLeod clans were giving way to the invading MacDonalds when the mother of Alasdair Crotach ordered the flag to be unfurled. The clans renewed the fight and won despite great losses, and the bearer Paul Dubh died carrying it. The manuscript says he was buried in a stone coffin with an iron grate in St Clement's Church, Rodel, which R. C. MacLeod could not find.
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