Sir William Alan Macpherson is said to be the 27th to hold the position of Chief. Counting backward from him using the genealogies provided by reliable sources we come to Ewan Bàn as #7. Assuming no forgotten chiefs after him implies five earlier chiefs between him and Gillichattan Mór. It also suggests that one should not make too much of these numbers. More important are the problems that each of Ewan Bàn's successors faced in leading the Clan through the many challenges confronting them.
These challenges are far too numerous to deal with individually but they can be grouped into one of the five periods of time shown on the chart at the right. Within these periods certain events took place that often challenged the Clan's very existence. Until recently these were due primarily to the circumstances surrounding the battles that the Clan was forced to fight, circumstances which were not of its making and often far beyond its control. The names and dates of these critical battles are shown to the left side of the chart within the respective periods and will be dealt with on subsequent panels of this series of exhibits.
The two critical events of Period 1 that we know of have already been described -- Angus Mackintosh gaining the leadership of the Old Clan Chattan through his marriage to Eva in 1291 and the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. The first event resulted in the belief that the rightful heir had been deprived of his right to that role and this belief started the Clann Mhuirich toward seeking independence from what they considered to be Mackintosh domination. Participation in the second event provided the opportunity for them to begin to marshall the resources needed to achieve that goal although success would take some 300 years.