No doubt, if I had been trained in writing rather than in the tactical
requirements for service in the British army, I should call this the
appendix of my book. I prefer not to do so, having found in my own
experience that readers may be inclined to view the appendix in literature
as similar to the appendix in surgery--something which is unnecessary.
I cannot so regard this chapter. It is to me a component and interesting
part of the whole, for it goes to the source of the splendid and unique
traditions of the regiment in which I have been privileged to serve as a
soldier of my country.
A great deal has been written about the Black Watch. Even poets have been
inspired to sing of its deeds in stanzas which are undying. Men of
Highland birth, glorying in its history, have set down the facts of its
achievements under England's banner. Yet most of these records are
composed of dry facts, with no expressed sense of the romantic and the
unusual which enter so largely into the history of the most famous
fighting organization in the world. And most of them, also, might be
written from the viewpoint of a century ago. They do not bring the recital
of the achievements of the Black Watch into the atmosphere of to-day, with
due regard for the interesting and almost startling effect of contrast.
This thought came to me one day when I was riding on a trolley through one
of the busy districts of that part of Greater New York which lies east of
the bridged river, and suddenly realized that I was passing over the very
ground upon which the Black Watch had its first important engagement in
the war of the American Revolution--the Battle of Brooklyn. I recalled
that on this very spot, where clanging trolleys, quick motor cars and
hurrying pedestrians made a confusing rush of traffic, the men of the
Black Watch fought, in the fashion of their forefathers, with broadsword
and pistol, against the sturdy pioneers whose descendants are now the
allies of our nation in a war for world freedom. In the annals of our
regiment, the use of the broadsword and pistol in the Battle of Brooklyn
is duly recorded, for it was after this engagement that the regiment was
required to lay aside these mediaeval weapons--a fact which occasioned such
discontent among the veterans of the Watch that there was even fear that
the Highland stubbornness might manifest itself as markedly in protest as
on the occasion--in England, in 1743--when the men of the regiment,
confronted with orders issued in ignorance of the Highland characteristics
and customs, departed quietly, in a body, without the knowledge of their
officers, and marched as far as Northampton with the intention of
returning to their Highland homes, relinquishing the purpose only when
prolonged negotiations had made the facts of the situation plain to their
stubborn minds.
On the whole, however, this disposition on the part of the men of the
Black Watch could hardly be called surprising, in view of the ignorance
regarding the Highland character then prevalent in England. Three years
before, King George the Second, having never seen a Scotch
Highlander--although the Black Watch had already been organized in the
Highlands as the Forty-third regiment of the British army--asked to have
some examples of the race sent to appear before him and his court. Two
Highlanders, Gregor MacGregor and John Campbell, appeared in response to
the King's command. (A third, John Grant, began the journey to London with
them but died on the way.) MacGregor and Campbell gave exhibitions of
their dexterity with the broadsword and the Lochaber axe, in the presence
of the King and his Court. When they had finished the King gave each a
gold guinea as a gratuity. They gave the coins as a tip to the porter, on
their departure. The King had not understood that his guests were Highland
gentlemen.
Sitting at the window of the house where I now pass the peaceful and
uneventful days of the soldier who has fought until wounds incapacitate
him for further service afield, I smiled, one day, at another thought in
which the past and the present incongruously came into association. From
this window, I viewed the populous, close-built residential stretches of
Washington Heights, typical of the city life of to-day. And, amid all
this, my eye could seek out the very spot where occurred the grimly
humorous adventure of Major Murray, most corpulent of the officers of the
Black Watch, when the command was fighting against Washington's rebellious
patriots. Having to scale the heights which were later to become famous as
the habitat of the hardy goats of Harlem, Major Murray was at a great
disadvantage because of his weight and girth. "Soldiers, would you leave
me behind?" he appealed, pathetically, when he needed assistance. And then
his husky Highlanders would boost him upward toward the fray. It was,
consequently, in a somewhat breathless and confused condition that the
valiant major attained the spot upon the heights where the conflict raged.
Rushing forward to close with some antagonist in the Colonials, Major
Murray discovered that his only weapon, his dirk, had got twisted behind
him in the strenuous struggles of the ascent and that, because of his
excessive fatness, he couldn't reach it. The records of the regiment, at
the home station, Perth, state that the major, on this occasion, tore a
sword from the grasp of one of three Colonials who attacked him and put
all three to flight. With no thought to cast aspersion upon the major's
valour, I have always been inclined to the belief that the writer of the
regimental reports may have compensated in a certain generosity of
statement for his earlier description of the major's comic predicament.
Study of the history of the Black Watch, gathered, largely, in a
fragmentary way, has always had a fascination for me. I have felt in the
greatest degree the pride of membership in the organization--and the world
knows that the men of the Black Watch have always made much of the name. I
feel that tradition had well prepared the regiment for its sacrificial and
almost superhuman efforts between Mons and the Marne. For hard fighting
and long fighting--in every quarter of the globe and with opponents of
almost every race--civilized and uncivilized--no organized fighting force
has ever had a record to equal that of the Black Watch.
The regiment got its name in 1729, when six companies of Highlanders which
had constituted a sort of military police along the highland border, were
joined together into a more or less homogeneous command. Four of these
companies had been in existence for a few years. Two were of organization
of that year. They were called the Independent Companies of Highlanders
but it was their purpose to co-operate to preserve order among the
turbulent spirits of the border and to enforce the disarming act.
Highlanders from the broken clans flocked to the banners of the
Independent Companies, as this gave them the right still to bear arms.
Many of them were Highland gentlemen, who came with their servants to
carry their arms and belongings. The companies were commanded by Lord
Lovat, Campbell of Lochnell, Grant of Ballindalloch, Campbell of Fonab,
Campbell of Carrick, and Munro of Culcairn. Approximately, there were a
hundred men in each company. They wore the dark tartan of the clan
Campbell, and thus came to be called the _Freaceadan Dubh_, or Black
Watch, as distinguished from the _saighdearan dearg_, or red soldiers.
For ten years, these six companies served on the border, constituting a
slender but effective bulwark between two neighbouring but utterly
different peoples. In this day--when it is but a pleasant outing to motor
from England into the Highlands--it seems almost unbelievable that the
laws, language, customs, and social usages of the Highlanders should for
centuries have remained utterly different from those of England and the
lowlands, and that the people of the lowlands should have almost no
knowledge of neighbours so near. The sturdy and soldierly qualities of the
Highlanders of the six companies, however, couldn't escape the notice of
England's generals, ever seeking new drafts for England's fighting forces.
In 1739 it was decided that a foot regiment of Highlanders should be added
to the regular establishment of the army, the six Independent Companies
being augmented by four new companies to constitute the regimental
strength.
In 1740 this regiment--commanded by the Earl of Crawford and Lindsay, as
colonel--was paraded for the first time on a field, near Aberfeldy. Until
then, the Black Watch had been uniformed only in the fact that each member
wore the _philleadh mor_ or belted plaid, of the Campbell tartan. No one
but a Highlander could ever adjust this dress. It consisted of twelve
yards of tartan, two-thirds of it gathered in pleats, held by a belt round
the waist, and the other third folded around the body and clasped with a
buckle, on the left shoulder.
The uniform and individual equipment of the new regiment, which was called
the Forty-third Foot, is described in detail in an old order of the day.
It consisted of "scarlet jacket and waistcoat, with buff facings and white
lace; the _phileag beag_, or little kilt; a blue bonnet, with check border
of red, white, and green, and a tuft of feathers; musket, bayonet, pistol,
broadsword, dirk and target." The first march of the regiment was from
beside the waters of the Tay--where it had encamped for more than a
year--to Perth, in which city the home station of the regiment was then
established and still is maintained.
When I outfitted there, with my contingent of first reserve men, at the
outbreak of this war, the thought came to my mind that, three times
before, the Black Watch had moved from Perth to fight in Flanders.
I have never seen a succinct summary of the activities of the Black Watch.
Though far abler writers than I have described its separate campaigns,
each of these writers has given but a limited view of the long vista of
sturdy fighting which visualizes the regiment's history. From such sources
of information as I have had, the following summary has been extracted.
Surely it will tell a story of interest to every man who is interested in
the traditions of Britain's "far-flung battle line."
The regiment marched from Perth to London, in 1743, and, after a
mutiny--due to tales of scandal-mongers that the Highlanders were to be
sent to the American plantations--made its first journey overseas, going
to fight in Flanders under the command of the Earl of Stair. After
Fontenoy, the regiment covered the British retreat and lost, among their
officers, five Campbells. In this battle they were commanded by Sir Robert
Munro.
The Black Watch, then called the 43rd Highlanders, was transferred to
England, and most of the companies were kept in Kent, during the Jacobite
uprising. Three companies were engaged in Scotland in putting down the
insurrection, and one was at the battle of Prestonpans. I quote from a
story of the Black Watch written by Lauchlan MacLean Watt in saying that
"the other two companies had an unwilling share in the deplorable outrages
in the Highland Glens after Culloden, which made the name of the Duke of
Cumberland worthy to be placed amongst those of his blood who have won
similar distinction in Belgium, to-day."
The Black Watch was sent to France, in 1746, thence to Ireland and back to
Flanders in 1747.
In 1749 it was returned to Ireland where it remained eight years. In this
year the regimental number was changed to the 42nd.
In 1757 the regiment was a part of the expeditionary force sent to America
for the French and Indian war. At Ticonderoga it served so valiantly and
suffered such terrific losses that the name "The Royal Highlanders" was
conferred upon it.
The regiment next fought at Martinique and Guadaloupe, returning to fight
again in Canada and take an important part in the battle which compelled
the surrender of Montreal. Altogether, it served seven years in the West
Indies and North America. It was only at this period that company
sergeants were given carbines instead of the Lochaber axes which they had
always carried.
In 1775 the regiment returned to Scotland, having been absent 32 years.
In April, 1776, the regiment embarked again for America, this time to
fight in the revolution of the American colonists. They were disembarked
on Staten Island, and, as I have said, they were engaged and suffered some
losses in the Battle of Brooklyn. They also suffered heavily in the Battle
of the Brandywine.
The Black Watch next fought against Hyder Ali, in India, in 1782.
In 1795 it took part in the defence of Nieuport, in Flanders, and suffered
much in the Gildersmalsen retreat, in that campaign.
Back again, the regiment went, after this, to the West Indies and in this
campaign the men were first given a uniform suitable to wear in the
tropics. Its principal features were white duck trousers and round hats.
The mutations of world warfare had had their effect. The Highlanders were
willing to put on pantaloons. There were but five companies of the
regiment on this expedition. The whole regiment was reassembled, however,
in the following year, at Gibraltar, and fought as a whole in the capture
of Minorca.
The year 1800 found the regiment, under Sir Ralph Abercromby, in Egypt.
During the fighting with Napoleon's armies, there, the regiment lost its
commander in action.
In 1808 the Black Watch was among the British forces in the Peninsula and
suffered extreme privation and heavy losses on the retreat from Corunna.
In the following year the regiment was on the ill-fated expedition to
Walcheren, returning with less than one-third of its original strength.
Three years later they were in Portugal again.
After the escape of Napoleon the regiment fought through to Waterloo,
though without playing an important part in that last great battle.
It then fought through the campaign of the Crimea as a part of Sir Colin
Campbell's Highland brigade.
Within a year it was in the lead of the force of six thousand men which
Sir Colin led against twenty-five thousand mutineers at Cawnpore.
Its next hard fighting was in the Ashanti campaign, under General Sir
Garnet Wolseley.
In 1881 it was combined with the 73rd Highland regiment (formerly the 2nd
battalion of the Black Watch) and in the next year was back, fighting in
Egypt. Through the whole of that war in Egypt it was in the fore-front,
fighting with distinction up to the end of the expedition which was
organized for the relief of Gordon at Khartoum.
The regiment suffered its most terrific losses--up to those of the retreat
from Mons--in the South African campaign. The slaughter of the Black
Watch, at Magersfontein, when the Boers ambushed it in close formation,
was the most shocking news that came to England from the Cape.
The story of the 2nd Battalion of the regiment and its deeds is a separate
one, through several decades. It sailed to India in 1780 and was in action
in all of the big and little Indian wars of that early and troublous time.
In 1809 it was made a separate regiment and called the 73rd Highlanders.
As such it served at Waterloo, and it remained a separate unit until 1881,
when it was reunited with the original 1st Battalion.
The Black Watch, as now organized, might almost be called a small army.
There is a depot battalion at Perth, four territorial battalions in
Scotland and six service battalions.
In 1905, I enlisted in the 1st Battalion of the Black Watch--the same
"Royal Highlanders" that had won its designation at Ticonderoga. In 1907,
I was transferred to the 2nd Battalion, which had been known as the 73rd
Highlanders. I joined them at their station at Peshawar, near the mouth of
the famous Kyber Pass, in Afghanistan. In the athletic contests for which
the regiment was famous, I met as a competitor, Ned MacD---- the same Ned
MacD---- whose romantic story I have told in a previous chapter. After a
time we were the regimental champions, and, many a day in India, we
strenuously upheld the honour of the Black Watch in competition with the
men of other regiments.
My athletic days and my fighting days are over. But ever my blood will
quicken with the thought that I have played my part and done my service
and shed my blood in the ranks of the Black Watch, fighting for Right and
for the Freedom of Mankind. The pain of old wounds will ever vanish, the
regrets for departed comrades will ever fade into forgetfulness when I
read, again, the verses which paraphrase the title conferred by the bodies
upon the Black watch--upon us!
There's a toss o' th' sporran,
A swing o' th' kilt,
A screech frae th' pipers
In blood-stirrin' lilt;
They step out together
As pibroch notes swell--
Oh, they're bonny, braw fighters,
"The ladies from Hell."
They're far frae th' heather
An' far frae th' moor;
As th' rocks o' their hillsides
Their faces are dour.
Oh, Th' Campbells are Comin'
Frae corrie an' fell--
What a thrill to their slogan!
These "Ladies from Hell."
As they charged at Culloden
Like fire o'er th' brae,
Their brothers are charging
In Flanders to-day.
One lesson in manners
The boche has learned well:
'Tis: Make way for the ladies--
"The Ladies from Hell."