“In the garb of old Gaul, with the fire of old Rome,
From the heath-cover’d mountains of Scotia we come,
Where the Romans endeavour’d our country to gain,
But our ancestors fought, and they fought not in vain.
Such is our love of liberty, our country and our laws,
That, like our ancestors of old, we’ll stand in freedom’s cause,
We’ll bravely fight like heroes bold for honour and applause,
And defy the French, with all their art, to alter our laws.”
LOUDON’S—MONTGOMERY’S—FRASER’S—KEITH’S—CAMPBELL’S—DUKE OF
GORDON’S—JOHNSTONE’S—FRASER’S—MʻDONALD’S.
Passing through the glens of the Grampians, northwards or westwards, we
are introduced to the sterner grandeur of the Scottish Highlands. Having
briefly viewed the glorious records of our Lowland regiments, we feel as
more immediately in the heart of our subject when, entering upon its
second part, we propose to give an account of our Highland regiments. We
think we cannot fairly be challenged for an undue partiality to the
latter, or be thought guilty of injustice to the former, in yielding the
prominence to the Highlanders, because they retain more of the national
characteristics, whilst the Lowlanders, intermingled with others, have
sadly degenerated from the original purity of the Scottish, if indeed
they have not already forfeited every claim, beyond the name, to be
included in the catalogue of Scottish regiments.
The romantic story of the clans bids us return to the feudal age, when
strange but true war revealed itself to be the unwitting civiliser of
the ancient world; apparently the harbinger of evil, yet in reality the
herald of good—the purifier—the evil out of which, in the mysterious
providence of God, blessing should in the end abundantly flow. In the
Highlands the memorials of these barbaric times of civil strife among
the clans are sadly ample and very evident; scarce a dell but bears
traces of the ruin which fire and sword had inflicted; scarce a glen but
has its tale of woe; scarce a heath but beneath the cairn gathers to its
shaggy bosom the ashes of some warrior chief. But there were also times
in our history when the stormy tempest of angry passion was at least for
the moment hushed, and the fiery valour of the clans, gathered into one,
descended from the Highlands, resistless as the mountain torrent, to do
battle for Scottish freedom in the day of Scotland’s need. And thus
their gallant demeanour upon the field of Bannockburn has waked the muse
of Scott to immortalise their fame, as he beautifully tells of our
“Scottish Chiefs” in his “Lord of the Isles.”
The devoted loyalty of the clans to the unhappy Stuarts has given to
their history a melancholy interest, and claims our admiration, because
of the dauntless resolution with which they vainly strove to maintain
the falling fortunes of that degenerate race, although manifested on the
wrong side; furnishing, moreover, a theme for song which has given birth
to some of the most touching lyrics of our bards.
Shortly after the battle of Culloden the fighting strength of the
various clans was rated by Lord Forbes for the Government as follows:—
Argyle, 3000
Breadalbane, 1000
Lochnell and other Chieftains of the Campbells, 1000
Macleans, 500
Maclachlans, 200
Stewart of Appin, 300
Macdougals, 200
Stewart of Grandtully, 300
Clan Gregor, 700
Duke of Athole, 3000
Farquharsons, 500
Duke of Gordon, 300
Grant of Grant, 850
Macintosh, 800
Macphersons, 400
Frasers, 900
Grant of Glenmorriston, 150
Chisholms, 200
Duke of Perth, 300
Seaforth, 1000
Cromarty, Scatwell, Gairloch, and other Chieftains 1500
of the Mackenzies,
Menzies, 300
Munroes, 300
Rosses, 500
Sutherland, 2000
Mackays, 800
Sinclairs, 1100
Macdonald of Slate, 700
Macdonald of Clanronald, 700
Macdonell of Glengary, 500
Macdonell of Keppoch, 300
Macdonald of Glencoe, 130
Robertsons, 200
Camerons, 800
MʻKinnon, 200
Macleod, 700
The Duke of Montrose, Earls of Bute and Moray, 5600
Macfarlanes, Colquhouns, MʻNeils of Barra,
MʻNabs, MʻNaughtans, Lamonts, etc., etc.,
———
31,930
Government, awakened to the danger which threatened the peace of the
country whilst the fiery valour of the clans, unrestrained, ran
wild—save for the chieftain who exercised a species of independent
sovereignty, not always for the weal of the State—wisely determined to
enlist the sympathy of these petty tyrants on its side, and present a
more useful and nobler field for the employment and development of that
exceeding bravery and martial spirit which have ever characterised the
clans, and the efforts of which had, when embraced in the rebel army of
the Stuarts, justly caused most serious alarm. “I sought for merit,”
said the great Chatham, “wherever it was to be found; it is my boast
that I was the first minister who looked for it and found it in the
mountains of the North. I called it forth, and drew into your service a
hardy and intrepid race of men, who, when left by your jealousy, became
a prey to the artifice of your enemies, and had gone nigh to have
overturned the State.... These men were brought to combat on your side,
have served with fidelity, have fought with valour, and conquered for
you in every part of the world.”
About the year 1740, a variety of companies of Highlanders, known as the
“Black Watch,” were regimented, and, under the Earl of Crawford, formed
the _Royal Forty-second Highlanders_, whose history will be treated in
succeeding chapters; meanwhile, we shall shortly enumerate the several
corps, since disbanded, which at several periods constituted the
Highland Brigade. The oldest of these
LOUDON’S HIGHLANDERS,
was raised by the Earl of Loudon, a nobleman of great influence in the
Highlands, in 1745. In its short but eventful career, the regiment
served with credit and fidelity during the rebellion of 1745, and
afterwards with equal distinction with the allied army in Holland. At
the battle of Preston it was unfortunately captured. Having completed
its term of service, the regiment was disbanded in 1748.
On the outbreak of the American war, the Government again appealed to
the clans to enrol beneath the British banner, and on no occasion with
more splendid success. Of the regiments then embarked were
MONTGOMERY’S HIGHLANDERS,
raised in 1757 by Archibald Montgomery, afterwards Earl of Eglinton, and
which served with its cotemporary,
FRASER’S HIGHLANDERS,
in America throughout the war. This last was raised, hence its title, by
Sir Simon Fraser, son of Lord Lovat, a chieftain enjoying largely the
confidence of the clans, yet dispoiled of his lands and destitute of
funds by the misfortunes of the recent rebellion, in which he had
figured conspicuously among the Jacobites.
Immediately upon their embodiment, these two regiments were embarked for
America at Greenock. Associated in the British army, they were
honourably distinguished in the contest which ensued. Their disbandment
took place respectively in 1775 and 1763. Hostilities having extended to
the continent of Europe, and the Government thoroughly appreciating the
value of the Highland soldier, resolved to enrol, in 1759, other two
regiments for service in Germany, respectively
THE EIGHTY-SEVENTH, or KEITH’S HIGHLANDERS; and
THE EIGHTY-EIGHTH, or CAMPBELL’S HIGHLANDERS.
These so seasonably impressed the enemy with the might of Scottish
valour, that it is alleged the French so magnified the numbers of our
Highlanders as to imagine our army contained twelve instead of two
battalions of kilted warriors. A French officer, lamenting his own
little stature and wishing he had been a six-foot grenadier, is reported
to have become quite reconciled with himself, “when,” as he expresses
it, “he had seen the wonders performed by the little mountaineers.” One
of the journals of the day has this curious account of our
Highlanders:—“They are a people totally different in their dress,
manners, and temper from the other inhabitants of Great Britain. _They
are caught in the mountains when young_, and still run with a surprising
degree of swiftness. As they are strangers to fear, they make very good
soldiers when disciplined.” Accustomed to regard retreat as equivalent
to defeat, as something cowardly, it was with great reluctance our
mountaineers yielded obedience to such commands.
The EIGHTY-NINTH, or DUKE OF GORDON’S HIGHLANDERS,
was raised by His Grace, upon his extensive estates, in 1759, and was
destined for service in India. Also, raised in 1760,
The HUNDRED-AND-FIRST, or JOHNSTONE’S HIGHLANDERS.
These, with other Highland corps, were disbanded on the conclusion of
the war in 1763, but not without having won the nation’s
confidence—deserving well of the country, whose gratitude followed them.
A few years later and a new American war burst forth, intensified in its
virulence by its civil character. In the attempts made to suppress the
rebellion of the colonists the old Highland brigade, re-assembled, was
highly distinguished.
Sir Simon Fraser of Lovat, who had already shown his forwardness in
raising the clans in 1757 and ranging them in regiments in defence of
the State, now restored to the patrimony which the rebellion of his
predecessor had forfeited, was again the first to gather around him a
regiment of clansmen, known as
The SEVENTY-FIRST, or FRASER’S HIGHLANDERS.
This corps was engaged in the very hottest of the contest, especially in
and around Savannah and Charleston. One only instance, illustrative of
the excellence of the regiment, we have space to quote:—At Stone Ferry,
assailed by 2000 Americans, Captain Campbell, with 59 men and officers,
heroically maintained his post, until only seven soldiers were left
standing—the rest being either killed or wounded. To most of the men
this was their first encounter with the enemy; “they had not yet learned
to retreat,” nor had they forgotten what had been always inculcated in
their native country, that “to retreat was disgraceful.” When Captain
Campbell fell, he desired such of his men as were able to make the best
of their way to the redoubt, but they refused to obey, as it would bring
lasting disgrace upon them all to leave their officers in the field with
none to carry them back. The seven men retired carrying their wounded
officers with them, and accompanied by those of the soldiers who were
able to walk. Fraser’s Highlanders closed a brilliant career as part of
the unfortunate garrison of Yorktown, who were obliged to capitulate,
and so, as prisoners of war, only restored to their liberty and country
on the conclusion of the war, when they were disbanded. In this last
disaster, Fraser’s Highlanders became associated with another body of
Highlanders,
The SEVENTY-SIXTH, or MʻDONALD’S HIGHLANDERS,
which had been engaged in the war, although at first on a different
field.
The SEVENTY-FOURTH, or ARGYLLSHIRE HIGHLANDERS
served at the same period with the British army of the north on the
frontiers of Canada. Acting with these were two battalions of Highland
emigrants, mostly veterans of the previous war, who, serving in the
Highland brigade of that time, had thereafter accepted the bounty of
Government and settled in America, known as the
ROYAL HIGHLAND EMIGRANT REGIMENT.
Besides these, the wars of the time induced the formation of the
ATHOLL HIGHLANDERS and ABERDEENSHIRE HIGHLANDERS;
and, when the French Revolution further enveloped the world in the
flames of war,
The NINETY-SEVENTH, or STRATHSPEY HIGHLANDERS; and
The HUNDRED-AND-SIXTEENTH, or PERTHSHIRE HIGHLANDERS;
constituted a part of the old Highland Brigade. Without more extended
detail or enumeration of the many Highland corps once on our army
establishment—now disbanded—esteeming we have sufficiently recorded the
story of the old brigade, to enable the reader to feel it worthy his
attention, as replete with incidents of heroism and daring scarcely ever
surpassed—we come to the consideration of the present Highland Brigade.
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THE HIGHLAND BRIGADE.
THE FORTY-SECOND FOOT; OR, ROYAL HIGHLANDERS—“BLACK WATCH.”