“Awake on your hills, on your islands awake,
Brave sons of the mountain, the frith, and the lake!
’Tis the bugle—but not for the chase is the call;
’Tis the pibroch’s shrill summons—but not to the hall.
“’Tis the summons of heroes for conquest or death,
When the banners are blazing on mountain and heath:
They call to the dirk, the claymore, and the targe,
To the march and the muster, the line and the charge.”
“BLACK WATCH”—FONTENOY—REBELLION 1745—AMERICA—1729–1760.
This distinguished regiment has long deservedly enjoyed the public
favour. It is the link which binds us to the Old Highland Brigade, of
which it remains the only and worthy representative. Mr Cannon, in his
Military Records, thus introduces his account of the regiment by the
following eulogy on the excellence of our Highland soldiers: “The
Highlanders of Scotland have been conspicuous for the possession of
every military virtue which adorns the character of the hero who has
adopted the profession of arms. Naturally patient and brave, and inured
to hardship in their youth in the hilly districts of a northern climate,
these warlike mountaineers have always proved themselves a race of
lion-like champions, valiant in the field, faithful, constant, generous
in the hour of victory, and endued with calm perseverance under trial
and disaster.” As already noted, the Government had wisely determined
more largely to enlist the sympathy and good services of the clans on
their side; and, in consequence, had armed a certain proportion of the
well-affected clans—such as the Campbells, the Frasers, the Grants, and
the Munroes—who, formed into independent companies under the command of
their own or other well-known chieftains, were quartered in the more
troubled districts of the Highlands, where the Jacobite clans of
Cameron, Stuart, MʻIntosh, MʻDonald, and Murray rendered their presence
necessary for maintaining order and preventing any sudden rising, as
well as for the protection of property in those lawless times. They were
called the “Freicudan Dhu,” or “Black Watch,” from the sombre appearance
of their tartan uniform, compared with the scarlet coats of the regular
soldiers. They were mostly composed of the sons of the landed gentry, as
the Government felt that care was necessary, especially in this their
first experiment, in selecting individuals who had something at stake in
the common country, and consequently affording some guarantee for their
fidelity. The success of the experiment was soon abundantly manifest;
and whilst, in 1729, the “Black Watch” consisted only of six companies,
ten years later these were assembled at Perth, augmented to ten
companies, and regimented as the Highland Regiment, under the Earl of
Crawford. The original high character of this famous regiment has never
been excelled; no, not even by the Royal Guards. Nearly all its members
were six feet in height—illustrious for physical prowess and
might—highly connected, as may be well inferred from the fact that many,
when proceeding to drill, went on horseback, followed by servants
bearing their firelock and uniform. On one occasion the King, having
heard of the splendid physical appearance of the men, desired to see a
specimen; and accordingly three were sent up to London. One of these,
Grant of Strathspey, died on the way; the other two, MʻGregor and
Campbell, were presented to His Majesty, and, in presence of the King,
the Duke of Cumberland, Marshal Wade, and other officers, performed the
broadsword exercises and that of the Lochaber axe. Their dexterity and
skill so pleased His Majesty that he gave each a gratuity of one
guinea—a large sum in those days—imagining he had appropriately rewarded
them; but such was the character of these men—above want, generally in
good circumstances—that each bestowed his guinea upon the porter at the
palace gate as he passed out. There is one feature which we record with
more peculiar pleasure, as leaving a mightier impress of character upon
these gallant men, and we quote it in the words of an English historian
who was evidently no friend of theirs, yet wondrously surprised, as he
relates, “to see these savages, from the officer to the commonest man,
at their several meals, first stand up and pull off their bonnets, and
then lift up their eyes in the most solemn and devout manner, and mutter
something in their own gibberish, by way, I suppose,” says he, “of
saying grace, as if they had been so many Christians.”
[Illustration: THE “BLACK WATCH,” OR FORTY-SECOND ROYAL HIGHLANDERS.]
The idea that they should only serve in their own country had so
strongly possessed the minds of many, that, when marched into England,
and learning they were destined for service in the West Indies—a place
associated in their minds only as a place of punishment for felons and
the like—the regiment mutinied; but by a judicious blending of firmness
and lenity on the part of Government, this splendid corps was not only
brought to submit, but preserved to win honour for our country, and
amply redeem, by brave deeds, the faults which for a moment clouded its
early history.
In 1743 the Highlanders joined the British army in Flanders, where their
conduct was so exemplary that the Elector Palatine specially thanked our
King “for the excellent behaviour of the regiment while in his
territories, and for whose sake,” he added, “I will always pay a respect
and regard to a Scotsman in future.” Of their valour, no higher tribute
can be paid than to say that at the battle of Fontenoy, where the
regiment made its first essay in arms, our Highlanders were placed in
brigade with the veterans of the British Guards. The result proved them
to be every way worthy of the compliment. Truly they presented the
choicest troops of the land, and eminently their success, like a meteor
flash, for a moment lighted up the fortunes of battle and promised
victory. Alas! all in vain; the disasters in other parts of the field
compelled retreat. Marshal Saxe, who commanded the French on this
occasion, with all the generosity which becomes a soldier, and who could
distinguish valour even in a foeman, said of the Highlanders—“These
furies rushed in upon us with more violence than ever did a sea driven
by a tempest.”
The rebellion of Prince Charles Edward in 1745 occasioned the recall of
the Forty-second, or, as it was then designated, the Forty-third, from
the Continent, the scene of its early glory. With the army, the regiment
was encamped in the south of England, prepared to dispute the menaced
landing of a French force upon our coasts, which the rebels hoped should
effect a favourable diversion. Meanwhile, three new companies which had
not as yet joined the regiment, served in the royal army against the
rebels—one company being taken prisoner at the battle of Prestonpans.
The internal peace of the country being secured by the decisive victory
of Culloden, many of the regiments returned to Flanders; whilst the
Highlanders, with 2000 of the Foot Guards and other troops, attempted a
descent upon the French coast, but failed to accomplish that success
which had been anticipated, from the superior strength of the enemy. In
the attack upon port L’Orient, assuming the disguise of Highlanders, a
body of French, in a sally, succeeded in approaching the British lines,
and had nearly entered them when discovered. They experienced the deadly
wrath of our true Highlanders, whose blood was roused because of the
indignity offered to the kilts in the foe attempting to deceive our
troops thereby. The result proved that it needed more than the tartans
to constitute the genuine Highlander—the dauntless native courage being
wanting.
Returning home, the regiment was stationed a while in Ireland, until
removed to reinforce the army fighting in Flanders, in alliance with the
Austrians and Dutch, against the French. Excepting, however, at the
siege of Hulst, and covering the embarkation of the army for South
Beveland, the regiment was little engaged in these campaigns, being kept
in reserve in South Beveland. Returning to Britain in 1749, the
Highlanders were variously stationed in Ireland during the following six
years. In 1756, the outbreak of hostilities in America between the
British and French colonists called for the immediate presence of a
British army, of which the Forty-second formed a part. On their arrival,
the strangeness of their garb excited the interest of “the Indians, who
flocked from all quarters to see the strangers, who, they believed, were
of the same extraction as themselves, and therefore received them as
brothers.” Landed in America, Lord Loudon, as commander-in-chief,
hesitated to advance against the enemy until his soldiers had acquired
some knowledge of the novel warfare of the bush in which they were to be
so much engaged. The enemy, meanwhile, reaped many valuable advantages
from the precious moments thus lost through the over-cautiousness and
procrastination of the British commander.
In 1758, with the Twenty-seventh, the Forty-fourth, the Forty-sixth, the
Fifty-fifth, two battalions of the Sixtieth, and upwards of 9000
provincials, the Forty-second formed the division of our army, under
Major-General James Abercromby, which attempted the reduction of the
strong fort of Ticonderoga, on Lake Champlain. The obstacles to be
overcome, and the strength of the garrison were such, that the utmost
and repeated efforts of our soldiers failed to effect its capture. The
distinguished bravery of the Forty-second is thus commemorated by an
eye-witness:—“With a mixture of esteem, grief, and envy, I consider the
great loss and immortal glory acquired by the Scots Highlanders in the
late bloody affair. Impatient for orders, they rushed forward to the
entrenchments, which many of them actually mounted. They appeared like
lions, breaking from their chains. Their intrepidity was rather animated
than damped by seeing their comrades fall on every side. I have only to
say of them, that they seemed more anxious to revenge the cause of their
deceased friends, than careful to avoid the same fate.” Their valour was
further rewarded by an order to dignify the regiment with the title of
the “_Royal_” Highlanders. So desperate was the fight, that the loss of
the regiment exceeded 650 men and officers. It was here that the gallant
and brave Brigadier-General Viscount Howe, of the Fifty-fifth regiment,
met his death: he who had been “the life and soul of the expedition,”
and was peculiarly the favourite of the soldiers.
In October, 1758, a second battalion was raised at Perth and grafted
upon the good old stock of the Royal Highlanders. Soon after its
formation, it was embarked for Barbadoes, where it joined the expedition
under Major-Generals Hopson and Barrington, which was baffled in an
attempt upon the French Island of Martinique. This reverse was, however,
somewhat avenged by a more successful attack upon the Island of
Guadaloupe, which, after four months’ hard fighting and much suffering
from the insalubrity of the climate, was surrendered to the British. The
defence is remarkable as affording a striking instance of female heroism
in the person of Madame Ducharmey, who, arming her negroes when others
had retired, refused to yield, resolutely defending the island for some
time.
Removed from the West Indies to the continent of America, the second
battalion was at length united to the first. These formed part of the
expeditionary force, under General Amherst, which, advancing, occupied
the strong fortresses of Ticonderago, Crown Point, and Isle aux Noix,
successively evacuated by the French. In the campaign of 1760 our
Highlanders were with the army which, crossing Lake Ontario, descended
the St Lawrence, effected the surrender of Montreal, and in its fall
sealed the subjugation of the entire province of Canada.