That his Majesty having thought proper to augment the said
Regiment to 1,300 men by adding three additional companies to it,
and such a body of men being too numerous to be exercised and
disciplined by one Major only, your memorialist humbly conceives,
that it would be for the good of his Majesty’s service to have
another Major added, as has been already done to the other two
Highland Battalions commanded by the Colonels Montgomery and
Fraser.
May it therefore please your Excellency to lay this matter before
His Majesty that he in his great wisdom may be graciously pleased
to give such directions thereupon as shall be thought necessary,
all which is humbly submitted.
Colo. Grant, commanding His Majesty’s 42nd Regiment, and Mr.
Gordon Graham, a Captain in the same, having each of them
presented me with a memorial, the contents of which I know to
be true, I herewith transmit them to your Lordship, to be laid
before the King, and to know His Royal Pleasure therein.
Extract from a letter signed James Abercromby to the Right Hon.
Lord Viscount Barrington, dated New York, Apr. 28, 1758.
As will be seen later Capt. Graham became Major before hearing from
the King.
The next dispatch which is of interest and which makes changes
in the list of Commissioned Officers is as follows: Extract from
letter signed by James Abercromby to the Right Honorable the Lord
Viscount Barrington, dated Albany, May 27, 1758.[15]
“In the list of the Commissions which I had the honour to
transmit to your Lordship, by my last letter, you will have
observed two vacancies in the 42nd Regiment, occasioned by the
removal of Sir James Cockburn into the 48th which could not be
filled up at the time my letter went away, as the gentlemen,
whom it was proposed should purchase those vacancies were
then at Albany,[16] and their answer not arrived; since that
the Lieutenancy has been made out in the name of Mr. Patrick
Balnevas, and bears date the 1st of April; and Mr. Elbert Hering
succeeds to the Ensigncy, dated the 3rd of the same month.”
Then we have the dispatch just before the battle from Abercrombie
to Pitt, dated Camp at Lake George, June 29, 1758, saying:
“Arrived Fort Edward on the 9th, where Lord Howe was encamped
with the 42nd, 44th, and 55th Regiments and 4 companies of
Rangers. Remainder of Regulars were at posts below on Hudson
River and were working up the stores, etc. On the 17th Lord Howe
marched to the Brook, half way between Fort Edward and the Lake
with the 42nd, 44th, and 55th. This Half-way Brook was judged a
proper post for the first Deposit in a Portage of 15 miles.[17]
After the carriages had made several trips Lord Howe advanced to
the Lake with the 42nd, 44th, and 55th.”
Attached to this letter is a report of troops at Lake George, June
29, 1758, and the roll of the 42nd was as follows:
“10 companies, 1 Lt. Colonel, 1 Major, 8 Captains, 18
Lieutenants, 7 Ensigns, 1 Chaplain, 1 Adjutant, 1 QuarterMaster,
1 Surgeon, 2 Mates, 40 Sergeants, 18 Drummers; Rank and File--981
fit for duty, 11 sick present, 6 in general hospital, 2 on
command, 1,000 total. 1 drummer and 40 rank and file wanting to
complete.”
We find the solution of why there were only 1,000 of the Black
Watch with the Ticonderoga expedition when its strength was known
to be 1,300 at that time, in another extract of the Report of
June 29th from Abercrombie to Pitt: “I have left two additional
Companies of Lord John Murray’s to garrison Fort Edward. The
other additional company of the 42nd which was blown into Antego
(Antigua), I hear is arrived at New York, which I have ordered up
to Albany.”
This is confirmed in more detail in a letter from Sir Robert
Menzies to Mr. Murray of Strowan, dated Rannock, 6th Sept., 1758,
in which is an extract from a letter received by Menzies from
“Jamie Stewart.”[18]
“That, after the additional Companies arrived in Fort Edward, the
best men were picked out to compleat the Regiment in place of the
sick and old men that were put in their place. That, as Capt.
Reid was left behind sick at Albany, Capt. Murray was appointed
to his company and Reid to the additionals, as Capt. Abercrombie
was to Capt. Murray’s Company. That the additional companies,
with Captains Sterling, Reid, and Abercrombie, etc., were left
at Fort Edward, where they had nothing to do but to garrison the
Fort and divert themselves.”
Everything is now in readiness for the attack on Ticonderoga and
an army of six thousand three hundred seventy-seven regulars and
nine thousand thirty-four provincials (Abercrombie to Pitt July 12,
1758) embarked at Lake George early on the morning of July 5th.
There were nine hundred batteaux, a hundred and thirty-five whale
boats and a large number of heavy flatboats carrying the artillery
and from front to rear the line was six miles long.
[Illustration: --Courtesy Glens Falls Insurance Co.
The Embarkation of Abercrombie’s Army at Lake George, July 5,
1758]
Parkman in his “Montcalm and Wolfe” paints the scene as follows:
“The spectacle was superb; the brightness of the summer day;
the romantic beauty of the scenery; the sheen and sparkle of
those crystal waters; the countless islets, tufted with pine,
birch, and fir; the bordering mountains, with their green summits
and sunny crags; the flash of oars and glitter of weapons; the
banners, the varied uniforms, and the notes of bugle, trumpet,
bag-pipe, and drum, answered and prolonged by a hundred woodland
echoes. ‘I never beheld so delightful a prospect,’ wrote a
wounded officer at Albany a fortnight after.
“Rogers with the Rangers, and Gage with the light infantry, led
the way in whaleboats, followed by Bradstreet with his corps of
boatman, armed and drilled as soldiers. Then came the main body.
The central column of regulars was commanded by Lord Howe, his
own regiment, the fifty-fifth, in the van, followed by the Royal
Americans, the twenty-seventh, forty-fourth, forty-sixth, and
eightieth infantry, and the Highlanders of the forty-second, with
their major, Duncan Campbell of Inverawe, silent and gloomy amid
the general cheer, for his soul was dark with foreshadowings of
death. With this central column came what are described as two
floating castles, which were no doubt batteries to cover the
landing of the troops. On the right hand and the left were the
provincials, uniformed in blue, regiment after regiment, from
Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Rhode
Island. Behind them all came the batteaux, loaded with stores
and baggage, and the heavy flatboats that carried the artillery,
while a rear-guard of provincials and regulars closed the long
procession.”
It will be unnecessary to go into the details of this disastrous
campaign as it is not only well known to most of you but three
papers bearing on the subject will be read at this meeting.[19]
Briefly the army landed at the foot of Lake George the morning of
the 6th and the afternoon of the same day Lord Howe at the head of
a Ticonderoga party was killed at the outlet of Trout Brook. This
is the beginning of the end as Lord Howe was the real head of the
army. Abercrombie took until the eighth to make up his mind what
to do and this interim gave the French time to build the fatal
breastworks across the ridge about one-half mile west of the Fort
and enabled Lévis to arrive with reinforcements.
As the breastworks play a most important part in the Battle it
will perhaps be well to again quote from Parkman who gives a most
comprehensive description.
“The trees that covered the ground were hewn down by thousands,
the tops lopped off, and the trunks piled one upon another to
form a massive breastwork. The line followed the top of the
ridge, along which it zigzagged in such a manner that the whole
front could be swept by flank-fires of musketry and grape. It
was so high that nothing could be seen over it but the crowns of
the soldiers’ hats. The upper tier was formed of single logs, in
which notches were cut to serve as loopholes; and in some places
sods and bags of sand were piled along the top, with narrow
spaces to fire through. From the central part of the line the
ground sloped away like a natural glacis; while at the sides,
and especially on the left, it was undulating and broken. Over
this whole space, to the distance of a musket-shot from the
works, the forest was cut down, and the trees left lying where
they fell among the stumps, with tops turned outwards, forming
one vast abattis, which, as a Massachusetts officer says, looked
like a forest laid flat by a hurricane. But the most formidable
obstruction was immediately along the front of the breastworks,
where the ground was covered with heavy boughs, overlapping and
interlaced, with sharpened points bristling into the face of the
assailant like the quills of a porcupine. As these works were all
of wood, no vestige of them remains. The earth-works now shown
to tourists as the lines of Montcalm were begun four days after
the battle to replace the log breastwork; and though on the same
ground are not on the same plan.”
Behind these breastworks the battalions of LaSarre and Languedoc
were posted on the left under Bourlamaque, the first battalion of
Berry with that of Royal Roussillon in the center under Montcalm
and those of LaReine, Béarn and Guienne on the right under Lévis.
A detachment of volunteers occupied the low grounds between the
breastworks and the outlet of Lake George and on the side toward
Lake Champlain were stationed 450 regulars and Canadians, about
3,600 in all.
It is always easy to criticise an event after it has occurred, but
the result certainly shows that Abercrombie could not have planned
his campaign more to the advantage of the French. He first gave
them time to build those formidable breastworks and then instead
of choosing any one of half a dozen plans which would have brought
victory, he decided to throw his army unsupported by artillery,
which was still at Lake George, at the strongest part of the
French position, he himself staying in safety at the saw mill
(about which we heard this afternoon in the able paper read by Mr.
Delano at the unveiling of the tablet) a mile and a half in the
rear of his army.[20]
The sad result is too well known to dwell on and we pass at once
to the part played by the Black Watch. They, with the 55th were to
have formed the reserve but impatient at being left in the rear
the Highlanders could not be restrained and were soon in the front
endeavoring to cut their way through the fallen trees with their
broadswords. Captain John Campbell, who was one of the two soldiers
presented to George II in 1743, with a few men, were the only ones
to force their way over the breastworks and they were instantly
dispatched with the bayonet.
Lieut. William Grant of the Regiment writes as follows:
“The attack began a little past one in the afternoon and about
two the fire became general on both sides. It was exceedingly
heavy and without intercession insomuch as the oldest soldier
never saw so furious and incessant a fire. The fire at Fontenoy
was nothing to it. I saw both.”
An officer of the 55th regiment, of which Lord Howe had been the
commander, wrote as follows:
“With a mixture of esteem, grief and envy, I am penetrated by
the great loss and immortal glory acquired by the Highlanders
engaged in the late bloody affair. Impatient for the fray, they
rushed forward to the entrenchments which many of them actually
mounted, their intrepidity was rather animated than dampened by
witnessing their comrades fall on every side. They seemed more
anxious to avenge the fate of their deceased friends than to
avoid a like death. In their co-operation we trust soon to give a
good account of the enemy and of ourselves. There is much harmony
and friendship between the two regiments.”
Even the French were impressed with the valor of the Black Watch as
Garneau writes in L’Histoire du Canada.[21]
“The Highlanders above all, under Lord John Murray, covered
themselves with glory. They formed the head of the troops
confronting the Canadians, their light and picturesque costume
distinguishing them from all other soldiers amid the flame and
smoke. This corps lost half of its men and 25 of its officers
were killed or severely wounded.”
Lossing writes,
“The whole army seemed envious to excell but the Scotch Highland
Regiment of Lord John Murray was foremost in the conflict and
suffered the severest loss.”[22]
The following letters from Captain Allan Campbell are of interest:
Camp at Lake George, 11th July, 1758.
Dr. Broyr.,--The 8th of this month we had a hot brush at the
lines of Ticonderoga where we lost a considerable number of
men and officers. The officers of your acquentance wounded are
Major Campbell and his son. Both in their arms, and I hope
will do well. Captain Stratchur slightly in the breast, Ltt.
Archd. Campbell Sheriff Badly in the Breast, Lt. John Campbell
Glendaruel slightly in the arm, Capt. Ltt. John Campbell Duneaves
killed, Ltt. Hugh Macpherson ditto, Capt. Graham, Duchra, and
Broyr. Both wounded slightly and several other offrs. of the
Regt, but not of your acquentance are killed and wounded.
Our Regt, acquired great glory by their good behaviour of both
men and officers, tho’ we were unsuccessfull. I have the pleasure
to aquent you that both my nephew George and I eskeaped without a
scratch, tho’ both in the heat of the action. George is a pritty
Lad: he’s now a Ltt. in Coll. Gages Regt, of Lt. Infantry. Your
son the Major was well about 2 months ago at Philadelphia. We are
now at the end of Lake George Encampt. I have told you now all
the news that can occurr to me or that I have time to write you,
and I thought it my duty to acquent you and my other Broyrs. of
my being well after a smart action. I have no time to write you
more being excessively hurried having no Body to assist me in the
affairs of my Company having my three Ltts. killed or wounded
viz. Ltt. Balie killed and Ltts. Archd. Campbell and William
Grant wounded. I’ll write you very fully in my nixt. My best
wishes to my sister, to your family and all our friends, and I am
Dr. Bryr, your most affec. and Lov. Broyr, while
Allan Campbell.
New York, 6th January 1759.
Dr. Brother,--I writt you the 11th July in a great hurry after
our retreat from Ticonderoga to let you know of mine and George’s
welfair, after that unlucky afair, where severall of our friends
and a great many worthy Fellows suffer’d. Our Regt, lost more
than any other Corps at the attack of the Lines. We have had
killed and wounded since the beginning of the Campaign 520
(officers included) of which about 300 were left dead on the
field or have dyed of their wounds, and of 37 officers that were
present with the Regt. that day 11 only came off unhurt, of which
number I was lucky enough to be one.
You would certainly hear before now of poor Major Campbell
Inveraw’s death, he liv’d about a fortnight after he receiv’d his
wound, the Doctors thought it necessary that his arm should be
cut off, and he dyed soon after the operation at Fort Edward, all
the rest of our wounded officers are quite recover’d except his
son, Sandy, Jock Campbell Glendaruel, and Archie Shirreff, but
they are out of all danger, only their cure will be tedious.
Poor George had a narrow escape the day we landed at the French
end of the Lake, having had a scratch along the face with a
musquet Ball. He was in a smart little action that happen’d in
the woods a mounth afterwards between a detachment of 500 of our
army under the command of Major Rogers and much the same number
of Indians French and Canadians, where the latter were repulsed
with the loss of 100 men, and I assure you his behaviour at that
affair was much aplauded by his Broyr. officers on their return
to the Army.
He’s now second oldest Lieut, in General Gage’s Regt. of light
arm’d infantry, for which he’s obliged to the late Major
Campbell, Inveraw; and as they talk at present of agmenting that
corps, he’ll have a good chance of getting Higher up, and in any
event he’s better off by being so High in that Regt. as they are
now an Establish’d Corps, than if he had staid in ours, where he
could be but a young Lieut. His Coll, has a great regard for him,
and very Deservedly for he’s a lad of good morals, a good spirit,
and very fit for his Business. He has acted as Adjutant to that
Regt. since July last, by which he has nothing yet but Troble,
there being no Adjutant allow’d, and that his Collonel means it
for him; if he’s lucky enough to get that, I think he’s very well
provided for for the time he has served.
I have advanc’d him Twenty Guineas for which he gave me a Bill
on you. I hope you’ll not Disaprove of my conduct for doing it,
nor blame him for running so much short, when I explain to you
the cause of it; its trew he came over very well Riged out,
but his changing Corps put him under a necessity of Buying new
Regimentals, as these Differ in Colours from the rest of the
Army, being Brown, besides his expense must be greater upon his
first comming in among Strangers, and he had the misfortune of
being sent a recruiting last winter, which really is a misfortune
to an officer in this Country unless he is very carfull and
happens to be successful, and I belive George lost by it. This I
ashure you is truth, and when you consider it was owing to these
accidents, that he could not possibly guard against, I am hopfull
you’l easily forgive him. I was likewise oblig’d to advance our
Unkle Corries’ son, Colin, Twenty two Pounds eighteen shillings
and tenpence or he must have gone naked, having lost all his
things at Fort William Henry. I have sent both Bills to Brother
Robert. George and Colin are sent this winter a Recruiting to
Pensilvania.
I had a letter dated the 30 Novr. from my nephew, the Major, from
where Fort du Quesne stood, he was then very well. I expect dayly
to hear from him, he’s had as troublesome and Fatigueing Campaign
of it, as ever any Body had, our Army has been above a Month in
Winter Quarters befor thers got to Fort du Quesne, which the
French burnt upon ther near aproach, and an immense long march
they have to get back to Philadelphia, wher ther Regt, is to be
Quarter’s this winter, and where I intend to go and see him, when
I hear of ther arrival, its about 100 miles from this place that
our Regt, is now quartere’d in.
We long much for a Pacquet here having no news from Europe for
some months, I take the opportunity of writing you now by the
Kennington Man of War that carries home General Abercrombie. * * *
There is no News here at Present. All our Friends in this Country
are Well. Remember my best wishes to my Sister, and the rest
of your Family whom may God Almighty bless and I ever am, Dr.
Brother, your affec. and Lov. Broyr.