In 1755 he was promoted major-general, and in 1758
lieutenant-general, but although he offered his services more than
once, he was not employed abroad during the Seven Years’ War. He
took the keenest interest, however, in all the exploits of his
regiment and worked hard to raise a second battalion in 1758.
Stewart of Garth tells us that when the men who had been disabled
at Ticonderoga appeared before the Board of Chelsea to claim their
pensions, Lord John went with them and explained their case in such
a manner to the commissioners that they were all successful. He
gave them money, got them a free passage to Perth, and offered a
house and garden to all who chose to settle on his estate. General
Stewart also describes how, when the 42nd at last returned from
America in 1767, Lord John, who had been for weeks at Cork awaiting
its arrival, marched into that town at its head.
Lord John was a great deal with the regiment while it was quartered
in Ireland, and, according to Stewart of Garth, was “ever attentive
to the interest of the officers and vigilant that their promotion
should not be interrupted by ministerial or other influence.” He
was also “unremitting in his exertions to procure the appointment
of good officers, and of officers who understood perfectly the
peculiar dispositions and character of the men.” For this reason he
strenuously endeavored to exclude all but the members of Scots--and
more especially Highland--families. He was equally particular that
only Gaelic-speaking men and Protestants should be recruited for
the ranks.
In spite of his military duties Lord John resided a good deal in
the country--and not only at the home of his boyhood--for early
in life he bought Pitnacree in Strathtay, and in later years he
had also a house in Perth. He represented Perthshire in Parliament
from 1734 to 1761. In 1758 he married Miss Dalton of Bannercross--a
Derbyshire heiress, by whom he had one daughter. In 1770 he became
a full general. His last military achievement was the raising in
1779 and 1780 (at his own expense) of another second battalion to
the 42nd. This battalion so distinguished itself in India that
in 1786 it was placed permanently on the establishment under the
title of the 73rd Regiment. The veteran to whose patriotism it owed
its existence died on the 26th day of May, 1787, at the age of
seventy-six, the senior officer in the Army.
Lord John made the most of such chances as occurred of
distinguishing himself in the field, but those opportunities were
small for he never served in any war but the Austrian Succession.
It is therefore as the Colonel of the Black Watch that his name
has survived--as a man who understood the Highland soldiers well
enough to wish to command them at a time when to many that might
have seemed a task of great difficulty--and who, having at last
obtained the post he desired, completely identified himself with
the interests of his men, and for upwards of half a century was the
“friend and supporter of every deserving officer and soldier in the
regiment.”
Military History of Perthshire, page 382-384.
_John Reid._
John Reid was the eldest son of Alexander Robertson of Straloch,
but the head of the family had always been known as “Baron Reid”
and the General and his younger brother, Alexander (who was an
officer in the 42nd), adopted the more distinctive surname early
in life. He was born at Inverchroskie in Strathardle, on the 13th
of February, 1721, and received his early education at Perth.
Being destined for the law, he was afterwards sent to Edinburgh
University. Nature, however, had intended him for a soldier, and
in June, 1745, having recruited the necessary quota of men, he
obtained a commission as lieutenant in Loudon’s Highlanders. He was
taken prisoner at Prestonpans the following September, but when
released the following spring he rejoined his regiment and was able
to render important service to the Government. From 1747 to 1748 he
served in Flanders with Loudon’s Highlanders and took part in the
defence of Bergen-op-Zoom, but on the reduction of his regiment at
the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle he was placed on half-pay. In 1751 he
bought a captain-lieutenant’s commission in the Black Watch and in
1752 a commission as captain in the same regiment. Four years later
on the outbreak of the war with France, he sailed with his regiment
to America. He was not present at the first attack on Ticonderoga
as he had been left behind sick at Albany, and his company was
commanded in that desperate engagement by Captain James Murray.
In 1759, Reid, by that time a major, took part in the second
advance to Lake Champlain, which resulted in the surrender of Forts
Ticonderoga and Crown Point; and on him devolved the command of the
42nd during the greater part of the campaign of 1760 which ended
with the capture of Montreal and the expulsion of the French from
Canada.
Reid remained in America with the 42nd until Dec., 1761, when he
accompanied it to the West Indies. He served in the capture of
Martinique and at the storming of Morne Tortenson, on Jan. 24,
1762, was in command of the 1st Battalion of his regiment. His
battalion suffered heavy loss and he was wounded in two places, but
recovered in time to take part in the expedition against Havana of
that same year. After the surrender of Cuba he returned to America.
In 1764 Reid acted as second-in-command of Colonel Bouquet’s
arduous but successful expedition against the Indians on the Ohio
and Muskingum Rivers. In the following year we hear of him fitting
out an expedition which was to be sent to the Illinois country
under the command of Captain Thomas Stirling of the 42nd.
About 1760, Reid married an American lady of Scots descent, Susanna
Alexander, daughter of James Alexander, surveyor-general of New
York and New Jersey. She owned property on Otter Creek in what is
now the State of Vermont, which was added to and improved by her
husband with the result that at the end of ten years Reid owned
“about thirty-five thousand acres of very valuable land” near Crown
Point and had “obtained from the Governor and Council of New York a
warrant of survey for fifteen thousand more,” which he intended to
“erect” into a manor.
In 1767 the Royal Highland Regiment left America for Ireland and
Reid presumably accompanied it. In 1770 Reid retired on half-pay,
intending no doubt to settle down to the enjoyment and improvement
of his American estates. However, in 1772 his tenants were expelled
by the people of Bennington “on the pretence of having claim to
that country under the Government of New Hampshire, notwithstanding
that the King in Council had, ten years before, decreed Connecticut
River to be the Eastern Boundary of New York.” In 1775 war broke
out with the American colonists, and though his case finally came
before the Commissioners for American Claims, the only compensation
awarded him was a trifling allowance for mills he had erected and
for fees he had paid for surveys. In May, 1778 his father’s estate,
Straloch, passed under the hammer as he was unable to pay the
mortgages and his son could give him no help.
Notwithstanding that he was a comparatively poor man, in 1779-1780
Reid raised at his own expense a regiment of foot, of which he
was appointed colonel. This was called the 95th and was disbanded
in 1783. In 1781 Reid was promoted major-general, and in 1793 a
lieutenant-general. He was appointed colonel of the 88th Regiment
(Connaught Rangers) in November, 1794, and became a general in
1798. In 1803, when an invasion was hourly expected, Reid, in
response to an order that all general officers not employed on the
staff should transmit their addresses to the Adjutant-General,
wrote that though in the eighty-second years of his age “and very
deaf and infirm,” he was still ready to use his feeble arm in
defence of his country. He died in the Haymarket on the 6th of
February, 1807, and was buried in St. Margaret’s, Westminster.
The General would probably have had but little property to dispose
of at his death, had he not in 1796 succeeded to a valuable estate
of some four or five thousand acres in Nova Scotia, which was
left to him by his cousin, Gen. John Small, “as a mark of ...
respect ... and attachment to the preservation of his name and
representation for succeeding ages.” Reid’s daughter had made
a marriage of which he disapproved, she had no children, and
his only brother had died in 1762 during the siege of Havana.
It was probably these circumstances that induced him to realize
the property in Nova Scotia and at the time of his death he was
worth some £52,000. This entire fortune, went after the death of
his daughter, to the University of Edinburgh to found a musical
professorship. He also left directions that a concert should be
given annually on or about his birthday to commence with several
pieces of his own composition, among the first of which is that
of the “Garb of Old Gaul,” a composition written by Sir Charles
Erskine, but set to music by Reid while major of the 42nd, and
which has ever since been a regimental march.
Reid also composed several military marches and was esteemed the
best gentleman player on the German flute in England. It may
safely be predicted that as long as the University exists this old
Perthshire soldier of the 18th century will be remembered as one of
its benefactors.
N. Y. Documentary History IV.
Military History of Perthshire pp. 387-395.
[Illustration: From “A Military History of Perthshire”