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Transcriber’s note:
Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
Footnotes have been moved to follow the chapters in
which they are referenced.
THE STORY OF THE HIGHLAND REGIMENTS
* * * * * *
BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
NOVELS.
THE VOICE OF THE TURTLE.
SHALLOWS.
BOOKS FOR BOYS.
MUCKLE JOHN.
THE GHOST ROCK.
HISTORY.
THE BRAES OF BALQUHIDDER.
AGENTS
AMERICA THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
64 & 66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK
AUSTRALASIA THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
205 FLINDERS LANE, MELBOURNE
CANADA THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA, LTD.
ST. MARTIN’S HOUSE, 70 BOND STREET, TORONTO
INDIA MACMILLAN & COMPANY, LTD.
MACMILLAN BUILDING, BOMBAY
309 BOW BAZAAR STREET, CALCUTTA
* * * * * *
[Illustration: THE CAMERONS AT FUENTES DE ONORO.]
THE STORY OF THE HIGHLAND REGIMENTS
by
FREDERICK WATSON
East and South my children scatter,
North and West the world they wander.
Yet they come back to me,
Come with their brave hearts beating,
Longing to die for me,
Me, the grey, old, weary mother,
Throned amid the Northern waters.
LAUCHLAN MACLEAN WATT.
Published by A. & C. Black, Ltd.
4, 5, & 6 Soho Square, London, W.
1915
DEDICATED
TO
THE MEMORY OF MY BROTHER
CAPTAIN HENRY TRELSS WATSON
2ND BATT. KING’S OWN YORKSHIRE LIGHT INFANTRY
WHO FELL AT YPRES, MARCH 6, 1915
The profits accruing from the sale of this book
for the duration of the War
will be devoted to the Officers’ Families Fund.
PREFACE
It is a perplexing thing when the making of history is often terrible,
sometimes tragic, but hardly ever tedious, that the reading of history
should be considered uniformly grey. In compiling the present book I
shrank from the word ‘History’—I altered it to ‘Story.’ It is the same
thing, but it does not sound so depressing.
_The Story of the Highland Regiments_ is not merely a narrative of
regimental gallantry—it is also the story of our Empire for nearly two
hundred years, the story of strange lands and peoples, of heroism and
endurance, of the open sea and the frontier. It is even more than
that—it is the story of self-sacrifice, of courage, of patriotism.
Long ago, when my father related to me how, as a little boy, he had
watched the Highlanders march into Edinburgh after the Crimean War, I
determined to secure a book that would tell me, in simple words, without
any dates whatever, about the ‘Thin Red Line’ at Balaclava, the relief
of Lucknow, and the charge of the Greys. It was just because no such
book existed that I was encouraged to write a narrative history that
would cover, no matter how slightly, the entire period.
Whatever may be the faults of this book there are pictures, and there
are not many dates. I have also, where I could, allowed the actual
combatants or eye-witnesses to tell their story in their own way, and on
occasions I have inserted verses that have either won popularity or
deserve to do so.
It is also my hope that, despite the simplicity of treatment, this story
of the campaigns in which the Highland regiments took their part, will
interest not only young people, but, for the sentiment of all things
Scottish, their elders too.
In some chapters minor campaigns may appear to receive an undue
attention, and greater wars, such as the Peninsular, to be treated in
outline. The reason for this is obvious. This record must follow in the
footsteps of the Highland regiments, and the greater the campaign the
less accentuated are individual achievements. For this reason, too, I
have not attempted to treat the present War in any detail, for no detail
is so far to hand, and in the vast forces raised since August 1914 the
Highland regiments have passed into armies, and cannot be treated as
single battalions. But already one thing calls for no chronicler. Never
since those old days when the clans first fought beneath the British
flag has the imperishable star of the Highland regiments—whether of the
Old Army or the New, Colonial or Territorial—gleamed more steadily
throughout the long night of War. In answer to the last and greatest
summons of the Fiery Cross, the tramp of marching feet came sounding
from the farthest outposts of the Empire.
Of the books that have provided me with much of my working material I
must acknowledge as the basis of this volume Browne’s _History of the
Highlands_, vol. iv., Cromb’s _The Highland Brigade_, Archibald Forbes’
_The Black Watch_, the various regimental records, and for their
respective campaigns—Maclean’s _Highlanders in America_, Napier’s _War
in the Peninsular_, Dr. Fitchett’s _Wellington’s Men_ and _The Tale of
the Great Mutiny_, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s _The Great Boer War_.
For the chapter on Afghanistan I have drawn upon Miss Brooke-Hunt’s
_Biography_ of Lord Roberts, and for the last chapter I have to thank
the proprietors of the _Scotsman_ for permission to quote some extracts
from their files. I should also like to express my indebtedness to many
other writers, whose books I have named where possible in the text.
There are those whose personal assistance has saved me much labour. In
particular are my thanks due to my wife, who has collected much material
and revised the proof sheets.
FREDERICK WATSON.
_September 1915._
CONTENTS
Preface v
1. The Formation of the Black Watch 1
2. Flanders and Fontenoy 8
3. The Black Watch at Ticonderoga 17
4. With Wolfe and Fraser’s Highlanders 26
at Quebec
5. Red Indian Warfare 33
6. The American War of Independence 43
7. With the Highland Light Infantry at 55
Seringapatam
8. The Winning of the Hackle 63
9. With Abercromby in Egypt 70
10. The Retreat on Corunna 79
11. The Camerons in the Peninsular 91
12. The Gordons at Quatre Bras 105
13. With Wellington at Waterloo 114
14. The Highland Brigade at the Alma 126
15. The ‘Thin Red Line’ at Balaclava 135
16. From Meerut to Cawnpore 142
17. With Sir Colin Campbell and the 158
Sutherlands to Lucknow
18. With Wolseley and the Black Watch to 178
Coomassie
19. With Roberts and the Seaforths in 187
Afghanistan
20. Majuba Hill 204
21. The Highland Brigade at Tel-el-Kebir 212
22. From El-Teb to Omdurman 218
23. Chitral and Dargai 234
24. Outbreak of War in South Africa 241
25. The Highland Brigade at 255
Magersfontein
26. Paardeberg and the Gordons at 264
Ladysmith
27. With Sir Ian Hamilton to Pretoria 277
28. The Greatest War 288
Index 313
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
1. The Camerons at Fuentes de Oñoro (p. _Frontispiece_
95)
2. A Highland Chief 4
3. The Black Watch at Ticonderoga 22
4. The Highland Light Infantry at 60
Seringapatam
5. The Gordons at Quatre Bras 112
6. The Sutherland Highlanders at Lucknow 166
7. The Seaforths at Candahar 202
8. The Argyll and Sutherlands entering 294
Boulogne, August 1914
CHAPTER I
THE FORMATION OF THE BLACK WATCH
Let the ancient hills of Scotland
Hear once more the battle-song
Swell within their glens and valleys
As the clansmen march along!
The Highland Regiments have always enjoyed a world-wide popularity quite
apart from the quality of their achievements. This popularity is due to
the appeal of imagination and romance. The spectacle of a Highland
regiment, its pipes playing, and the kilts swinging file by file,
recalls the old days when the clans rose for the Stuarts. The Highland
dress is not only linked for all time with Lucknow, Balaclava, and
Quatre Bras, but, stepping farther backward, with Culloden,
Killiecrankie, and Glencoe. People unacquainted with uniforms find a
difficulty in recognising certain English line regiments whose records
are the glory of our military history. But the Highlander, beyond his
distinctive regiment, carries in the memories aroused a passport to
popular favour.
Fortunately the Highland Regiments have earned by more than glamour the
admiration of Britain. In campaigns extending over the last hundred and
fifty odd years the Highlanders have borne their share of the fighting,
and whenever the call has come have proved themselves ‘second to none.’
It was in the eighteenth century that the Jacobites rose for the last
time against the King of England, and whatever the rights or wrongs of
the rebellion, the loyalty and bravery of the clans will for ever remain
undimmed by time. Loyalty may make mistakes, but it is none the less
noble for that, and when the ‘45 was over it was the sons of the men who
died for Prince Charlie who were ready to fight for King George.
It is most important to understand, no matter how simply, the broad
characteristics of the clan system, an established order of things that,
in mid-eighteenth century times, the Government considered most
dangerous to the peace of England. Their reason for thinking so is not
hard to seek. Instead of a peaceful, pastoral country, the Highlands
were an armed camp. In the twentieth century, when strong active men are
needed so badly, such an organisation would have been of the greatest
value; then it was rightly regarded as a menace both to the Lowlands and
to the English throne.
The clan was composed of a large or sometimes comparatively small number
of people bearing the same name, and sworn to obey the Chief, whose word
was absolute, and whose greatest ambition was the number of swords he
could summon to his side.
The Highlander took little interest in tilling or reaping. He left that
chiefly to the women. His bearing and instincts were those of a
gentleman, while his ruling desire was to engage in fighting. He was
proud, indolent, but faithful to the death. The chiefs, who dreaded the
loss of their power more than anything else, and were not so blind as to
believe that progress could be indefinitely defied, rose for the cause
of the Stuarts with the gambler’s hope that the old days might remain a
little longer.
Every one knows how the clans rallied to the standard of Prince Charlie,
of their march into England, and of their defeat by the Duke of
Cumberland, who was the Prince’s cousin.
The battle of Culloden was to seal the doom of the clan system, and to
prepare the way for the history of the Highland Regiments. It was Pitt
who ‘sought for merit’ in the wild mountains of Scotland, and no finer
recruiting ground could have been discovered. The Highlander was
distinguished for his loyalty, his bravery, and his conservatism. War
and hunting were his employment, but underneath his fiery temperament
lay a deep vein of self-sacrifice and poetry. That none of those poor
people gave up their Prince for gold is wonderful enough. That they
never forgot him is more precious than all the treasures in the world.
The love of the Celt for the place of his birth provided one of the most
tragic periods in our history. Emigration, ruin, and the end of the clan
system inspired some of the most beautiful and moving songs in our
language. The point, therefore, that must be emphasised at the moment is
the poetic temperament of the Gael, his love of romance, of old tales,
of old times, of bravery, of loyalty, and of leading an active life.
It was just through this love of adventure that cattle-raiding continued
during the first half of the eighteenth century, and that is why people
on the border line paid ‘blackmail.’ In modern life one of the most
valuable resolves to make is never, under any circumstances, to pay
blackmail; never, that is, to allow freedom of action or will to pass
into the hands of another person. Payment of blackmail once, invariably
means payment for always. But in the Highlands there was no such
ignominy attached to the word. Blackmail carried with it protection from
theft, not shelter from disgrace. It was paid in much the same way as a
citizen pays the Government taxes to provide policemen to guard his
house. From the year 1725 onwards law-abiding people in the Highlands
congratulated themselves, in all good faith, upon the excellent work
that certain newly raised companies of Government militia were doing in
keeping the district quiet. These companies were called the ‘Black
Watch,’ partly because of their dark tartan, partly owing to the nature
of their duties.
[Illustration: A HIGHLAND CHIEF]
Let us see what kind of corps this was. With the hope that some display
of authority would quell the simmering spirit of revolt in the
Highlands, the Government, at the suggestion of an ardent Hanoverian,
decided in the year 1725 to raise a local force officered by Highland
gentry. It was an insignificant body at first, but from time to time
further companies were added, until in the year 1740 it was embodied
under the number of the 43rd, to be changed some years later to the
42nd. In this fashion, and simply as a vigilance corps, the ‘Black
Watch,’ a regiment that has carved its name upon the tablets of history
and romance, came to be formed.
It may seem strange that the marauding habits of the clansmen should
have come so admirably beneath the discipline of the army. The secret is
not far to seek. The qualities that bound the clansmen to the chief were
simply transferred to the new regime. No finer, simpler, more powerful
tribute to these qualities could be found than in the words of General
Stewart of Garth, written a century ago, but not without force at the
present time:
“In forming his military character, the Highlander was not more favoured
by nature than by the social system under which he lived. Nursed in
poverty, he acquired a hardiness which enabled him to sustain severe
privations. As the simplicity of his life gave vigour to his body, so it
fortified his mind. Possessing a frame and constitution thus hardened,
he was taught to consider courage as the most honourable virtue,
cowardice the most disgraceful failing; to venerate and obey his chief,
and to devote himself for his native country and clan, and thus prepared
to be a soldier he was ready wherever honour and duty called him. With
such principles, and regarding any disgrace he might bring on his clan
and district as the most cruel misfortune, the Highland private soldier
had a peculiar motive to exertion. The common soldier of many other
countries has scarcely any other stimulus to the performance of his duty
than the fear of chastisement, or the habit of mechanical obedience to
command, produced by the discipline by which he has been trained.... The
German soldier considers himself as part of the military machine, and
duly marked out in the orders of the day. He moves onward to his
destination with a well-trained pace, and with his phlegmatic
indifference to the result as a labourer who works for his daily hire.
The courage of the French soldier is supported in the hour of trial by
his high notions of the point of honour, but this display of spirit is
not always steady: neither French nor German is confident in himself if
an enemy gain his flank or rear. A Highland soldier faces his enemy
whether in front, rear, or flank, and if he has confidence in his
commander it may be predicted with certainty that he will be victorious,
or die on the ground which he maintains.”[1]
After the ‘45, when the last dream of the marauders was for ever
shattered, the Highlands, possessing such unequalled military qualities
of physique and imagination, were to prove a magnificent recruiting
ground for the British Army. Not only the Black Watch but many other
regiments were raised for the Government, and the military spirit was,
by the genius of Pitt, guided into legitimate and honourable warfare.
THE BATTLE HONOURS OF THE BLACK WATCH (ROYAL HIGHLANDERS)
Guadeloupe, 1759; Martinique, 1762; Havannah; North America, 1763-1764;
Mysore, Mangalore, Seringapatam, Corunna, Busaco, Fuentes de Oñoro,
Pyrenees, Nivelle, Nive, Orthez, Toulouse, Peninsula, Waterloo; South
Africa, 1846-1847, 1851-1853; Alma, Sevastopol, Lucknow, Ashanti; Egypt,
1882-1884; Tel-el-Kebir; Nile, 1884-1885; Kirbekan; South Africa,
1899-1902; Paardeberg.
Footnote 1:
_Sketches of the Highlanders of Scotland._