_Formerly numbered the 73rd Regiment, and called McLeod’s
Highlanders._
[Sidenote: 1777.]
Towards the end of the year 1777 every effort was made by the British
Ministry to encourage the country to raise troops voluntarily for the
prosecution of the war then being waged between Great Britain and
her American Colonies. Liverpool, Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow,
each raised a regiment of a thousand men at its own expense, and
several independent companies were formed in Wales. In this manner
15,000 men were raised and presented to the State, of which upwards
of two-thirds were obtained from Scotland, and principally from the
Highland clans.
[Sidenote: 1778.]
At this time Lord McLeod, the eldest son of the Earl of Cromarty,
whose title had been attainted and his estates forfeited
for his participation in the Rebellion of 1745, returned to
England from Sweden, having attained in its service the rank of
Lieutenant-General. Being well received by His Majesty King George
II, and finding his influence in the Highlands still considerable,
although destitute of property, he offered his services to raise
a regiment. The offer was accepted, and such was the respect
entertained for his family and name, that in a short time 840
Highlanders were recruited and marched to Elgin. Here they were
joined by 236 Lowlanders, raised by Captains the Honorable John
Lindsay, David Baird, James Fowlis, and other officers, and by 34
English and Irish, who had been recruited in Glasgow. They amounted
in all to 1,100 men, and were embodied at Elgin under the name of
McLeod’s Highlanders in April 1778, where they were inspected by
General Skene, and approved by him as an excellent hardy body of
men, fitted for any service. Immediately after the completion of
this battalion, letters of service were granted for the creation of
a second battalion, which was raised in like manner, with nearly
the same expedition and in equal numbers. There is no record extant
to show the different nationalities of which this battalion was
formed, but it is probable that its composition was very similar
to that of the first battalion when raised. Thus in the course of
a few months Lord McLeod from being an exile without fortune or
British military rank, found himself at the head of upwards of 2,200
of his countrymen, of whom nearly 1,800 were from that district
and neighbourhood in which his family had once possessed so much
influence.
Each battalion consisted of 50 sergeants, 50 corporals, 20 drummers
and fifers, 2 pipers, and 1,000 privates, and was officered as under.
_Colonel_, John Lord McLeod.