CHAPTER XXV.
“In the garb of old Gaul, with the fire of old Rome,
From the heath-cover’d mountains of Scotia we come,
Where the Romans endeavour’d our country to gain,
But our ancestors fought, and they fought not in vain.
Such is our love of liberty, our country and our laws,
That, like our ancestors of old, we’ll stand in freedom’s cause,
We’ll bravely fight like heroes bold for honour and applause,
And defy the French, with all their art, to alter our laws.”
LOUDON’S—MONTGOMERY’S—FRASER’S—KEITH’S—CAMPBELL’S—DUKE OF GORDON’S—JOHNSTONE’S—FRASER’S—MʻDONALD’S.
Passing through the glens of the Grampians, northwards or westwards, we are introduced to the sterner grandeur of the Scottish Highlands. Having briefly viewed the glorious records of our Lowland regiments, we feel as more immediately in the heart of our subject when, entering upon its second part, we propose to give an account of our Highland regiments. We think we cannot fairly be challenged for an undue partiality to the latter, or be thought guilty of injustice to the former, in yielding the prominence to the Highlanders, because they retain more of the national characteristics, whilst the Lowlanders, intermingled with others, have sadly degenerated from the original purity of the Scottish, if indeed they have not already forfeited every claim, beyond the name, to be included in the catalogue of Scottish regiments.
The romantic story of the clans bids us return to the feudal age, when strange but true war revealed itself to be the unwitting civiliser of the ancient world; apparently the harbinger of evil, yet in reality the herald of good—the purifier—the evil out of which, in the mysterious providence of God, blessing should in the end abundantly flow. In the Highlands the memorials of these barbaric times of civil strife among the clans are sadly ample and very evident; scarce a dell but bears traces of the ruin which fire and sword had inflicted; scarce a glen but has its tale of woe; scarce a heath but beneath the cairn gathers to its shaggy bosom the ashes of some warrior chief. But there were also times in our history when the stormy tempest of angry passion was at least for the moment hushed, and the fiery valour of the clans, gathered into one, descended from the Highlands, resistless as the mountain torrent, to do battle for Scottish freedom in the day of Scotland’s need. And thus their gallant demeanour upon the field of Bannockburn has waked the muse of Scott to immortalise their fame, as he beautifully tells of our “Scottish Chiefs” in his “Lord of the Isles.”
The devoted loyalty of the clans to the unhappy Stuarts has given to their history a melancholy interest, and claims our admiration, because of the dauntless resolution with which they vainly strove to maintain the falling fortunes of that degenerate race, although manifested on the wrong side; furnishing, moreover, a theme for song which has given birth to some of the most touching lyrics of our bards.
Shortly after the battle of Culloden the fighting strength of the various clans was rated by Lord Forbes for the Government as follows:—
| Argyle, 3000 | |
| Breadalbane, 1000 | |
| Lochnell and other Chieftains of the Campbells, 1000 | |
| Macleans, 500 | |
| Maclachlans, 200 | |
| Stewart of Appin, 300 | |
| Macdougals, 200 | |
| Stewart of Grandtully, 300 | |
| Clan Gregor, 700 | |
| Duke of Athole, 3000 | |
| Farquharsons, 500 | |
| Duke of Gordon, 300 | |
| Grant of Grant, 850 | |
| Macintosh, 800 | |
| Macphersons, 400 | |
| Frasers, 900 | |
| Grant of Glenmorriston, 150 | |
| Chisholms, 200 | |
| Duke of Perth, 300 | |
| Seaforth, 1000 | |
| Cromarty, Scatwell, Gairloch, and other Chieftains of the Mackenzies, | 1500 |
| Menzies, | 300 |
| Munroes, | 300 |
| Rosses, | 500 |
| Sutherland, | 2000 |
| Mackays, | 800 |
| Sinclairs, | 1100 |
| Macdonald of Slate, | 700 |
| Macdonald of Clanronald, | 700 |
| Macdonell of Glengary, | 500 |
| Macdonell of Keppoch, | 300 |
| Macdonald of Glencoe, | 130 |
| Robertsons, | 200 |
| Camerons, | 800 |
| MʻKinnon, | 200 |
| Macleod, | 700 |
| The Duke of Montrose, Earls of Bute and Moray, Macfarlanes, Colquhouns, MʻNeils of Barra, MʻNabs, MʻNaughtans, Lamonts, etc., etc., | 5600 |
| ——— | |
| 31,930 | |
Government, awakened to the danger which threatened the peace of the country whilst the fiery valour of the clans, unrestrained, ran wild—save for the chieftain who exercised a species of independent sovereignty, not always for the weal of the State—wisely determined to enlist the sympathy of these petty tyrants on its side, and present a more useful and nobler field for the employment and development of that exceeding bravery and martial spirit which have ever characterised the clans, and the efforts of which had, when embraced in the rebel army of the Stuarts, justly caused most serious alarm. “I sought for merit,” said the great Chatham, “wherever it was to be found; it is my boast that I was the first minister who looked for it and found it in the mountains of the North. I called it forth, and drew into your service a hardy and intrepid race of men, who, when left by your jealousy, became a prey to the artifice of your enemies, and had gone nigh to have overturned the State.... These men were brought to combat on your side, have served with fidelity, have fought with valour, and conquered for you in every part of the world.”
About the year 1740, a variety of companies of Highlanders, known as the “Black Watch,” were regimented, and, under the Earl of Crawford, formed the Royal Forty-second Highlanders, whose history will be treated in succeeding chapters; meanwhile, we shall shortly enumerate the several corps, since disbanded, which at several periods constituted the Highland Brigade. The oldest of these
Loudon’s Highlanders,
was raised by the Earl of Loudon, a nobleman of great influence in the Highlands, in 1745. In its short but eventful career, the regiment served with credit and fidelity during the rebellion of 1745, and afterwards with equal distinction with the allied army in Holland. At the battle of Preston it was unfortunately captured. Having completed its term of service, the regiment was disbanded in 1748.
On the outbreak of the American war, the Government again appealed to the clans to enrol beneath the British banner, and on no occasion with more splendid success. Of the regiments then embarked were
Montgomery’s Highlanders,
raised in 1757 by Archibald Montgomery, afterwards Earl of Eglinton, and which served with its cotemporary,
Fraser’s Highlanders,
in America throughout the war. This last was raised, hence its title, by Sir Simon Fraser, son of Lord Lovat, a chieftain enjoying largely the confidence of the clans, yet dispoiled of his lands and destitute of funds by the misfortunes of the recent rebellion, in which he had figured conspicuously among the Jacobites.
Immediately upon their embodiment, these two regiments were embarked for America at Greenock. Associated in the British army, they were honourably distinguished in the contest which ensued. Their disbandment took place respectively in 1775 and 1763. Hostilities having extended to the continent of Europe, and the Government thoroughly appreciating the value of the Highland soldier, resolved to enrol, in 1759, other two regiments for service in Germany, respectively
The Eighty-Seventh, or Keith’s Highlanders; and
The Eighty-Eighth, or Campbell’s Highlanders.
These so seasonably impressed the enemy with the might of Scottish valour, that it is alleged the French so magnified the numbers of our Highlanders as to imagine our army contained twelve instead of two battalions of kilted warriors. A French officer, lamenting his own little stature and wishing he had been a six-foot grenadier, is reported to have become quite reconciled with himself, “when,” as he expresses it, “he had seen the wonders performed by the little mountaineers.” One of the journals of the day has this curious account of our Highlanders:—“They are a people totally different in their dress, manners, and temper from the other inhabitants of Great Britain. They are caught in the mountains when young, and still run with a surprising degree of swiftness. As they are strangers to fear, they make very good soldiers when disciplined.” Accustomed to regard retreat as equivalent to defeat, as something cowardly, it was with great reluctance our mountaineers yielded obedience to such commands.
The Eighty-Ninth, or Duke of Gordon’s Highlanders,
was raised by His Grace, upon his extensive estates, in 1759, and was destined for service in India. Also, raised in 1760,
The Hundred-and-First, or Johnstone’s Highlanders.
These, with other Highland corps, were disbanded on the conclusion of the war in 1763, but not without having won the nation’s confidence—deserving well of the country, whose gratitude followed them.
A few years later and a new American war burst forth, intensified in its virulence by its civil character. In the attempts made to suppress the rebellion of the colonists the old Highland brigade, re-assembled, was highly distinguished.
Sir Simon Fraser of Lovat, who had already shown his forwardness in raising the clans in 1757 and ranging them in regiments in defence of the State, now restored to the patrimony which the rebellion of his predecessor had forfeited, was again the first to gather around him a regiment of clansmen, known as
The Seventy-First, or Fraser’s Highlanders.
This corps was engaged in the very hottest of the contest, especially in and around Savannah and Charleston. One only instance, illustrative of the excellence of the regiment, we have space to quote:—At Stone Ferry, assailed by 2000 Americans, Captain Campbell, with 59 men and officers, heroically maintained his post, until only seven soldiers were left standing—the rest being either killed or wounded. To most of the men this was their first encounter with the enemy; “they had not yet learned to retreat,” nor had they forgotten what had been always inculcated in their native country, that “to retreat was disgraceful.” When Captain Campbell fell, he desired such of his men as were able to make the best of their way to the redoubt, but they refused to obey, as it would bring lasting disgrace upon them all to leave their officers in the field with none to carry them back. The seven men retired carrying their wounded officers with them, and accompanied by those of the soldiers who were able to walk. Fraser’s Highlanders closed a brilliant career as part of the unfortunate garrison of Yorktown, who were obliged to capitulate, and so, as prisoners of war, only restored to their liberty and country on the conclusion of the war, when they were disbanded. In this last disaster, Fraser’s Highlanders became associated with another body of Highlanders,
The Seventy-Sixth, or MʻDonald’s Highlanders,
which had been engaged in the war, although at first on a different field.
The Seventy-Fourth, or Argyllshire Highlanders
served at the same period with the British army of the north on the frontiers of Canada. Acting with these were two battalions of Highland emigrants, mostly veterans of the previous war, who, serving in the Highland brigade of that time, had thereafter accepted the bounty of Government and settled in America, known as the
Royal Highland Emigrant Regiment.
Besides these, the wars of the time induced the formation of the
Atholl Highlanders and Aberdeenshire Highlanders;
and, when the French Revolution further enveloped the world in the flames of war,
The Ninety-Seventh, or Strathspey Highlanders; and
The Hundred-and-Sixteenth, or Perthshire Highlanders;
constituted a part of the old Highland Brigade. Without more extended detail or enumeration of the many Highland corps once on our army establishment—now disbanded—esteeming we have sufficiently recorded the story of the old brigade, to enable the reader to feel it worthy his attention, as replete with incidents of heroism and daring scarcely ever surpassed—we come to the consideration of the present Highland Brigade.