History of the Scottish Regiments in the British Army

by Archibald K. Murray

Tho’ buried ye lie in one wide bloody grave,

Your deeds shall ennoble the place where ye fell,

And your names be enroll’d with the sons of the brave.”

1691–1862—THE NETHERLANDS—REBELLION, 1715—AMERICA—EGYPT—CORUNNA—WALCHEREN—INDIA—CHINA—CANADA.

In 1691 the regiment joined the British army then serving in Flanders against the French, and, by its steady valour, fully maintained its character at the battle of Steenkirk and the siege of Namur. So highly did the King appreciate its worth, that, when peace induced the Government to disband many regiments, he retained the Cameronians in his own pay, on the establishment of the Dutch Estates.

The arrogant pretensions of the House of Bourbon to the vacant throne of Spain, in opposition to the claims of the House of Hapsburg, re-kindled the flames of war, and bade France and Austria, as the principals, seconded by Bavaria and Britain, engage in mortal combat. Of the British army sent to Holland in consequence, the Twenty-sixth formed a part. In 1703, brigaded with the Tenth, the Sixteenth, the Twenty-first, and the second battalion of the First Royal Scots, it served with great distinction in the army of Marlborough at Donawerth, and specially at the battle of Blenheim, where, suffering severely, it had to lament the loss of nineteen officers. At the battle of Ramilies, in 1706, the regiment, after being much exposed throughout the fight, was engaged in the pursuit of the beaten foe until midnight. It further shared the sanguinary glories of Malplaquet ere the war was terminated by the peace of Utrecht in 1713. Soon after its return home, the infatuation of the Jacobites, whose licentious habits could not brook to be bridled by the austere yet healthier morale which presided in the Protestant Court of the House of Hanover—longing for the restoration of that of Stuart as likely to afford freer scope for the indulgence of their own evil appetites—organised a conspiracy, which brought forth the rebellion of 1715. The Earl of Mar, an imbecile chief and ungrateful minion of the Court, essayed to be its leader in Scotland, whilst Sir John Foster and other cavaliers vainly strove simultaneously to arouse the malignant Jacobitism which slumbered in the northern counties of England. To meet the few who had dared to challenge the existing sovereignty, and under Foster were advancing southward through Lancashire in hopes of being reinforced by other malcontents, a body of royal troops was hastily collected, chiefly cavalry—the Twenty-sixth being the only infantry regiment. Without order, a distinct plan of action, or any definite understanding as to a leader, the enemy, who had taken possession of, and proposed to hold Preston against the assault of the Royalist army, was easily broken, dispersed, and their cause utterly ruined. During this unfortunate rebellion, which occasioned the effusion of much blood, Colonel Blackader—who had accompanied the Twenty-sixth in its continental campaigns, where he was ever distinguished among “the bravest of the brave,” and whose ably-written records have bequeathed to our day much that is valuable in the thread of Scottish military history, and interesting in the annals of the Cameronian regiment—at this period commanded the Glasgow Volunteers. The rebellion being suppressed, the regiment was placed upon the Irish establishment, garrisoning various posts in the emerald isle until the year 1727, when it was removed to reinforce the troops which then defended the important fortress of Gibraltar, baffling the most stupendous efforts of the Spaniards to reduce it. Eleven years later it was sent to Minorca, and thence returned home in 1754. This long absence on foreign service was succeeded by an interval of quietude at home, so far at least as the service of our Cameronians was concerned. In 1775, the unhappy conflict began which bereft us of a valuable colony, and severed us from those who ought to have been one with us as brethren. Like the Northern States of America now, so we then, in the pride of our own self-righteous will which had been challenged, supposed to enforce legislation by the sword. Hence a British army, including the Twenty-sixth, was sent out to America. Although at first the progress of our arms was graced with many successes, still the end proved most disastrous. The Colonists, sorely schooled in adversity, learned, through many defeats, how to conquer, the more so when the shining abilities of Washington appearing, directed their native valour and commanded their confidence as well as their obedience. Shortly after the capture of St John’s, a detachment of the regiment having been embarked in a vessel for secret service, the expedition, discovered by the enemy, was pursued and captured. When escape was seen to be impossible, and resistance hopeless, to prevent the colours falling into the hands of the foe, they were wound round a cannon shot and sunk in the river; and thus, however severe the dispensation which befel themselves in being made prisoners of war, the regiment was spared the aggravated pain of seeing the colours it had followed to so many glorious successes—the epitome of a soldier’s honour—becoming now, in the hands of the enemy, the record of its present misfortune. Subsequently the regiment was engaged with the army, under Lieut.-General Sir Henry Clinton, during the campaigns of 1777–78.

Returning home from Halifax, in 1800, the transport, containing one company of the regiment, under command of Captain Campbell, was captured by the French privateer “Grande Decidèe.” With the British army under Sir Ralph Abercromby—which achieved the deliverance of Egypt—the Cameronians won a title by distinguished service, to include “Egypt” among the records of its bravery. Meanwhile, the necessities of the state were such that, the Government resolving to strengthen the army, a second battalion was raised and grafted upon the good old stock of the Twenty-sixth. In these times of war little rest could be expected. To the brave, the patriot, it was peculiarly a time of action, not mere idle alarm. Our country rejoiced in the security which was ensured by an army, of which our Cameronians were so honoured a representative. Our sovereigns benignantly smiled upon and proudly felt themselves happy when they regarded the ranks of these our gallant defenders, nor feared invasion so long as they possessed the allegiance of such soldiers. Grieving that so large a kingdom as that of Spain should have fallen a prey to the rapacious perfidy of Napoleon, and sympathising with the patriotic efforts which a spirited people were then putting forth to be free, our Government had recognised in that peninsula, with its extensive sea-board, a fair theatre for action, and as the result proved, a vulnerable point where Europe might strike a fatal blow at the absorbing dominion of France. Following up these ideas, and in answer to the earnest petitions for help from the people themselves, who gathered together into patriotic bands, yet dared to struggle against the tyranny which enslaved and ruined all who owned its supremacy, our Government, in 1808, sent out a British army under Sir John Moore, which, co-operating with the natives and the British army of Portugal, it was vainly hoped should expel the enemy. The Twenty-sixth regiment, included in this expedition, was doomed to share its cruel disappointments, yet earn a title to the glory which must ever rest upon the memory of the soldiers of Corunna. With the native daring of his race, Sir John Moore advanced with 25,000 men into the very heart of Spain, and only retreated when the expected aid from the Spaniards had been dissipated by their defeat and ruin, and when Napoleon in person, at the head of an army of 300,000 men, threatened to overwhelm his little phalanx of British. Then, but not till then, he undertook that masterly retreat which achieved the salvation of his brave troops, and in the end loaded himself with honour, as closing a life of worth, he won the laurel crown, and

“Like a soldier fell”

in the arms of victory. Lieut.-General Hope thus fitly records the irreparable loss sustained in the death of Sir John Moore:—

“I need not expatiate on the loss which the army and his country have sustained by the death of Sir John Moore. His fall has deprived me of a valuable friend, to whom long experience of his worth had sincerely attached me. But it is chiefly on public grounds that I must lament the blow. It will be the conversation of every one who loved or respected his manly character, that after conducting the army through an arduous retreat with consummate firmness, he has terminated a career of distinguished honour, by a death that has given the enemy additional reason to respect the name of a British soldier. Like the immortal Wolfe, he is snatched from his country at an early period of a life spent in her service; like Wolfe, his last moments were gilded by the prospect of success, and cheered by the acclamation of victory; like Wolfe, also, his memory will for ever remain sacred in that country which he sincerely loved, and which he had so faithfully served.”