With the Scottish Regiments at the Front

by Evelyn Charles Vivian

Personal accounts of the fighting in which the regiment has been engaged in France are few, up to the present time. A definite account has been received of the death of Lieutenant Sir Archibald Gibson Craig. It is stated that the lieutenant had told his servant some time previously that, in case of his death on the field, the servant was to take charge of all his personal belongings; and at a place not named—or a place of which the name has been excised—he was in charge of a party of sixteen men, who were proceeding to a rather steep hill, when they came in contact with a large number of the enemy, estimated by the Highlanders at between 300 and 400. The men had not been aware that they were so near the Germans, but when the lieutenant saw the position in which they were placed he drew his sword and shouted, "Charge, men! At them!" His men fired at the German force, and then charged with fixed bayonets, at which the enemy thought the British party was far stronger than it was in reality, for they began to retreat. The Highlanders, however, had to retire, since two of their number were killed and three wounded, which left a dangerously small force of effectives. They retired in good order, carrying their dead and wounded, but Sir Archibald Craig was shot through the mouth, and killed instantaneously.

This is the most circumstantial account that has come to hand regarding the work of the regiment, so far. Another story of a wounded man states that during the fighting on the Aisne, in the village of Vera Neuil, he received two pieces of shrapnel in the chest. "We were not safe anywhere, not even in the hospital, as the Germans shelled that too. I was wounded on Tuesday, September 15, when I was eating a biscuit at the time I was shot."

An officer of the H.L.I. gives an account of the way in which the Germans are conducting their fighting.

"An officer dressed as a French officer went up to some Coldstream Guards and asked if Bulkley, the machine-gun officer, was in that battalion. He then shot the officer he was talking to. Others dress up as British staff officers, and drive about in motor cars, and when they meet transports of convoys shout at them—'The Germans are advancing on you from just ahead,' which causes a stampede. That happened to us, for a long column of transport was ahead of us as we were retiring, and all of a sudden a supposed French officer came galloping down the road the reverse way, shouting 'Les Allemands, les Uhlans!' All the transport was thrown into confusion, and some of the waggons came back at a gallop. We were just behind, but mercifully the road was broad. There was a little confusion at first, but they rallied splendidly when I shouted to them, and we all advanced up the road with fixed bayonets, to find absolutely nothing.

"The Germans actually dress themselves up in our men's great-coats to disguise themselves, get close, and then shoot."

These accounts demonstrate the presence of the Highland Light Infantry on the great retreat, and also at the battle of the Aisne. From the latter position they may have gone on to Flanders—the more likely alternative—or they may have remained as part of the thin defensive line left along the Aisne positions.

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The present "Cameronians" were formed from the old-time "26th Cameronians," from whom the regiment takes its title, and from the "90th Perthshire Light Infantry," the first of which regiments fought for religious liberty against the King's troops at Bothwell Bridge in old days. Until the revolution which placed William of Orange on the throne they stuck to their principles, and then in one day there was enrolled from among them a regiment to support the cause of "Dutch William," a regiment which, under the Earl of Angus, held Dunkeld against a force four times their own strength. They fought at Landen, and lost their colonel, the Earl of Angus, at Steinkerk; they shared in the capture of Namur, and then in Marlborough's battles they so fought as to be able to emblazon the names of Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, and Malplaquet on the regimental colours. They shared in the defence of Gibraltar in 1727, fought and endured through the American War of Independence, and served under Sir John Moore at Corunna. Meanwhile the 2nd battalion, formed by Thomas Graham (subsequently Lord Lynedoch), served under Sir Ralph Abercrombie in driving out Napoleon's "Invincible Army" from Egypt, and captured a French eagle at Guadeloupe.

In the Chinese campaign of 1840 the Cameronians 1st battalion took a share, being first to scale the walls of Amoy. The 2nd battalion saw service against the Kaffirs of South Africa in 1846 and the following year, and went on to the Crimean campaign, having among its officers a certain Lieutenant Wolseley, who was destined for great things.

In the Mutiny the 2nd battalion formed a part of Havelock's force at Lucknow, and subsequently assisted in stamping out the last traces of the great rebellion. The 1st battalion took the field in Abyssinia in 1868, and went on with Napier to Magdala. Another famous British officer shared in the exploits of the 1st battalion in the person of Sir Evelyn Wood, during the strenuous work of the Zulu campaign of 1878, when the battalion fought from Inhlobane to Ulundi, where Cetewayo was overthrown.