The Black Watch at Ticonderoga and Major Duncan Campbell of Inverawe

by Frederick B. Richards

The reason for the lack of more detailed information about the Regiment in the Ticonderoga period is found in the following which is copied from the preface of Stewart of Garth’s first edition:

“The origin of these Sketches and Military Details was simply this: When the Forty-second regiment was removed from Dublin to Donaghadee in the year 1771, the baggage was sent round by sea. The vessel having it on board was unfortunately driven on shore by a gale of wind, and wrecked; the greater part of the cargo and baggage was lost, and the portion saved, especially the regimental books and records, was much injured. A misfortune somewhat similar occurred, when the army, under the Earl of Moira, landed at Ostend in June, 1794. The transports were ordered round to Helvoetsluys, with orders to wait the further movements of the troops. But the vessels had not been long there, when the enemy invaded Holland in great force, and, entering Helvoetsluys, seized on the transports in the harbour. Among the number of vessels taken were those which had conveyed the Forty-second to Flanders, having on board every article of regimental baggage, except the knapsacks with which the officers and soldiers had landed at Ostend in light marching order. Along with the baggage, a well-selected library, and, what was more to be regretted, all that remained of the historical records of the regiment, from the period of its formation till the year 1793, fell into the hands of the enemy.

“After the conclusion of the late war, his Royal Highness, the Commander-in-Chief, directed that the Forty-second should draw up a record of its services and enter it in the regimental books, for the information of those who should afterwards belong to the corps. As none of the officers who had served previously to the loss of the records in 1794 were then in the regiment, some difficulty arose in drawing up the required statement of service; indeed, to do so correctly was found impossible, as, for a period of fifty-four years previous to 1793, the materials were very defective. In this situation, the commanding officer, in the year 1817, requested me to supply him with a few notices on the subject.”

It seemed to have been the custom in the British army of that period for a Regiment to carry its entire belongings with it from place to place and this unfortunate practice has swept from existence every trace of the Regimental records of the Black Watch of Ticonderoga.

It may be readily seen that if Colonel Stewart who had all the information in 1817 which the British government was able to supply and who was also fortunate in having had an intimate acquaintance during his service in the Regiment with officers who have served almost from its formation, was unable to write a complete record, the task nearly one hundred years later might be considered well nigh hopeless. There was the hope, however, that some record which was then lost might have been discovered since Colonel Stewart’s time or that interesting matter might be found in the archives of the families who had sons in the Black Watch of 1758. It is a fact that only recently the regimental records of the Black Watch of two decades later were found in an old second-hand book store in Portsmouth and it is still possible that the regimental records of 1758-9, which are now lost, may yet come to light.

We find that nearly all the histories of the Highland Regiments follow Stewart of Garth nearly word for word in their accounts of the early history of the Black Watch. A notable exception, however, is “A Military History of Perthshire,” which has much that is new. There are also many interesting letters and other records in “The Chronicles of the Atholl and Tullibardine Families,” relating to the service of those of the Black Watch who came from the Atholl Family or estate, and at London we found some dispatches in the Public Record Office in the War Department which I have not seen published. The chief merit, however, if any, which I can claim for this address is that while it does not add much that is new, it does, I think, collect in one article nearly all that is known about the Black Watch of the Ticonderoga period.

I might say here, also, that whatever was lacking in information was more than made up by the cordiality of our reception, as we found nearly every Scotsman interested in the oldest Highland Regiment of the British Army and glad to help us in any way possible. We are under special obligation, which I here wish to acknowledge, to Lt. Col. Hugh Rose, the present commander of the First Battalion of the Black Watch; Major D. L. Wilson Farquharson, D. S. O., who represented the Regiment at the unveiling of the memorial tablet at Ticonderoga, July 4, 1906, now retired and living in Allargue in Aberdeenshire, the home of the Farquharson’s for many generations; W. Skeoch Cumming of Edinburgh, artist and authority on Scottish costumes and tartans of the 18th century; Mrs. Campbell of Dunstaffnage, present owner of old Inverawe House; the Marchioness of Tullibardine, editor of “A Military History of Perthshire,” and the Duke of Atholl, present head of the Clan Murray, Honorary Colonel of the Third Battalion of the Black Watch and compiler of the “Chronicles of the Atholl and Tullibardine Families.”

Before proceeding to the Black Watch of Ticonderoga, it would perhaps be well to give a brief history of the Regiment. There is considerable difference of opinion as to just when the independent companies which were afterwards to become the present regiment of the line were raised. The earliest record I have seen is that on the 3rd of August, 1667, King Charles II issued a commission under the Great Seal to John, second Earl of Atholl “to raise and keep such a number of men as he should think fit to be a constant guard for securing the peace in the Highlands” and “to watch upon the braes.”[1]

From this time until 1739 the Black Watch was in various stages of formation.[2]

It was at the period of the independent companies that the name Black Watch was given—Black from the sombre tartan in contrast to the regular soldiers who at that time had coats, waistcoats and breeches of scarlet cloth, and Watch because their duties were to watch or keep order in the Highlands. The character of the rank and file of the Black Watch of this period was exceedingly high, many gentlemen with servants serving as privates, and in addition to the enlistment being from the best families it was also possible to select only “men of full height, well proportioned and of handsome appearance.” There were several reasons for this, the principal one being probably the fact that at that period the carrying of arms was prohibited by penalties and it became an “object of ambition with all the young men of spirit to be admitted even as privates into a service which gave them the privilege of wearing arms.” Our interest in the Black Watch, however, is principally in the Regiment of the line as such and this dates from the commission given by George II, October 25, 1739, as follows: