| Rank | Names | Former Rank in the Army |
| Lieut.-Col | Allan McLean | Lieutenant-Colonel |
| Major | Donald McDonald | |
| Captain | William Dunbar | Capt. late 78th Regt |
| Captain | John Nairne | |
| Captain | Alexander Fraser | Lieut. late 78th Regt |
| Captain | George McDougall | Lieut. 60th Regt |
| Captain | Malcolm Fraser | Lieut. late 8th Regt |
| Captain | Daniel Robertson | Lieut. 42nd Regt |
| Captain | George Laws | |
| Lieutenant | Neil McLean, (prisoner) | Lieut. 7th Regt |
| Lieutenant | John McLean | Ensign late 114th Regt |
| Lieutenant | Alexander Firtelier | |
| Lieutenant | Lachlan McLean | |
| Lieutenant | Fran. Damburgess, (prisoner) | Ensign, 21 Nov. 1775 |
| Lieutenant | David Cairns | Ensign, 1st June 1775 |
| Lieutenant | Don. McKinnon | Ensign, 20th Nov. 1775 |
| Lieutenant | Ronald McDonald | Ensign, 14th June 1775 |
| Lieutenant | John McDonell | Ensign, 14th June 1775 |
| Lieutenant | Alexander Stratton, (prisoner) | |
| Lieutenant | Hector McLean | |
| Ensign | Ronald McDonald | |
| Ensign | Archibald Grant | |
| Ensign | David Smith | |
| Ensign | George Darne | |
| Ensign | Archibald McDonald | |
| Ensign | William Wood | |
| Ensign | John Pringle | |
| Ensign | Hector McLean, (prisoner) | |
| Chaplain | John Bethune | |
| Adjutant | Ronald McDonald | |
| Qr. Master | Lachlan McLean | |
| Surgeon | James Davidson | |
| Surg's Mate | James Walker |
The second battalion was commanded by Major John Small, formerly of the 42nd, and then of the 21st regiment, which was raised from emigrants arriving in the colonies and discharged Highland soldiers who had settled in Nova Scotia. Each battalion was to consist of seven hundred and fifty men, with officers in proportion. In speaking of the raising of the men Captain Alexander McDonald, in a letter to General Sir William Howe, under date of Halifax, November 30, 1775, says:
"Last October was a year when I found the people of America were determind on Rebellion, I wrote to Major Small desiring he would acquaint General Gage that I was ready to join the Army with a hundred as good men as any in America, the General was pleased to order the Major to write and return his Excellency's thanks to me for my Loyalty and spirited offers of Service, but that he had not power at that time to grant Commissions or raise any troops; however the hint was improved and A proposal was Sent home to Government to raise five Companies and I was in the meantime ordered to ingeage as many men as I possibly Could, Accordingly I Left my own house on Staten Island this same day year and travelled through frost snow & Ice all the way to the Mohawk river, where there was two hundred Men of my own Name, who had fled from the Severity of their Landlords in the Highlands of Scotland, the Leading men of whom most Cheerfully agreed to be ready at a Call, but the affair was obliged to be kept a profound Secret till it was Known whether the government approved of the Scheme and otherwise I could have inlisted five hundred men in a months time, from thence I proceeded straight to Boston to know for Certain what was done in the affair when General Gage asur'd me that he had recommended it to the Ministry and did not doubt of its Meeting with approbation. I Left Boston and went home to my own house and was ingeaging as Many men as I Could of those that I thought I could intrust but it was not possible to keep the thing Long a Secret when we had to make proposals to five hundred men; in the Mean time Coll McLean arrived with full power from Government to Collect all the Highlanders who had Emigrated to America Into one place and to give Every man the hundred Acres of Land and if need required to give Arms to as many men as were Capable of bearing them for His Majesty's Service. Coll McLean and I Came from New York to Boston to know how Matters would be Settled by Genl Gage: it was then proposed and Agreed upon to raise twenty Companies or two Battalions Consisting of one Lt Colonl Commandant two Majors and Seventeen Captains, of which I was to be the first or oldest Captain and was confirmed by Coll McLean under his hand Writeing."[152]
At the time of the beginning of hostilities a large number of Highlanders were on their way from Scotland to settle in the colonies. In some instances the vessels on which were the emigrants, were boarded from a man-of-war before their arrival. In some families there is a tradition that they were captured by a war vessel. Those who did arrive were induced partly by threats and partly by persuasion to enlist for the war, which they were assured would be of short duration. These people were not only in poverty, but many were in debt for their passage, and they were now promised that by enlisting their debts should be paid, they should have plenty of food as well as full pay for their services, besides receiving for each head of a family two hundred acres of land and fifty more for each child, while, in the event of refusal, there was presented the alternative of going to jail to pay their debts. The result of the artifices used can be no mystery. Under such conditions most of the able-bodied men enlisted, in some instances father and son serving together. Their wives and children were sent to Halifax, hearing the cannon of Bunker Hill on their passage.
These enlistments formed a part of the Battalion under Major Small,—five companies of which remained in Nova Scotia during the war, and the remaining five joining Sir Henry Clinton and Lord Cornwallis to the southward. That portion of which remained in Nova Scotia, was stationed at Halifax, Windsor, and Cumberland, and were distinguished by their uniform good behavior.
The men belonging to the first battalion were assembled at Quebec. On the approach of the American army by Lake Champlain, Colonel Maclean was ordered to St. Johns with a party of militia, but got only as far as St. Denis, where he was deserted by his men. When Quebec was threatened by the American army under Colonel Arnold, Colonel Maclean with his regiment consisting of three hundred and fifty men, was at Sorel, and being forced to decamp from that place, by great celerity of movement, evaded the army of Colonel Arnold and passed into Quebec with one hundred of his regiment. He arrived just in time, for the citizens were about to surrender the city to the Americans. On Colonel Maclean's arrival, November 13, 1775, the garrison consisted only of fifty men of the Fusiliers and seven hundred militia and seamen. There had also just landed one hundred recruits of Colonel Maclean's corps from Newfoundland, which had been raised by Malcolm Fraser and Captain Campbell. Also, at the same time, there arrived the frigate Lizard, with £20,000 cash, all of which put new spirits into the garrison. The arrival of the veteran Maclean greatly diminished the chances of Colonel Arnold. Colonel Maclean now bent his energies towards saving the town; strengthened every point; enthused the lukewarm, and by emulation kept up a good spirit among them all. When General Carleton, leaving his army behind him, arrived in Quebec he found that Colonel Maclean had not only withstood the assaults of the Americans but had brought order and system out of chaos. In the final assault on the last day of the year, when the brave General Montgomery fell, the Highlanders were in the midst of the fray.
Many of the Americans were captured at this storming of Quebec. One of them narrates that "January 4th, on the next day, we were visited by Colonel Maclean, an old man, attended by other officers, for a peculiar purpose, that is, to ascertain who among us were born in Europe. We had many Irishmen and some Englishmen. The question was put to each; those who admitted a British birth, were told they must serve his majesty in Colonel Maclean's regiment, a new corps, called the emigrants. Our poor fellows, under the fearful penalty of being carried to Britain, there to be tried for treason, were compelled by necessity, and many of them did enlist."[153]
Such men could hardly prove to be reliable, and it can be no astonishment to read what Major Henry Caldwell, one of the defenders of Quebec says of it:
"Of the prisoners we took, about 100 of them were Europeans, chiefly from Ireland; the greatest part of them engaged voluntarily in Col. McLean's corps, but about a dozen of them deserting in the course of a month, the rest were again confined, and not released till the arrival of the Isis, when they were again taken into the corps."[154]
Colonel Arnold despairing of capturing the town by assault, established himself on the Heights of Abraham, with the intention of cutting off supplies and blockading the town. In this situation he reduced the garrison to great straits, all communication with the country being cut off. He erected batteries and made several attempts to get possession of the lower town, but was foiled at every point by the vigilance of Colonel Maclean. On the approach of spring, Colonel Arnold, despairing of success, raised the siege.