General Allan Maclean, son of Torloisk, Island of Mull, was born there in 1725, and began his military career in the service of Holland, in the Scots brigade. At the siege of Bergen-op-Zoom, in 1747, a portion of the brigade cut its way with great loss through the French. Lieutenants Allan and Francis Maclean, having been taken prisoners, were carried before General Lowendahl, who thus addressed them: "Gentlemen, consider yourselves on parole. If all had conducted themselves as your brave corps have done, I should not now be master of Bergen-op-Zoom." January 8, 1756, Allan became lieutenant in the 62nd regiment, and on July 8, 1758, was severely wounded at Ticonderoga. He became captain of an independent company, January 16, 1759, and was present at the surrender of Niagara, where he was again dangerously wounded. Returning to Great Britain, he raised the 114th foot or Royal Highland Volunteers, of which he was appointed major commandant October 18, 1761. The regiment being reduced in 1763, Major Maclean went on half-pay. He became lieutenant-colonel May 25, 1772, and early in 1775 devised a colonization scheme which brought him to America, landing in New York of that year. At the outbreak of the Revolution he identified himself with the British king; was arrested in New York; was released by denying he was taking a part in the dispute; thence went to the Mohawk, and on to Canada, where he began to set about organizing a corps, which became the nucleus of the Royal Highland Emigrants. Of this regiment Major Allan was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the first battalion which he had raised. On the evidence of American prisoners taken at Quebec, Colonel Maclean resorted to questionable means to recruit his regiment. All those of British birth who had been captured were given permission to join the regiment or else be carried to England and tried for treason. But these enforced enlistments proved of no value. Quebec unquestionably would have fallen into the hands of General Arnold had not Colonel Maclean suddenly precipitated himself with a part of his corps into the beleaguered city. Had Quebec fallen, Canada would have become a part of the United States. To Colonel Allan Maclean Great Britain owes the possession of Canada. During the prolonged siege Colonel Maclean suffered an injury to his leg, whereby he partially lost the use of it during the remainder of his life. On May 11, 1776, Colonel Maclean was appointed adjutant-general of the army, which he held until June 6, 1777, when he became brigadier-general, and placed in command at Montreal. As dangers thickened around General Burgoyne, General Maclean was ordered, October 20th, with the 31st and his battalion of the Royal Highland Emigrants, to Chimney Point, but the following month was ordered to Quebec. He left Quebec July 27, 1776, for England, in order to obtain rank and establishment for his regiment which had been promised. He returned to Canada, arriving in Quebec May 28, 1777. In 1778 he again went to England and made a personal appeal to the king in behalf of his regiment, which proved successful. May 1, 1779, he sailed from Spithead and arrived at Quebec on August 16th. He became colonel in the army November 17, 1780, and in the winter of 1782 had command from the ports at Oswegatchie to Michilimackinac. Soon after the peace of 1783, General Maclean retired from the service. He married Janet, daughter of Donald Maclean of Brolass, and died without issue, in London, in March, 1797. From the contents of many letters directed to John Maclean of Lochbuie, it is to be inferred that he died in comparative poverty. His correspondence during his command of the Highland Emigrants is among the Haldimand MSS, in the British Museum.
Sir Allan Maclean, Bart.
General Allan Maclean of Torloisk has been confused by some writers—notably by General Stewart in his "Sketches of the Highlands" and Dr. James Brown in his "History of the Highlands and Highland Clans"—with Sir Allan Maclean, twenty-second chief of his clan. Sir Allan served in different parts of the globe. The first notice of his military career is as a captain under the earl of Drumlanrig in the service of Holland. July 16, 1757, he became a captain in Montgomery's Highlanders, and June 25, 1762, major in the 119th foot or the Prince's Own. He obtained the rank of lieutenant-colonel May 25, 1772, and died on Inch Kenneth, December 10, 1783. He married Anna, daughter of Hector Maclean of Coll. Dr. Samuel Johnson visited him during his tour of the Hebrides, and was so delighted with the baronet and his amiable daughters that he broke out into a Latin sonnet.
GENERAL FRANCIS MACLEAN.
General Francis Maclean, of the family of Blaich, as soon as he was able to bear arms, obtained a commission in the same regiment with his father; was at the defence of Bergen-op Zoom in 1747, and was detained prisoner in France for some time; was appointed captain in the 2nd battalion of the 42nd Highlanders on its being raised in October, 1758. At the capture of the island of Guadaloupe, he was severely wounded, but owing to his gallant conduct was promoted to the rank of major, and appointed governor of the island of Marie Galante. In January, 1761, he exchanged into the 97th regiment, and April 13, 1762, was appointed lieutenant-colonel in the army. In the war in Canada, he commanded a body of troops under General Wolfe, and participated in the capture of Montreal. He was sent, in 1762, to aid the Portuguese against the combined attack of France and Spain, and was made commander of Almeida, a fortified town on the Spanish frontier, which he held for several years; and on being promoted to the rank of major-general, was nominated to the government of Estremadura and the city of Lisbon. On leaving Portugal in 1778, the king presented him with a handsomely mounted sword, and the queen gave him a valuable diamond ring. On his return to England—having been gazetted colonel of the 82nd foot, December 16, 1777—he was immediately dispatched with a corps of the army for America, and appointed to the government of Halifax in Nova Scotia, where he held the rank of brigadier-general. During the month of June, 1779, with a part of his army, General Maclean repaired to the Penobscot, and there proceeded to erect defenses. The American army under General Lovell, from Boston, appeared in the bay on July 28th, and began to erect batteries for a siege. Commodore Sir George Collier, August 13th, entered the bay with a fleet and raised the siege. General Maclean returned to Halifax, where he died, May 4, 1781, in the sixty-fourth year of his age, and unmarried.
GENERAL JOHN SMALL.
General John Small was born in Strathardale in Athole, in the year 1726, and entered the army early in life, his first commission being in the Scotch Brigade. He obtained an ensigncy in 1747, and was on half-pay in 1756, when appointed lieutenant in the 42nd Highlanders on the eve of its departure for America. He accompanied the regiment in 1759 in the expedition to northern New York, and in 1760 went down from Oswego to Montreal. In 1762 he served in the expedition to the West Indies, and on August 6th of the same year was promoted to a company. On the reduction of the regiment in 1763, Captain Small went on half-pay until April, 1765, when he was appointed to a company in the 21st or Royal North British Fusileers, which soon after was sent to America. With this regiment he continued until 1775, when he received a commission to raise a corps of Highlanders in Nova Scotia. Having raised the 2nd battalion of the Royal Highland Emigrants, he was appointed major commandant, with a portion of which he joined the army with Sir Henry Clinton at New York in 1779, and in 1780, became lieutenant-colonel of the regiment. In 1782 he was quartered on Long Island. November 18, 1790, he was appointed colonel in the army, and in 1794, lieutenant-governor of the island of Guernsey; he was promoted to the rank of major-general October 3, 1794, and died at Guernsey on March 17, 1796, in the seventieth year of his age.
FLORA MACDONALD.