PART I.—1755–1824.
I.
1755–1763.—Origin of the Regiment and its Services in North America.
ORIGIN.
The Regiment was raised during 1755–56 in North America under special conditions, for the express purpose of assisting our Army to retrieve the terrible disaster which had befallen the British troops under General Braddock at the hands of a smaller force of French and Red Indians in the forest fastnesses upon the banks of the Ohio River. It had been found that the slow and ponderous movements of troops trained upon the European model, with their heavy accoutrements, tight uniforms, and unsuitable tactics, were helpless against savages, and almost equally helpless against soldiers habituated to wars in the dense forests and trackless wastes of America. It was therefore decided by the British Government to raise in America, from amongst the Colonists themselves, a force which should be able to meet these conditions.
60th ROYAL AMERICANS.
Designated as the 62nd, and the following year as the 60th Royal Americans, the Regiment was accordingly formed of 4,000 men in four battalions, and General the Earl of Loudoun, Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in America, was appointed Colonel-in-Chief. It was recruited from settlers, mainly of German and Swiss origin, in the States of Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and North Carolina, to which were added volunteers from British regiments and others. Many of the senior officers and a considerable number of the Company officers were drawn from the armies of Europe, some of them being highly trained and experienced soldiers.
Through the bold initiative of Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Bouquet,[[1]] a Swiss officer of distinction, commanding the 1st Battalion, the 60th Royal Americans adopted Colonial methods of equipment, simpler drill, open formations, and the Indian system of forest warfare, thus early acquiring those attributes of individual action, swift initiative, and of elastic though firm discipline, which have been the conspicuous characteristics of the Regiment throughout its long and brilliant career, characteristics which have made its reputation. Thus equipped, The Royal American Regiment from its very beginning played a distinguished and memorable part in establishing British power in North America.
The great struggle between France and England for supremacy in America was at its height, when early in 1758, Abercromby,[[2]] who had succeeded Loudoun as Commander-in-Chief, decided upon a general advance.
July 8th, 1758, TICONDEROGA.
The 1st and 4th Battalions, under Bouquet and Haldimand,[[3]] formed part of the main Army in the Western Field of operations, and on the banks of Lake Champlain, at the memorable defeat of Ticonderoga, “at once a glory and a shame,” the 4th Battalion and a portion of the 1st showed a stubborn courage worthy of the highest praise, and lost very heavily in killed and wounded. On July the 27th, three weeks later, regardless of their losses, the Regiment furnished a part of the column under Bradstreet,[[4]] of the 60th, which, after a forced march, captured by a coup de main Fort Frontenac on Lake Ontario.