Finding it impracticable to carry on a campaign among the mountains of Basseterre, the general resolved to transfer the seat of war to the eastern division of the island, called Grandeterre, which was more accessible. Accordingly, on the 10th of February, a detachment of Highlanders and marines was landed in that part of the island in the neighbourhood of Fort Louis, after a severe cannonading which lasted six hours. The assailants, sword in hand, drove the enemy from their entrenchments, and, taking possession of the fort, hoisted the English colours.
General Hopson died on the 27th. He was succeeded by General Barrington, who resolved to complete the reduction of the island with vigour. Leaving, therefore, one regiment and a detachment of artillery under Colonel Debrisay in Basseterre, the general re-embarked the rest of the army and proceeded to Grandeterre, where he carried on a series of successful operations by means of detachments. One of these consisting of 600 men, under Colonel Crump, carried the towns of St Anne and St Francis with little loss, notwithstanding the fire from the entrenchments. The only officer who fell was Ensign MacLean of the Highlanders, Another detachment of 300 men took the town of Gosier by storm, and drove the garrison into the woods. The next operation of the general was an attempt to surprise the three towns of Petit Bourg, St Mary’s, and Gouyave, on the Capesterre side, the execution of which was committed to Colonels Crump and Clavering; but owing to the extreme darkness of the night, and the incapacity of the negro guides, the attempt was rendered abortive. Resolved to carry these towns, the general directed the same commanders to land their forces in a bay near the town of Arnonville. No opposition was made to their landing by the enemy, who retreated behind a strong entrenchment they had thrown up behind the river Licorn. With the exception of two narrow passes which they had fortified with a redoubt and entrenchments mounted with cannon, which were defended by a large body of militia, the access to the river was rendered inaccessible by a morass covered with mangroves; yet, in spite of these difficulties, the British commanders resolved to hazard an assault. Accordingly, under cover of a fire from the entrenchments from their field-pieces and howitzers, the regiment of Duroure and the Highlanders moved forward, firing by platoons with the utmost regularity as they advanced. Observing the enemy beginning to abandon the first entrenchment on the left, “the Highlanders drew their swords, and, supported by a part of the other regiment, rushed forward with their characteristic impetuosity, and followed the enemy into the redoubt, of which they took possession.”[291]
Several other actions of minor importance afterwards took place, in which the enemy were uniformly worsted; and seeing resistance hopeless, they capitulated on the 1st of May, after an arduous struggle of nearly three months. The only Highland officer killed in this expedition was Ensign MacLean. Lieutenants MacLean, Leslie, Sinclair, and Robertson, were wounded; and Major Anstruther and Captain Arbuthnot died of the fever. Of the Royal Highlanders, 106 privates were killed, wounded, or died of disease.[292]
After the reduction of Guadaloupe, the services of the second battalion of Royal Highlanders were transferred to North America, where they arrived early in July, and after reaching the head quarters of the British army, were combined with the first battalion. About this time a series of combined operations had been projected against the French settlements in Canada. Whilst Major-general Wolfe, who had given proofs of great military talents at the siege of Louisburg, was to proceed up the St Lawrence and besiege Quebec, General Amherst, who had succeeded General Abercromby as commander-in-chief, was to attempt the reduction of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, after which he was to cross Lake Champlain and effect a junction with General Wolfe before Quebec. Brigadier-general Prideaux was to proceed against the French fort near the falls of the Niagara, the most important post of all French America. The army under General Amherst, which was the first put in motion, assembled at Fort Edward on the 19th of June. It included the 42d and Montgomery’s Highlanders, and when afterwards joined by the second battalion of the Royal Highlanders, it amounted to 14,500 men. Preceded by the first battalion of the last named regiment and the light infantry, the main body of the army moved forward on the 21st, and encamped in the neighbourhood of Ticonderoga. The enemy seemed at first resolved to defend that important fortress; but perceiving the formidable preparations made by the English general for a siege, they abandoned the fort, after having in part dismantled the fortifications, and retired to Crown Point.
On taking possession of this important post, which effectually covered the frontiers of New York, General Amherst proceeded to repair the fortifications; and, while these were going on, he directed batteaux and other vessels to be prepared, to enable him to obtain the command of the lakes. Meanwhile the enemy, who seems to have had no intention of hazarding an action, evacuated Crown Point, and retired to Isle aux Noix, on the northern extremity of Lake Champlain. Detaching a body of rangers to take possession of the place the general embarked the rest of the army and landed at the fort on the 4th of August, where he encamped. The general then ordered up the second battalion of the Royal Highlanders from Oswego, with the exception of 150 men under Captain James Stewart, who were left to guard that post. Having by great exertions acquired a naval superiority on Lake Champlain, the general embarked his army in furtherance of his original plan of descending the St Lawrence, and co-operating with General Wolfe in the reduction of Quebec; but in consequence of contrary winds, the tempestuous state of the weather, and the early setting in of winter, he was compelled to abandon further prosecution of active operations in the mean time. He then returned to Crown Point to winter. A detailed account of the important enterprise against Quebec will be found in the history of Fraser’s Highlanders.
After the fall of the fort of Niagara, which was taken by Prideaux’s division, and the conquest of Quebec, Montreal was the only place of strength which remained in possession of the French in Canada. General Murray was ordered to proceed up the St Lawrence to attack Montreal, and General Amherst, as soon as the season permitted, made arrangements to join him. After his preparations were completed, he ordered Colonel Haviland, with a detachment of troops, to take possession of the Isle aux Noix, and thence to proceed to the banks of the St Lawrence by the nearest route. To facilitate the passage of the armed vessels to La Galette, Colonel Haldimand with the grenadiers, light infantry, and a battalion of the Royal Highlanders, took post at the bottom of the lake. Embarking the whole of his army on the 10th of August, he proceeded towards the mouth of the St Lawrence, and, after a dangerous navigation, in the course of which several boats were upset and about eighty men drowned, landed six miles above Montreal on the 6th of September. General Murray appeared before Montreal on the evening of the same day, and the detachments under Colonel Haviland came down the following day on the south side of the river. Thus beset by three armies, who, by a singular combination, had united almost at the same instant of time, after traversing a great extent of unknown country, Monsieur Vandreuil, the governor, seeing resistance hopeless, surrendered upon favourable terms. Thus ended a series of successful operations, which secured Canada to the Crown of Great Britain.[293]
The Royal Highlanders remained in North America until the close of the year 1761, when they were embarked along with ten other regiments, among whom was Montgomery’s Highlanders, for Barbadoes, there to join an armament against Martinique and the Havannah. The land forces consisted altogether of eighteen regiments, under the command of Major-general Monckton. The naval part of the expedition, which was commanded by Rear-admiral Rodney, consisted of eighteen sail of the line, besides frigates, bomb-vessels, and fire-ships.
The fleet anchored in St Ann’s Bay, Martinique, on the 8th of January 1762, when the bulk of the army immediately landed. A detachment, under Brigadiers Grant (Ballindalloch) and Haviland, made a descent without opposition in the bay of Ance Darlet. Re-embarking his troops, General Monckton landed his whole army on the 16th near Cas de Navire, under Morne Tortueson and Morne Garnier. As these two eminences commanded the town and citadel of Fort Royal, and were their chief defence, great care had been taken to improve by art their natural strength, which, from the very deep ravines which protected them, was great. The general having resolved to attack Morne Tortueson first, he ordered a body of troops and 800 marines to advance on the right along the sea-side towards the town, for the purpose of attacking two redoubts near the beach; and to support this movement, he at the same time directed some flat-bottomed boats, each carrying a gun, and manned with sailors, to follow close along the shore. A corps of light infantry was to get round the enemy’s left, whilst, under cover of the fire of some batteries which had been raised on the opposite ridges by the perseverance of some sailors from the fleet, the attack on the centre was to be made by the grenadiers and Highlanders, supported by the main body of the army. After an arduous contest, the enemy were driven from the Morne Tortueson; but a more difficult operation still remained to be performed. This was to gain possession of the other eminence, from which, owing to its greater height, the enemy annoyed the British troops. Preparations were made for carrying this post; but before they were completed, the enemy descended from the hill, and attacked the advanced posts of the British. This attempt was fatal to the assailants, who were instantly repulsed. “When they began to retire, the Highlanders, drawing their swords, rushed forward like furies, and being supported by the grenadiers under Colonel Grant (Ballindalloch), and a party of Lord Rollo’s brigade, the hills were mounted, and the batteries seized, and numbers of the enemy, unable to escape from the rapidity of the attack, were taken.”[294] The militia dispersed themselves over the country, but the regulars retired into the town, which surrendered on the 7th of February. The whole island immediately submitted, and in terms of the capitulation all the Windward Islands were delivered up to the British.
In this enterprise the Royal Highlanders had 2 officers, viz., Captain William Cockburn and Lieutenant David Barclay, 1 sergeant, and 12 rank and file killed: Major John Reid, Captains James Murray and Thomas Stirling; Lieutenants Alexander Mackintosh, David Milne, Patrick Balneaves, Alexander Turnbull, John Robertson, William Brown, and George Leslie; 3 sergeants, 1 drummer, and 72 rank and file, were wounded.