OLD SEVENTY-EIGHTH AND SEVENTY-FIRST REGIMENTS.
I.
78th Regiment.
1757–1763.
Raising of the Regiment—Uniform—North America—Louisburg—Quebec—General Wolfe—Newfoundland—Reduction of the Regiment—Its descendants.
Following up the liberal policy which Lord Chatham had resolved to pursue in relation to the Highlanders, he prevailed upon George II. to appoint the Hon. Simon Fraser, son of the unfortunate Lord Lovat, and who had himself, when a youth, been forced into the rebellion by his father, Lieutenant-colonel commandant of a regiment to be raised among his own kinsmen and clan. Though not possessed of an inch of land, yet, such was the influence of clanship, that young Lovat in a few weeks raised a corps of 800 men, to whom were added upwards of 600 more by the gentlemen of the country and those who had obtained commission. The battalion was, in point of the number of companies and men, precisely the same as Montgomery’s Highlanders.
The following is a list of the officers whose commissions were dated the 5th January 1757:—
Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant.
The Hon. Simon Fraser, died a Lieutenant-general in 1782.
Majors.
James Clephane.
John Campbell of Dunoon, afterwards Lieutenant-colonel commandant of the Campbell Highlanders in Germany.