The 78th left Edinburgh for Aldershot in detachments between April 27th and May 8th, 1861, remaining in huts till the end of August, when it removed into the permanent barracks. After staying a year at Aldershot it was removed on the 15th of May 1862 to Shorncliffe, where it spent about another year, removing to Dover on the 26th of May 1863. Here it was quartered on the Western Heights, furnishing detachments regularly to the Castle Hill Fort, to be employed as engineer working parties. After staying in Dover until August 1864, the 78th embarked on the 5th of that month, under command of Colonel J. A. Ewart, C.B., for Ireland, disembarking at Kingstown on the 8th, and proceeding to Dublin. Here the regiment remained for another year, when it received the route for Gibraltar. During this period there is little to record in connection with the peaceful career of the 78th.
Since the return of the regiment from India, it had, of course, been regularly inspected, the inspecting officers, as was naturally to be expected, having nothing but praise to bestow upon its appearance, discipline, and interior economy. Shortly after the arrival of the 78th at Aldershot, it was inspected by H.R.H. the Duke of Cambridge, who spoke of it in terms of the highest praise; “it was a noble regiment and admirably drilled,” the Duke said.
On the 19th of November 1861, an authority was received for an additional year’s service to be granted to those officers and soldiers of the 78th Highlanders who formed part of the column that entered Lucknow under Sir Henry Havelock; and on the 6th of March, in the same year, a similar reward was granted to those who were left by Sir Henry Havelock in defence of the Alum Bagh post on the 25th of September 1857.
Monument on the Castle-Hill, Edinburgh.
Sacred to the Memory of the Officers, Non-commissioned Officers, and Private Soldiers of the lxxviii Regiment who fell in the suppression of the Mutiny of the Native Army of India in the years mdccclvii and mdccclviii, this Memorial is erected as a Tribute of respect by their surviving brother officers and comrades, and by many officers who formerly belonged to the Regiment.—Anno Domini mdccclxi.
On the 15th of April 1862, a monument to the memory of the officers, non-commissioned officers, and privates of the 78th Highlanders, who fell in India during the suppression of the mutiny in 1857–58, and which had been erected on the Castle Esplanade at Edinburgh by the officers and men of the regiment, and others who had formerly served in the Ross-shire Buffs, was publicly inaugurated by Major-General Walker, C.B., commanding the troops in Scotland, in presence of the Scots Greys, the 26th Cameronians, and the Royal Artillery. The monument is in the form of a handsome and tasteful large Runic cross, an illustration of which we are glad to be able to give on the preceding page.