CHAPTER XXVI

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“Awake on your hills, on your islands awake, Brave sons of the mountain, the frith, and the lake! ’Tis the bugle—but not for the chase is the call; ’Tis the pibroch’s shrill summons—but not to the hall.

“’Tis the summons of heroes for conquest or death, When the banners are blazing on mountain and heath: They call to the dirk, the claymore, and the targe, To the march and the muster, the line and the charge.”

“BLACK WATCH”—FONTENOY—REBELLION 1745—AMERICA—1729–1760.

This distinguished regiment has long deservedly enjoyed the public favour. It is the link which binds us to the Old Highland Brigade, of which it remains the only and worthy representative. Mr Cannon, in his Military Records, thus introduces his account of the regiment by the following eulogy on the excellence of our Highland soldiers: “The Highlanders of Scotland have been conspicuous for the possession of every military virtue which adorns the character of the hero who has adopted the profession of arms. Naturally patient and brave, and inured to hardship in their youth in the hilly districts of a northern climate, these warlike mountaineers have always proved themselves a race of lion-like champions, valiant in the field, faithful, constant, generous in the hour of victory, and endued with calm perseverance under trial and disaster.” As already noted, the Government had wisely determined more largely to enlist the sympathy and good services of the clans on their side; and, in consequence, had armed a certain proportion of the well-affected clans—such as the Campbells, the Frasers, the Grants, and the Munroes—who, formed into independent companies under the command of their own or other well-known chieftains, were quartered in the more troubled districts of the Highlands, where the Jacobite clans of Cameron, Stuart, MʻIntosh, MʻDonald, and Murray rendered their presence necessary for maintaining order and preventing any sudden rising, as well as for the protection of property in those lawless times. They were called the “Freicudan Dhu,” or “Black Watch,” from the sombre appearance of their tartan uniform, compared with the scarlet coats of the regular soldiers. They were mostly composed of the sons of the landed gentry, as the Government felt that care was necessary, especially in this their first experiment, in selecting individuals who had something at stake in the common country, and consequently affording some guarantee for their fidelity. The success of the experiment was soon abundantly manifest; and whilst, in 1729, the “Black Watch” consisted only of six companies, ten years later these were assembled at Perth, augmented to ten companies, and regimented as the Highland Regiment, under the Earl of Crawford. The original high character of this famous regiment has never been excelled; no, not even by the Royal Guards. Nearly all its members were six feet in height—illustrious for physical prowess and might—highly connected, as may be well inferred from the fact that many, when proceeding to drill, went on horseback, followed by servants bearing their firelock and uniform. On one occasion the King, having heard of the splendid physical appearance of the men, desired to see a specimen; and accordingly three were sent up to London. One of these, Grant of Strathspey, died on the way; the other two, MʻGregor and Campbell, were presented to His Majesty, and, in presence of the King, the Duke of Cumberland, Marshal Wade, and other officers, performed the broadsword exercises and that of the Lochaber axe. Their dexterity and skill so pleased His Majesty that he gave each a gratuity of one guinea—a large sum in those days—imagining he had appropriately rewarded them; but such was the character of these men—above want, generally in good circumstances—that each bestowed his guinea upon the porter at the palace gate as he passed out. There is one feature which we record with more peculiar pleasure, as leaving a mightier impress of character upon these gallant men, and we quote it in the words of an English historian who was evidently no friend of theirs, yet wondrously surprised, as he relates, “to see these savages, from the officer to the commonest man, at their several meals, first stand up and pull off their bonnets, and then lift up their eyes in the most solemn and devout manner, and mutter something in their own gibberish, by way, I suppose,” says he, “of saying grace, as if they had been so many Christians.”

[Illustration: THE “BLACK WATCH,” OR FORTY-SECOND ROYAL HIGHLANDERS.]

The idea that they should only serve in their own country had so strongly possessed the minds of many, that, when marched into England, and learning they were destined for service in the West Indies—a place associated in their minds only as a place of punishment for felons and the like—the regiment mutinied; but by a judicious blending of firmness and lenity on the part of Government, this splendid corps was not only brought to submit, but preserved to win honour for our country, and amply redeem, by brave deeds, the faults which for a moment clouded its early history.

In 1743 the Highlanders joined the British army in Flanders, where their conduct was so exemplary that the Elector Palatine specially thanked our King “for the excellent behaviour of the regiment while in his territories, and for whose sake,” he added, “I will always pay a respect and regard to a Scotsman in future.” Of their valour, no higher tribute can be paid than to say that at the battle of Fontenoy, where the regiment made its first essay in arms, our Highlanders were placed in brigade with the veterans of the British Guards. The result proved them to be every way worthy of the compliment. Truly they presented the choicest troops of the land, and eminently their success, like a meteor flash, for a moment lighted up the fortunes of battle and promised victory. Alas! all in vain; the disasters in other parts of the field compelled retreat. Marshal Saxe, who commanded the French on this occasion, with all the generosity which becomes a soldier, and who could distinguish valour even in a foeman, said of the Highlanders—“These furies rushed in upon us with more violence than ever did a sea driven by a tempest.”

The rebellion of Prince Charles Edward in 1745 occasioned the recall of the Forty-second, or, as it was then designated, the Forty-third, from the Continent, the scene of its early glory. With the army, the regiment was encamped in the south of England, prepared to dispute the menaced landing of a French force upon our coasts, which the rebels hoped should effect a favourable diversion. Meanwhile, three new companies which had not as yet joined the regiment, served in the royal army against the rebels—one company being taken prisoner at the battle of Prestonpans. The internal peace of the country being secured by the decisive victory of Culloden, many of the regiments returned to Flanders; whilst the Highlanders, with 2000 of the Foot Guards and other troops, attempted a descent upon the French coast, but failed to accomplish that success which had been anticipated, from the superior strength of the enemy. In the attack upon port L’Orient, assuming the disguise of Highlanders, a body of French, in a sally, succeeded in approaching the British lines, and had nearly entered them when discovered. They experienced the deadly wrath of our true Highlanders, whose blood was roused because of the indignity offered to the kilts in the foe attempting to deceive our troops thereby. The result proved that it needed more than the tartans to constitute the genuine Highlander—the dauntless native courage being wanting.

Returning home, the regiment was stationed a while in Ireland, until removed to reinforce the army fighting in Flanders, in alliance with the Austrians and Dutch, against the French. Excepting, however, at the siege of Hulst, and covering the embarkation of the army for South Beveland, the regiment was little engaged in these campaigns, being kept in reserve in South Beveland. Returning to Britain in 1749, the Highlanders were variously stationed in Ireland during the following six years. In 1756, the outbreak of hostilities in America between the British and French colonists called for the immediate presence of a British army, of which the Forty-second formed a part. On their arrival, the strangeness of their garb excited the interest of “the Indians, who flocked from all quarters to see the strangers, who, they believed, were of the same extraction as themselves, and therefore received them as brothers.” Landed in America, Lord Loudon, as commander-in-chief, hesitated to advance against the enemy until his soldiers had acquired some knowledge of the novel warfare of the bush in which they were to be so much engaged. The enemy, meanwhile, reaped many valuable advantages from the precious moments thus lost through the over-cautiousness and procrastination of the British commander.

In 1758, with the Twenty-seventh, the Forty-fourth, the Forty-sixth, the Fifty-fifth, two battalions of the Sixtieth, and upwards of 9000 provincials, the Forty-second formed the division of our army, under Major-General James Abercromby, which attempted the reduction of the strong fort of Ticonderoga, on Lake Champlain. The obstacles to be overcome, and the strength of the garrison were such, that the utmost and repeated efforts of our soldiers failed to effect its capture. The distinguished bravery of the Forty-second is thus commemorated by an eye-witness:—“With a mixture of esteem, grief, and envy, I consider the great loss and immortal glory acquired by the Scots Highlanders in the late bloody affair. Impatient for orders, they rushed forward to the entrenchments, which many of them actually mounted. They appeared like lions, breaking from their chains. Their intrepidity was rather animated than damped by seeing their comrades fall on every side. I have only to say of them, that they seemed more anxious to revenge the cause of their deceased friends, than careful to avoid the same fate.” Their valour was further rewarded by an order to dignify the regiment with the title of the “_Royal_” Highlanders. So desperate was the fight, that the loss of the regiment exceeded 650 men and officers. It was here that the gallant and brave Brigadier-General Viscount Howe, of the Fifty-fifth regiment, met his death: he who had been “the life and soul of the expedition,” and was peculiarly the favourite of the soldiers.

In October, 1758, a second battalion was raised at Perth and grafted upon the good old stock of the Royal Highlanders. Soon after its formation, it was embarked for Barbadoes, where it joined the expedition under Major-Generals Hopson and Barrington, which was baffled in an attempt upon the French Island of Martinique. This reverse was, however, somewhat avenged by a more successful attack upon the Island of Guadaloupe, which, after four months’ hard fighting and much suffering from the insalubrity of the climate, was surrendered to the British. The defence is remarkable as affording a striking instance of female heroism in the person of Madame Ducharmey, who, arming her negroes when others had retired, refused to yield, resolutely defending the island for some time.

Removed from the West Indies to the continent of America, the second battalion was at length united to the first. These formed part of the expeditionary force, under General Amherst, which, advancing, occupied the strong fortresses of Ticonderago, Crown Point, and Isle aux Noix, successively evacuated by the French. In the campaign of 1760 our Highlanders were with the army which, crossing Lake Ontario, descended the St Lawrence, effected the surrender of Montreal, and in its fall sealed the subjugation of the entire province of Canada.

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