Part 1

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE

Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.

Footnote anchors are denoted by [number], and the footnotes have been placed at the end of the book. Appendix H and J have many unnumbered footnotes, which have not been moved and remain under the relevant paragraph with an indent of 6 spaces. Appendix L and N also have one each.

A superscript is denoted by ^x or ^{xx}, for example Reg^t or 42^{nd}.

The tables and family trees in this ebook are best displayed using a monospace font.

Some minor changes to the text are noted at the end of the book.

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+ | | |+------------------------------------------------------------------+| || THE || || Black Watch || || at Ticonderoga || || _and_ || || Major Duncan Campbell || || of Inverawe || |+------------------------------------------------------------------+| | | |+------------------------------------------------------------------+| || By FREDERICK B. RICHARDS, A. M. || || Secretary of N. Y. State Historical Association: Glens Falls, || || N. Y. || |+------------------------------------------------------------------+| | | | | | [Illustration: (icon of Indian warrior)] | | | | | |+------------------------------------------------------------------+| || AN EXCERPT FROM VOLUME X OF THE PROCEEDINGS || || OF THE NEW YORK STATE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION || || || || PRINTED FOR FORT TICONDEROGA MUSEUM LIBRARY || |+------------------------------------------------------------------+| | | | | +--------------------------------------------------------------------+

THE BLACK WATCH AT TICONDEROGA

BY FREDERICK B. RICHARDS, A. M., Glens Falls, N. Y.

A residence of ten years in Ticonderoga inspired me with an appreciation of the history of that most historic spot in America, and when as secretary of the Ticonderoga Historical Society I was instrumental in securing the erection of the Black Watch Memorial in that village, I became particularly interested in the record of that famous Highland Regiment which this building commemorates.

It has for several years been my wish to write so complete an account of the Black Watch at Ticonderoga that one would need look in no other place for any detail in the history of that regiment from the time it left Scotland in 1756 until after the capture of Ticonderoga by Amherst in 1759. As a meeting of the New York State Historical Association on Lake Champlain seemed an appropriate time to present such a paper and the printed histories of that period give only meagre accounts on this subject, Mrs. Richards and I made this an excuse for a trip to the British Isles and a large part of August and September, 1910, was spent on a Black Watch pilgrimage. We had a very enjoyable trip and gained many interesting facts but I am sorry to say that the story is still far from complete.

The reason for the lack of more detailed information about the Regiment in the Ticonderoga period is found in the following which is copied from the preface of Stewart of Garth’s first edition:

“The origin of these Sketches and Military Details was simply this: When the Forty-second regiment was removed from Dublin to Donaghadee in the year 1771, the baggage was sent round by sea. The vessel having it on board was unfortunately driven on shore by a gale of wind, and wrecked; the greater part of the cargo and baggage was lost, and the portion saved, especially the regimental books and records, was much injured. A misfortune somewhat similar occurred, when the army, under the Earl of Moira, landed at Ostend in June, 1794. The transports were ordered round to Helvoetsluys, with orders to wait the further movements of the troops. But the vessels had not been long there, when the enemy invaded Holland in great force, and, entering Helvoetsluys, seized on the transports in the harbour. Among the number of vessels taken were those which had conveyed the Forty-second to Flanders, having on board every article of regimental baggage, except the knapsacks with which the officers and soldiers had landed at Ostend in light marching order. Along with the baggage, a well-selected library, and, what was more to be regretted, all that remained of the historical records of the regiment, from the period of its formation till the year 1793, fell into the hands of the enemy.

“After the conclusion of the late war, his Royal Highness, the Commander-in-Chief, directed that the Forty-second should draw up a record of its services and enter it in the regimental books, for the information of those who should afterwards belong to the corps. As none of the officers who had served previously to the loss of the records in 1794 were then in the regiment, some difficulty arose in drawing up the required statement of service; indeed, to do so correctly was found impossible, as, for a period of fifty-four years previous to 1793, the materials were very defective. In this situation, the commanding officer, in the year 1817, requested me to supply him with a few notices on the subject.”

It seemed to have been the custom in the British army of that period for a Regiment to carry its entire belongings with it from place to place and this unfortunate practice has swept from existence every trace of the Regimental records of the Black Watch of Ticonderoga.

It may be readily seen that if Colonel Stewart who had all the information in 1817 which the British government was able to supply and who was also fortunate in having had an intimate acquaintance during his service in the Regiment with officers who have served almost from its formation, was unable to write a complete record, the task nearly one hundred years later might be considered well nigh hopeless. There was the hope, however, that some record which was then lost might have been discovered since Colonel Stewart’s time or that interesting matter might be found in the archives of the families who had sons in the Black Watch of 1758. It is a fact that only recently the regimental records of the Black Watch of two decades later were found in an old second-hand book store in Portsmouth and it is still possible that the regimental records of 1758-9, which are now lost, may yet come to light.

We find that nearly all the histories of the Highland Regiments follow Stewart of Garth nearly word for word in their accounts of the early history of the Black Watch. A notable exception, however, is “A Military History of Perthshire,” which has much that is new. There are also many interesting letters and other records in “The Chronicles of the Atholl and Tullibardine Families,” relating to the service of those of the Black Watch who came from the Atholl Family or estate, and at London we found some dispatches in the Public Record Office in the War Department which I have not seen published. The chief merit, however, if any, which I can claim for this address is that while it does not add much that is new, it does, I think, collect in one article nearly all that is known about the Black Watch of the Ticonderoga period.

I might say here, also, that whatever was lacking in information was more than made up by the cordiality of our reception, as we found nearly every Scotsman interested in the oldest Highland Regiment of the British Army and glad to help us in any way possible. We are under special obligation, which I here wish to acknowledge, to Lt. Col. Hugh Rose, the present commander of the First Battalion of the Black Watch; Major D. L. Wilson Farquharson, D. S. O., who represented the Regiment at the unveiling of the memorial tablet at Ticonderoga, July 4, 1906, now retired and living in Allargue in Aberdeenshire, the home of the Farquharson’s for many generations; W. Skeoch Cumming of Edinburgh, artist and authority on Scottish costumes and tartans of the 18th century; Mrs. Campbell of Dunstaffnage, present owner of old Inverawe House; the Marchioness of Tullibardine, editor of “A Military History of Perthshire,” and the Duke of Atholl, present head of the Clan Murray, Honorary Colonel of the Third Battalion of the Black Watch and compiler of the “Chronicles of the Atholl and Tullibardine Families.”

Before proceeding to the Black Watch of Ticonderoga, it would perhaps be well to give a brief history of the Regiment. There is considerable difference of opinion as to just when the independent companies which were afterwards to become the present regiment of the line were raised. The earliest record I have seen is that on the 3rd of August, 1667, King Charles II issued a commission under the Great Seal to John, second Earl of Atholl “to raise and keep such a number of men as he should think fit to be a constant guard for securing the peace in the Highlands” and “to watch upon the braes.”[1]

From this time until 1739 the Black Watch was in various stages of formation.[2]

It was at the period of the independent companies that the name Black Watch was given--Black from the sombre tartan in contrast to the regular soldiers who at that time had coats, waistcoats and breeches of scarlet cloth, and Watch because their duties were to watch or keep order in the Highlands. The character of the rank and file of the Black Watch of this period was exceedingly high, many gentlemen with servants serving as privates, and in addition to the enlistment being from the best families it was also possible to select only “men of full height, well proportioned and of handsome appearance.” There were several reasons for this, the principal one being probably the fact that at that period the carrying of arms was prohibited by penalties and it became an “object of ambition with all the young men of spirit to be admitted even as privates into a service which gave them the privilege of wearing arms.” Our interest in the Black Watch, however, is principally in the Regiment of the line as such and this dates from the commission given by George II, October 25, 1739, as follows:

“GEORGE R.--Whereas we have thought fit, that a regiment of foot be forthwith formed under your command, and to consist of ten companies, each to contain one captain, one lieutenant, one ensign, three serjeants, three corporals, two drummers, and one hundred effective private men; which said regiment shall be partly formed out of six Independent Companies of Foot in the Highlands of North Britain, three of which are now commanded by captains, and three by captain-lieutenants. Our will and pleasure therefore is, that one serjeant, one corporal, and fifty private men, be forthwith taken out of the three companies commanded by captains, and ten private men from the three commanded by captain-lieutenants, making one hundred and eighty men, who are to be equally distributed into the four companies hereby to be raised; and the three serjeants and three corporals, draughted as aforesaid, to be placed to such of the four companies as you shall judge proper; and the remainder of the non-commissioned officers and private men, wanting to complete them to the above number, to be raised in the Highlands with all possible speed; the men to be natives of that country, and none other to be taken.

This regiment shall commence and take place according to the establishment thereof. And of these our orders and commands, you, and the said three captains, and the three captain-lieutenants commanding at present the six Independent Highland Companies, and all others concerned, are to take notice, and to yield obedience thereunto accordingly.

Given at our Court at St. James’s, this 25th day of October, 1739, and in the 13th year of our reign.

By His Majesty’s Command, (Signed): Wm. Yonge.

To our Right Trusty and Right Well-Beloved Cousin, John Earl of Craufurd and Lindsay.”

May, 1740, these ten companies were mustered in a field between Taybridge and Aberfeldy and in the army list of that year were known as “Earl of Crawford’s Regiment of Foot in the Highlands.”[3] There have been several changes of the official name of the Regiment but the “Black Watch” was always the familiar one in the country where it has drawn its recruits and since 1881 has been the official name in the British Army List.[4]

The uniform of this period was a “scarlet jacket and waistcoat, with buff facings and white lace, tartan plaid of twelve yards plaited round the middle of the body, the upper part being fixed on the left shoulder, ready to be thrown loose and wrapped over both shoulders and firelock in rainy weather. At night, the plaid served the purpose of a blanket, and was a sufficient covering for the Highlanders. These were called belted plaids, from being kept tight to the body by a belt, and were worn on guards, reviews, and on all occasions when the men were in full dress. On this belt hung the pistols and dirk when worn. In the barracks, and when not on duty, the little kilt or philibeg was worn, a blue bonnet with a border of white, red, and green, arranged in small squares to resemble, as is said, the fess cheque in the arms of the different branches of the Stewart family, and a tuft of feathers, or sometimes, from economy or necessity, a small piece of black bearskin. The arms were a musket, a bayonet, and a large basket-hilted broadsword. These were furnished by Government; such of the men as chose to supply themselves with pistols and dirks were allowed to carry them, and targets after the fashion of the country. The sword-belt was of black leather, and the cartouch-box was carried in front, supported by a narrow belt round the middle.”[5]

“While the companies acted independently, each commander assumed the tartan of his own Clan. When embodied, no clan having a superior claim to offer an uniform plaid to the whole, and Lord Crawford, the colonel, being a Lowlander, a new pattern was assumed, and which has ever since been known as the 42d, or Black Watch tartan, being distinct from all others.[6] Lord John Murray gave the Athole tartan for the philibeg. The difference was only a stripe of scarlet, to distinguish it from that of the belted plaid. The pipers wore a red tartan of very bright colours, (of the pattern known by the name of the Stewart or Royal Tartan), so that they could be more clearly seen at a distance. When a band of music was added, plaids of the pipers’ pattern were given to them.”[7]

Having given briefly the origin of the Regiment, we will pass to the period which is the subject of our article.

May, 1756, war having been formally declared between France and England, a body of troops, the Highlanders forming a part, were embarked under the command of Lieut. General James Abercrombie and landed at New York, June, 1756. These were soon followed by more troops under the Earl of Loudon who was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Army of America.

The official name of the Regiment at this time was the 42d Regiment of Foot, but they are often spoken of in dispatches simply as the Highlanders, because they were the only Highland Regiment then in this section, or as Lord John Murray’s Highlanders from the custom of the times of calling a Regiment by the name of its Honorary Colonel. The commander of the Black Watch at this time was Lieut. Col. Francis Grant, son of the Laird of Grant, who had served in the Regiment from the time he had received his commission as Ensign, October 25, 1739. He was made Lieutenant Colonel December 17, 1755 and was in command of the Regiment all through the American campaign. The only other officer who had served continuously from the formation of the Regiment in 1739 was Gordon Graham of Drainie, who in 1756 was senior captain.

The record of the Regiment from the landing in June, 1756, until the battle of July, 1758, is exceedingly meagre. In fact nothing of importance was done by the whole army. As one author puts it “Loudon was so engrossed in schemes for improving the condition of his men that he seemed to have no time for employing them against the enemy.” The following extract from a letter from the Earl of Loudon to William Pitt dated New York, March 10th, 1757, will illustrate the method of quartering troops of that period.

“In the end of your letter you have acquainted me, that words shall be inserted, in the mutiny act to take away every doubt about the Right of Quartering extending to America.

When I writ on that subject, I was but just arrived, and the troops were mostly encamped. Since that I have had disputes to settle, all over this Continent, in settling the winter quarters for the Troops from whence I find, that the manner of quartering in England, as in time of peace, on Publick Houses only, will in no shape answer the intent in this country, for there are few Publick Houses and most of them sell nothing but spirits, where they possess only one room in which they sell the liquor, where men cannot be quartered.

Whilst the war lasts, necessity will justify exceeding that rule, as Troops must be under cover, in the places where it is necessary to post them, for the security of the country and carrying on the service, but as soon as a peace comes, it will, by the English rule, be impossible to quarter any number of Troops, in this country, without a new regulation, and the only remedy that occurs to me at present, is adopting the method of quartering in Scotland, where for the same reason of there not being Publick Houses sufficient for the reception of Troops they are by law quartered on private houses.

I must beg leave to give you one instance of the situation of quarters here. When I arrived at Albany, I do not believe it was possible to have quartered Fifty men on that town, on all the Publick Houses in it, and taking a full survey of it, I found that by quartering on the Private Houses, I can, without incommoding them, in the parts of their houses, in which they live, quarter Fourteen Hundred men, and for a short time, in case of necessity, I could quarter Two thousand. I have mentioned this to show you what the situation of all the Frontier Places, in this country that are liable to attacks, must be, if quartering is likely to be kept to, on Publick Houses only.

On the 10th instant arrived the Harriet Packet which brought me the duplicates of your letters of the 9th and 11th of January, and the next day came in here His Majesty’s ship the Hampshire commanded by Captain Norbury, having under his convoy the nine additional companies of the Highlanders,[8] who had a passage of twelve weeks from Cork, and met with very bad weather; of this convoy there were missing on his arrival in this Port, the Arundal and Salisbury Transports. The last we have, since, accounts of her getting into Rhode Island.

The Troops being sickly, I have cantooned them in villages adjacent to this Port, for the sake of fresh provisions and vegetables.”

In the published histories of the time it is stated that the

“42d remained inactive in or near Albany during 1756 and that throughout the winter and spring of the following year the men were drilled and disciplined for bush fighting and markmanship, a species of warfare for which they were well fitted, being for the most part good shots and experts in the management of arms.”

From the following letters found in the Public Record Office in London the quarters for the winter of 1756-7 were probably at Schenectady. Extract from letter from Loudon to Pitt, New York, 25th April, 1757,

“The Highlanders were set in motion from Schenectady * * * they marched without tents and lay in the woods upon the snow making great fires and I do not find the troops have suffered * * * We have on that River (Mohawk) at Schenectady and up to the German Flats, the Highland Regiment upwards of a thousand men,” etc.

The second letter reads as follows, and while it is chiefly of interest in this connection because it is dated from Schenectady, it also illustrates the custom of selling commissions:

Schenectady, April 24, 1757.

Francis Grant, Lt. Col. 42d Regiment.

Sir:--

I am convinced from several things that have happened me since I have been in the Regiment that my continuing to serve any longer in it would be disagreeable to the whole corps of officers and being likewise sensible of my own unfitness for a military life I have resolved to quit the Army as soon as I can obtain leave to resign my commission. But as I have nothing else in the world to depend upon and finding myself at present at a distance from my family and friends or anyone whom I can depend on for advice, interest or assistance and having frequently experienced your goodness and favor, I have made bold to apply to you that you would be pleased to intercede with his Excellency the Earl of Loudon, in my behalf that His Lordship in consideration of my distressed situation and circumstances might be moved to give me leave to resign in favor of some person that would be willing to allow me wherewithal to support me till I can settle and apply to some other way of life.

In doing me this favor you’ll forever oblige, Sir, Your respectful and gratefully obed’t hum. serv’t, George Maclagan, Ens.

P. S.--If it is agreeable to your Lordship I am willing to pay fifty pound Sterling for Mr. Peter Grant Voluntier.

Francis Grant, Lt. Col. 42d. Regt.”