Part 2

With these two dispatches from the British War Office as a clew I have tried to learn more about the winter quarters of the Black Watch and have looked through the Colonial manuscript in the New York State Library,[9] the Records of the City of Albany and the published works of the period but so far without success. I have been unable to find any Schenectady records of this period. It seems that a valuable collection of Glen-Sanders papers from the old Mansion across the Mohawk from Schenectady was recently sold and I have been told that in these there were several references to officers of the Black Watch. As the Glens[10] were Scots it would be quite likely that if this collection were not now scattered to the four winds much information about the Highlanders could be obtained. It is said that Schenectady was only a frontier village in 1756 and not large enough to take care of a regiment and it seems to be a fact from the reference given above that only a part of the thousand men were stationed here as it states that the Regiment was stretched along the Mohawk from Schenectady to the German Flats, but that it was a station for troops is proven by the list in the Public Record Office of the winter quarters for the troops in America for 1758, which states that the Black Watch was quartered in New York and Lt. General Murray’s at Schenectady. There is in the Public Record Office no list of winter quarters of the troops in America previous to 1758.[11]

It appears, however, from the Town Records of Stamford, Conn., that a committee representing that town made a claim on the “General Court” of the Colony of Connecticut to reimburse them for £369-13-4½ which the town had expended “in taking care of the Highlanders from November 30, 1757, to March 30, 1758. The soldiers numbered 250 officers and men and they had also belonging to them 17 women and 9 children.” They were probably part of the Black Watch. The only other Highland regiments of that time were Montgomery’s and Fraser’s, both raised in 1757 and their arrival at New York from Halifax is noted in the “Post Boy” of April 11, 1757. This town record also further illustrates the custom of that time as previously stated and as an officer of the present Regiment aptly puts it, “they took not only their mess plate but their wives also, on service with them, and sometimes lost both.”

This 250 at Stamford would only be a quarter of the Regiment, however, if Loudon had upwards of a thousand at or near Schenectady the winter before and it is probable that the rest were quartered at or near Schenectady as in 1756.

Another statement that I have tried to confirm is the account by James Grant in his “Legends of the Black Watch” of the 50 chosen men under orders of MacGillivray of Glen Arrow, who went to reinforce Col. Munro at Fort William Henry. It is also said in a foot note of Wilson’s Orderly Book that Capt. Gordon Graham was at Fort William Henry at the time of the surrender, and this is repeated in N. Y. Colonial Mss. by O’Callaghan, page 728, Vol. 10, but I have not been able to find any other reference that would substantiate these statements.

The only time the 42d emerges from the haze of mystery from June, 1756, to the spring of 1758, is that they were a part of Loudon’s expedition against Louisbourg in 1757, and this was more a summer vacation than an act of war.

If the English could have attacked Louisbourg in the spring or early summer, success would have been certain but Loudon couldn’t seem to get started. As a messenger from the Governor of Pennsylvania, who had waited in vain for a reply to a message, said about him he was like “St. George on a tavern sign, always on horse back and never riding on.” The expedition did not start from New York until June 20th and entered Halifax harbor the 30th. Even after this delay he was there before Admiral Holbourne, who did not arrive from England with his fleet of 15 ships-of-the-line and 3 frigates, with 5,000 troops until July 10th. Then there was more delay, the 12,000 troops were landed and weeks spent in drilling and planting vegetables for their refreshment. Lord Charles Hay was put under arrest for saying that the “nation’s money was spent in sham battles and raising cabbages.” The troops were embarked again, but Aug. 4th a sloop came from Newfoundland bringing news of the arrival of three French squadrons at Louisbourg and as an attack after this reinforcement would be hopeless, the costly enterprise was abandoned and Loudon and the troops sailed back to New York where he arrived Aug. 31st. Delay was the ruin of the Louisbourg expedition and drew off British forces from the frontier where they were most needed.

The troops were started immediately up the Hudson as soon as they were landed at New York but Fort William Henry had already been captured Aug. 9th and the French forces had fallen back to Ticonderoga.

The spring of 1758 opened up with bright prospects. Lord Loudon had been recalled and General Abercrombie, with the able assistance of Lord Howe, was in command. Admiral Boscowen was appointed to command the fleet and Major-General Amherst and Brigadier-Generals Wolfe, Townsend and Murray were added to the military staff. Three expeditions were proposed for this year, Louisbourg, Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and Fort DuQuesne. The army in America had been largely reinforced during the winter and spring. Of these reinforcements the 42d was strengthened by three additional companies and recruits bringing the Regiment up to about 1,300 men.

As we have considerable information about these three companies through the Atholl Records, it will be interesting to turn back and follow them from the start to the beginning of the Ticonderoga campaign. The first item and one of interest because it shows the method of raising companies in those days, is a letter from the Duke of Argyll to the Duke of Atholl, dated London, July 9, 1757.[12]

“My Lord:--This is to acquaint your Grace that there is to be 3 additional Companies raised for Lord John Murray’s Regiment. I believe the nomination of the officers will be left to me and consequently to Your Grace; there will be 3 captains, 6 lieutenants and 3 ensigns and 100 men each company. The raising the men will be the merit of those who shall desire to be officers and if any can be found who have served in Holland, so much the better. Your Grace will have your thought on this but don’t promise anybody till you let me hear from you. I shall speak to Lord John but I will bid him consult you and will plainly tell him that the commissions must all be given gratis. The other two Highland Regiments will likewise have the same addition made to them.

I am with the greatest truth and respect, My Lord, Yr Gr’s most faithful and obt. h’ble Servant, Argyll.”

By the Duke of Atholl’s recommendation the three companies were given to James Stewart of Urrard; James Murray, nephew of the Duke of Atholl and son of Lord George Murray; and Thomas Stirling of Ardoch. Three of the new subalterns were from the Atholl estate, namely Lieut. Alexander Menzies and Ensigns Duncan Stewart, son of Derculich, and George Rattray, son of Dalralzion. The three companies were mustered in October and marched from Perth to Glasgow, where they remained until November 15, when they marched to Greenock and embarked December 1st in transports for Cork en route to America.

April 22, 1758, Capt. James Murray wrote from New York to Mr. Murray of Strowan announcing his safe arrival after a voyage of eleven weeks from Cork. The joys of a voyage in those times when it could take ten days to sail from Scotland to Ireland, is illustrated by a letter from Capt. Murray, dated Youghall, 11 Dec., 1757.[13]

My dear Brother:--This is to let you know that I am just now in good health and safely arrived here with my company. My transport, together with the other five, set sail on the 1st cur’t in the evening along with the Convoy; we had a fair wind and good weather until Sunday, early in the morning (when we were past Waterfort in our way to Corck) about eight, there came on one of the most prodigeous storms that the sailors said they had never seen the like before. About two in the afternoon we lost sight of the Convoy and all the transports and have not yet any sure accounts whether they have got all safe into harbours or not. But since I came here I hear that there was five or six ships lost on the Coast that day. The storm abated somewhat Monday morning but it continued bad weather until Friday evening, during which time we were often in risk of our lives especially twice, once being within two yards of a great rock and the other time when we were on two fathom water going on a sandbank.

During all that time we were near several harbours, such as Doublin, Waterfort, Corck and others but all without success. Saturday and this day we had good weather by which means we got into harbour.

Your most aff’te brother, James Murray.

From November until April seems a long voyage from Scotland to America even in those days of primitive navigation, but another of the three additional companies was blown into Antigua and did not arrive at New York until June.

With the activities of the preparations for the Ticonderoga campaign a number of dispatches were sent to the Home Government and it is possible to follow more closely the fortunes of the Black Watch.

The addition of these three companies raised the Regiment to 1,300 men, and we find among the official documents a petition from Capt. Gordon Graham, endorsed by Lt. Col. Grant and General Abercrombie, asking to be made Major in addition to Major Duncan Campbell, as follows:[14]

To His Excellency James Abercromby, Esq., General and Commander in Chief of all His Majesty’s forces in North America, etc., etc., etc.

The Memorial of Gordon Graham, eldest Captain in His Majesty’s 42nd Regiment of Foot in North America.

Humbly sheweth

That your memorialist hath had the honour to serve His Majesty upwards of twenty-five years, twelve of which as Captain in the above Regiment and is now eldest in that Rank.

That he hath served in Flanders and elsewhere during all the last war, some part of which he was employed as Major of Brigade, and had a commission as such from General St. Clair, on the expedition under his command in the year 1746.

May it therefore please your Excellency to lay his case before His Majesty that he in his great wisdom may be graciously pleased to promote him to the Rank of Major when an opportunity offers, all which is humbly submitted.

To His Excellency, James Abercromby, Esqr., General and Commander in Chief of all his Majesty’s forces in North America, etc., etc., etc.

The Memorial of Colonel Francis Grant, Commanding his Majesty’s 42nd Regiment of Foot.

Humbly sheweth

That his Majesty having thought proper to augment the said Regiment to 1,300 men by adding three additional companies to it, and such a body of men being too numerous to be exercised and disciplined by one Major only, your memorialist humbly conceives, that it would be for the good of his Majesty’s service to have another Major added, as has been already done to the other two Highland Battalions commanded by the Colonels Montgomery and Fraser.

May it therefore please your Excellency to lay this matter before His Majesty that he in his great wisdom may be graciously pleased to give such directions thereupon as shall be thought necessary, all which is humbly submitted.

Colo. Grant, commanding His Majesty’s 42nd Regiment, and Mr. Gordon Graham, a Captain in the same, having each of them presented me with a memorial, the contents of which I know to be true, I herewith transmit them to your Lordship, to be laid before the King, and to know His Royal Pleasure therein.

Extract from a letter signed James Abercromby to the Right Hon. Lord Viscount Barrington, dated New York, Apr. 28, 1758.

As will be seen later Capt. Graham became Major before hearing from the King.

The next dispatch which is of interest and which makes changes in the list of Commissioned Officers is as follows: Extract from letter signed by James Abercromby to the Right Honorable the Lord Viscount Barrington, dated Albany, May 27, 1758.[15]

“In the list of the Commissions which I had the honour to transmit to your Lordship, by my last letter, you will have observed two vacancies in the 42nd Regiment, occasioned by the removal of Sir James Cockburn into the 48th which could not be filled up at the time my letter went away, as the gentlemen, whom it was proposed should purchase those vacancies were then at Albany,[16] and their answer not arrived; since that the Lieutenancy has been made out in the name of Mr. Patrick Balnevas, and bears date the 1st of April; and Mr. Elbert Hering succeeds to the Ensigncy, dated the 3rd of the same month.”

Then we have the dispatch just before the battle from Abercrombie to Pitt, dated Camp at Lake George, June 29, 1758, saying:

“Arrived Fort Edward on the 9th, where Lord Howe was encamped with the 42nd, 44th, and 55th Regiments and 4 companies of Rangers. Remainder of Regulars were at posts below on Hudson River and were working up the stores, etc. On the 17th Lord Howe marched to the Brook, half way between Fort Edward and the Lake with the 42nd, 44th, and 55th. This Half-way Brook was judged a proper post for the first Deposit in a Portage of 15 miles.[17] After the carriages had made several trips Lord Howe advanced to the Lake with the 42nd, 44th, and 55th.”

Attached to this letter is a report of troops at Lake George, June 29, 1758, and the roll of the 42nd was as follows:

“10 companies, 1 Lt. Colonel, 1 Major, 8 Captains, 18 Lieutenants, 7 Ensigns, 1 Chaplain, 1 Adjutant, 1 QuarterMaster, 1 Surgeon, 2 Mates, 40 Sergeants, 18 Drummers; Rank and File--981 fit for duty, 11 sick present, 6 in general hospital, 2 on command, 1,000 total. 1 drummer and 40 rank and file wanting to complete.”

We find the solution of why there were only 1,000 of the Black Watch with the Ticonderoga expedition when its strength was known to be 1,300 at that time, in another extract of the Report of June 29th from Abercrombie to Pitt: “I have left two additional Companies of Lord John Murray’s to garrison Fort Edward. The other additional company of the 42nd which was blown into Antego (Antigua), I hear is arrived at New York, which I have ordered up to Albany.”

This is confirmed in more detail in a letter from Sir Robert Menzies to Mr. Murray of Strowan, dated Rannock, 6th Sept., 1758, in which is an extract from a letter received by Menzies from “Jamie Stewart.”[18]

“That, after the additional Companies arrived in Fort Edward, the best men were picked out to compleat the Regiment in place of the sick and old men that were put in their place. That, as Capt. Reid was left behind sick at Albany, Capt. Murray was appointed to his company and Reid to the additionals, as Capt. Abercrombie was to Capt. Murray’s Company. That the additional companies, with Captains Sterling, Reid, and Abercrombie, etc., were left at Fort Edward, where they had nothing to do but to garrison the Fort and divert themselves.”

Everything is now in readiness for the attack on Ticonderoga and an army of six thousand three hundred seventy-seven regulars and nine thousand thirty-four provincials (Abercrombie to Pitt July 12, 1758) embarked at Lake George early on the morning of July 5th. There were nine hundred batteaux, a hundred and thirty-five whale boats and a large number of heavy flatboats carrying the artillery and from front to rear the line was six miles long.

Parkman in his “Montcalm and Wolfe” paints the scene as follows:

“The spectacle was superb; the brightness of the summer day; the romantic beauty of the scenery; the sheen and sparkle of those crystal waters; the countless islets, tufted with pine, birch, and fir; the bordering mountains, with their green summits and sunny crags; the flash of oars and glitter of weapons; the banners, the varied uniforms, and the notes of bugle, trumpet, bag-pipe, and drum, answered and prolonged by a hundred woodland echoes. ‘I never beheld so delightful a prospect,’ wrote a wounded officer at Albany a fortnight after.

“Rogers with the Rangers, and Gage with the light infantry, led the way in whaleboats, followed by Bradstreet with his corps of boatman, armed and drilled as soldiers. Then came the main body. The central column of regulars was commanded by Lord Howe, his own regiment, the fifty-fifth, in the van, followed by the Royal Americans, the twenty-seventh, forty-fourth, forty-sixth, and eightieth infantry, and the Highlanders of the forty-second, with their major, Duncan Campbell of Inverawe, silent and gloomy amid the general cheer, for his soul was dark with foreshadowings of death. With this central column came what are described as two floating castles, which were no doubt batteries to cover the landing of the troops. On the right hand and the left were the provincials, uniformed in blue, regiment after regiment, from Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Rhode Island. Behind them all came the batteaux, loaded with stores and baggage, and the heavy flatboats that carried the artillery, while a rear-guard of provincials and regulars closed the long procession.”

It will be unnecessary to go into the details of this disastrous campaign as it is not only well known to most of you but three papers bearing on the subject will be read at this meeting.[19] Briefly the army landed at the foot of Lake George the morning of the 6th and the afternoon of the same day Lord Howe at the head of a Ticonderoga party was killed at the outlet of Trout Brook. This is the beginning of the end as Lord Howe was the real head of the army. Abercrombie took until the eighth to make up his mind what to do and this interim gave the French time to build the fatal breastworks across the ridge about one-half mile west of the Fort and enabled Lévis to arrive with reinforcements.

As the breastworks play a most important part in the Battle it will perhaps be well to again quote from Parkman who gives a most comprehensive description.

“The trees that covered the ground were hewn down by thousands, the tops lopped off, and the trunks piled one upon another to form a massive breastwork. The line followed the top of the ridge, along which it zigzagged in such a manner that the whole front could be swept by flank-fires of musketry and grape. It was so high that nothing could be seen over it but the crowns of the soldiers’ hats. The upper tier was formed of single logs, in which notches were cut to serve as loopholes; and in some places sods and bags of sand were piled along the top, with narrow spaces to fire through. From the central part of the line the ground sloped away like a natural glacis; while at the sides, and especially on the left, it was undulating and broken. Over this whole space, to the distance of a musket-shot from the works, the forest was cut down, and the trees left lying where they fell among the stumps, with tops turned outwards, forming one vast abattis, which, as a Massachusetts officer says, looked like a forest laid flat by a hurricane. But the most formidable obstruction was immediately along the front of the breastworks, where the ground was covered with heavy boughs, overlapping and interlaced, with sharpened points bristling into the face of the assailant like the quills of a porcupine. As these works were all of wood, no vestige of them remains. The earth-works now shown to tourists as the lines of Montcalm were begun four days after the battle to replace the log breastwork; and though on the same ground are not on the same plan.”

Behind these breastworks the battalions of LaSarre and Languedoc were posted on the left under Bourlamaque, the first battalion of Berry with that of Royal Roussillon in the center under Montcalm and those of LaReine, Béarn and Guienne on the right under Lévis. A detachment of volunteers occupied the low grounds between the breastworks and the outlet of Lake George and on the side toward Lake Champlain were stationed 450 regulars and Canadians, about 3,600 in all.

It is always easy to criticise an event after it has occurred, but the result certainly shows that Abercrombie could not have planned his campaign more to the advantage of the French. He first gave them time to build those formidable breastworks and then instead of choosing any one of half a dozen plans which would have brought victory, he decided to throw his army unsupported by artillery, which was still at Lake George, at the strongest part of the French position, he himself staying in safety at the saw mill (about which we heard this afternoon in the able paper read by Mr. Delano at the unveiling of the tablet) a mile and a half in the rear of his army.[20]

The sad result is too well known to dwell on and we pass at once to the part played by the Black Watch. They, with the 55th were to have formed the reserve but impatient at being left in the rear the Highlanders could not be restrained and were soon in the front endeavoring to cut their way through the fallen trees with their broadswords. Captain John Campbell, who was one of the two soldiers presented to George II in 1743, with a few men, were the only ones to force their way over the breastworks and they were instantly dispatched with the bayonet.

Lieut. William Grant of the Regiment writes as follows:

“The attack began a little past one in the afternoon and about two the fire became general on both sides. It was exceedingly heavy and without intercession insomuch as the oldest soldier never saw so furious and incessant a fire. The fire at Fontenoy was nothing to it. I saw both.”

An officer of the 55th regiment, of which Lord Howe had been the commander, wrote as follows:

“With a mixture of esteem, grief and envy, I am penetrated by the great loss and immortal glory acquired by the Highlanders engaged in the late bloody affair. Impatient for the fray, they rushed forward to the entrenchments which many of them actually mounted, their intrepidity was rather animated than dampened by witnessing their comrades fall on every side. They seemed more anxious to avenge the fate of their deceased friends than to avoid a like death. In their co-operation we trust soon to give a good account of the enemy and of ourselves. There is much harmony and friendship between the two regiments.”

Even the French were impressed with the valor of the Black Watch as Garneau writes in L’Histoire du Canada.[21]

“The Highlanders above all, under Lord John Murray, covered themselves with glory. They formed the head of the troops confronting the Canadians, their light and picturesque costume distinguishing them from all other soldiers amid the flame and smoke. This corps lost half of its men and 25 of its officers were killed or severely wounded.”

Lossing writes,

“The whole army seemed envious to excell but the Scotch Highland Regiment of Lord John Murray was foremost in the conflict and suffered the severest loss.”[22]