Part 8

William Grant, appointed Ensign, Oct. 1, 1745; Lieutenant, May 22, 1746; Captain, July 23, 1758; Major, Dec. 5, 1777; retired August, 1778, after 33 years of service with rank of Brevet Lieut.-Colonel. He was wounded at the battle of Ticonderoga.

Stewart of Garth, Appendix.

_James Gray._

James Gray was taken from the Half-pay list and appointed Lieutenant in the 42nd Royal Highlanders 30th January, 1756. His name is omitted in the Army List of 1765.

Stewart’s Highlanders. Wilson’s Orderly Book, page 83.

_Robert Gray._

Robert Gray, appointed Ensign, June 6, 1745; Lieutenant, June 9, 1747; Captain, July 22, 1758. He was wounded at Ticonderoga. Aug. 2, 1759, after 14 years of service in the Regiment, he was promoted to the 55th Regiment. He died in 1771 with rank of Lieut.-Colonel.

Stewart of Garth, Appendix.

_Alexander McIntosh._

Alexander McIntosh was taken from half pay in 1756 and appointed Lieutenant in the 42nd. He was wounded at Ticonderoga, 1758, and again at Martinico in 1762, and was promoted to a company 24th July of the same year. He went on half pay in 1763 and was not again called on active service until 25th December, 1770, when he was appointed to the 10th regiment then serving in America. Captain McIntosh was killed at the storming of Fort Washington, 16th November, 1776.

Army Lists. Beatson’s Naval and Military Memoirs. N. Y. Colonial Manuscripts, p. 729, Vol. 10.

_Norman McLeod._

Norman McLeod entered the army as ensign of the 42d January 1756, and was promoted to Lieutenancy in the 69th in June 1761. At the peace of 1763 he elected to remain in this country and received 3,000 acres of land and retired on half pay. Sometime later he was appointed Commissioner at Niagara under Sir William Johnson. At the breaking out of the War of the Revolution he offered his services to Governor Martin of North Carolina. Later he was captured and was a prisoner for about five years.

Wm. M. McBean, Secy. St. Andrew’s Society of the State of New York.

_John MacNeil._

John MacNeil was appointed ensign, Aug. 6, 1742, Lieutenant Oct. 10, 1745; Captain, Dec. 16, 1752; Major, July 9, 1762. He died at the siege of Havana in 1762 after 20 years of service in the Regiment.

Stewart of Garth, Appendix.

_David Milne._

David Mill, or Milne, received a commission as Lieutenant in this Corps 19th July, 1757; was wounded at Ticonderoga in 1758, and again at Martinique in 1762; retired from the army at the peace of 1763.

N. Y. Colonial Manuscripts, p. 729, Vol. 10.

_James Murray._

James Murray, second son of Lord George Murray, by his marriage with Amelia Murray, heiress of Strowan and Glencarse, and grandson of the first Duke of Atholl, was born at Tullibardine on the 19th of March, 1734, and it is interesting to know that Lord John Murray, who was destined in after years to be his colonel, was called upon to be his godfather. A commission as Lieutenant in the Saxon Grenadier Guards was obtained for him in 1749, and he joined his regiment in 1751. He served against the forces of Frederick the Great until the Saxon Army capitulated at Pirna on the Elbe in October, 1756. He was released on parole and returned to Scotland in 1757 and on the nomination of his uncle, James Duke of Atholl, was given a captain’s commission in the Black Watch and was placed in command of one of the three additional companies then being raised for service in America. He reached New York in April, 1758, and commanded Captain Reid’s company in the unsuccessful attack on Ticonderoga--his own company having been left in garrison at Fort Edward. He was wounded but was soon able to return to duty and took part in the successful expedition of 1759 to Lake Champlain. Toward the close of that year he was given command--by Lord John Murray’s desire--of the Grenadier Company of the newly-raised 2nd Battalion, and with this battalion he served in the advance on Montreal in 1760 and in the capture of Martinique in 1762. He was wounded here and invalided home and was on sick leave for more than six years. He rejoined the Black Watch in 1768 and in 1769 was appointed Captain-lieutenant in the 3rd Foot Guards, obtaining his promotion as Captain and Lieutenant-colonel the following year. In 1772 he was elected member of Parliament for Perthshire, a position which he held for twenty-two years. He was appointed Governor of Upnor Castle in 1775 and Fort William in 1780, but these were merely nominal posts and did not interfere with his other duties. In 1776 he bought Strowan (originally the property of his mother), from his nephew, the fourth Duke of Atholl.

On the outbreak of the War of Independence, Col. Murray offered to raise a regiment of Highlanders for service in America, but this offer was refused, and in March, 1777, he was sent out to join the brigade of Guards under General Howe in New Jersey. He was with Lord Cornwallis at Quibbletown and presumably took part in the actions at Brandywine and Germantown in 1777. He spent the following winter in quarters at Philadelphia, and left America in the summer of 1778 and joined the Atholl Highlanders in Ireland in September of that year, of which regiment he was given the command. This regiment remained in Ireland during the war, at the conclusion of which it was disbanded. James Murray was appointed Lieutenant-colonel-commandant of the 78th Highlanders in 1783, but as he was already a general officer he never did any duty with this regiment. After 1783 General Murray resided a good deal at Strowan; in 1786 he was promoted full Colonel of the 78th (by that time the 72nd), and in 1793 he was made Lieutenant-general. In March, 1794, he felt himself obliged to resign his seat in Parliament owing to ill health and a few days later--on the 19th of March--he died in London and was buried in St. Margaret’s, Westminster.

Of Lord George Murray’s three sons, General James seems to have been the one who most resembled his father. He had inherited the Jacobite General’s sympathetic knowledge of Highland character, something of his pride, and the same affectionate disposition. And that he had at least a share of his father’s determination, and presence of mind is shown by two anecdotes which have been handed down with regard to him. One of these refers to his earlier days, and is to the effect that, having been attacked by a highwayman one night that he was driving over a heath near London, he leant out of the window of the chaise, “groped in the dark for the ears of his assailant’s horse,” and with the brief but expressive exclamation. “Thereut’s-” fired a shot which ended the highwayman’s career. The other relates that during the Gordon Riots of 1780 Colonel James Murray was seated next Lord George Gordon in the House of Commons at the very moment at which the mob threatened to break into the House. Colonel Murray with a soldier’s instinct drew his sword, pointed it at Lord George, and notwithstanding that he was his cousin, declared his intention of running him through the body if a single one of the rioters should enter. His promptness saved the situation, but he had committed a breach of the privileges of the House and was ordered to apologize on bended knee to the Speaker. Colonel Murray made the required amende, but on rising from his knee took out his handkerchief and dusted it, remarking, “Damned Dirty House this; sooner it’s cleaned out the better.”

Army Lists: Brown’s Highl. Clans, IV, 159, 300, 304, 306. Wilson’s Orderly Book, p. 67. Military History of Perthshire, p. 411-413.

Stewart of Garth gives the following in regard to General Murray’s wound, received at the capture of Martinique; (page 126, Vol. 10.)

“The musket ball entered his left side, under the lower rib, passed up through the left lobe of the lung, (as ascertained after his death) crossed his chest, and mounting up to his right shoulder, lodged under the scapula. His case being considered desperate, the only object of the surgeon was to make his situation as easy as possible for, the few hours they supposed he had to live; but, to the great surprise of all, he was on his legs in a few weeks, and, before he reached England, was quite recovered, or at least his health and appetite were restored. He was never afterwards, however, able to lie down; and during the thirty-two years of his subsequent life, he slept in an upright posture, supported in his bed by pillows.”

_Lord John Murray._

Lord John Murray, born on the 14th of April, 1711, was the eldest son of John, first Duke of Atholl, by his second wife, the Hon. Mary Ross, and half-brother to John, Marquess of Tullibardine, and Lord George Murray. He became an ensign in the 3rd Foot Guards (now the Scots Guards) in 1727, and a captain in the same regiment in 1738. Immediately after the mutiny of the regiment in 1743 he applied for the colonelcy in the 42nd or Black Watch, but he did not obtain the appointment he so greatly desired until two years later. In July, 1743, he was appointed first aide-de-camp to George II and was in attendance on the King in Germany at the close of the Dettingen campaign, but returned to England without having taken part in any engagements. In April 1745, when at last gazetted colonel of the Black Watch, he proceeded to join his regiment in Flanders, but arrived too late for Fontenoy. He distinguished himself, however, during the subsequent retreat of the British army to Brussels, by his defence of a pass which the French attacked by night. For this service he was publicly thanked by the Duke of Cumberland. In 1745 he returned home with his regiment but in 1747 he was in the Netherlands taking part in the attempted relief of Hulst. After the surrender of the town by the Dutch Governor, Lord John commanded the rear-guard in the retreat to Welsharden, and shortly afterwards, having been ordered to take part in the defence of Bergen-op-Zoom, he was placed in command of the British troops in the lines there. At the close of operations he received a message of approbation from the King.

In 1755 he was promoted major-general, and in 1758 lieutenant-general, but although he offered his services more than once, he was not employed abroad during the Seven Years’ War. He took the keenest interest, however, in all the exploits of his regiment and worked hard to raise a second battalion in 1758. Stewart of Garth tells us that when the men who had been disabled at Ticonderoga appeared before the Board of Chelsea to claim their pensions, Lord John went with them and explained their case in such a manner to the commissioners that they were all successful. He gave them money, got them a free passage to Perth, and offered a house and garden to all who chose to settle on his estate. General Stewart also describes how, when the 42nd at last returned from America in 1767, Lord John, who had been for weeks at Cork awaiting its arrival, marched into that town at its head.

Lord John was a great deal with the regiment while it was quartered in Ireland, and, according to Stewart of Garth, was “ever attentive to the interest of the officers and vigilant that their promotion should not be interrupted by ministerial or other influence.” He was also “unremitting in his exertions to procure the appointment of good officers, and of officers who understood perfectly the peculiar dispositions and character of the men.” For this reason he strenuously endeavored to exclude all but the members of Scots--and more especially Highland--families. He was equally particular that only Gaelic-speaking men and Protestants should be recruited for the ranks.

In spite of his military duties Lord John resided a good deal in the country--and not only at the home of his boyhood--for early in life he bought Pitnacree in Strathtay, and in later years he had also a house in Perth. He represented Perthshire in Parliament from 1734 to 1761. In 1758 he married Miss Dalton of Bannercross--a Derbyshire heiress, by whom he had one daughter. In 1770 he became a full general. His last military achievement was the raising in 1779 and 1780 (at his own expense) of another second battalion to the 42nd. This battalion so distinguished itself in India that in 1786 it was placed permanently on the establishment under the title of the 73rd Regiment. The veteran to whose patriotism it owed its existence died on the 26th day of May, 1787, at the age of seventy-six, the senior officer in the Army.

Lord John made the most of such chances as occurred of distinguishing himself in the field, but those opportunities were small for he never served in any war but the Austrian Succession. It is therefore as the Colonel of the Black Watch that his name has survived--as a man who understood the Highland soldiers well enough to wish to command them at a time when to many that might have seemed a task of great difficulty--and who, having at last obtained the post he desired, completely identified himself with the interests of his men, and for upwards of half a century was the “friend and supporter of every deserving officer and soldier in the regiment.”

Military History of Perthshire, page 382-384.

_John Reid._

John Reid was the eldest son of Alexander Robertson of Straloch, but the head of the family had always been known as “Baron Reid” and the General and his younger brother, Alexander (who was an officer in the 42nd), adopted the more distinctive surname early in life. He was born at Inverchroskie in Strathardle, on the 13th of February, 1721, and received his early education at Perth. Being destined for the law, he was afterwards sent to Edinburgh University. Nature, however, had intended him for a soldier, and in June, 1745, having recruited the necessary quota of men, he obtained a commission as lieutenant in Loudon’s Highlanders. He was taken prisoner at Prestonpans the following September, but when released the following spring he rejoined his regiment and was able to render important service to the Government. From 1747 to 1748 he served in Flanders with Loudon’s Highlanders and took part in the defence of Bergen-op-Zoom, but on the reduction of his regiment at the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle he was placed on half-pay. In 1751 he bought a captain-lieutenant’s commission in the Black Watch and in 1752 a commission as captain in the same regiment. Four years later on the outbreak of the war with France, he sailed with his regiment to America. He was not present at the first attack on Ticonderoga as he had been left behind sick at Albany, and his company was commanded in that desperate engagement by Captain James Murray. In 1759, Reid, by that time a major, took part in the second advance to Lake Champlain, which resulted in the surrender of Forts Ticonderoga and Crown Point; and on him devolved the command of the 42nd during the greater part of the campaign of 1760 which ended with the capture of Montreal and the expulsion of the French from Canada.

Reid remained in America with the 42nd until Dec., 1761, when he accompanied it to the West Indies. He served in the capture of Martinique and at the storming of Morne Tortenson, on Jan. 24, 1762, was in command of the 1st Battalion of his regiment. His battalion suffered heavy loss and he was wounded in two places, but recovered in time to take part in the expedition against Havana of that same year. After the surrender of Cuba he returned to America. In 1764 Reid acted as second-in-command of Colonel Bouquet’s arduous but successful expedition against the Indians on the Ohio and Muskingum Rivers. In the following year we hear of him fitting out an expedition which was to be sent to the Illinois country under the command of Captain Thomas Stirling of the 42nd.

About 1760, Reid married an American lady of Scots descent, Susanna Alexander, daughter of James Alexander, surveyor-general of New York and New Jersey. She owned property on Otter Creek in what is now the State of Vermont, which was added to and improved by her husband with the result that at the end of ten years Reid owned “about thirty-five thousand acres of very valuable land” near Crown Point and had “obtained from the Governor and Council of New York a warrant of survey for fifteen thousand more,” which he intended to “erect” into a manor.

In 1767 the Royal Highland Regiment left America for Ireland and Reid presumably accompanied it. In 1770 Reid retired on half-pay, intending no doubt to settle down to the enjoyment and improvement of his American estates. However, in 1772 his tenants were expelled by the people of Bennington “on the pretence of having claim to that country under the Government of New Hampshire, notwithstanding that the King in Council had, ten years before, decreed Connecticut River to be the Eastern Boundary of New York.” In 1775 war broke out with the American colonists, and though his case finally came before the Commissioners for American Claims, the only compensation awarded him was a trifling allowance for mills he had erected and for fees he had paid for surveys. In May, 1778 his father’s estate, Straloch, passed under the hammer as he was unable to pay the mortgages and his son could give him no help.

Notwithstanding that he was a comparatively poor man, in 1779-1780 Reid raised at his own expense a regiment of foot, of which he was appointed colonel. This was called the 95th and was disbanded in 1783. In 1781 Reid was promoted major-general, and in 1793 a lieutenant-general. He was appointed colonel of the 88th Regiment (Connaught Rangers) in November, 1794, and became a general in 1798. In 1803, when an invasion was hourly expected, Reid, in response to an order that all general officers not employed on the staff should transmit their addresses to the Adjutant-General, wrote that though in the eighty-second years of his age “and very deaf and infirm,” he was still ready to use his feeble arm in defence of his country. He died in the Haymarket on the 6th of February, 1807, and was buried in St. Margaret’s, Westminster.

The General would probably have had but little property to dispose of at his death, had he not in 1796 succeeded to a valuable estate of some four or five thousand acres in Nova Scotia, which was left to him by his cousin, Gen. John Small, “as a mark of ... respect ... and attachment to the preservation of his name and representation for succeeding ages.” Reid’s daughter had made a marriage of which he disapproved, she had no children, and his only brother had died in 1762 during the siege of Havana. It was probably these circumstances that induced him to realize the property in Nova Scotia and at the time of his death he was worth some £52,000. This entire fortune, went after the death of his daughter, to the University of Edinburgh to found a musical professorship. He also left directions that a concert should be given annually on or about his birthday to commence with several pieces of his own composition, among the first of which is that of the “Garb of Old Gaul,” a composition written by Sir Charles Erskine, but set to music by Reid while major of the 42nd, and which has ever since been a regimental march.

Reid also composed several military marches and was esteemed the best gentleman player on the German flute in England. It may safely be predicted that as long as the University exists this old Perthshire soldier of the 18th century will be remembered as one of its benefactors.

N. Y. Documentary History IV.

Military History of Perthshire pp. 387-395.

_John Small._

John Small was the third son of Patrick Small, who married Magdalen Robertson, sister of Alexander Robertson, the father of General John Reid. Reid and Small were thus not only neighbors and brother-officers, but first cousins, and were evidently on terms of close friendship. Born in Strathardle, Atholl, Scotland, in 1730, Small, like many of his countrymen of that date, began his military career with the Scots Brigade in Holland, being appointed a 2nd lieutenant in the Earl of Drumlanrig’s Regiment when it was raised for service of the States-General in 1747. How long he remained abroad is unknown but it is probable that he returned to England when the regiment was reduced in 1752. He did not, however, obtain a commission in the British army until four years later, when he was appointed lieutenant in the 42nd, just prior to its departure for America. So far as is known, Small took part in all the campaigns in which his regiment was engaged from 1756 to 1763. He fought at Ticonderoga in 1758, served with General Amherst’s successful expedition to Lake Champlain in the following year, and took part in the operations which completed the conquest of Canada in 1760. After the surrender of Montreal he was sent in charge of French prisoners to New York, and we learn from a brother officer that General Amherst had great confidence in him, and frequently employed him “on particular services.” Two years later he served in the capture of Martinique and Havana and obtained his promotion as captain.

At the peace of 1763 Small was placed on half-pay, but, according to General Stewart, he was almost immediately put on the full-pay list of the North British Fusiliers (21st) and when in 1767 the Black Watch left for Europe, most of the men of that regiment who had volunteered to stay in America joined the Fusiliers in order to serve under Small, who was “deservedly popular” with them. Small, however, cannot have served long with the 21st, for in the same year in which the Black Watch left America he was appointed “major of brigade” to the forces in North America. It was probably during the interval between the Seven Years’ War and the war with the Americans that he began to acquire the property in Nova Scotia, part of which he afterwards bequeathed to his cousin, John Reid. We have some indication that during this period he interested himself in local politics and formed the friendship of at least one American which was of value to him later.

Small served throughout the War of Independence though but rare glimpses are obtained of him. He was present as a brigade-major at the battle of Bunker Hill, June 17, 1777, and in the course of that day his life was saved by the American General Putnam, who, seeing Small standing alone at a time when all around him had fallen, struck up the barrels of his men’s muskets to save his life. Shortly after this, Small raised the 2nd battalion of the Royal Highland Regiment and was appointed major-commandant. In 1778 the regiment was numbered the 84th and in 1780 he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel-commandant of his battalion. He is said to have joined Sir Henry Clinton at New York in 1779, but it is more probable that he was stationed for the most part in Nova Scotia. In March, 1783, Small and his battalion were at Fort Edward, New York, and in the following autumn the battalion was disbanded at Windsor, Nova Scotia, where many of the men settled and formed the present town of Douglas.

Small, once more on half-pay, returned home and in 1790 was promoted colonel and three years later was appointed lieutenant governor of Guernsey. In October, 1794, he became major-general and on the 17th of March, 1796, he died in Guernsey and was buried in the church of St. Peter Port.