Royal Scots of Canada Highlanders - Electric Scotland

82 ^th ROYAL SCOTS OP CANADA
gazetted an Honorary Major in the Army, September,
2oth, 1901. In the second Regiment Canadian Mounted
Rifles he participated in the operations in the Transvaal
February" to May 31st, 1902.
Captain C. .7. Armstrong took part with the 2nd
Special Service Riegiment, R. R. C. 1., in the operations
in the Orange Free State from February to May 1900,
including the operations at Paardeberg F'ebruary i8th
to the 26th, during which he was wounded. He also
participated in the actions at Poplar Grove, March 7 ;
Driefonteiii, March 10 ; Hont Nek, May i ;
and Uzand
He took part in the operations in the
River to May 10.
Transvaal in May and June, 1900, including actions
near Johannesburg, May 29, and Pretoria June 4. He
served on the staff ol the Imperial Military Railways,
South Africa from July 1900 to May 31st, 1902 and received
the war medal with three' clasps and the King's
medal with three clasps. At the conclusion of the war
Captain Armstrong was appointed District Engineer of
South African Railways at Harrismith, Orange River
Colony.
lieutenants Allan, Ciault and Mackay .served in the
SeconcJ Battalion, Canadian Mounted Rilles, Lieutenant
Mackay being wounded in three places at the lirst engagement
at Hart's River.
Most of the men ol the regiment who went to South
Africa joined the first contingent, raised in October 1899,
no less than thirty-five officers and men transferring from
the Royal Scots, serving in K Company of the 2nd Special
Service of the R. R. C. I. At the time of the raising
and despatch of this first contingent to the seat ol
war the patriotic spirit of the Canadian i)eople reached
the highest pitch
of excitement.
In Montreal at the time the first contingent was being
rai.sed, and attached to the Royal Scots, was Captain
J. C. Gardiner, of the 3rd Militia Battalion of the
Scottish Rifles. To accompany the contingent he resigned
his commission in the Scottish militia, enlisted as a
private in the Royal Scots, presented himself as a recruit
for the Contingent, passed the required examination,
was accepted and proceeded to the seat of war. April
14, 1900, at Bloomfontein, he was transferred back, as an
officer, to the Scottish Rifles, and attached to the 4th
(Militia Battalion) which had been embodied and sent to
the front. He was detailed for service with the Mounted
Infantry, commanded the Bcshuff Mounted Infantry, and
returned to Scotland, March 1902.
Upon the occasion of the embarcation of the first
contingent for South Africa, no less than eighteen of the
total establishment of twenty-six officers of the Scots,
went down to Quebec accompanied by the regimental
pipers, who marched at the head of the regiment on the
march from the Citadel to the Ksplanade, and thence to
the
transport.
Sunday, June 2, 1901, the Royal Scots paid a touching
tribute to the memory of the two members of the
regiment who gave their lives for the Empire in South
Africa. On returning to the Drill Hall, after the annual
Church parade of the regiment to St. Andrew's Church,
a monumental brass in memory of the dead soldiers,
afterwards erected in the regimental armory, was dedicated
with simple, hut impres.sive ceremony, the Rev.
Dr. J. Edgar Hill, Chaplain ol the regiment officiating,.
The memorial brass bears the arms ol the regiment in
her;»ldic colors, and states that it is in memorj' of Corporal
Robert Cuthbert Goodfellow and Private Frederick
Wasdell, who fell in action at Paarderberg, S.A., the
former on F\'bruary 18, 1900, aged 35 years, and the latter
on F'ebruary 27, 1900, aged 23 years. "This tablet,"
it is also recorded, "is erected by the officers, non-commissioned
officers and men of the Royal Scots of Canada
in
honor of their comrades."
Since the Orange troubles the Royal Scots have performed
con.siderable .service in Canada in aid of the civil
power, but, to the regret of all ranks, the regiment had
no opportunity to as.sist in tlie suppression of the Northwest
rebellion.
the
The year 1885 is an imi)ortant one in the annals of
Canadian Militia.
The Northwest Rebellion broke out with startling
suddenness so far as the general jjublic of Canada was
concerned in Marcb of that year. On the 23rd Sir John
A. Macdonald, then Premier, announced in the House of
Commons, that some Half-Breeds instigated and led by
I,ouis Riel, had cut the wires and stopped communication
with the settlements on the North Saskatchewan.
On the 26th the battle of Duck I