Royal Scots of Canada Highlanders - Electric Scotland

Sth ROYAL SCOTS OF CANADA 8S
The acting D.O.C. at once ordered the remainder of the
Royal Scots, one company of the Garrison Artillery, two
of
the Victoria Rifles and Number 3 Bearer Company to
Valley field. This force left :Montreal shortly after one
o'clock the next morning under command of Lieut. -Col.
Hamilton of the 3rd Victoria Rifles-. The officers accompanying
this second detachment of
the Royal Scots were
Captain Cantlie, L/ieutenants Armstrong and Davidson,
and Surgeon-Lieutenant Brown.
The presence of the troops appears to have acted as
an irritant upon the operatives in the cotton mill, they
sympathising with the original strikers. The morning of
Friday 26th, 600 of the mill hands quit work, and the
same afternoon the remainder of the 2,900 work people
followed their example. Several knots of men of a more
or less unruly character gathered, and a few breaches of
the peace occurred, but no rioting of such a serious character
as occurred the first night. The situation looked
so threatening, however, that Lieut.-Col. Roy called out
two troops of the Duke of York's Royal Canadian Hussars
and four companies of the 65th Mount Royal Rifles.
Early in the afternoon of the 26th,
the cavalry proceeded
to Valleyfield, the 65th following them at night. Lieut.-
Colonel Roy accompanied the Hussars, returning, however,
to Montreal on the following day. The arrival ol
so many re-inforcements had a soothing effect upon the
excited public of Valleyfield,
and the public anxiety gradually
died out.
Saturday morning the 27th, passed off quietly, and
that afternoon half the infantry were relieved from further
duty and returned to Montreal. A force of about
260 men still remained at Valleyfield under the command
of Lieut.-Colonel Ibbotson. They comprised 42 of
the Victoria Rifles, 84 of the Royal Scots, 84 of the 65th
Mount Royal Rifles, 50 of the Duke of York's Royal Canadian
Hussars and 20 of the Montreal Bearer Company.
On Monday all the mUl hands having returned to work,
and there being no further cause for suspicion of a return
of trouble, arrangements were made with the railway
company for the withdrawal of the remainder of the
troops to Montreal. The infantry left by si>ecial train
about half. past one, the cavalry remaining over night,
in consequence of the railway people not being able to
supply cars to transport the horses.
The comfort of the troops on duty at Valleyfield was
most thoroughly attended to by the Montreal Cotton
Company.
Many of the officers and men of the Scots on duty at
Valleyfield received wounds from stones and other missiles.
The wounded who received hospital treatment
were as
follows:
No. I Company.—Colborn Miller, scalp wound, not
serious; Stewart Simpson, severe wound over the eye.
No. 2 Company.^Dan McOuay, severe contused
wound on the face; William Wilson, slight contusion on
the neck, Samuel J(jhn Tuck, injured elbow, severe contusion
of the scalp.
No. 3
Company.—Ernest Simpson, ear cut.
No. 5 Company.—Lome Clark, severe contusion on
the shoulder, Fred William Flood, slight scalp wound,
Stewart Foster,
wound and contusion on the face.
The Scots were very highly complimented for their
conduct upon this very tr)ring service, and their commanding
officer, Lieut.-Colonel Ibbotson, had the unique
distinction of receiving a complimentary notice of his
services rendered upon this occasion, in the Dominion
parliament.
The Royal Scots performed their next turn of active
service at home. At the opening of navigation in 1903,
serious trouble developed between the Montreal wharf
laborers and their employers. Serious rioting having
taken place on the wharves on Tuesday, April 28th, a
requisition was made upon the D.O.C, Col. W. D.
Gordon, for military protection. During the afternoon,
orders were issued for the Duke of York's Royal Canadian
Hussars, 3rd Victoria Rifles, 65th Regiment, and
Number 3 Bearer Company to turn out. The same evening
the corps in question took possession of the
wharves in the vicinity of the ships already in port.
The
5th Royal Scots and 1st Prince of Wales Fusiliers had
their usual drill parades the same night, and, on orders
from Colonel Gordon,
a detachment from each regiment,
consisting of three officers and fifty men, was placed on
active service at once, the remainder of both regiments
being ordered to parade lor active service the following
morning. Before daylight on the 29th, the detachment
of the Royal Scots ordered first for duty, with the detachments
of the 1st and 65th, was marched to the far
east end of the harbor, where there was considerable
hard duty to perform. About eight o'clock the regimental
parade of the Royal Scots was formed up in the Drill
Hall, and the corps, under command of Lieut.-Colonel
Carson, marched down to the place assigned to it on
Commissioners Street from the foot of Berri Street, eastward.
Here the regiment had much disagreeable duty
to perform. The first day the regiment was on duty
Lieut.-Colonel Carson had to advance his line several
times to force the crowd back, and as a portion of the
water front of about one half mile had to be jirotecUi. .
gular reliefs were started, and the work of thoroughly guar
ing this important centre, which took in the C. P. R.,
freight sheds and elevators, was carried on with satisfaction
during a service lasting altogether fourteen days.
At the commencement of this service the regiment
was quartered on board the S.S. Alexandrian, and after
that .ship shifted her moorings, the Royal Scots took
possession of the old Dalhou.sie Square station of the
C.P.R., the oflicers and men taking their meals at the
Place Viger Hotel.
The force was relieved from duty on the settlement
of the difficulties between employers and men, on May
nth.