Royal Scots of Canada Highlanders - Electric Scotland

** 5th ROYAL SCOTS OF CANADA
Watch, that regiment's casualties oiit of a strength oi
1,300, being 314 killed and 333 wounded.
The second battalion of the Black Watch was raised
in America in 1759, and the complete regiment formed
part of the main British army under General Amherst,
which, landing at I.achine, after descending the St.
Lawrence, in 1760, in accordance with one at the most
elaborate and most brilliantlj' executed strategical combinations
recorded in military history, advanced with
the other converging armies, upon Montreal, forced the
city into capitulation and put a period to French rule in
Canada. The 42nd covered itself with glory during the
revolutionary war in what is now the United States,
afterwards serving in Nova Scotia until 1789. The regiment
was again quartered in Nova Scotia in 1851 and
1852.
Fraser's Highlanders, who participated in the capture
of LouisWurg and Quebec, were commanded by the
Hon. Simon Fraser, son of that Lord Lovat who was
beheaded on Tower hill for high treason. Eight hundred
of the men belonged to the forfeited estate of his own
family, and six hundred and sixty were addted by the
gentlemen of the country around, and the officers of the
regiment, so that the battalion commanded by "the
Master of Lovat," consisted of fourteen hundred and
sixt}- men. They formed a splendid body, wore' the full
Highland costume, winter and summer. Their arms
were musket and broad-sword, whilst many wore the
dirk. The bonnet worn by Fraser's Highlanders was
raised or cocked on one side
and had two or more black
feathers in it. The regiment was raised on the recommendation
of Pitt in 1757 and landed at Halifax from
Greenock, in
June of that year. After the capture of that
city, Fraser's Highlanders, who had been numbered the
78th, remained in Quebec until 1762, when it took part in
the Newfoundland expedition, being disbanded the following
year, and many of the officers and men settling
in Canada. The Highhind costume was not regarded
with favor by the Quebec pyeople, and, moved either by
modesty or sympathy, the good sisters of the Ursulines
convent made hose for the .sentries on duty at their
gates, and were not only disappointed, but surprised
when their gifts were declined. Some of the military
authorities also appeared to think the Highland costume
unsuited to the Canadian winter climate,
and a proposal
was seriou.sly made to change the uniform. But the
members of the regiment so strenuously objected that
the idea was dropped. In 1775 when an increase of the
army by 35 regiments for the American war was authorized,
the regiment of Fraser's Highlanders was reorganized
in two battalions, con.sisting of 2,340 officers
and men. The Colonel-in-chief was the Hon. Simon
Fraser of Lovat, the Lieut.-Colonel of the first battalion.
Sir William Er.skine, of Torry, and of the second battalion,
Archibald Campbell. It was numbered the 71st,
and served through the Revolutionary War.
Of the force of 1,800 men which formed the garrison
of Quebec in 1775-76, 230 were men of the old Fraser's
and other Highland regiments, who had settled in Canada
and the other English colonies and had been reembodied
upon the outbreak of the war, under I^ieut.-
Colonel Allan Maclean, of Torloisk. These veteran
Highlanders formed part of the first battalion of the
two-battalion regiment raised in America under the
name of "The Royal Highland Emigrants" in 1775, and
in 1778 nuiTihered the 84th. Most of the officers and men
had previously served in Fraser's Highlanders, Montgomerie's
Highlanders, or the Black Watch. The uniform
of both battalions was the full Highland dress with
sporrans made of racoon skins. The officers wore the
broadsword and dirk, the men a half-basket sword. In
1783, after the war, the regiment was again disbanded,
most of the members of the first battalion settling in
Upper Canada, tho.se of the second battalion in Nova
Scotia.
Montgomerie's Highlanders, recruited by the Hon.
Archibald Montgomerie in 1857, came to AmericcT at the
same time as Fra.ser's Highlanders and participated in
the operations against F'ort du Quesne. Disbanded after
the conquest of Canada, many of the officers and men
settled in Nova Scotia and the New England colonies.
The old 74th Regiment, or Argyle Highlanders,
which
figured in the revolutionary war, wajs rai.sed in 1778 by
Colonel John Campbell, of Barbeck, and formed part of
the Nova Scotia command during the war, participating
in the brilliant operations in Maine. After the war the
regiment was disbanded at Stirling,
Scotland.
The valuaWe .services of the Black Watch, Fraser's
Highlanders, Montgomerie's Highlanders, and the Royal
Highland Emigrants, encouraged the government to enlist
the services of additional Highland corps for permanent
service, and accordingly .seven other Highland
regiments were soon raised— vi/,., the 71st in 1777; the
72nd or Duke of Albany's Own, in the same year; the
74th in 1787; the 78th, or Ross-shire Bufls, in 1793; the
79th, or Cameron Highlanders, in 1805; the 92nd or Gordon
Highlanders in 1796; and the 93rd, or Sutherland
Highlanders, in 1800. At the time of the territorial reorganization
of regiments, the old numerical designations
were dropped and the battalions linked. Thus the new
Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) comprises the former
42nd and 73rd regiments, the Highland Light Infantry,
71st and 74th; the Seaforth Highlanders, 72nd and 78th;
the Gordon Highlanders, 75th and 92nd; Princess l/ouise's
(Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders), 91st and 93rd; the
Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders, 79th.
Any reference to the .services rendered by Highland
soldiers in Canada neces.sitates the mention of the Glengarry
Fencibles, who performed such consi)icuouslv brilliant
service during the war of 181 2-14. Among the dis
tricts of Canada set apart by the government after tiie
revolutionary war as places of settlement for the United
Empire Loyalists, was the section comprising the present
Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry. Most of