OSPREY . MEN-AT-ARMS SERIES

Text by CHARLES GRANT

Colour plates by MICHAEL YOUENS

'ThecarlyYears

'A winding line from Dumbarton, upon the RiverClyde, to Duninstra, upon the Firth of Dornoch,separates the Highlands from the Lowlands.' 1

From the towering bastion of Stirling Castle onemay gaze northwards towards a tumbling sea ofhills and mountains, ofglens and foaming streams,the home of a proud and poetic people once des­cribed by Eric Linklater as 'the unpredictabledark Celt'. For century after century this ruggedland saw wars and feuds, clan battles and everysort of internecine strife. But as time wore on, themore enlightened of the clan chiefs realised thatsome form of law-enforcement body was requiredin this country of hereditable jurisdiction, and itwas decided that the warlike nature of the High­landers could be put to some usc if they them­selves were to provide the force. It seems that itwas the celebrated Duncan Forbes of Cullodenwho in 1739 suggested that infantry companiesshould be raised from certain of thc clans, theirtask being to protect the populacc, put down cattlc-

'!he CJ3/ack 'J11ztcll

stealing, and guard against any possible Jacobiteincursion from the Continent.

Accordingly, in the course of the following year,six Independent Companies were embodied ­three large ones each of I 10 men, and three lesserones of 70 each. The first three came from theFraser, Campbell and Grant clans, and wereinitially commanded by Lord Lovat, Sir DuncanCampbell of Lochnell and Grant of Ballindallochrespectively. In command of the smaller ones wereCampbell of Finab, Campbell of Carrick andMunro of Calcairn.

The companies had many unique features.Most if not all of the private soldiers were 'gentle­men': they belonged to the upper rank of High­landers (who all claimed relationship with their

Detail of hilt of present.day officer's claymore

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clan chief, in any case) and the privilege ofofficially bearing arms drew a great many young

•men of quality into the ranks of the companies. Itwas no unusual thing, therefore, for a private manto be accompanied by a servant or two who wouldcarry his baggage and arms when on the march,or otherwise assist when he was not on duty. At theoutset the companies were truly independent,there being neither staff nor regimental organisa­tion, and detachments were distributed at variousstrategic points through the Highlands.

It is quite impossible to say with certainty justhow the title 'Black Watch' came about, but evenat the earliest stage it was used to describe thecompanies. 'Watch' is possibly obvious - thefunction being to observe or watch the Highlands;but 'Black' is more obscure. The tartan as we knowit now is a dark one, but the scarlet jacket andwaistcoat should surely have counterbalanced thesombre shades of the tartan. 'Black' might havebeen a character description by Highlandersopposed to the companies and to what they wereintended to do. But this is mere conjecture; we canonly say that the name 'Black Watch' was quicklyadopted for general use. When, in 1739, it was

decided to organise the companies into a regimentof foot on the Regular Army establishment,. thetitle followed the men when they were formed intothe 43rd Regiment of Foot and, in May 1740,mustered in a field between Taybridge andAberfeldy in Pcrthshire.

The first Colonel of the new regiment was theEarl of Crawford, and the roll of officers reflectedthe origins of the regiment - Grants, Campbells,Munros along with Macleans, Mackenzies andother famous clan names being included therein.'The uniform was a scarlet jacket and waistcoatwith buff facings and white lace, tartan plaid oftwelve yards plaited round the middle of thebody, the upper part being fixed on the leftshoulder, ready to be thrown loose and wrappedround both shoulders and firelock in rainyweather. At night the plaid served the purpose ofa blanket, and was a sufficient covering for theHighlander. These were called belted plaids,from being kept tight to the body by a belt, andwere worn on guards, reviews, and on all occa~

sions when the men were in full dress ... In thebarracks, and when not on duty, the little kiltor philabeg was worn . . . The arms were a

'Feilidh Mhr', the belted plaid. Depicted here at the time of the War of the Austrian Succession, 1743, when theHighland Regiment was on tbe Rhine

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musquet, a bayonet and a large, basket-hiltedbroadsword. These were furnished by theGovernment: such of the men as chose to supplythemselves wi th pistols and dirks were allowedto carry them, and some had targes after thcfashion of the country."The tartan worn by the regiment has eaused

endless speculation and research. It was believedthat, originally, eaeh Independent Company woreits own clan tartan - although there is some doubtwhether, in the early eighteenth century, therewas such a thing. As the first Colonel - the excep­tion in the respect that he was the sale Lowlanderamong the officers - had no clan tartan, it hasbeen suggested that to meet the overall require­ment for a tartan which had no clan bias, a newone was designed. However, a contributor to theJuly '932 edition of the Red Hackle, the regimentalmagazine, produced evidence from original papersin the British Museum, that as early as 1727 atartan was being made in Strathspey for theGrants forming an unofficial company, and thatenough was being made to equip similar bodies inall other clans. There is also some evidence that auniform tartan was in use in 1733, but the docu­ments in question make no reference to the 'sett'or pattern of the tartan. The first historian of theregiment, Col. David Stewart of Garth, whoserved in the Black Watch from 1787 to 1804,states that 'a new pattern' was assumed. It wouldbe surprising if a man who served so long in theregiment in those early days would be wrong inthis matter, and one possible explanation wasthat, while it was indeed a 'new tartan' in so faras it had no clan connection, it had been broughtinto general use even before the formation of theregiment, and could in fact have been that used in'733. A later Colonel - Lord John Murray, whotook command in 1745 - gave the regiment theAthole tartan for the 'little kilt', this differing fromthe sett as used for the belted plaid in that it had anarrow red stripe running through it. The pipers,according to Stewart of Garth, wore the 'Stewartor Royal tartan', which they do to this day.

The 43rd Foot, as it was named, remained justover a year near the place where they had beenoriginally mustered. Their training was enthusias­tically conducted by the Lieutenant-Colonel, SirRobert Munro of Foulis, who was something of a

Lord John Murray, Colonel of the Black Watch or High­land Reghnent as it was then known, from. 25 April 1745to 18 May 1787. During his tenure the regi:ment receivedits more fa:mous titles of 42nd and The Royal HighlandRegiment. (By kind permission the 'Red Hackle')

character and who was to have a distinguishedcareer in the regiment. In '740 the Earl of Craw­ford was posted to the Life Guards, and Brig.-Gen.Lord Semphill became Colonel. In the same year,two privates from the regiment were sent toLondon, at the request of King George II who, incommon with the vast majority of people inEngland, had never seen a Highlander. The twochosen men were presented to the King and

'performed the broad sword exercise; and that ofthe Lochaber axe, or lance, before His Majesty,the Duke of Cumberland, Marshal Wade and anumber of general officers, assembled for thepurpose, in the Great Gallery at Stjames's. Theydisplayed so much dexterity and skill in themanagement of their weapons, as to give perfectsatisfaction to His Majesty. Each got a gratuityof one guinea, which he gave to the porter at thePalace gate as they passed out' (WestminsterGazette).3

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l:IIIJ ~Illltd "'FOI'ltry

IZZZa Alli.d Ca""",y

E3 F'f....'~ "'f...try

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n F,etIm R.d. Art

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mg the key point of all' L-shaped defence line wasthe village of Fontenoy; several woods formednatural obstacles, redoubts were constructed bythe French to add to the hazards faced by theattackers, and the whole front was liberallygarnished with field-guns.

On loth May when, in the manner of the time,the Allied army began its deliberate approach, itwas seen that the planned start line for the attackcould be reached only through the small village ofVezon. A mixed force of infantry and cavalry, in­cluding the Highlanders, was therefore detailed toclear the place. This was achieved with littletrouble, the French falling back after a sharp ex­change of musketry; and that was the BlackWatch's baptism of fire. Thereafter the regimentwas posted on the extreme right of the Allied line,facing the wood of Barri, which formed the pointd'appui of the French left flank. The followingmorning the task of clearing the French from thewood was given to a certain Col. Ingoldsby, whowas provided with a brigade consisting of the 12thand 13th Foot, a Hanoverian regiment, and theHighlanders. At 6.00 a.m. the brigade moved off,but a succession ofquite inexplicable events haltedit. Whether it was uncertainty on Ingoldsby's partor confusion resulting from conflicting orders fromhis superiors, is not known (he was later acquittedat a court martial) but, despite the arrival of sup­porting artillery, he either could not or would notpress home the attack. By [1.00 a.m. a Dutchattack on Fontenoy had failed, and the High­landers were ordered to proceed from the right tothe left flank to support them in a second assault.This was much more to their taste; off they went at

Battle of FontenoYJ II May :1145

'OntenoJ!

and 7tconderoga

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In March 1743 the regiment was ordered southinto England. They reached London on 29th and30th April, and in May embarked for the Con­tinent, to join the army under command of theEarl of Stair at grips with the French forces ofLouis XV. They sailed from Gravesend to Ostend,whence they marched to Brussels, arriving on1 June 1743; and thence by Liege to Hanau,where lay the army commanded by George II inperson, who had just assumed command from theEarl of Stair. Throughout the ensuing twelvemonths or more Ihe Highlanders saw no activeservice, but the year 1745 was to be an eventfulone for the Black Watch and indeed for theregiment's homeland.

Leading the powerful French forces in the LowCountries was the redoubtable Marshal Saxe, oneof the greatest military figures of the century. Hewas opposed, after King George returned to Eng­land, by the Duke of Cumberland, at least theequal of the most unsuccessful general ever to havecommanded British troops. Together with hisDutch allies and some Austrians, he marched atthe beginning of May to relieve the fortress ofTournai from the siege with which Marshal Saxehad opened his campaign. Leaving a force to'mask' Tournai, Saxe had drawn up his army in asuperb defensive position some miles away. Form-

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The Black Watch(Royal HighlandRegbnent) officers'badges and buttons.Approved War OfficePattern, 1937. and asworn today

Left to right:I Officer's glengarry

badge. Star, cross,and 8t Andrew andcross in silver, the8t Andrew and crossbeing on a gUt,beaded oval

2 Officer's breastplate.A seeded gilt platewith burnishededges; the star, cross,and 8t Andrew andcross silver

3 Officer's waistplate.Gilt and silver as inbreastplate

4 Large and smallbuttons. The designis the Star of theThistle with 5tAndrew and cross inthe centre

5 Collar badge ofservice dress5

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the double led by Lieut.-Col. Sir Robert Munro,and stormed forward against the French positionsabout Fontenoy with tremendous spirit and elan.The French, protected by field fortifications and inconsiderable strength, were much shaken by thisunusual attack launched by Highland furiesarmed - thanks to the granting of a request thatthis day they should fight with their nativeweapons - with broadsword and targe. Over thefirst line ofentrenchments poured the Highlanders,but the French musketry was sustained and deadlyand many of them fell and died before the forti­fications. After a bitter struggle the Highlandershad to retreat, carrying with them the Lieutenant­Colonel, a man of such tremendous girth that hestuck in one of the entrenchments and barelyescaped being made prisoner.

While the Black Watch was regrouping afterthis onslaught, there followed the tremendousepisode when the solid mass of British andHanoverian infantry - 16,000 strong - advancedinto the heart of the French position, shatteringthe Gardes Francaises and many another distin-

guished regiment of the ancien regime, and retiringonly after having been .virtually decimated bymusketry and gunfire and innumerable cavalryand infantry counter-attacks. The Highlandersand another battalion were detailed to cover theinevitable retreat, a difficult dnty even thoughthere was no sustained pursuit, and the regimentwas singled out for special praise by Cumberlandin his report of the battle.

As an additional mark of favour, the men wereasked if there were any special requests they mightlike to make. Unanimously they expressed thedesire that two of their comrades, under sentenceof flogging for allowing some prisoners to escape,should have the punishment remitted. Anotherincident is worth recording. On the morning ofthe battle, when the Highlanders paraded, thecommanding officer saw the regimental ministerstanding in the ranks with drawn broadsword.This was Adam Ferguson, later Professor of MoralPhilosophy at the University of Edinburgh, whowas threatened upon the spot with the loss of hiscommissioJl jf he did not at once return to his

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more orthodox duties. 'Damn my commission!'retorted the bellicose prelate and marched off tobattle with his men. Their first engagement costthe regiment dearly, over 30 officers and menkilled and nearly 90 wounded - not as serious asthe casualties ofsome other regiments taking part,but bad enough.

However, important events were elsewhere tak­ing place, for on 25 July 1745 Prince CharlesEdward Stuart, the Young Chevalier - or YoungPretender, depending upon the point of view ­landed on Scottish soil in the western Highlandsand on 19th August raised the Stuart standard atGlenfinnan. Within a few weeks he had occupiedEdinburgh and routed Sir John Cope's force atPrestonpans. A large part of the British army inFlanders was given immediate orders to return,among them the 43rd Foot. Happily for the High­landers they were not destined to clash with theJacobites, an occurrence which would certainlyhave strained the loyalty of many, but were postedto join a force in Kent to repel any possible inva­sion from France. In the meantime, however,three new companies had been formed for theregiment, one of which was involved in the defeatat Prestonpans and captured to a man. But thelast hopes of the exiled Stuarts soon went down todestruction in the wind and rain of Culloden on16 April 1746. The Black Watch was again avail­able for foreign service. Later that year it took partin an abortive descent on the French coast, andwas then posted to Ireland. It remained there untilFebruary 1747, was then again posted to the LowCountries, but after seeing little service wasreturned to Ireland for garrison duty.

During 1749 it underwent a metamorphosis.On the reduction of the 42nd Foot - known asOglethorpe's Regiment - the Highlanders movedup one place in the numerical list, becoming thefamiliarly known 42nd Regiment of Foot. Thischange was ratified by royal warrant of 1 July1751. The dress was confirmed as the scarlet jacketwith buff lining and facings, although the nationaldress of kilt and plaid was not mentioned in thewarrant, presumably because the composers of thedocument were unfamiliar with the detail ofHighland dress. The Grenadier Company - formedfrom the biggest and strongest men in the regi­ment - was to wear a bearskin cap with the King's

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.,cipher and crown on a: red ground on the turn-up.Two colours were carried - the King's, whic·h wasthe Union flag, and the regimental colour whichwas of buff with the regimental number in thecentre and the small Union in the upper canton.

During the years of garrison duty in Ireland,little of event took place. It was recorded that theregiment was notable for its sobriety, and be­haviour was generally such that courts martialwere few and far between. The stay in Irelandlasted until war was declared against France inMay 1756, thus regularising the unofficial strifewhich had been raging in North America forupwards of two years. At once an army wasassembled under the command of Lieut.-Gen.Abercromby, and landed in New York in June1756. Reinforcements brought the number upconsiderably, and overall command was given tothe Earl of Loudon. In command of the Frenchin Canada was that astute general the Marquisde Montcalm, who excelled in carrying out thesort of petite guerre that caused the maximumtrouble to the British troops - the war of raids,skirmishes and ambushes. Their aptitude in thissort of fighting may have been the reason why theHighlanders remained at Albany, in New YorkState, throughout 1756 and the early part of 1757,undergoing intensive training in forest fightingand irregular warfare. They had been augmentedby the arrival of recruits from Scotland and nownumbered some 1,300 men.

The following year Abercromby became Com­mander-in-Chief vice Lord Loudon who returnedto England. An operation was mounted againstFort Ticonderoga, with the 42nd included in aforce of some 15,000 men. The fort stood on anarrow stretch of ground between Lake Georgeand Lake Champlain, protected both by natureand by human artifice, surrounded by high fieldfortifications where it was not encompassed by atreacherous morass. The French garrison num·bered 5,000 men, a large portion being regulartroops. On 7th July Abercromby's armyapproached and, receiving intelligence that rein·forcements for the garrison were rapidly approach.ing, it was decided to assault the place at once.The attack was launched by four infantry regi.ments, with the 42nd as one of the supportingunits, but they could make no headway against a

,

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- ,••\

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n.e His'hlaDd Regiment, by this dme prom.oted to the42Dd Regiment of Foot, attackjng Fort Ticonderoga inNonhAmerica on7 July 1758, during the Seven Years Warwhich lasted from 1756 to 1763

Inscribed powder-horn of the North American SevellYears War period, 1756-63

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lofty, well-constructed breastwork, reinforced withsharpened trunks of trees and thorny ~ranches.

At this point the Highlanders rushed forward withthe broadsword, apparently of their own volition,slashing and hacking their way up over the ob­structions. But they fell in swathes from the close­range musketry of the French. Time and again theHighlanders surged forward in an attempt tocarry the defences, but to no avail. Only a handfulofm<:n penetrated the dense screen, to be cut downat once by the defenders. So desperate were themaddened Highlanders to cross the defences andavenge their fallen comrades that it requiredorders thrice repeated from the General beforeLieut.-Col. Grant, in command, could prevail onhis men to retire.

After this most bloody repulse, Abercromby'stroops retreated in good order, but the losses hadbeen crippling. Of the 42nd, 3'4 officers and menhad been killed and 333 wounded, roughly halfthe strength of the regiment. Despite its shatteredcondition the 42nd was deputed to cover thewithdrawal, but fortunately pursuit was negligible.The regiment was really in no state to have beatenoff a determined attack.

That its behaviour at Fort Ticonderoga hadbeen of a near superhuman order was acknow­ledged by the King, who made the regiment a'Royal' one., More immediately important wasthe sending from Scotland of three additional com­panies raised in the year '758, and the formationin Perth the same year of a second battalion.While awaiting their replacements the lSt Batta­lion was not employed on active service, but the2nd Battalion had not long to wait before being'blooded'. They embarked for the West Indies,arriving off Martinique on 14 January '759.There was hard fighting against the Frenchoccupation forces and heavy losses from sickness;the change to the rigours of a tropical climate wasespecially severe for the Highlanders, comingmore or less straight from their Scottish hills.When the fighting ended with the French capitu­lation on 1st May, the battalion found it hadsuffered the loss of over 100 men, killed or died ofwounds or disease.

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•mertca

It was not long before both battalions of what wasnow the 42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment - re­joicing in a change of facing colour from buff toblue, the royal colour - were united. They formedpart of a large force under a new Commander­in-Chief, Gen. Amherst, numbering over 14,000

men assembled at Fort Edward in June '759. Thecampaign was largely uneventful, for when theentire forces moved on the notorious Fort Ticon­deroga, the French set fire to the place andabandoned it. After some further desultorymanreuvres and various amphibious operations onLake Champlain the army went into winterquarters.

1760 was notable for the capture of Montrealfrom the French. The 42nd was in the army underGeneral Amherst which mustered at Fort Oswegoat the beginning of August, and its lSt Battalionwas in the advanced guard which first marchedacross country, then proceeded down the StLawrence by boat. The army disembarked on 6thSeptember only a few miles above Montreal,having lost several men while negotiating theriver's dangerous rapids. Two other convergingforces united around the city immediately after­wards and the French commander, recognisingthe futility of resistance, surrendered.

After a well-earned rest the two battalions ofthe 42nd sailed for Barbados in October '76" tojoin an expedition against Martinique. Stiff

Backsword carried by the .pnd Royal Highland Regitnentduring the North Atnerican Seven Years War period,"S6-jj3

fighting culminated in the city's capitulation andthe winning of all the Windward Islands. Thiscest the HigWanders 15 killed and 86 wounded,but they were building up a reputation as fiercefighters. A journal of the time describes an inci­dent in the Martinique fighting: 'The High­landers, drawing their swords, rushed forwardlike furies."

Upon the declaration of war with Spain anattempt was made against Havana, capital ofCuba and the centre of the Spanish West Indianempire. A large fleet and armament were preparedfor this enterprise, and Lord Albemarle was incemmand of the land forces which included bothbattalions of the Royal Highlanders. The fleetsighted Havana on 6 June 1762 and disembarka­tion began the following day. Then began a dread­ful and most arduous siege. The objective wasinitially the fortress known as the Moro, withsickness and mortality rates rising steeply duringthe forty days of the siege. The place was eventu­ally mined and the following assault, led by Lieut.­Col. Grant of the {2nd, was a triumph. The citysurrendered on 13th August, nine weeks after thefirst landing. The {2nd lost comparatively few toenemy action, but illness exacted what was by nowa familiar toll to troops in the West Indies, over80 fatalities from this cause. Indeed, it seemsthat the overall losses of the regiment over theprevious years must have been very considerable,for before leaving Cuba the two battalions,evidently much reduced, were amalgamated intoone.

Immediately after the successful siege of Moro,this one battalion embarked for New York.Arriving in October, they returned to theirfamiliar quarters in Albany. They remained thereuntil the summer of the following year when theywere detailed to join a force under the command

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of the famous Indian fighter, Col. Bouquet, whoseaim it was to relieve Fort Pitt, under attack by aconfederation ofIndian nations. In this expeditiontheir forest training was put to constant use. Onone occasion, while escorting a convoy of pro­visions through dense woods in Bushy Run, insouth-western Pennsylvania, they were ambushedby Indians in such numbers that they were hardpressed. However, the Indians were lured by afeigned withdrawal into pressing home an attackinstead of adhering to their normal skirmishing

Halberd - a type of double-edge battle-axe, 5 feet in lengthwith steel-shod butt and carried by sergeants of infantryup to I79Z

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~-'.~~~--"""'------"""--'-----------~•

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Highlanders of the DOW 42nd (Royal Highland) Regimenton the advance to the relief of Fort Pitt) :1763-4, under thecommand of the faDlOUS Indian fighter, Col. Bouquet

tactics. The HigWanders prompdy turned andconfronted them, and the broadsword provedmore than a match for the tomahawk. But thisclose fighting was particularly deadly, and theHighlanders in this brief encounter lost 29 killedand 36 wounded. Fort Pitt was relieved soonafter, and the survivors were able to recuperatethere.

The Highlanders garrisoned Fort Pitt untilt 767, when they left Philadelphia for Ireland. Ontheir arrival at Cork an intensive recruiting cam­paign was mounted immediately, and by thefollowing year the strength was up to establish­ment. During the regiment's sojourn in Ireland,an uneventful period, certain improvements weremade to the uniform. White waistcoats weresupplied to take the place of the old red ones, andthe Colonel personally provided the men with newwhite sporrans, thus considerably brightening theuniform. 6 The sergeants were provided withcarbines to replace the massive Lochaber axe. Atlength in 1775, after an absence ofthirty-two years,the regiment came back to Scotland, the first timeit had set foot on its native soil since, as the old43rd, it had marched south to London and theContinent.

The stay in Scotland was a short one, for in 1776the War of American Independence brokc outand on 1St May the Black Watch sailed fromGreenock for 'the Americas' once again. Theylanded on Staten Island in New York Harbouron 5th August. There was an immediate reorgani-

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sation, the flank companies being drafted intocombined grenadier and light infantry battalionsrespectively, while the other companies were formedinto two small provisional battalions, one underMaj. William Murray, the other under Maj. Grantof Rothiemurchus; the whole regiment beingunder the command of Lieut.-Col. Stirling. Therewas some discontent in the regiment at the with­drawal from use of both pistols and broadswords,the theory being that they were not suitable forforest fighting.

Col. Stirling was eager to teach his men theelements of close-country fighting, and theHighlanders rapidly absorbed the instruction.Even so the Americans, many of whom had beenborn and brought up in the forests, had greatadvantages. In several actions the initial advan­tage was to the British but, due mainly to lack ofenterprise and decisiveness on the part of the highcommand, the victories were not exploited. The42nd was active in all these engagements. AtWhite Plains, New York State, on 10th October,a large concentration of Americans awaited them.The Black Watch, taking part in an attack whichwas designed as a feint, went about the task withso much vigour that they stormed a steep precipiceand assailed an American force with such violencethat it laid down its arms on the spot.

On loth May at Pisquata, after spending asevere winter in quarters, they were attacked bya strong body of 2,000 Americans. Despite thedisadvantage of being completely surprised (the

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Highlanders' training was somewhat at fault here)they fought back and managed to drive the enemyoff. During that summer they were present at thevictory of Brandywine, where the battalion com­panies were in reserve throughout the battle,although the flank companies which were engagedsuffered considerably.

It seemed the war was going to drag on inter­minably. Little occurred in 1778 except for a raidi;Jy some Highlanders and other troops on theharbour at New Plymouth, to destroy an assemblyof privateers. The operation was a completesuccess, the stores at the harbour and many vesselsbeing destroyed. This was doubtless the reason forthe 42nd being selected for a similar task inApril 1779 when the target was Portsmouth inVirginia. In October the regiment was back inGreenwich, ew York.

It was again a bitterly cold winter and theHighlanders were probably glad to join Sir HenryClinton's army before Charleston, South Carolina,on 18th April. The garrison surrendered about a

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Badges of the BlackWatch

I Feather bonnet badgeof rank and file,1861-']1, in gUt

2 Sergeant's glengarryhadge,x868-9, butworn unofficially bysergeants until 1926.Star and cross inwhite metal, '42' inwhite metal, andremainder gilt

3 Cap badge of 73rdRegim.ent prior to1881 (wben the 7Jrdbecame the 2ndBattalion the BlackWatch)

4 Black Watch badge ­Queen'. Crown,1902-37. After 1937the scrolls wereremoved from thecross

5 Black Watch badge ­King's Crown

month later, whereupon the regiment returned toew York and remained there until 1782. In that

year the war ended and America achieved herhard-won independence. Immediate reductionswere the order of the day, and the establishmentof the 42nd was reduced to eight companies of50 men each, the officers of the ninth and tenthcompanies being retained as supernumeries to fillplaces in the first eight as vacancies occurred.'The eight-company establishment did not last forlong, for two new ones were added in '787.

The regiment suffered a sad loss in May 1787on the death of its Colonel. Lord John Murrayhad commanded it for forty-two years, and at thetime of his death he was the senior officer of thearmy. His successor as Colonel was Sir HectorMunro.

In 1789 the regiment left America. Arriving atPortsmouth, they wintered at Tynemouth Bar­racks and, in May 1790, marched through Berwickand Edinburgh to Glasgow, back to a welcomefrom 'their ain folk' .

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lexandria

For the next four years the regiment enjoyed thebenefits of a home posting. But it was a mixedblessing as, for a considerable part of the time, theHighlanders were employed in aiding the civilpowers to quell various disturbances in parts oftheir own country. First, it was fellow Highlanderswho were the cause of the military action, agitat­ing against the iniquitous system of 'clearances'which was transforming huge tracts of populatedareas of the Highlands into sheep pasture, andwhich encouraged the consequent disastrous de­population of northern Scotland. Next, it was inthe Lowlands that the regiment found itselfputting down civil action.

Such distasteful duties ended when war wasdeclared against Revolutionary France in '794,and late that year the 42nd joined an expeditionto the Low Countries. Hardly had the regimentjoined the army there when it was ordered toreturn to England to join a force destined to actagainst the French in the West Indies. Thisoperation did not materialise, however, and afterspending some time in the Channel Islands theHighlanders returned to astend to form part ofthe force under Lord Moira. This force at oncejoined the main army led by the Duke of York,command of the brigade comprising the 42nd andthe Guards being given to Lieut.-Gen. Aber­cromby. After considerable skirmishing with theenemy the 42nd was present at the Battle of

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.,Geldermalsen in January 1795. The regiment did

•not suffer greatly, but French pressure was every~

where very severe and their forces were rapidlyincreasing in strength. The comingofwinter addedto the privations the British troops were suffering,and finally a general retreat was ordered. Mter allsorts of vicissitudes the troops reached Bremen atthe beginning of April, and on the 14th of themonth sailed for England. The losses suffered bythe 42nd during this ill-starred and badly managedcampaign were slight, only 25 being killed orperishing from disease.

On its return the regiment was brought up tostrength from drafts supplied by other Highlandunits, raised the previous year and now disbanded;and it was detailed to join a very large expeditionagainst the French in the West Indies. This under­taking was frustrated by a spell of the mostappalling weather then known. Several starts weremade, but many ships were sunk or went astray instorms. Finally five companies of the Highlandersunder Lieut.-Col. Dickson arrived at Gibraltar,while the other five reached Barbados on 9February 1796. It was decided to make an assaulton the island of St Lucia and, after some verysharp fighting, the regiment was sent from StLucia to St Vincent. The 42nd was part of theinvasion force which landed on 8th June andattacked the enemy two days later. There followeda period of very bitter fighting in the rough andbroken interior of the island, with heavy casualtiesand, as always in the West Indies, mortality fromdisease staggeringly high.

The next island to be attacked was Trinidad,which surrendered without trouble; and fromthere another body of troops, again including theRoyal Highlanders, was dispatched to PuertoRico. But the defences of this place proved toostrong for the modest army which had been sent,and it had to re-embark. The Highlanders returnedto Martinique and thence back to England, butthey left home shores almost at once to join theother five companies still serving on Gibraltar.

The regiment, some 1,100 strong, took part inthe expedition to Minorea which sailed from theRock on 24 October '797, reached the island on6th November and landed almost unopposed.Citadella, the principal fortress, was invested on14th November and surrendered the following day.

Left:Officer's gorget of Maj.(later Lirut.•Col.) JamesStirling of the 42nd whocaptured the standardof Napoleon's'Invincible' Legion atthe Battle ofAlexandria, 1801.Officers wore the gorgetfastened to the upperbuttons of the coat todenote rank

Right:Officer's sporran wiih'Alexandria Pattern'plate bearing the Sphinx,awarded to the regimentby King George ill inconunelIloradon of theirvictory in driving theFrench Arm.y out ofEgypt in 1801

The resulting possession of Minorca was con­sidered to be of the greatest strategic importance,for it was planned to use it as an assembly base foran army to act in the Mediterranean theatre ofoperations. The first enterprise was the relief ofGenoa, but it started too late and Genoa sur­rendered to the French before the relief arrived.

On 2 October 1800 another operation wasmounted, this time against the Spanish port ofCadiz. This, too, was abortive, the attackers beinghurriedly withdrawn when it was discovered thatplague was raging in the city. Back went the fleetto Gibraltar, and there it was given a newdestination - Egypt. Shortly before Christmasanchor was raised and, after pausing at a Turkishport in Greece, the fleet arrived off the Egyptiancoast on I March 180 I. Carrying the 42nd as partof the reserve, the great array of ships anchored inAboukir Bay, ready for the perilous task oflandingon a hostile shore in the face of a numerous anddetermined enemy.

At 2.00 a.m. on 8th March the first stages of thelanding were begun. The troops took to the boats,

with the 42nd in the centre of those carrying thefirst wave. This was a hazardous and difficultoperation to be carried out in almost total dark­ness, but although several landing craft wentastray and were late in assuming proper station,the component parts of the entire landing flotillawere finally in their correct places. At long last,about g.oo a.m., the vessels started to move to­wards the beaches, immediately coming underlong-range fire from the French batteries and, asthey came nearer, being swept by volleys ofmusketry. Nevertheless the landing went ahead,and soon the Highlanders were pressing up steepand sandy slopes, crowned by men and guns. Upthey went with a characteristic rush and yell,driving the French back with the bayonet, andfollowing this up by hurling back a cavalrycounter-attack. Everywhere the enemy recoiled inconfusion and this most dangerous of all militaryoperations was a complete success. However, asmight have been expected in such circumstances,losses were heavy, and of the 42nd nearly 200 ofall ranks were killed and wounded.

15

The next few days were devoted to the build-upof the beachhead. Many fresh troops and quan­tities of supplies were ferried ashore, and'on 13thMarch the army was ready to move forward. Atfirst the French resisted the advance, but thenchanged their plan and retreated to their defencesat Alexandria. At once Gen. Abercromby decidedto force their lines by a coup de main, but theFrench position was exceedingly strong. The firstforward move by the British was met by an intensefire which caused very heavy losses and an eventualretreat.

The decisive battle, however, was daily expectedand not to be long delayed. The opposing armiesfaced each other for a week, the British standingto arms at 3.00 a.m. every day until finally on,2t March I80t, the desert exploded with all thesound and fury of battle. The 42nd was posted onthe right of the British line, not far from an ancientruined palace, when the French advanced andattacked. Just before this - it was still very dark ­the left wing of the 42nd had been detached sOmedistance forward of the right wing and there was

an interval of about )200 yards between the twosections. The French took advantage of this tocarry out a most astute rnanocuvre, sending astrong column of infantry in the utmost silence toinfiltrate between the two separated wings of theHighlanders. This was detected, however, and theright wing went for the intruders with thebayonet, while the left wing, facing about, likewisecharged home. The French put up a terrific fightbut were driven into the ruins of the palace}followed by the 42nd in full chase.

The French attack was now general all alongthe line, and the Highlanders were withdrawnfrom the fighting in the ruins and formed up tosupport and extend the main front line. It was nowalmost daylight, and under the eye of Gen. Aber·cromby the Highlanders charged yet again,driving the French back across the sand. Butbefore they could draw breath, squadrons ofenemy cavalry came hurtling down upon them.They were scarcely able to get into line, let aloneform square to repel cavalry, but met the Frenchhorsemen with a hail of musket balls. But after

J

Sergeant's parade jacket (front and rear) t:882, of light­weight drill m.aterial. After 1881 N.C.O.s' chevrons wereworn on the right ann only

16

,,-, ....

Kit plate of the 73rdRegiment of Foot, 1880

-<- .~ • " ... -- ..""""!' -- .... -~'~_.""""'~.'--

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The 73rd Regiment ofFoot were origina1Jy the2nd Battalion, RoyalHighland Regiment,and redesignated the2nd Battalion theBlack Watch, in ISSX

I Officer's shako,1855--61

2 Forage.cap with redand white checkedband, 1862

3 Officer's shako, bell·topped pattern,,8""-4

4 Officer's shako, ISSI5 Officer's cap, 185:1

54

1

another infantry assault the regiment was in aparlous state, much reduced in strength and theirammunition almost exhausted.

Fortunately at this juncture a fresh brigade ofinfantry came up to support the exhausted High­landers and the moment of peril passed. Still theenemy came on to the attack, but at this point theHighlanders and their supporting units were incommand of the situation. By about 8.00 a.m. theenemy had everywhere been flung back, althoughtheir heav.y artillery was still active, the roundshot tearing great gaps all along the British ranks.This was particularly serious for the Highlanders,who were in a very exposed position without coverof any kind. However, as the morning wore on,the French made a general retreat and by 10.00a.m. they were back in their positions in front ofAlexandria.

The victory had cost the life of the 42nd'SCommander-in-Chief, the gallant Abercromby,who was wounded by a musket ball and died onboard ship some days later. The Highlanders'losses were 54 killed and 261 wounded.

Though soundly defeated in the battle, theFrench were still a formidable force. But the endwas inevitable: first Cairo was taken, and thenGen. Menou, the French commander in Alexan­dria, signed a capitulation on 2nd September.The Egyptian campaign was over. To the High­landers it was the occasion of their receiving theSphinx and the word 'Egypt' for their colours.

The regiment was one of the first to return toBritain, arriving in December 1801 and forthwithtaking up garrison duties at Winchester.

In May 1802, soon after a review at Ashford inKent by King George III, the 42nd marched toEdinburgh, but stayed only a short while beforemoving by sea to Harwich and on to a camp inEssex. The following year a second battalion wasagain raised for the regiment, this time at FortGeorge, where the final muster produced a verystrong battalion of over 1,300 men. The 2ndBattalion joined the first in Essex and bothremained there until September 1805 when the1St Battalion was sent to reinforce the garrison atGibraltar.

•17

•

1808 saw the beginning of the long and bloodyseries of campaigns which ended in the expulsionof the French invaders from the Iberian Peninsula.After Sir Arthur Wellesley's victory at Vimeiro,the 1st Battalion of the Highlanders came up fromGibraltar to join the British Army under the com­mand of Sir John Moore in Portugal. The initialaim was for the British forces to unite with theSpanish armies in the field, but on his movetowards Salamanca, the first point of concentra­tion, Moore and his men found nothing of theSpanish troops who were supposed to join them.On the contrary, from every side came news of thedestruction or dispersal of British forces.

Moore determined to maintain his advance. On21st December he was met by the supporting forceof Sir David Baird, thus bringing his army to agrand total of over 28,000 men. But on the 23rdMoore arrived at Sahagun, to learn that Napoleonhimself with 40,000 men was in full march fromMadrid. The inevitable retreat began on 24thDecember, and bitter medicine it was to thetroops. When the order was communicated to 'the42nd, the ground was littered with musketsthe Highlanders had flung down in disgust. Inmany regiments discipline completely disappeared;and in dreadful winter conditions of snow andblizzard the army retreated 250 miles through the

Officer'. shoulder-belt plate of Peninsular War period,~808-I4

mountainous counfry of Galicia. With moral,deteriorating daily, and with completely inade·quate provisions, it was rather surprising that anytroops remained in formation. Finally, afteIprivations rivalling those experienced by theFrench in their retreat from Moscow a few yeanlater, the British reached Corunna and turned tomeet the pursuing French.

Moore drew out his army in an S-shaped linearound the town and suburbs. Bentinck's brigadeof three regiments, one of them the 42nd, wasposted where the Commander-in-Chief antici·pated the greatest weight of the French attackwould fall. And so it did. At an early stage thetroops came under a furious artillery barrage.Characteristically Moore was at the danger-pointhimself, and when he saw a chance to strike theadvancing French infantry he ordered the 42ndto charge. The Highlanders rushed down theslope, and after one quick and deadly volley theywere at grips with the bayonet. Before the fury ofthe charge the French fell back but, like the finesoldiers they were, they rallied and held the High.

The'Peninsular

18

Janders halfway down the slope. The Highlanderstook up a position behind some straggling andruinous walls. To and fro swayed the fighting, andso intense was the musketry that the 42nd'sammunition was soon nearly exhausted. ButMoore was again on hand; he reassured the High­landers, and reminded them that they still hadtheir bayonets. It was shortly after this, whenwatching the Guards coming up to support theHighlanders, that a round shot struck him, dash­ing him mortally wounded from his horse. Asdarkness approached, support had again to begiven from the Guards as the shortage of ammu­nition continued. But at night the French fellback, and did not hinder the British evacuation.Having suffered over 200 casualties in the battle,the 42nd arrived back in England, and were sentto Shorncliffe.

During the following summer the regiment tookpart in the ill-famed expedition to Walcheren inHolland, where, in six weeks, it suffered so heavilyfcom the dreaded 'Walcheren fever' that itreturned to this country reduced to some 200 fitmen, hardly having been in action. It returned toEdinburgh for much-needed recruiting.

Meantime the 2nd Battalion, which had beenstationed in Ireland since 1805, had been sent toPortugal to join Wellington's army. It had takenpart in many famous battles, including Busaco on27 September 1810, when Massena's troopsassaulted the ridge held by the British infantry;garrisoned the lines of Torres Vedras which hadproved the high-water mark of the French in­vasion of the Peninsula; and had withstood theFrench cavalry at Fuentes de Onoro. There thesituation was described by the historian Napier inthe words, 'there was not in the war a moredangerous situation'.

In May 1812 the 1st Battalion came out fromBritain to amalgamate with the 2nd and thecadre of the 2nd returned home, leaving the 1stwith a strength of over 1,100 men.

Two months later, in the heat of July, wasfought the Battle of Salamanca. After several daysof marching and countermarching the British andFrench armies, commanded by Wellington andMarmont respectively, finally clashed, and '40,000men were beaten in forty minutes'. Wellington,with his eagle eye for a situation, saw that Mar-

mont's army had become over-extended, and atonce flung his army at the weakest part of theFrench. The British cavalry excelled itself andthe infantry, including the 42nd, fought stoutlyagainst a bitter defence. The French were unableto recover from the initial disadvantage andthe battle became a total rout. Marmont waswounded, his successor likewise, and no fewer than7,000 prisoners and two of the famous eagles weretaken.

Wellington's next operation was less successful.After a triumphal entry into Madrid on 12thAugust, the British Army marched north and inSeptember laid siege to the castle of Burgos. Theplace was more or less in ruins, but the Frenchgarrison had put in a great deal of work onstrengthening the defences, including an importanthornwork which would have to be taken beforeany assault on the castle. At dusk on the 19th theattack was mounted, the columns including the42nd. After heavy losses the attacking troops werethrown back, save at one point where an entrancewas made and the hornwork quickly capturedthereafter. The assault cost the Highlanders nearly300 in killed and wounded. Batteries were thenerected to bombard the castle, but there was alack of heavy siege guns. When three successiveassaults, mounted after the explosion ofmines, hadbeen repulsed, and Wellington heard that strongFrench reinforcements were coming up, hedecided to raise the siege. The operation hadlasted thirty-three fruitless days.

The retreat from Burgos seems to have de­moralised the army, and discipline went almostcompletely by the board. Wellington did notimprove matters by issuing an order blaming ­unjustly, as many thought - the regimental officersfor want of order in their units.

After a winter spent quietly on the Portuguesefrontier, the spring of 1813 saw the army on themove again. This time Burgos had been evacuatedand blown up by the French, and everywhere themovements of the British and their allies weredirected towards France. On 2IstJune Wellingtonclashed at Vittoria with the French under MarshalJourdan and Joseph Bonaparte. In the great battlewhich followed, the 42nd fought in Sir ThomasGraham's brigade, which saw sharp fighting andonly just failed to cut French communications

•19

Officer's parade spor~ post·I88I to present day. ThegUt top introduced in 1870 replaces the old lace·boundtop of earlier sporrans, au.d the number of tassels in. thedress sporran has been reduced from six to five. Theshield below the top was reJDoved au.d the St Andrewplaced in. the centre of the .metal top, but with a small '.p'beneath. This has since been removed

Glengarry or cundress' cap for officers and men, 1863-81.After 1902 the feather bOllDet was worn Dilly in. leveedress au.d review order, au.d the glengarry in all otherorders of dress

with Bayonne. In the ensuing weeks the Britishbattled their way through the passes of thePyrenees and entered France on 7 October 1813.At the fighting at Nivelle on 10th November the42nd lost some thirty men.

After this there was a period of inactivity whenwinter put an end to active campaigning, but on27 February [814 Wellington went into actionagainst the French, now under Marshal Soult, atOrthez. After a desperately fought engagementthe enemy made a hasty retreat. The end of thePeninsular campaign was in sight, and after moresevere fighting the climax was reached when theBritish Army stood before Toulouse.

On 10th April the attack was launched with the42nd on the enemy's right. As they moved forwardacross a ploughed field they were met by a hurri­cane of fire followed by a charge of Frenchinfantry down a hillside. The Highlanders wereable to drive them back over the crest and, afteran interval for re-forming, the 42nd led the attack

on a line of redoubts. Fire was extremely con·centrated, and out of the 500 men who hadparaded before the battle scarcely 100 reached theobjective redoubt. There they discovered theenemy had fled. The fighting had been so severethat the colours had been held in succession bythree different officers, and at the end werecarried by a sergeant. The redoubt was stillsuffering the fire of both sides, many British troopsbeing unaware that it had been taken. After afinal unsuccessful French counter-attack theenemy fell back into Toulouse. The day's fightinghad told heavily on the Highlanders, 54 killedand 267 wounded.

On the following day Toulouse was entered andwithin a week the Frcnch armies in the south hadsurrendered. The Highlanders were sent home,this time to Ireland, where they were reinforced bythe men of thc 2nd Battalion, previously sent homefrom the Peninsula, and now disbanded at Aber­deen. The regiment was again a single battalion.

20

'The Black Watch at Bay' painting by W. B. Wollen, R.I.The regiInent repelling the charge of the French cavalryat Quatr.e Bras - prelude to Waterloo - in June ISIS

action from Bonaparte. But two days later theFrench, in great strength, crossed the frontier andflung themselves upon the Allies, who were widelydispersed and far from their concentration points.Wellington's reconnaissance was faulty and hewas late in receiving definite knowledge of theFrench onslaught. Then it was 'bundle and go' forthe troops of the Allied army, a heterogeneousmixture of British, Belgians, Brunswickers andmany others.

Brigaded with the 1st, 44th and 92nd Regi­ments under Sir Denis Pack, the 42nd marchedfrom Brussels at 4.00 a.m. on I6thJune, with pipesplaying and drums beating. By early afternoonPicton's division, to which the brigade belonged,arrived at Quatre Bras in time to provide valuableassistance to the Prince of Orange, whose menwere under attack by Marshal Ney. On the arrivalof the British the French batteries redoubled theirfire and Wellington, who had now assumed overallcommand on the field, directed Picton to place histwo brigades along the road leading from QuatreBras to Namur. At this time the French greatlyoutnumbered the British, and Wellington, whoseright was threatening to give way, ordered

7he'Waterloo ampaign

On I March 1815 Napoleon landed in Francefrom Elba; by 20th May he was in Paris. Thepipes of war were again sounding for the 42nd,and yet again the regiment found itselfin the LowCountries, initially stationed at Brussels.

On 13th June Wellington wrote from Brusselsthat it was unlikely there would be any immediate

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Picton's division to attack in order to relieve thepressure on the opposite flank. The Frenchskirmishers who had been firing upon the Britishretired precipitately, but their scattered musketrywas replaced by destructive volleys from the mainbodies of the French. Nevertheless, the Britishtroops pressed rapidly forward, the 42nd underLieut.-Col. Sir Robert Macara being well to thefore.

Meantime, a strong force of French lightcavalry had ridden well past the 42nd's line to anobjective behind them and, on being repelled,came thundering back on the rear of the High­landers. Posted as they were in a field of nearlychest-high wheat, the HigWanders' vision waslimited, and they took the cavalry to be an Alliedregiment. As soon as they had been recognised forwhat they were, the 42nd immediately set aboutforming square, the flank companies running in tomake up what was normally the rear face. butwhich on this occasion was that actually opposedto the enemy. The flank company men and theFrench cavalry collided just as the former werereaching the half-formed square, and many of

them carried on into the centre, Highlanders andlancers mixed together in confusion. The momentwas one of extreme peril, but the 42nd'S disciplinewas of the best and the men were unshaken. TheFrench who had charged into the centre of thesquare were hemmed in and all were either shotor bayoneted, but the fight was a desperate oneand the lances of the French caused tremendoushavoc. Lieut.-Col. Macara was slain by a lance­thrust, and within a few minutes the commandchanged three times as officers were wounded, thelast being Maj. Campbell, who had charge of thebattalion for the remainder of the campaign.

Casualties from musketry and gunfire hadalready been very heavy, and very many moremen had fallen in the struggle with the cavalry.So shattered were the 42nd and its neighbouringregiment, the 44th, that both were ordered to forma single square and were posted on a low ridgenear at hand, but further cavalry attacks werelaunched upon them. The French horsemen weremet by a tremendous fire from the muskets of theunited 42nd and 44th at point-blank range, butthey courageously pressed on and the area was

22

engulfed in a sea of cavalry. No sooner had oneattack been beaten off than another came chargingdown.

Realising that he had no hope of cavalrysupport, Picton united two of his foot regiments,the 1St Royals and the 28th, and led them inperson to the reliefof Pack's attenuated regiments.There followed further confused fighting, chargesand counter-charges, but despite all their effortsthe French cavalry failed to ride down the square.Finally the French fell back from the appallingconfusion to re-form, and this afforded an oppor­tunity for the French guns to sweep the squares",th roundshot. French light infantry also creptforward to fire on the squares with their muskets.The British ammunition position was now des­perate. Sir Denis Pack asked for support from freshtroops just arriving on the battlefield, and someHanoverian battalions were directed forward.

Elsewhere, other newly arrived British troopshad begun a steady advance, recapturing all theground previously lost to the French during theday. After sunset the fighting ended, with Neyfinally realising the impossibility of success andwithdrawing his forces to a defensive line.

The murderous nature of the fighting at QuatreBras had been almost without precedent. Not farshort of 300 officers and men had been killed orwounded and never was a regiment more deserv­ing of being singled out for praise than was the42nd in Wellington's report.

Two days later, on the morning of 18th Juneafter a night of torrential rain and thunderstorms,Wellington's army lay along the ridge of Mont StJean, awaiting the attack of the French forcesassembled across the valley to their front: this wasthe day of Waterloo, destined to determine thefate ofEurope for a century. Among the regiments,near broken from the fighting at Quatre Bras, wasthe 42nd. With the remnants of Pack's greatlyreduced brigade they took up a position in line ofbattalion columns some distance to the north-eastof the farm of La Haye Sainte, the centre of theAllied position. The battle opened at about11.30 a.m. when the British at Hougoumont, onthe right of the line, came under attack; but it wasnot until early afternoon that the French made amajor thrust against Wellington's left centre. First,clouds of sharpshooters moved up the slopes

towards the British lines, and soon musket ballswere whistling through the ranks of the High­landers. Immediately after came the massiveFrench columns of assault. Picton deployed histwo brigades, Pack's and Kempt's, to meet theattack - at the most 3,000 against the 12,000 of theenemy. The main brunt of the fighting fell toKemp!'s brigade, who held on most gallantly untilthe British heavy cavalry intervened, and theenemy were flung back down the slope. Then camea great French cavalry attack, thousands of horse­men flooding up the slopes in an attempt to break

Officer'. epaulettes of Waterloo ~riod, 18IS

down the infantry squares. Between the cavalryattacks the infantry were assailed by round shotand the fire of infantry skirmishers.

Finally, the farm of La Haye Sainte was seizedby the French in another infantry attack. But the'rutter exhaustion and lack of reserves preventedany substantial exploitation of this success. At theclimax of the battle the final attack, that bythe Imperial Guard, was repulsed, and at oncethe French were everywhere in retreat. The battlewas won.

The 42nd was not as heavily engaged as atQuatre Bras, but its 50 killed and wounded wasa high enough total considering the casualties ofthe fighting two days before.

Following Waterloo, the 42nd joined in thegeneral Allied advance to Paris, and after somemonths there returned home at the end of 18 I 5 fora perio? of about ten years' peace-time soldiering.

23

Officers' uniforms in partieular were nothing shortof magnificent with much gold lace, heavy bullionepaulettes for the shoulders, and white 'gaiters' orspats - all contributing to the splendour of theHighlanders on parade. True, the old uniform hadbecome considerably debased, the plaid beingreplaced by a species of tartan 'shawl' pinned tothe shoulder, to the disgust of many. In 18{2 a2nd, or Reserve, Battalion was raised, bringingthe regiment's strength up to twelve companies,and numbering about 1,200 rank and file.

In 1854, on the outbreak of war with Russia,the {2nd sailed for the Middle East under thecommand of Col. A. D. Cameron. On landing atScutari they were drafted into the HighlandBrigade with two other famous Highland regi­ments, the 79th and the 93rd. Commanded by thefamous Sir Colin Campbell, this was the beginningof a unit which was to make history on manyoccasions. Events moved rapidly; after landing inthe Crimea, the {2nd marched for Sebastopol andon 20th September was present when the BritishArmy met the Russians in the Battle of the Alma.

The French and British forces were intended tomanceuvre in concert, but a gap opened betweenthem and the bulk of the Russian army wasdirected at the British. The Russian commander,however, did not take advantage of the favourablesituation and the British troops began the crossingof the Alma River. On the left was the Highlandbrigade, marching in echelon of regiments, the{2nd in the lead, with the Guards brigade close by,all advancing towards the very strong positionheld by the 3,000 men of the Russian infantry.Led by the brigade commander himself, and firingas they marched, the 800 Highlanders movedsteadily onwards, a determined line ofdark tartan,red coats and high feathered bonnets. They ad­vanced up the last few yards of the slope, colourswaving and bayonets glittering, and straight intothe Russian ranks. The Russians fell back almostimmediately and left the field to the Highlanders.

History relates that the brigade commander,Sir Colin Campbell, asked official permission towear the Highland bonnet during the remainderof the campaign. Permission was granted, and thebonnet carried a special 'hackle', the upper thirdred for the {2nd, and the lower two-thirds whitefor the 79th and 93rd. 7 When Sir Colin arrived for

TherimeaandIndia

•

White gaiters as worn :1882-5. White 'gaiters' or spatswere introduced for daily parade and ordinary guardduties in 1826, and after 1836 were rnade of white drill.Some curious fables have been invented about the originof the square-cut toe, but this was IDerely a tailor's deviceto prevent the end from working to one side or other ofthe toe-cap

Now began a lengthy period of inactivity for the{2nd, a period spent partly at home and partly atGibraltar, where it remained some six years. Therewere also brief spells at Malta and in the Ionianislands. As always in peace-time, considerableattention was given to uniform detail. The firsthalf of the nineteenth century was the era whenmilitary uniforms were at their most gorgeous,and correspondingly at their most impractical.

24

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Battle of the Alma, 20 September 1854

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Officer's feather bonnetwith red hackle andsphinx badge inscribed'Egypt' worn during theBattle of the Alm.a, 1854

•

25

the presentation on the battlefield of the Alma hewas greeted with such a storm of cheers that the

•entire British Army wondered what was afoot inthe Highland Brigade.

The 42nd did not play an active part at Bala­clava. Afterwards, Sir Colin Campbell took overcommand of all the forces about the place, and hisplace as commander of the Highland Brigade wastaken by Col. Cameron of the 42nd. The regimentwas engaged in the siege operations againstSebastopol, and was detailed to form part of thereserve for the assault on that part of the fortifi­cations known as the Redan, giving cover to thetroops flung back from the unsuccessful assault. It

•

-was on 9th Septembcr- that a sergeant of the 42nd,•

surprised by the silence of the normally "noisyRussian encampment, ventured carefully forwardon a little personal reconnaissance, to find that theRedan had been completely evacuated. WhenSebastopol itself had fallen, the 42nd remained atKamara until the end ofhostilities. It then returnedto England and, after being reviewed by QueenVictoria, went into garrison at Dover. Thecasualties suffered in the Crimea had been princi­pally due to illness, only 39 officers and menhaving been killed in action, as opposed to the 227who had died of wounds and disease.

Hardly had the regiment settled down when it

Hair sporrans worn during Crbnean period, :1853-6

Left to right:rank and 61e; officer's dress; parade pattern.The rank and file sporran (left) with round top, five blacktassels and long hair, replaced the earlier six-tasselledsquare sporran

26

The officer's dress sporran (centre) with round, wide,gold-lace-bound top and regbnental nwnber OD a giltshield below, replaced the square-topped pattern of theearly 18208. The white goats' hair is longer, the six gold.lace tassels wider apart, and there was generally a smallpocket behind.All ranks wore the sporran on service in the CriJnea

Capt. R. G. CunninghaOl died at Malta on his way hOOlefroDl Sebastopol during the Cri.n:leaa. War, 1855. This earlyphotograph is understood to have been taken by RogerFenton, the pioneer of ~r photography

was under orders for a part of the world it had notpreviously visited - India, where the Mutiny wasin progress. The regiment arrived at Calcutta inNovember 1857 and, on moving up to Cawnpore,was again brigaded with the 93rd Highlanders.Although Lucknow had been reinforced it wasstill under attack, and the new Commander-in­Chief, Sir Colin Campbell, set out to effect itsrelief. This done, he turned back towards Cawn­pore to find that the garrison he had left there todefend the place was under attack from some25,000 men and near to exhaustion. Making aholding attack on the enemy left, he advanced instrength against the other flank. Marching along­side the 93rd, the {2nd advanced boldly with theenemy round shot whistling and bounding throughtheir ranks. Before the Highlanders' attack theenemy broke, the {2nd pursuing with greatdetermination.

Lucknow, however, had again to be recoveredfrom the mutineers, and on 8 March 1858 the

British were before the town with some 25,000men. The fighling raged most fiercely on thefollowing day, with the {2nd and 93rd drivingthe enemy from strong defensive works in front ofthe Martiniere, and clearing them from a furtherline of defences. One party of the {2nd, underLieut. Farquharson, stormed a particularly formid­able bastion, putting the Indian garrison to flightand spiking two guns in the process. For this feat ofarms he was awarded the Victoria Cross. Therebels were overwhelmed, their defensive workscaptured all along the line, and Lucknow wasagain entirely occupied by British troops.

The next task for the {2nd was to participate inthe pacification of Rohilkhand province. Twocolumns of troops were employed to sweep forwardseparately and link up at the provincial capital,Bareilly. On the march, the column of which the{2nd was a part was held up by a jungle fort atRhooyah which refused to surrender. The generalcommanding the column was sufficiently ill­advised to order a frontal attack without havingmade adequate reconnaissance. Four companiesof the Highlanders were involved and {5 werekilled or wounded after persistent attacks hadfailed to carry the place. These losses were in­curred uselessly, for during the following night thefort was evacuated. But so fiercely had the {2ndpressed the attacks that no less than three VictoriaCrosses were awarded to the regiment.

The advance continued, and on 5th May thecolumns were in front ofBareilly. Before the troopscould deploy properly they were ferociouslyattacked by a body of Moslem soldiery who drovebaek by sheer impetus a regiment ofloyal Punjabison to the {2nd. Soon the nearly berserk attackersswept round the flanks of the {2nd and flungthemselves at the regiment's rear. During themelee the Colonel was dragged from his horse andwould have been cut to pieces but for Col.-Sgt.Gardner who accounted for two of the Indianswith the bayonet, saving the Colonel's life andreceiving the Victoria Cross for his bravery.

Some considerable fighting still occurred duringthe rest of the Mutiny campaign, and on onenotable occasion - '5 January 1859 - a party of{o of the regiment held off 2,000 mutineers duringan entire day, gaining two further VictoriaCrosses.

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27

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For the next few ycars the regiment was engagedon fairly minor and sporadic operations. The firstwas the Gold Coast campaign of 1874 against theAshantis, with the dangerous march to the Ashanticapital of Kumasi. When the 42nd reached thecity after fighting its way through numerousambushes and attacks, King Kofi fled into thejungle. The 42nd returned to Portsmouth thesame year, and after sundry other travels abroad

On New Year's Day 1861 new colours werepresented to the regiment at Bareilly; and on 12thSeptember of the same year the old anct treasuredname was restored by order of Queen Victoria,and the regiment's full title was now the 42ndRoyal Highlanders (The Black Watch). In Sep­tember 1862 a new Colonel of the Regiment wasappointed - Maj.-Gen. Sir Duncan Cameron, whohad led the 42nd up the shot-swept slopes of theAlma.

Finally, after ten years in India, the 42nd camehome in March 1868 and was quartered inEdinburgh Castle. Thirty-two years had passedsince it was last in the capital of Scotland, and itsmarch through the city was made to the accom­paniment of the thunderous cheers of the citizenscchoing from the gaunt and grey hulk of the castlerock.

came home again 1n 188 I. This was the year inwhich the old system of regimental numbers wasabolished, and a two-battalion system introduced,each regiment having two battalions which servedalternately at home and abroad. To this end the42nd Regiment was abolished as such, as was the73rd (which had begun its existence as a secondbattalion of the 42nd) and the two became res­pectively the I st and 2nd Battalions of the BlackWatch (Royal Highlanders). The old dark tartanwas worn by both battalions. The regimentaldepot was located at Perth, and so the regimentas we know it today was formed.

It did not have long to wait for action: in 1882the 1st Battalion went to Egypt to take part in thefighting against Arabi Pasha, the leader of theEgyptian revolt against Turkey. In September theEgyptians were ensconced in the lines of Tel-el­Kebir, against which the British marched at nightover the desert.]ust before dawn the Black Watch,in the leading elements of the Highland Brigade,was across the defensive ditch and pouring overthe field fortifications. In less than half an hourthe enemy was in flight.

There followed several battles along the courseof the ile and further south in the Sudan and, in1884, the Black Watch took part in the fierceBattle of EI Teb against a superior force ofdervishes. The battalion was also at Tarnai wherethe dervishes broke an imperfectly formed squareof which the Black Watch was a part. Theseformidable fighters were driven off only at a costto the Highlanders of nearly 90 killed andwounded.

After further fighting, including the Battle ofAbou Klea, the battalion returned to Malta, andthree years later was moved to Gibraltar. In [896it was transferred to India where it was to stay forfive years.

Meantime the 2nd Battalion had been servingin Britain for twenty years when the Boer Warbroke out in 1899. It was at once incorporatedinto [he brigade commanded by Maj.-Gen.Andrew Wauchope, an old officer of the regiment,which left Aldershot on 22nd October and arrivedat Cape Town on 14th November. On lothDecember the brigade advanced against the200-foot-high Magersfontein Ridge. The marchwas made at night, in utter silence, and through a

•rica

Cgyptouth,--"and

28

heavy drizzle which turned the soft soil into mud.It took much longer than anticipated, and dawnwas breaking before the troops reached theplanned start line. The wily Boers had not beentaken by surprise as had been hoped, and theattacking waves, sent into action without havinghad sufficient time to organise properly, were metby a hail of fire from the best riflemen of the time.Men fell in swathes everywhere; Wauchope wasshot dead, and all over the battlefield mencrawled about seeking some cover from the intensefire directed at them from the immunity of thetrenches. So well sited and constructed were thetrenches that virtually nothing of their loca­tion could be seen. The British lay for hour afterhour through the blinding hot day, with theBoer musketry crackling about them. Occasionalattempts were made to rush the trenches or workround the flanks, bu t not a single man reached theobjective. Of the goo or so men of the Black Watchwho had marched towards the ridge, 300 werekilled or wounded in this grossly mismanagedaffair.

Succeeding Wauchope in command of thebrigade was the famous Maj.-Gen. Sir HectorMacDonald, whose military career had started asa private soldier in the Gordon Highlanders. Butthe high command had apparently learned noth­ing from the disaster of Magersfontein. After aforced march from the Madder River and somestiff fighting at Koodoosberg Drift, the battaliontook part in the attack against the Boer Armycommanded by Cronje at Paardeberg Drift, andonce again it was decided to make a frontal attackagainst the Boer positions. Again the assaultingtroops simply withered away in the face ofdevastating rifle fire; but although the frontalattack was a failure the Boers were pinned down,and after a week of bombardment from the Britishguns they surrendered on 27th February.

There was still much fighting and mopping upto be done. After an action at Poplar Grove theBlack Watch marched into Bloemfontein, capitalof the Orange Free State; and then, after an epicmarch of 380 miles in 37 days, the Highlandersreached Pretoria. ow it was simply a question of

Red parade doublet(front and rear) ofMaj.•Gen. A. G.Wauchope, who CODl­

m.anded the 42nd RoyalHighlanders froUl 1865until his death in actionat Magersfontein,South Africa, in tS9tJ

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Officer's white sun.hebnet with miniature red hackle andchin·strap as worn in India in 1911

time before the war reached an end, and only hereand there did an isolated band ofBoers maintain astubborn resistance. To cope with these com­mandos a tremendous system of blockhouses,linked by hedges of barbed wire, was built all overthe country, the aim being to cut down the free­dom of movement of the bands. The Black Watch,based at Harrisburg in the Orange Free State,was active in hunting down the commandos.

In December 1901 there was a happy reunionwhen the 1st Battalion arrived to join the 2nd.They were stationed together to endure the tediumof occupation duty, manning blockhouses, guard­ing railways and other important installations. Intime the 1st Battalion returned to home duty andthe 2nd went on to India for further foreign

•servIce.

30

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In the mighty conflict of the First World War thestory of the Black Watch has a relatively tiny part,although no less than twenty-five battalions of theregiment saw service. Here we have space to tellonly the story of the regular battalions, the I st and2nd, reluctantly omitting the territorial and servicebattalions.

At the outbreak of war on 4 August 1914 the1st Battalion was at Aldershot. It was fullymobilised by 8th August, and on the 14th landedin France at Le Havre. Sent forward at once, itwas in the long and grim retreat from Mons,day-long marches under intense pressure from thepursuing Germans. At long last the withdrawalended and the tide turned at the Battle of theMarne. After the Marne the boot was on the otherfoot and the Germans fell back to the Aisne. Thisbecame the scene of a violent and confused battle,in which the commanding officer of the battalionwas killed along with many another Highlander.Following the battle came the 'digging-in~ and thebeginning of the long, miserable years of trenchwarfare which were to cost so much in lives.

The First Battle ofYpres was fought in Novem­ber when the Germans committed themselves tomass attacks on the British trenches, some mannedby the battalion. Here and there the British lineswere forced back, but held on doggedly, and onthe 13th the Black Watch was withdrawn aftereighteen days of continuous fighting. Therefollowed a month of rest, during which time

•

replacements arrived to fill the gaps left by theheavy casualties, which in the few months offighting amounted to 29 officers and 478 otherranks killed and wounded.

In January 19 I 5 the 2nd Battalion arrived fromIndia, where it had been based on the old stationat Bareilly. It came into the firing line for theBattle of Givenchy, in which the 1st Battalionalso took part. This was the beginning of a year ofattrition, continuous fighting, artillery bombard­ments followed by infantry attacks, and death

JIn Action - The Great War 1915' painting by H. Chartier

always a constant companion. Both battalionswere at Aubers Ridge on 9th May when thebarrage before the infantry attack was wronglysupposed to have destroyed the German barbedwire. For what was probably the last occasion inthe war (as gas-masks were worn subsequently)the Highlanders advanced to the sound of thepipes. They marched directly into concentratedmachine-gun fire and suffered dreadful casualties,but alone of the assaulting troops they reachedtheir objective. Fourteen officers and 462 otherranks. were reported killed, wounded and missing

from the 1st Battalion. The 2nd had a similarexperience, their losses being 270 out of the 450engaged in the battle.

Mter this fighting the battalion was constantlymoved about until the autumn offensive, whenthey were involved in the great Battle of Loos.Losses were so heavy that they had to withdraw toawait the arrival of replacements.

Throughout the year the techniques of trenchwarfare had become more and more sophisticated,both sides devoting all their ingenuity to theirimprovement. Casualties came in a steady stream,and battalions were continually being moved fromtrench to trench with spells of relief behind thelines.

All through 1915 the 2nd Battalion had hardlybeen out of action, and had lost no less than 350killed and 1,080 wounded. Towards the end of theyear it was drawn back out of the line, and on5th December it sailed from Marseilles, arrivingat Basra for service in Mesopotamia on the lastday of the year.

For the 1st Battalion it was to be another year ofthe trenches - raids, barrages, rain and mud; andin July the Battle of the Somme, which lastedthroughout the summer and was utterly fruitless.Hand-to-hand fighting and bombing attacks fromtrench to trench persisted until the battle finallyground to a halt. Casualties had been enormous,but fortunately the winter that followed wascomparatively uneventful. It was spent in sucha desolation that any movement was next toimpossible.

In March 1917 the Germans withdrew to theirlong-prepared positions along the HindenburgLine. With spring there was another offensive andthe Messines Ridges was stormed. In June the1st Battalion was near Dunkirk, where the trencheswere dug in the shifting sands of the dunes, andconcrete pillboxes took the place of dugouts. InJuly came the Third Battle of Ypres, and later itwas the mud of Passehendaele.

Throughout the autumn of 1917 rain and badweather persisted. In December the battalion wasin the Houthulst Forest area, where the defencesconsisted of posts manned by three or four menwith sometimes hundreds of yards between posts,sometimes less.

At the beginning of 1918 weather conditions•

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Officer's dirk belt ofCrintean period (1853-5)

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I

Officer's dirk pre.I88I.I in scabbard;2 side view;3 UIlsheathed showing

battle honours onblade

were as bad as ever, and battalions in the line wererelieved every three or four days. With the warapparently approaching some sort of climax, thedesire for identification of enemy units becamemore and more urgent, and consequently trenchraids were more frequent. In March the Gennanoffensive opened that was designed to break theAllied front. On 8th April the 1st Battalion wastransferred to a position near Bethune, and on the16th went into line at Givenchy, where thedefences had been greatly strengthened. On 17thApril a tremendous bombardment opened on theBritish lines, and on the following day the stormbroke on the 1st Battalion. The line held firm,despite the violence of the assault, and wasstabilised by the night of the 21st, when thebattalion was relieved. Forty-nine officers andmen of the Black Watch had been killed, 74 werewounded, and 258 missing.

In May the remnants of the battalion wereagain in the line. During the summer the Germanswere slowly pushed back again to the HindenburgLine, and on 2gth September the 1st Battaliondrove through and captured hundreds of Germanprisoners and vast quantities of guns and am­munition. It was then launched into Germany inpursuit.

While the 1st Battalion had been enduring therigours of trench warfare, the 2nd had fought itsway through Mesopotamia. Engaged at the Battleof the Wadi in January Ig16, it was reduced tosome 250 men, but nevertheless was on the attackagain at Hanna. In advancing across a bullet­swept area against well-held positions in broaddaylight, it again suffered heavy casualties. Bythis time only gg officers and other ranks were leftof the goo-strong battalion which had arrivedat Basra.

The losses had been so heavy that the 1stBattalion and the 1st Battalion Seaforth High­landers were amalgamated into a single HighlandBattalion, and fought as such until the relief ofKut. At Sannaiyat on 22nd April it was in action,and further casualties reduced it to a mereskeleton. Kut surrendered to the Turks on 2gthApril and the fighting had been in vain.

On 12th July the Highland Battalion was dis­solved, its components re~forming again into theirown battalions. That of the Black Watch num-

•

bered only 15 officers and 226 other ranks. As themonths passed, however, its strength was built upwith the arrival of drafts from home.

In December the advance on Baghdad began.The Turks were by now in retreat, and patrols ofthe Black Watch were the first British troops toenter the city. North of Baghdad there was severefighting at Istbulat. The Turks were stronglyplaced in some old fortifications, but in the face ofheavy fire the Highlanders dashed forward andcleared them. They lost 10 officers and 173 otherranks in killed and wounded in the action.

From Mesopotamia the battalion was sent toPalestine where Jerusalem had been captured, andtook part in the general advance. On IgthSeptember Igl8 the Highlanders were at theBattle of Megiddo where the enemy was brokencompletely. After the battle the advance continuedrapidly, the 2nd Battalion following up theretreating Turks towards Haifa and then on toBeirut. At Tripoli on the Mediterranean wordwas received of the enemy surrender. The warwas over.

The Second World War was as different from theFirst as was the First from any previous wars. Nolonger were troops employed in the field inenormous masses; many morc were required tomaintain the sinews of war, and the relatively newelement of the air became almost paramount.But as always, the 'queen of battles' played a largepart, and of the infantry none more so than the

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Black Watch infantry aboard a Valendne tank, NorthAfrica, I AprU :1943 (I:m.perial War Musewn)

Black Watch (the Royal Highland Regiment),this having been the regiment's official title since

1937·In keeping with the new concept of war,

relatively few battalions of the regiment wereinvolved, although some were to travel evenfurther than their predecessors had done. Even so,it is possible to give only the briefest details of theirvaried stories, although this time we shall includethose which started as territorial battalions. Theyplayed their own tremendous part in the struggle.

At the outset there were the Iwo regular batta­lions, of which the 1St was stationed at Dover andthe 2nd in Palestine. First to move was the formerwhich, very soon after the outbreak of war, wastransferred to France and to quarters at Lens,where it remained for some months except for aspell in Ihe forward line in the Saar at the end ofDecember 1939. In January the 51St HighlandDivision, including the two territorial battalionsoflhe Black Watch, the 4th and the 6th, landed inFrance. According to army policy, the 6th was

34

replaced in the division by the 1St, the 6th takingits place in the 4th Division.

The 'phoney war' ended with the thunderclaof the German blitzkrieg and the retreat tDunkirk. The 6th Battalion was in Flandersscene of so many old battles - and fought a desperately hard rearguard action, doing withoutsleep and food, all the way back to the Channel.Most of the men were able to make their way toDunkirk through the intense confusion about theshrinking perimeter of the evacuation area.

While the retreat and evacuation were pro­ceeding the Higljland Division, including the 1stand 4th Battalions, was in the Saar. An attemptwas made to move it to rejoin the main BritishArmy, but the manccuvre was begun too late andthe division was driven back by relentless batteringas far as the tiny Channel port ofSt Valery. Thereit was surrounded by German armour and withouthope of relief or evacuation. Gen. Fortune, com­manding the division, had no alternative bUI tosurrender. Fortunately the 4Ih Battalion had been

.'

sent well ahead and was evacuated from Cher­bourg on 15th June. But after only forty-eighthours' leave it was en route for Gibraltar where itremained for the rest of the war.

The 2nd Battalion had been moved fromPalestine to British Somaliland, and when, afterbitter fighting, the Protectorate was evacuated thebattalion was moved to Crete. It was holdingdefensive positions around Heraklion airfield inMay 1941 when there came a tremendous attackby German bombers, the prelude to airborneinvasion. Ten days were spent fighting against thecrack German paratroopers before it was decidedby the command that the island should beabandoned. Only 2 officers and 15 men had beenlost during the fighting but, sadly, over 200perished as the vessels transporting them toAlexandria were attacked by German bombers.

Soon after, the battalion was put into Tobrukwhich had been under siege for months. This wasfollowed by one of the most fiercely fought battlesin the career of the regiment, a break-out plannedto link up with the Eighth Army coming fromEgypt. Considerable tank support should havebeen on hand, but the movement failed to co­ordinate and the battalion had to attack withoutany such assistance. Over 600 Highlandersadvanced through machine-gun fire from well­sited German positions round the fortress, but atthe end, to consolidate the ground won, thereremained but 8 officers and 160 other ranks. InDecember some 70 replacements arrived, and atthe turn of the year the battalion was relieved, toproceed first to Syria and then to Bombay, whenceit was diverted after the fall of Burma, the originaldestination.

Back at home the 51st Highland' Division hadbeen reborn after the St Valery debacle, in itsranks the 1st, 5th and 7th Battalions of t.he BlackWatch. Mter intensive training the division sailedround the Cape and arrived in Egypt in August1942. The story ofEI Alamein has been told manytimes, and it suffices to say that the Black Watch­all three battalions - played a heroic role in thevictory and in the hectic pursuit which finallydrove the Germans from North Mrica.

There followed a great deal of amphibioustraining, and on 10thJuly the Black Watch landedin Sicily. By the following month, after stiff

fighting at Vizzini and Genbini, the enemy troopswere driven from the island. Six weeks later theHighland Division sailed for home, leaving onlythe 6th Battalion behind in Italy. It had foughtin Tunisia, suffering severely at Sidi Medienne,and moved into I taly in March 1944. The moun­tain training it had gone through some time previ­ously stood it in good stead in crags and peaksaround Cassino. After the fall of the mountainfortress the battalion fought its way northwardsuntil withdrawn from the line and transferred toGreece for counter-insurgency duties in December

1944·In Britain the army of invasion was steadily

preparing for D-Day, and the southern counties of

Reghnental officer's 'sgian dhu' pre~:I88I. The 'sgian dhu'was introduced for officers about 1840, the 42Dd being oneof the first reginlents to adopt it; but, unlike other regi~

D'lents, the ~d have always worn it only with the longhose and never on parade

England were jammed with troops, transport,guns and tanks. First of the Black Watch batta­lions to set foot on the Continent was the 5th,which landed on the Normandy beaches on theafternoon of D-Day, and soon after was fightingat Breville, north-east of Caen. On 9th June the1st and 7th Battalions sailed from Tilbury with the51st Highland Division, and all three battalionswere in action when the breakout from Caen tookplace. There followed the confusion of the Falaiseoperation, but the enemy was in full retreat,leaving masses of equipment and transport every­where. The Seine was crossed on the last day ofAugust, and on 2 September 1944 the HighlandDivision returned to the town whose name was•

35

Dnun~majors' staffs

Left to right: 1795, 1«}OO, 1745

engraved on the memory of every Highlandsoldier - St Valery. On the following day the

•massed pipes and drums of the division playedretreat in the grounds of the chateau. It was apoignant experience, above all for those veryfew who had been at the surrender and laterescaped.

After turning back to winkle out the Germangarrison at Le Havre - an operation in which the5th and 7th Battalions were engaged - the High­land Division moved eastwards. Subsequently itwas Dunkirk which had to be dealt with, this timeby the 1st and 7th Battalions. This was really asiege operation, and the Black Watch was relievedin October to take part in the final push intendedto crush German resistance. Before this material­ised, however, the Black Watch had to assist incountering the German thrust through theArdennes - the Battle of the Bulge. Following thiscame three weeks of fighting in the ReichswaldForest through which ran the fortification of theSiegfried Line. Deliberate enemy flooding hadturned the country into a swamp, but on 8 Febru­ary '945, under the cover of 1,000 pieces ofartillery, the 1st and 7th Battalions led the assault.The 1st Battalion became the first British unit toenter German territory. Then came the crossingof the Rhine in Buffaloes - heavy armouredamphibious vehicles - by all three battalions onthe night of 22nd March. Under the cover of an

enormous artificial {make cloud the breakthrough•was achieved, only with considerable casualties.

It was the last great battle, and when the endcame the Black Watch battalions were advancingsteadily across the plains of northern Germany.

Far away, almost on the other side of the world,the 2nd Battalion was engaged in the jungles ofBurma as part of the Chindit force. Diseaseexacted a dreadful toll and conditions were theworst the regiment had endured in 200 years.Rain and storms prevented supplies being flownin to the men in the isolated Chindit columns,separated from each other by hundreds of miles ofjungle, and the Japanese were a vigilant, cunningand cruel enemy. After months of intense fightingthe men of the columns were flown back to Indiato recover from their ordeal, and to await the endof the war.

In a way, this really came for the Black Watchon 7 July 1948, when the 1st and 2nd Battalionswere amalgamated into one at Duisberg inGermany, in pursuance ofa decree that all infantryregiments should consist of one battalion only.Thus was formed the Black Watch as it is today.

It may be appropriate to end this all too shorthistory of the Black Watch with an account ofhow the regiment added its most recent battlehonour to its list.

In 1952 the Black Watch sailed on the mostdistant mission it had yet undertaken, to join theCommonwealth Division playing its part in theKorean War in which the Chinese had alreadyintervened so massively. In November the BlackWatch was moved into the firing line, relieving ahard-pressed unit of the American Marine Corps,on a hill dignified with the rather sinister name ofThe Hook, which projected as a kind of salientinto the enemy lines. The defences were in a prettypoor state from previous heavy artillery fire, andalmost as soon as the regiment took up its positionthe bombardment broke out with renewed fury.And even before the shells had ceased to fall,waves of Chinese, their bugles blaring, surgedforward against the hill and poured over the de­fences, where the Highlanders fought them offwith bayonet and rifle-butt. Supporting fire camecrashing down on Highlanders and Chinese alike,and for hours the hand-to-hand fighting con-

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Regim.ental water-bottles

Left to right: 1800, 1860, modern

tinued in the half-ruined trenches and gunemplacements. After the Chinese had retreatedonce, they launched another attack but againwere sent back down the slopes of The Hook.Fighting lasted all through the night, and after athird attack had been repulsed, dawn broke overthe hill to find it still in Black Watch hands, and100 Chinese dead lay around the barbed wireentanglements. The regiment, too, had suffered,losing 16 killed and 76 wounded, but The Hook

NOTES

I. John Home: The History '!i the Rebellion in the YearI745 (London 1802).

2. Colonel David Stewart: Sketches, elc., '!ilhe High­londm '!i Scotland (Edinburgh 1822).

3. The broadsword is what is termed today theclaymore. The original claymore was a tremendoustwo-handed sword, 5 feet or more in length. As far asis known, it was not used in the eighteenth century.

4. The Westminster Journal.5. The Highlanders, in common with other line

infantry regiments, wore red coats; they were notscarlet, the red for the rank and file being more of abrick-red colour. The coats of the officers, being offiner material, may have approached the colourscarlet as we know it.

6. A second battalion had been raised in Scotlandfor the 42nd in 1779, being immediately sent out toIndia where, in 1786, it was re-formed as a separate

•

had been held and the Black Watch had won anew battle honour.

It was an action well worthy of ending thisproud story, which can be most fittingly linkedwith the others with which the history of the BlackWatch is punctuated, names like Fontenoy,Ticonderoga, Corunna, the Alma and Laos - eacha milestone in the long and glorious march madeby the regiment since the day the Highlandersfaced towards the south in far-off '743.

regiment of foot - the 73rd ~ and given green facingsinstead of the blue originally worn.

7. The hackle is the tuft of feathers worn behindthe bonnet badge. The Black Watch is the only High­land regiment to have a red hackle. The BlackWatch's hackIe has a most debatable origin, and somedoubt can be cast on the tradition that it was won as aresult of some dramatic action during the Revolu­tionary Wars. The regiment has officially worn thered hackle since early in the nineteenth century.

GLOSSARY

Sett The pattern of a tartanpoint d 'appui strongpointtarge a small Highland shieldhornwork projecting part ofa system of fortificationscoup de main surprise attacksalient any part of a continuous military line which

projects to\vards the enemy•

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rhe'Plates

AI Private, 1742There is no pictorial evidence of the uniform of theIndependent Highland Companies from which theBlack Watch was formed, but this plate shows a'private man' from the officially issued Representa­tion of Clothing of 1742. The Highlander is in fullpanoply - musket, broadsword (or claymore as itis now known), dirk, and steel Highland pistol ona narrow crossbelt on the chest (sometimes twowould be worn). The man has the original 'beltedplaid' (breacan-an-fheilidh) - the kilt and plaid inone piece of materia!. To put this on, the man laidthe plaid on the ground, lay upon it himself,belted it round his waist, then, having stood up,pinned one of the loose ends to the left shoulder.When unbelted the entire garment could be usedas a blanket.

A2 Grenadier, 1758This is about the time of Ticonderoga. Originallythe grenadiers were the men who hurled the rudi­mentary grenades, and they wore the tall grenadiercap which would not obstruct their overarmthrowing action. Long after the disuse of thisgrenade the biggest and strongest men of theregiment were grouped together in a single com­pany of 'grenadiers' to form a kind of elite, andthey retained the grenadier headgear of variousstyles. That of the 42nd is of fur with an orna­mental front plate. The tunic has the white lace

38

.-with thin red lines, never to be seen again be£auseafter Ticonderoga the facing colour was changedto blue, the royal colour, in appreciation of theregiment's conduct at that battle. The belted plaidhas gone, and the grenadier is wearing the 'littlekilt' .

A3 Piper, 1745Pipers were not part of the official establishmentof a Highland regiment and would not be formany years, but from the outset they formed anessential part of it. This piper's belted plaid is ofthe Royal Stewart tartan, still worn today byBlack Watch pipers. He wears the claymore, for inaction he was wont to cast his pipes aside anddraw his weapon. At this period pipes were of thetwo-drone type; the three-drone type used todaywas already in existence, but apparently not ingeneral use. TO reason can be given for the coloursand design of the pipe banner, which is copiedfrom a contemporaneous source.

B1 Ojfi£er, 1760The coat has long blue lapels laced with gold, andthe gold shoulder knot indicates the rank. Thisofficer wears the recently awarded blue facings ofa'Royal' regiment. The bonnet is blue, fiat, orna­mented with red band and tuft of blue feathers.The belted plaid was still worn.

B2 Officer, [790The bonnet is now rather higher, shaped and hasa diced band. Its tuft offeathers has grown larger.The coat collar is now a stand-up one, and theblue facings are ornamented with square-endedloops. The sporran is probably of spotted seal fur.The belted plaid has been replaced by the littlekilt, that is to say the lower half of the older gar­ment. This is pleated at the rear and the pleatsstitched together, like the present-day Highlandkilt. The separate piece of material attached to thebelt bclow the coat, and to the left shoulder at therear, is a half-plaid.

B3 Corporal, 1808This aggressive-looking type has the uniformimmediately preceding the regiment's involvementin the Peninsular War. During the years in Spainthe uniform was subjected to drastic alterations,and with the paucity of supplies the dress became

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sadly mutilated. However, it is believed that,alone of the Highland regiments, the Black Watchmanaged to preserve the wearing of the kilt inreasonably good order.

C, Private, 1815He belongs to one of the battalion companies (i.e.not including the grenadier or the light company).The detachable peak to the bonnet and the greygaiters were adopted during the Peninsular War.The uniform coat is ornamented with bastionloops (pointed ends) on the buttonholes. Greyblanket rolled on top of knapsack; haversack ofrough fustian material worn with water canteenon left side. The flintlock musket would be one ofthe varieties of the Brown Bess.

C2 Sergeant, IBISThis sergeant of a battalion company wears the'hummel' bonnet with ostrich feathers and adetachable peak tied on with tapes hanging downat the back. No sporrans were WOTn on activeservice. By this time there was a thin black edgingto the pattern of the hose. Sergeants carried thehalf-pike as well as the claymore, and like theofficers wore a crimson sash with a blue stripe, the'facing colour' over the left shoulder.

C3 Officer, 1835Dress regulations first appeared in 1822, but formany years there was little adherence to them.This uniform is of a period of peace when moreattention was paid to the minutiae of dress thanto its practical use in action. The shoulder wingsdo not indicate membership of a flank companyfor all Black Watch officers wore them at thistime. No plaid of any kind is worn.

Dl Officer, 1844The peak of sartorial magnificence was reached atabout this time. The officer's full-dress uniform ismost liberally ornamented with gold lace. Thesponan is of goat hair with the top of gold vellumlace, not the metal oflater years. Buttons were gilt.

D2 Sergeant, 1844White hair sporran with black tassels, blue collarwith large bastion loop. Since 1836 sergeants didnot wear lace loops on the front ofthejacket as didthe privates. Collar, shoulder-straps and cuffs areblue, the last with a red slash and three loops. Thebuttons were of pewter with'42' embossed thereon.

D3 Private, 1882During the Egyptian campaign the sale concessionto the climate was the adoption of the tropicalhclmet - ornamented of course with the redhackle. This is about the last use in the field of thered coat, for khaki was adopted for the Boer War.The method of carrying the equipment haschanged, and all straps are white with brassbuckles. The haversack strap goes over the rightshoulder. The rifle is the Martini Henry of 187 r.

El Officer, 1895This version of full dress persisted up to the out­break of the First World War. The collar is lowertilan before; the hair sporran has black tassels, andthere is a chinstrap to the head-dress. The silversphinx is worn on the cockade, from which rises thered hackle. The claymore in its steel scabbard hangsfrom long slings attached to the white crossbelt.

E2 Corporal, 1899Field service order at the outbreak ofthe Boer War.This was the first occasion when the regiment wentinto action without their red coats; and indeed inthe following year a khaki apron concealed kiltand sporran. The pith helmet is ornamented withthe cherished red hackle. The equipment is theSlade Wallace type just introduced. Rank stripesare of worsted lace.

E3 Drummer, 1895Shoulder wings are ornamented with regimentallace, and the dirk is worn. Th~re is no sparran ordrum apron on this figure. If a sporran is worn itis usually shifted on its strap round to the side toavoid getting in the way of the instrument. Thedrum is supported by a wide white belt.

Fl Private, 1900Rank and file full dress, with white valise equip­ment. A black valise is worn Iowan the back, theovercoat on the shoulders, and a mess-tin betweenthe two. He is wearing the Egyptian campaignmedal and the Khedive's Star. The rifle is an 1895Lee Enfield.

F2 Sergeant, 1916Service dress with 1908 web infantry equipmentconsisting of waistbelt, bayonet frog, cartridgecarriers, two braces, haversack and water-bottle.A steel helmet is worn, and a khaki apron coversthe kilt.

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F3 Piper, 1900The piper is wearing the traditional full.dress withRoyal Stewart tartan and long piper's plaid worndiagonally round the body, with the free endspread over the left shoulder and kept in positionwith a large plaid brooch. Pipe-ribbons and bagare also of the Royal Stewart tartan. The doublet,or uniform coat, is dark green. The sporran has agilt top, and a dirk is worn.

G1 Officer, 1921Full dress with fringed half-plaid held in positionwith elaborate regimental brooch. The sporrantassels and cantle are of gold bullion, and there isgold lace on cuffs and collar. The kilt bears BlackWatch rosettes.

G2 Pipe Major, 1952Full dress, as would be worn at the Edinburghtattoo. All lace and ornaments are silver except forthe sporran top which is gilt. Shoulder wings blue,silver-laced as are the collar and cuffs. The cross­belt is very elaborate and highly decorated withsilver regimental badges.

G3 Private, 1921Full dress of the period, with nothing very note-

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worthy to indicate.' The sporran is of white hallwith black tassels. The rifle is still the LeeEnfieicmodel introduced in 1902.

H1 Corporal, 1969Present-day No. I dress - the nearest approach weare likely to see to the ancient glory of full dress,Green doublet or tunic, white lace, buttonsarranged singly, white leather sporran, and thetraditional square-fronted spats which are uniqueto the Black Watch. The rifle is the standardself-loading type.

H2 Officer, 1970Present-day No.. 1 dress with white leather sporran.The ceremonial steel claymore scabbard is held inthe left hand to avoid its dragging on the groundowing to the length of the supporting belts. Thereare the characteristic square-tronted spats, andlarge green rosettes on the kilt. The crimson sashruns from the left shoulder.

H3 Private, 1968As he would appear on guard duty at EdinburghCastle. He wears the hair sporran introduced inJuly of that year, with white webbing. He hasbeen awarded the United Nations medal forservice in Cyprus.

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Men-at-Arms Series

THE RUSSIAN ARMY OF THENAPOLEONIC WARS Albert Staton

THE SOVIET ARMY Albert Seaton

U.S. MARINE CORPS John Sdby

THE COSSACKS Albert Sealon

BLUCHER'S ARMY Pdtr Young

THE ROYAL ARTILLERY w. r. Carman

THE PANZER DIVISIONS Martin Windrow

JAPANESE ARMY OF WORLD WAR IIPhilip Warner

Martin Windrow

OF THE CRIMEA

MONTCALM'S ARMY

THE RUSSIAN ARMYAlbert Sealon

TITLES ALREADY PUBUSHEDTHE STONEWALL BRIGADE John Selby THE BUFFS Gregory Blax/and

FRENCH FOREIGN LEGION Martin Windrow LUFTWAFFE AIRBORNE AND FIELDFOOT GRENADIERS OF THE IMPERIAL UNITS Martin Windrow

GUARD Charles Grant

THE IRON BRIGADE John Selby

CHA.SSEURS OF THE GUARD PeltT Young

WAFFEN·SS Martin Windrow

THE COLDSTREAM GUARDS Charlu Grant

U.S. CAVALRY John S,lby

THE ARAB LEGION Peter Young

ROYAL SCOTS GREYS Chafin Grant

ARGYLL AND SUTHERLAND HIGH-LANDERS William McElwu

THECONNAUGHTRANGERS A~n~~p"d

30TH PUNJABIS James UJwford

GEORGE WASHINGTON'S ARMYPeter Young

FUTURE TITLES INCLUDETHE ENGLISH CIVIL WAR ARMIES FREDERICK THE GREAT'S ARMY

Peter roung Albert Seaton

WELLINGTON'S PENINSULAR ARMY THE AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN ARMY OFJames Lawford THE SEVEN YEARS WAR A/but Staton

AUSTRO·HUNGARIAN ARMY OF THE WOLfE'S ARMY Gerald EmbletonNAPOLEO. IC WARS Alb", Seawn THE ROMAN IMPERIAL ARMY

THE BLACK BRUNSWICKERS DUD oon Pivka Michael SimJcins

AMERICAN PROVINCIAL CORPS THE GERMAN AR.MY OF THE NEWPhilip Katcher EMPIRE 1870·1888 Albert Seate1/!

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CHARLES GRANT has had a lifelong interest in militaria and is a passionatewar-gamer. He has written for many military publications including IheJournal of the Society for Army Historical Research; is editor of Slingshot, the journalof the Society of Ancients; and is a regular contribulor to Tradition. He hashad two books published on modern and eighteenth-century war-gaming.Scottish-born, and a retired officer of the Special Branch, Scotland Yard, heis married with two children and now lives in Kent.

ISBN 0 85045 053 5

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