Wellingtons Highland Warriors: From the Black Watch Mutiny to the Battle of Waterloo, 1743 1815
This edition published in 2010 by Frontline Books,
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Copyright Stuart Reid, 2010
Foreword Philip Haythornthwaite
The right of Stuart Reid to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
9781783830893
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Foreword
Scottish regiments formed a relatively small proportion of the infantry of the British Army in the era of Wellington, and Highland regiments represented an even smaller part; yet the influence they exerted upon the popular perception of the army was out of all proportion to their limited numbers. At the time and in subsequent years, Highland troops featured most prominently in accounts of the campaigns and in other sources such as popular prints, even to the exclusion of others, and the reasons are not difficult to discern.
From the beginning of the French Revolutionary wars, the Scottish Highlands formed an important recruiting ground, especially in the early expansion of the army to meet the challenges of a prolonged conflict; yet at the conclusion of the Peninsular War, there were only five out of 104 numbered line regiments that bore the appellation Highland and that wore the Highland uniform. There had been a considerable number of Scottish fencible regiments that could be considered Highland, but none survived the reduction of the army following the Peace of Amiens in 1802; and of the line regiments, six were ordered to relinquish Highland dress in 1809, as it was thought to discourage the enrolment of Lowlanders and Englishmen. That such men from other regions were required demonstrates the fact that the Highlands never provided sufficient recruits to fill all the Highland regiments, so that they had to recruit from other parts of the kingdom, notably from Lowland Scotland. That such a relatively small proportion of the army should have such an influence was a combination of several factors.
In some ways though not as markedly as some subsequent statements the Highland regiments represented the last vestige of the old clan system, in which a clan chief would call upon his kinsmen and their retainers to provide military service in time of need. An element of this was retained when some of the Highland regiments were first formed, to varying degrees: for example, when Sir James Grant of Grant raised his Strathspey Fencibles in 1793, no less than eighty of his other ranks bore his name, and of the officers who served in his regiment, thirty-six out of seventy were named Grant. Other traces of ancient customs were also discernible: for example, John Cameron of Fassfern of the 92nd, one of the best-known battalion commanders of the period, was accompanied on his campaigns by his foster-brother Ewen Macmillan, a private in Fassieferns regiment, evidence of the perpetuation of a traditional practice. Macmillan it was who carried away the mortally wounded Cameron at Quatre Bras, and despite his lowly rank, Macmillan presided over his burial on the field of battle.
It was believed at the time, and subsequently, that Highland soldiers were unlike any others in the army, a difference arising from their inherent national characteristics and background. An example of such beliefs is provided by a writer in Colburns United Service Magazine in 1846, who advanced the theory that not only was the Scottish soldier markedly different from the English, Irish and Welsh, but that the Highlander possessed additional characteristics to the Lowland Scot:
The habits of the Scottish are more frugal and less luxurious; he is brought up from infancy on coarser and less nutritious diet, accustomed from an early period to hardships, fatigue, and privation, which neither the English peasant nor artisan care to endure; he is thus presumptively better calculated to submit to the toils and wants incident to the profession of a soldier... The earlier history of the Scots is a history of successive wars... [the] martial spirit, which had been thus excited, was cherished and handed down to successive generations. The encouragement of this spirit in the minds of Scotsmen is mainly to be attributed to a strong feeling of nationality inherent in their character [which] combined with the system of feudalism which prevailed till a recent period, all impressed a warlike stamp on the character of the people, which, whatever time and circumstances may have done, has not been entirely effaced... The principles of religion which were at an early period inculcated in the minds of the youth of the poorer classes, added to the natural causes which engrafted a warlike spirit on their habits, gave to their character that firmness and undaunted courage which may be said to be characteristic of the people... The Scot is superior to most others in intelligence, prudence, and caution... his judgment is not rash, he is brave without being impetuous, and firm in the hour of danger, and perhaps it may be said that his conduct in action is characterized by too much ardour... The Highlanders are a distinct class of people in origin, manners, and language. [The Highland soldier] may be said to be a soldier by instinct... remarkable for courage at the most trying moment. He is more impetuous than the Scot or English, and is apt to manifest a degree of ardour and enthusiasm requiring vigilance and control on the part of commanders; his feelings are easily roused, and the sound of the national instrument calling forth all his energy and independence under circumstances of despondency or retreat.
In addition to such contemporary attitudes about the Highland soldier, the author made a point that was undoubtedly valid, in stating that not one of the regiments termed Highland can preserve the complement of rank and file, from the district of country north of Perthshire, due in part to a diminished population as communities were replaced by sheep farms, and to the advance of civilization, commerce and improvement in agriculture... and the consequent decay of feudalism and submission to chiefs.
