Highlanders in the French and Indian war

[Orvis]

First, genealogy is a challenging and interesting endeavor that sheds much light on and flavor to history books. Personally, we have been digging for over 30 years into our family and we still have more to do. Our KY ancestors are an interesting mix of Scottish, English and Irish predating this country. Many are so called "scots Irish" which is not a popular term with some scots (many that now understand their history are using the term "Ulster Scot"... though I haven't got an opinion). what it means is that they were enticed and/or forced from their lowland homes in the 17th century to go to the Ulster plantation (now N. Ireland). When that turned out poorly, they then migrated to the colonies amongst other locations. I read recently through the Ulster historical society that over 500,000 Scots came to our colonies and over 600,000 to what is now Canada out of ulster in that late 17th and early 18th century period. In any case, those so called lowland scots (or Border Reiver's in the case of my clan Home) spoke a language called "Scots" (originally called Ingles before the norman invasion changed the language in England to what is now english but which didn't affect the language in scotland) which I just read is still spoken by 1.5mm scots as a "native tongue" in the so called "lowland" areas. This was spoken by King James VI and his royal court (including my clan) even as he moved to unify the scottish and english thrones as James 1.

On the flip side, my highland clan relatives (Donnachaidh's-we descend from both their McRoberts and Collier Septs) were there as well during our opening of TN & KY. As you note, they were speaking a variant of Scottish Gaelic at that time... a very different language which was considered backwards to Scots (which was considered by the british to be a form of Gutter english). So... knowing that the Donnachaidh's were jacobites, we suspect that they either left or were exported during one of the uprisings... thus putting them in direct contact with their highland Gaelic speaking cousins during the french and indian war.

Note also, I recognize your point on the frontier scots (whigs- i.e. my clans) fighting against the british with the coastal scots fighting for the crown (ie loyalists), BUT, let's NOT get mixed up here... that was another war. The French and indian war went from 1754 to 1763 and ALL "colonials" (including my family) fought with the crown against the French canadians and their indian counterparts (mine selfishly to get a chance at permanent settlement in TN/KY). Where as revolutionary activity didn't start until the late 1760's in New england with the boston massacre in 1770 and the official "start" of the war in April 1775 at Lexington MA (more than 20 years after my family fought with Braddock in PA). That said, North carolina and Virginia didn't support independence even then as their internal loyalist scots and frontier scots disagreed on the topic. This led to an eventual Scots on Scots battle (a simplified view) near wilmington NC in Feb 1776 (loyalists lead by a Col McLeod). That battle decided the political discussions and in April 1776 the NC congressional delegates (as Whigs) voted for independence. At that point, my family came out to fight in the revolutionary war against the crown. They went on to fight in the indian wars, the war of 1812 (again against the crown), the civil war (against the union), etc. and so forth up until today. Basically, drop a hat and the scots came out to fight. Not sure we were as concerned as we should have been about the politics there in!

Anyhow, back to the point, There were 3 highland regiments who fought in the French and Indian war in North America (77th and 78th highlanders as well as the 42nd highlander regiment-black watch). They are all thought to have worn the government Sett (black watch kilt) with red "kilt jackets. Though there is some debate that the 78th may have worn a variant of the fraser red tartan at least early on. That said, there is NO debate that they wore their kilts throughout the war. In fact, the 78th is famous for refusing breeches despite fighting through six new england/canadian winters. They wore their Belted plaid (so called "great kilt" or Filimor) throughout. It is known that a version of the filibag (sort of a version of the short or dress kilt worn today) was available and may have been worn in summer or battle by the other two regiments later in the war, but the Frasers (78th) refused to give up their belted plaids. In any case, to my earlier point... there were some highland jacobite colonialists from VA (including my family) who traveled to PA to be allied with the 1400 man highland jacobite 77th Highlander regiment troops in kilts and what an interesting reunion that would have been!

Having been a Highland reenactor in a unit that portrayed the Colonel's Company of Montgomery's Highland Regiment (raised in January 1757 as the 1st Highland Battalion of Foot, later the 62nd Foot, and later the 77th Foot), I can speak somewhat to its history, particularly its participation in Brigadier Forbes's 1758 campaign against Fort Duquesne (now Pittsburgh). After arriving in America, the regiment wintered in Charleston SC and trained. Like most other Highland regiments of the day, the regiment was raised and immediately shipped out - the Government was afraid of "secret Jacobites" and didn't want armed and trained regiments of them in Scotland. In the spring of 1758, the regiment was shipped to Philadelphia, where it joined Forbes's expedition. The Forbes Road that was cut across Pennsylvania roughly followed the track of today's U.S. Route 30. Late in the summer, the regiment arrived at the site of modern Ligonier, PA, and camped. In Sept 1758, several hundred Highlanders accompanied Major Grant (the regiment's second-in-command) on a "reconnaissance-in-force" against Ft. Duquesne (about 40 miles west), which turned out to be a disaster with Major Grant captured and many Highlanders killed. On 12th October, the French and Indians retaliated with an attack on Forbes's army at Fort Ligonier (this is the event commemorated by Ligonier Days each year). The attack was beaten off, and because campaigning season was almost over, Forbes decided on an all-or-nothing push to capture Fort Duquesne. Unfortunately for the French, most of their Native American allies had departed. So, with the British Army almost upon them, the French blew up the fort and departed. After wintering in the Lancaster PA area (where they had trouble with price-gouging locals), the regiment participated in the 1759 campaign to capture Fort Ticonderoga, where it performed well. In 1760, four companies of the 77th and four companies of the 2/1st Foot went south under Colonel Montgomery's command to fight the Cherokee tribe. The remainder of the regiment participated in the campaign against Montreal (where they met the 78th (Fraser's) Highland Regiment). In 1761 and 1762, the regiment participated in Caribbean campaigns, and in 1763 was part of the expedition that captured Havana. They (along with the 42nd RHR) were decimated by tropical diseases and evacuated to Philadelphia, from whence they went with Colonel Bouquet west along the Forbes Road again to fight Native Americans in Pontiac's Rebellion, fighting in the Battle of Bushy Run (west of Ligonier) enroute to relieve Fort Pitt, which was under siege by Pontiac's forces. After that, members of the regiment either accepted land grants or returned to Scotland, where the regiment was disbanded in 1763.

You are right about the Highland regiments in America (including Frasers) wearing Government (i.e., Black Watch) tartan. The 42nd and 77th adopted their belted plaids into philabegs ("little kilts"), while the 78th may indeed have retained their belted plaids throughout the war, including in winter. There is some speculation that on the 1763 Bushy Run expedition, the 77th soldiers may have worn gaitered trousers.

There was a cultural difference between the Ulster Scots who settled along the western frontier beginning in the early 18th century and the Highland Scots (who arrived later). The Ulster Scots began leaving the UK early-on due to lack of opportunity and persecution. They spoke a dialect of English and had warlike traditions that made them formidable opponents on a battlefield. The Highland Scots began arriving in the early 1740s as "military farmers" to buffer Oglethorpe's Georgia colony against the Spanish of Florida. They spoke Gaelic and wore Highland dress when they fought in the Battle of Bloody Swamp and other fights. They later became plantation owners or went west to trade with the Indians. After the '45 Rising failed, many of the Highland gentry class emigrated to New York or North Carolina after their chiefs (who had had their power greatly reduced) tried to squeeze more and more money in the form of higher rents, &c. The North Carolina Highland settlement centered on the Cape Fear River and what is now Fayetteville. These Highlanders had seen the results of failed rebellion and stayed loyal to the Crown in 1776, whereas the Ulster Scots and their descendents had no love for the Crown and joined the 1775 rebellion against it.

Having participated (as a member of the 77th) many times in the annual Ligonier Days, I can understand why the Highland reenactor may have seemed grumpy - after having answered the same questions for the 40th or 50th time, he might have been at the end of his string. Been there, done that a few times. But I'm sorry if he seemed brusque - happens to the best of them once in a while. But it's a fun event, especially at night after the fort closes to the public. :-)

If you have any questions, you can address them to me via a PM, if you wish.