71st Regiment of Foot (Fraser's Highlanders) action in Savannah, Georgia

[Orvis]

I agree with Luke about the 77th (Montgomery's) Highlanders in the French and Indian War. Unlike the 78th Regt (Fraser's Highlanders), they were a mixed bag of Highlanders and Lowlanders, and many of the Highlanders had received no sword training from their elders since the failure of the '45 Rising (11 years prior to the regiment being raised). So the swords of the 77th were more like a parade or dress appendage, and unlikely to be used in combat. The officers and the serjeants were probably the only ones with swords on Forbes' 1758 campaign. As to the 78th, they were recruited entirely in the Highlands with many older Jacobites amongst them, and they retained their swords because they knew how to use them. As to the 42nd RHR in the F&I War, I don't know when they put their swords in stores, but it was probably earlier rather than later in their time in America. By the time of the RevWar, swords were even more of a dress item, since it had been 30 years since the '45 and few of the men knew how to use them, and the OR swords were put into stores immediately upon arrival in America.

Good quotes, Luke. Some I had seen, others I had not.