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Fraser's
Highlanders
78th of Foot |
The raising of the 78th
Highland Regiment was a coup d’etat on the part of the British government, giving
them the decided advantage of appearing magnanimous toward a recently defeated possession
and at the same time acquiring the services of arguably the most courageous and
persevering fighting force in Europe at the time.
The fierceness and
perspicacity of the Scottish soldier was unmatched anywhere; but mighty England had
subjugated the Scots thoroughly after Culloden, depriving them of all those customs and
traditions of lifestyle which was peculiarly theirs.
In such a frame of mind
toward the Scots, Mr. Pitt, in the year 1757, recommended to his Majesty George II to
employ the Highlanders in his service. This action, Pitt assured the King, would be
evidence of the disappearance of all jealousy and malice on the part of the Crown. The
Honorable Simon Fraser, who had himself been engaged in the Rebellion , was appointed Lt.
Colonel Commandant of a Highland Battalion. The battalion was to be raised on the
forfeited estate of his own family vested to the crown when his father, Lord Lovat was
beheaded in the Tower, (the last man to be so executed in England) for his part in the
Rebellion.
Without estate, money
or influence, this man, in a few short weeks, raised a body of 800 men, all recruited by
himself. The gentlemen of the country and the officers of this regiment raised an
additional 700 men making in all 1,460 enlisted men, 65 sergeants, and 30 pipers and
drummers. This was by all accounts a superior body of fighting men.
The uniform was the
full Highland dress, with musket and broad sword, to which many of the soldiers added , at
their own expense, a dirk and a purse of badger or otter skin. The bonnet was raised or
cocked on one side, with a slight bend inclining down to the right ear over which were
suspended two or more black feathers. Eagle’s or hawk’s feathers were usually
worn by the gentlemen in the Highlands.
The regiment was
quickly marched to Greenock, where it embarked, in company with Montgomerie’s
Highlanders, and landed at Halifax in June 1757.
In this station it
remained until it formed a junction with the expedition against Louisbourg. The regiment
was quartered alternately in Canada and Nova Scotia till the conclusion of the war. A
number of the officers and men settled in North America after the war, by their own
request, and received a grant of land. The remainder were sent home and discharged in
Scotland.
When the regiment
landed in North America, it was proposed to change the uniform, as the Highland garb was
said to be unfit for the cold severe winters and hot summers of that country. The officers
and soldiers vehemently protested against any change and Colonel Fraser explained to the
Commander in Chief the strong attachment for their cherished national dress. His plea was
successful and the men were allowed to retain their Highland dress. In the words of a
veteran who embarked and returned with the regiment: “Thanks to our generous chief,
we were allowed to wear the garb of our fathers; and in the course of six winters, showed
the doctors that they did not understand our constitutions; for in the coldest of winters
our men were more healthy than those regiments who wore breeches and warm clothing.”
But there are some other accounts that indicate he may have been optimistic in retrospect.
Other manuscripts mention that the men were freezing and that there were efforts being
made to secure breeches and drawers for all of them.
A completely accurate
description of the Fraser’s grab has eluded the most dedicated of researchers. A
large coterie of “researchers” during the late 19th and early 20th centuries
wrote volumes about the Scottish military which tended to be more romance than fact. The
greatest difficulty in reconstructing a uniform for the 78th in particular, lies in the
fact that no full contemporary description or illustration of the uniform has been
discovered from the actual time of its existence. That the regiment wore Highland garb is
without doubt. Simon Fraser himself infers this in his letters to Lord Loudoun. Also, Sgt.
James
Thompson states,
“we are allowed the garb of our fathers.” Further, the British military itself
makes a definitive statement in A List of His Majesty’s Land Forces in North America
1761 describes the Fraser uniform as “red faced white, belted Plaid and Hose.”
The precise form taken
by this “Highland garb” is a deeper and more pressing question. War office
correspondence indicates that the Fraser’s was raised as the 63rd Regiment or 2nd
Highland battalion.
From this, we can infer
that the dress would have been basically the same as the existing 42nd Highland Regiment.
Most researchers indicate a resolve that any glaring change from the dress of the 42nd
would almost certainly have been noted.
There is adequate
reference to support that the regiment used both the belted plaid or great kilt and the
the philabeg or small kilt. For example, Capt. John Nairne describes the use of both in
his regimental orders for the 78th dated May 11, 1762: “His plaid never to be worn
but kilted, the philabeg or little kilt to be always worn in summer or harvest except upon
duty or when the detachment are under arms...”
Plaids were issued
every two years and in all likelihood the small kilts were made up from the old plaids as
is referenced in the Charleton papers regarding the 42nd “...the men are by no means
to dispose of their old plaids, but be made up into a small kilt and two pairs of
hose.”
A decades old argument
over the use by the Fraser's of the Government Sett, the tartan worn by the 42nd Regiment
and known to us today as the Black Watch plaid, versus the wearing of a red-based
Fraser’s sett is no nearer resolution today than when it was begun. No conclusive
evidence has been found to support either contention.
The best two observations that can be made are thus:
Firstly, it is
generally accepted by researchers that there were no clan tartans per se at this point in
time., those coming for the most part much later in the Victorian romanticization and
resurrection of all things Scottish. Therefore, the sett worn by the Fraser's, if other
than the government, would have been a regional or district sett; or perhaps a specific
sett which was attractive to Simon Fraser. Another more probable selection would have been
a tartan which was plentiful enough at the time to meet the demands of dressing so many
men at once.
Secondly, a tartan
passed from Captain William Mackay of Beauly (a Fraser family historian) to Col. R. Harper
is said to be a reproduction of a piece of tartan passed down from a Captain William
Mackay of Upper Glassburn who purportedly received it from a descendant of Thomas Fraser
of Struy. Though this Thomas Fraser is listed as a captain in the regiment, he never
served with the regiment. A number of Fraser’s reenactment units have chosen to wear
this red-based tartan, including that one founded by Col. Harper, but its authenticity is
by no means proved. Still, the sett is a good example of an old, red-based tartan .
There are similar
disagreements concerning the type and quality of cloth worn by the Frasers. A good
selection of tartan was made of good worsted wool and even of silk; but the tartan of the
military was woven of a harsh uncarded wool referred to as hard cloth. There accounts to
support that it was so abrasive as to rub raw the legs of the men when they were on the
march. If the Fraser's wore another sett than the government, it would likely have been
one made in quantity for export...this is still another unresolved and perhaps
unresolveable issue.
There is general
agreement regarding the material of the hose worn by the Frasers. All military hose at the
time were made up of woven cloth, cut on the bias and sewn up into stockings or “bag
hose.” The cloth for the Highland hose was of a heavy wool woven in a loose twill in
alternating rows of red and white. When this cloth was cut and sewn up on the bias, the
result was the red and white diamond pattern which is familiar to this day.
Montcalm
& Wolfe Highlanders Page