CHAPTER II. THE French Revolution was at its height when, in February 1793, the Republic declared war against Great Britain and Holland. It became necessary to increase the British army, and again the patriotism of the Duke of Gordon induced him to come to the aid of the Government, by offering to raise a fourth regiment; this time, as in the case of the 89th Highlanders, for general service. He received authority to do so on the 10th of February 1794, and the command was given to his son, the Marquis of Huntly, who had served as captain in the 42nd Royal Highlanders, and was then a captain and lieutenant-colonel in the 3rd Guards.* The Duke himself, and his son, took a personal interest in the recruiting, and the celebrated Duchess Jean, still a beautiful woman, lent to it all the prestige of her high position, and all the grace and charm of manner for which she was famed alike in Court and cottage. She rode to the country fairs in Highland bonnett and regimental jacket (it was not unusual, in those days of military enthusiasm, for ladies to wear the uniform of their husbands' or brothers' regiments). It is told how she gave a kiss to the men she enlisted- -a fee more valued than the coin by which it was accompanied, as in the case of a smart young farmer at Huntly market, who took the shilling and the kiss, and then paid "smart,"§ saying, "A kiss from your Grace is well worth a pound note." Sometimes she is said to have placed a guinea between her lips. There was in a Highland village a young blacksmith, * Now Scots Guards. + The bonnet she wore, though denuded of its ornaments and feathers, now in possession of the 2nd Battalion Gordon Highlanders (late 92nd). Kay's "Portraits." § If a recruit repented his bargain before being sworn in, he paid £1, called "smart money.' The Duchess' recruits were proud of being enlisted by one who was the greatest lady in their world, and it is natural they should have boasted of the fact; remarkable for his strength and good looks. Recruiters for the Guards and Line had in vain tried to enlist him, but he could not resist her Grace! He took the kiss and the guinea: but to show it was not the gold that tempted him, he tossed the guinea among the crowd.* Commissions were given to gentlemen in the north for raising a certain number of men, the field officers and generally the captains having previous army service. But so great had been the drain on the Highland population for some years, that it was no longer easy to recruit a battalion quickly from them alone. In the present instance it was rendered the more difficult, because, as we have seen, a Fencible Regiment had been raised by the Duke of Gordon in the preceding year, and the 79th, or Cameron Highlanders, had just been raised by Mr Allan Cameron, son of the tacksman of Erracht, largely in the same districts where the Duke of Gordon's influence lay. This regiment has had a similar glorious career to the Gordon Highlanders, and a lively feeling of friendship always existed between the two corps. Lochiel, Chief of the Cameron Clan, however, had not approved the venture of his kinsman of Erracht, but used all his influence in favour of the Gordon regiment, the Duke being to a certain extent his feudal superior, and also his personal friend. In this Lochiel was greatly assisted by his uncle, Mr Cameron, tacksman of Fassiefern, whose son John received a captain's commission in the Gordons, and afterwards became its most distinguished commander. He was closely connected with such Highland chiefs and gentlemen as Cluny MacPherson, MacNeil of Barra, MacDonald of Glencoe, Campbell of Barcaldine, and others, who helped him in raising his quota of men. + + when, in after years, one of them was wounded, a Highland comrade would cry, "Och cha n'eil ach pog eile o'n Bhan Diuc!” or, as an Aberdonian would facetiously put it, "Mind, lad, ye got a kiss o' the Duchess o' Gordon for that!" * Told by General Sir John Gordon, K.C.B. + Letter from Donald Cameron, Esq. of Lochiel. + Your recruits leave this to morrow if the wind proves fair. They will answer well, as they are all smart young boys. In case of their being reduced, I beg you to be at pains to prevent their enlisting in any of the old regiments, but to pack them off home as soon as possible, as it would be a great satisfaction to their parents, in case of peace. favour to us that they allowed them to go." It was by way of a great [N.B.-There were twelve It is not surprising, therefore, to find that, such strong influence being exerted in its favour, the Gordon regiment obtained more recruits in the Highlands than the 79th had done in 1793, but still some of the officers had to complete their quotas from other parts of the country. # When a new regiment was raised, the custom was to embody it, not in the country districts where the men were enlisted, but in some garrison town where they could conveniently be inspected by a general officer, and passed as fit for service. In this instance, Aberdeen was the rendezvous. One can imagine the difficulty of bringing lads from the distant islands of Barra, Uist, and Skye in open boats to the mainland, to join those from the "rough bounds" of Arisaig, Ardnamurchan, and Lochiel; the long marches, cheered by song or pipe, through Highlands and Lowlands, ere their tired feet trod the "plainstanes" of the Granite City. How they would gaze with astonished admiration at the buildings and the shops of a great town! Here the embryo soldiers probably had their first experience of the tented field, as there was at this time a considerable encampment near Aberdeen.t The regiment was embodied on the 24th of June 1794, + and was inspected the following day by Lieutenant-General Sir Hector Munro, the same officer who served as Major in the first regiment raised by the influence of the Duke of Gordon at the battle of Buxar, thirty years before. This first parade must have presented an appearance more picturesque than military, for, except some of the officers and recruits in this batch.]-Letter from Mrs MacNeil of Barra to Captain John Cameron, dated at the Island of Barra, June 1794. *The "79th Register," compiled by John Ford, lieutenant 79th Regiment, from documents in possession of the regiment, in 1817, gives the number of Highlanders as 278, out of the 600 passed when they were embodied at Stirling, February 1794. + There were at this time hardly any barracks in Scotland, except those in the Highlands, built 1718 to 1728, viz., at Kilahimen (Fort-Augustus), for 300 men, afterwards increased for a larger number; at Ruthven, in Badenoch, for 250 men; at Bernera, in Ross, for 150 men; at Inversnaid, for 100 men, and two or three smaller ones. Rooms to be made 18 feet by 17 feet, five beds for ten men in each. -Clode's "Military Forces of the Crown.” sergeants, they had no uniform. There were the lads from the Highlands in their tartan coats and kilts, with "cuarans," i.e., brogues of home-dressed skin, on their feet; the Lowland loons in grey breeches, ribbed stockings, and low-heeled shoes; and all with the round blue bonnet, then universally worn in the north of Scotland, while here and there an Irishman's "caubeen" would give variety to the headgear. There was something of the same feeling that was exhibited when the Gordon Fencible Regiment was embodied in the preceding year. The men who had come from Highland districts with a captain they knew and confided in, objected to be removed from his immediate command, and these officers had to explain the necessity of the flank companies being selected from the whole, promising still to look after their interests.* When their Centenary was celebrated by the Gordon Highlanders in Glasgow in 1894, a newspaper much read in the Highlands commented upon the small number of Gordons among its members, and inferred that when raised the regiment was to a large extent composed of men of that name. This is an entire mistake. It was called the "Gordon Highlanders," not because it was a regiment of Gordons, but because it was a regiment of Highlanders raised by the Duke of Gordon. Among the non-commissioned officers and soldiers there were, in 1794, just twenty Gordons. MacDonald was the name most largely represented in the ranks, Cameron the next; there were several Andersons and other similar cognomens, and the names of all the Highland Clans are to be found on the first muster-roll. I have been unable to find any parade state or musterroll during the few days the regiment remained in Aberdeen ; but I counted the recruits of 1794 from the Description Roll, and I found that, out of 749 whose places of birth or enlistment are given, 241 were from Inverness-shire, 92 from Aberdeenshire, 58 from Banffshire, 33 from Argyll, with considerable contingents from Caithness, Sutherland, Ross, * "Memoir of Colonel John Cameron," 4to, 1858. Privately printed. + In the muster-roll, December 1797, three years later, there appear six Evan Camerons, six Alexander Camerons, six John Camerons, besides two or three each of many other Christian names among the N.-C. officers and soldiers, |