Military
Strength
The total military strength of Highland clans, 1737-1745,
was estimated at 20,000 men, divided into Jacobite (Prince Charlie's followers)
and Hanovarian (those faithful to the government). A partial list is given
here:-
JACOBITE
HANOVARIAN
Murrays.......................3,000
Campbell.....................3,000
Mackenzies..................2,000
Sutherland.................... 700
Grants.............................850
MacKays...................... 500
Mackintosh.....................800
Monroes........................300
Camerons.......................800
Rosses......................... 300
Frazers............................700
Farquharson....................500
Macleans........................500
Sinclairs..........................500
Duke of Gordon..............300
Stewart of Apin...............300
Chisholms.......................200
Maclachlens....................200
Robertsons.....................200
Stewart, Garntilly............200
Glenmoriston (Grants) ....100
General John Campbell, a cousin of the 3rd Duke of Argyle, raised Campbells for the government, yet pacified the Highlanders after Culloden. His son led the Campbell militia at Falkirk, with Lord Loudoun, a Campbell, commanding the 64th (Highland) Reg't of Foot.
Names of some of the other regiments need to be noted:-
76th Reg't of Foot, Lord Macdonald's Highlanders, commanded by Capt.
Evan Gordon
79th - Camerons / Lochaber
93rd - Colin Campbell's Highlander Brigade at Balaclava (only Sutherlanders)
21st Foot - The Royal Scots Fusiliers with some artillery 27th Enniskillen
Foot Reg't.
42nd Black Watch / Royal Highlanders, also the 43rd Reg't.
78th/42nd - Glens of Ross
74th Campbell of Barbreck's (Foot)
21st Reg't - Royal Scots Fusiliers (Campbell's)
88th Campbell's Highlanders
57th The Argyllshire Fencibles Reg't (Tarleton's Legion)
- Plus many more, according to size of the clan.
More than 20,000, equal in strength of the 1745 army, left for the Colonies between 1763 and 1775 following potato crop failure resulting in famine, cholera and burnings (clearances).
The need for troops and military strength to fight
for King George III in the American Revolution is
described in MUTINY by John Prebble.
76th Reg't. of Foot & Others:-
"In January 1779 military units of
the following were assembled: the 76th Lord MacDonald's Highland
Regiment of Foot; 80th Royal Edinburgh Volunteers and the 82nd
Francis MacLean's Reg't. The three marching regiments were sent in March,
1779.
Eighty women walked behind the 76th Reg't.
along with camp equipage, sailing with their husbands, members of the regiment.
When the regiment reached America four hundred
men were put into white ticken breeches, mounted upon unfamiliar horses
and used as dragoons. They rejoined the battalion at Yorktown, and upon
its surrender all the companies were taken prisoner by the Americans".
[They were imprisoned in Virginia, the regiment was disbanded
in New York City October 1783, arrival at Shelburne November
1783 --
After the American Revolution, many faithful to
England, were
forced to leave homes in the various states (of United States) where
they had settled, to flee to a country that was
unknown to them except it was British (Canada).
Thousands arrived in all parts of Canada, lands
were granted with assistance from the British. A law passed in 1789 allowed
the previously-known Loyalists to be known as United Empire Loyalists.
Today, those who can prove descent, are able
to add U.E. after their name.
Whenever we hear the wail of the bagpipes, hear
"Loch Lomond" wear the tartan of our clan or family,
think of the Twenty-Five Minutes at Culloden.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
MUTINY - Highland Regiments in Revolt 1743-1804 : John
Prebble, c. 1975, Penguin Books Ltd.,
Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England; Penguin Books Canada Ltd., Markham,
Ontario
THE HIGHLAND CLEARANCES : John Prebble c. 1963, Penguin
Books
GLENCOE : John Prebble c. 1966, Penguin Books as above
THE LION IN THE NORTH - One Thousand Years of Scotland's
History John Prebble c. 1971;
Martin Secker & Warburg Limited, London, England
CULLODEN - John Prebble c. 1961 SBN 436 38601 1 Martin
Secker & Warburg Limited, London, England
BONNIE PRINCE CHARLIE : A biography : Morag McLaren c.
1972
Saturday Press Review, New York, N.Y. ISBN 0-8415-0195-5
THE JACOBITE RISING OF 1745 : William Stevenson c. 1968
Longman Group Limited, London, England ISBN 0 582-20414-3
CHARLES EDWARD STUART : The Life and Time of Bonnie Prince
Charlie David Daiches c. 1973 :
Cox and Wyman Limited, London ISBN 0-500-25034-0
OVER THE SEA TO SKYE - The Forty-Five : John Selby c.
1973 Hamish Hamilton Ltd., London, England
[Includes Orders of Battle at Culloden; Stirling Castle]
THE BRITISH-AMERICANS - The Loyalist Exiles in England
1774-1789 Mary Beth Norton c. 1972 :
Little, Brown & Company (Canada) Limited
THE WAR IN THE NORTH - An Informal History of the American
Revolution in and near Canada
Donald Barr Chidsey c. 1967 : Crown Publishers, Inc. New York, N.Y.
BUCKSKIN PIMPERNEL : The Exploits of Justus Sherwood,
Loyalist Spy Mary Beacock Fryer :
Dundurn Press, Toronto, Charlottetown
The small number of books listed above is only part of the accounts written of the lives of our Scottish ancestors before 1700; early rebellions prior to 1745; accounts of both Jacobite and Hanovarian followers; the great clan strength which was lessened after defeat in the Battle of Culloden. Writers have described how the armies struggled to get equipment over the highest point in Scotland, Shap Fell; Culloden Moor at Nairn, really a large field, where the future of our ancestors was shaped 250 years ago on April 16, 1746. Bonnie Prince Charlie left Scotland 250 years ago, never to return, on September 20, 1746.
As a reader, we must form our own opinions and be proud of the heritage passed down to us, regardless of our clan or family.