18th century scottish regiments

[timemeddler]

Trying to find information on Scottish regiments around the time of the French and Indian war, and the American Revolution. I'm mostly trying to find out how they would have been outfitted at the time, since they would have been part of Britain. Would they have used the same brown bess as the British Regulars or did they have their own? Tartans they would have worn? The internet is pretty limited on what they had as soldiers.

[figheadair]

Trying to find information on Scottish regiments around the time of the French and Indian war, and the American Revolution. I'm mostly trying to find out how they would have been outfitted at the time, since they would have been part of Britain. Would they have used the same brown bess as the British Regulars or did they have their own? Tartans they would have worn? The internet is pretty limited on what they had as soldiers.

All the Highland regiments at the time of the F&IW (generally referred to as the Seven Years' War in Britain) wore the 42nd (Black Watch or Government) tartan.

There are a number of portraits of the period showing the dress and arms of Highland soldiers (generally, officers) such as the Pinch of Snuff c.1760 by Delacour.

[Father Bill]

The internet is pretty limited on what they had as soldiers.

There, you see - instant answers, and yes, XMarks is part of the Internet! ;)

[Troglodyte]

There is a wealth of information on this subject, and you could do a lot worse than trawling through David Stewart of Garth's Sketches, as they give both the official regimental view of events and engagements, as well as personal first-hand accounts. He is often quoted.

Garth himself was an experienced officer, and seems happy to criticise officialdom when it is deserved.

One such is the withrawal of the broadsword for the Highlander, at a time when it was proving both a favourite with the individual Highland soldier and useful in the kind of warfare seen in North America.

You will find that some regiments were only short-lived, being raised for colonial service and disbanded after only a few years. But the 42nd (Black Watch) may be worth singling out for more detailed study.

[kilted2000]

There is a series called Osprey that covers military history. They have several books on the period and on Scotland in particular. Just Google osprey and highlanders and you should find them.

[RGM1]

I.am a bit confused. The print seems to have a red stripe and my understanding is the Black watch tartan does not have any red. I claim a clan connection with the Murray's whose tartan was inspired by the Black Watch tartan to which a red stripe was added.

[figheadair]

I.am a bit confused. The print seems to have a red stripe and my understanding is the Black watch tartan does not have any red. I claim a clan connection with the Murray's whose tartan was inspired by the Black Watch tartan to which a red stripe was added.

These drawings are a useful guide by not necessarily historically accurate. It is from a series of prints by Friedrich von German, captain of a regiment from Hesse-Hanau, one of the many German auxiliary troops hired by George III to fight in the American Revolution. He arrived in North America in 1775 During the war and painted a series of watercolors of American, British, and German soldiers.

There is no definitive evidence of the 42nd sett with red, or the Atholl tartan being worn during the AWI.

[Troglodyte]

I.am a bit confused. The print seems to have a red stripe and my understanding is the Black watch tartan does not have any red. I claim a clan connection with the Murray's whose tartan was inspired by the Black Watch tartan to which a red stripe was added.

Peter Cochrane's 1987 Scottish Military Dress addresses this, and makes reference to Morier's painting of a Highlander of the 42nd, and notes that the red overstripe shown on the government tartan was introduced by Lord John Murray when he became colonel in 1745 - but probably for the grenadier company only.

Cochrane quotes James Logan, although he was writing a century later, who says of this red overstripe that '...it appeared to me very un-uniform...' but tells us that the same is included in an 1812 aquatint of a 42nd Grenadier by Hamilton Smith, and that the same differentiation from the 42nd was used for Loudon's Highlanders in 1745.

There is a Black Watch Red Hackle version of the regimental tartan, with a red overstripe between the double black lines on the blue, that was introduced in 2009 by House of Edgar as a tribute to those who served in the regiment.

[figheadair]

There is a series called Osprey that covers military history. They have several books on the period and on Scotland in particular. Just Google osprey and highlanders and you should find them.

These books are a useful guide but include a number of inaccuracies.

[OC Richard]

Trying to find information on Scottish regiments around the time of the French and Indian war, and the American Revolution.

Tartans they would have worn?

Happily there are plenty of people who have already done a vast amount of research on 18th century Highland regiments and their uniforms, equipment, and weaponry. They're the reenactors, such as this group, dedicated to Scottish regiments active in North America

https://muskets-of-the-crown.org/abo...-of-the-crown/

It's surprising just how many Highland regiments there were in the 18th century. Barnes gives a list of "Highland regiments raised and disbanded between 1745 and 1800."

Here's the ones that he shows having served in North America, with their years of existence:

77th Montgomery's Hrs. 1757-1763

78th Fraser's Hrs. 1757-1763

71st Fraser's Hrs. 1775-1783

74th Argyll Hrs. 1778-1783

76th MacDonald's Hrs. 1777-1784

84th Royal Highland Emigrant Regt. 1775-1784

He doesn't give tartans of those.

He does give tartans of Highland regiments existing in 1800:

42nd or Royal Highland Regt. 42nd

71st Hrs. MacKenzie

72nd Hrs. MacKenzie

73rd Hrs. 42nd

74th Hrs. 42nd

75th Hrs. Gordon

78th Hrs. MacKenzie

79th Hrs. Cameron of Erracht

91st Hrs. 42nd

92nd Hrs. Gordon

93rd Hrs. 42nd