77th Regiment of Foot | |
---|---|
Active | 1757–1763 |
Country | Kingdom of Great Britain |
Branch | British Army |
Type | Infantry |
Size | two battalions |
Nickname(s) | Montgomerie's Highlanders |
Colors | Green facings and white lace. |
Engagements | Seven Years' War Pontiac's War |
Commanders | |
Notable commanders | Archibald Montgomerie |
The 77th Regiment of Foot (Montgomerie's Highlanders) was a Highland Scots Regiment raised in 1757. The 77th Regiment was one of the first three Highland Regiments to fight in North America. [1] During the Seven Years' War, the regiment lost 110 soldiers and 259 were wounded. [2]
The regiment was raised at Stirling by Major Archibald Montgomerie as the 1st Highland Battalion and ranked as the 62nd Regiment of Foot in 1757. [3] Formed under a plan to increase the loyalty of the Highlanders to the Crown by sending 2,000 Highlanders to fight in North America, the battalion ultimately included thirteen companies with 105 enlisted men each for a total of 1,460 men with 65 sergeants and 30 pipers and drummers. [4] The battalion was drawn from the Montgomery, Stuart, Fraser, MacDonald, Cameron, Maclean, and MacPherson clans. Montgomerie recruited the first ten companies in 1756 and an additional three in 1757. The first ten companies departed Cork on 30 June 1757 to reinforce the garrison of Charleston, arriving there on 3 September. At Charleston, 200 soldiers who were from the Scottish Lowlands were transferred to the Royal Americans. The three new companies, meanwhile, were sent to Philadelphia and arrived there on 22 April 1758, moving to Carlisle in May. The rest of the battalion was transported to Philadelphia and debarked there on 8 June. [5] The battalion was renamed the 77th Regiment of Foot (Montgomery's Highlanders) in June 1758. [3]
The regiment took part in the Battle of Fort Duquesne on 14 September, 1758, suffering 231 men killed and the capture of their commanding officer, Major James Grant. [6] : 323 About 150 survivors later rejoined the main British force under Colonel Henry Bouquet and participated in the capture of Fort Duquesne on 24 November, 1758. [3] In 1760, six companies participated in a campaign against the Cherokee under the command of the regiment's colonel. [7] It sailed for the West Indies in June 1761 and took part in the Invasion of Martinique in January 1762 and the siege of Havana in June 1762. [3] It went on to New York City in October 1762 and saw action at the Battle of Bushy Run in August 1763 after which it was disbanded later in the year. [3]
The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland is an infantry battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. The regiment was created as part of the Childers Reforms in 1881, when the 42nd Regiment of Foot was amalgamated with the 73rd (Perthshire) Regiment of Foot. It was known as The Black Watch from 1881 to 1931 and The Black Watch from 1931 to 2006. Part of the Scottish Division for administrative purposes from 1967, it was the senior Highland regiment. It has been part of the Scottish, Welsh and Irish Division for administrative purposes from 2017.
James Grant, Laird of Ballindalloch (1720–1806) was a British Army officer who served as a major general during the American War of Independence. He served as Governor of East Florida from 1763 to 1771, and between 1773 and 1802 he had seats in the House of Commons.
John Forbes was a Scottish professional soldier who served in the British Army from 1729 until his death in 1759.
The Anglo-Cherokee War, was also known from the Anglo-European perspective as the Cherokee War, the Cherokee Uprising, or the Cherokee Rebellion. The war was a conflict between British forces in North America and Cherokee bands during the French and Indian War.
The Battle of Fort Duquesne was British assault on the eponymous French fort that was repulsed with heavy losses on 14 September 1758, during the French and Indian War.
Archibald Montgomerie, 11th Earl of Eglinton was a Scottish General and Member of Parliament (MP) in the British Parliament. He was also the Clan Chief of the Clan Montgomery. Montgomerie fought in the Seven Years' War, where he served with George Washington. He also was the patron of the poet Robert Burns.
The 84th Regiment of Foot (Royal Highland Emigrants) was a British regiment in the American Revolutionary War that was raised to defend present day Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada from the constant land and sea attacks by American Revolutionaries. The 84th Regiment was also involved in offensive action in the Thirteen Colonies; including North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia and what is now Maine, as well as raids upon Lake Champlain and the Mohawk Valley. The regiment consisted of 2,000 men in twenty companies. The 84th Regiment was raised from Scottish soldiers who had served in the Seven Years' War and stayed in North America. As a result, the 84th Regiment had one of the oldest and most experienced officer corps of any regiment in North America. The Scottish Highland regiments were a key element of the British Army in the American Revolution. The 84th Regiment was clothed, armed and accoutred the same as the Black Watch, with Lieutenant Colonel Allan Maclean commanding the first battalion and Major General John Small of Strathardle commanding the second. The two Battalions operated independently of each other and saw little action together.
The 78th Regiment, (Highland) Regiment of Foot also known as the 78th Fraser Highlanders was a British infantry regiment of the line raised in Scotland in 1757, to fight in the Seven Years' War. The 78th Regiment was one of the first three Highland Regiments to fight in North America.
The 42nd Regiment of Foot was a Scottish infantry regiment in the British Army also known as the Black Watch. Originally titled Crawford's Highlanders or the Highland Regiment and numbered 43rd in the line, in 1748, on the disbanding of Oglethorpe's Regiment of Foot, they were renumbered 42nd and in 1751 formally titled the 42nd (Highland) Regiment of Foot. The 42nd Regiment was one of the first three Highland Regiments to fight in North America. In 1881 the regiment was named The Royal Highland Regiment , being officially redesignated The Black Watch in 1931. In 2006 the Black Watch became part of the Royal Regiment of Scotland.
The 55th Regiment of Foot was a British Army infantry regiment, raised in 1755. After 1782 it had a county designation added, becoming known as the 55th (Westmorland) Regiment of Foot. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 34th (Cumberland) Regiment of Foot to form the Border Regiment in 1881.
The Virginia Regiment was formed in 1754 by Virginia's Royal Governor Robert Dinwiddie, as a provincial corps. The regiment served in the French and Indian War, with members participating in actions at Jumonville Glen and Fort Necessity in 1754, the Braddock expedition in 1755, and the Forbes expedition in 1758. Small detachments of the regiment were involved in numerous minor actions along Virginia's extensive wilderness frontier.
The 71st Regiment of Foot was a regiment of infantry raised in 1775, during the American Revolutionary War and unofficially known as Fraser's Highlanders. It was disbanded in 1786.
The British expedition against Martinique was a military action that took place in January and February 1762. It was part of the Seven Years' War.
Ranald MacKinnon was a soldier and a civil servant of the British Empire from 1758 until his death in 1805.
The Battle of Echoee, or Etchoe Pass, was a battle on June 27, 1760 during the French and Indian War, between the British and colonial force under Archibald Montgomerie and a force of Cherokee warriors under Seroweh. It took place near the present-day municipality of Otto, in Macon County, North Carolina.
The siege of Fort Loudoun was an engagement during the Anglo-Cherokee War fought from February 1760 to August 1760 between the warriors of the Cherokee led by Ostenaco and the garrison of Fort Loudoun composed of British and colonial soldiers commanded by Captain Paul Demeré.
The Independent Highland Companies were irregular militia raised from the Scottish clans of the Scottish Highlands by order of the Government between 1603 and 1760 in order to help keep the peace and enforce the law in the Highlands and were recognized as such by the Government. The officers of the Independent Highland Companies were commissioned as officers of the British Army but the Independent Companies were not recognized as official regiments of the line of the army. The Independent Highland Companies were the progenitors of the Highland Regiments of the British Army that began when ten Independent Highland Companies were embodied to form the Earl of Crawford's Highland Regiment that was numbered the 43rd Regiment of Foot in 1739.
Events from the year 1757 in Scotland.
Henry Munro was a chaplain in the British Army who became a missionary to the Mohawk people during the 18th century.
Provincial troops were military units raised by colonial governors and legislatures in British North America for extended operations during the French and Indian Wars. The provincial troops differed from the militia, in that they were a full-time military organization conducting extended operations. They differed from the regular British Army in that they were recruited only for one campaign season at the time. These forces were often recruited through a quota system applied to the militia. Officers were appointed by the provincial governments. During the eighteenth century militia service was increasingly seen as a prerogative of the social and economic well-established, while provincial troops came to be recruited from different and less deep-rooted members of the community.