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and having given other necessary orders in case of being called upon to land during the night, I retired to my cabin. In the course of the night, the soldiers got possession of a whetstone belonging to the vessel, and employed themselves sharpening their swords; and in the morning early, having entered the cabin, I was surprised to see one of the officers, a most respectable gentleman and of one of the most ancient families of the Macdonalds, dressed out in the full Highland costume. "Sir," I said, "you certainly heard me communicate to the officers the major's wishes respecting their dress." "I did so, indeed," he replied; "but as it was not an order, and as this is the dress in which I am determined to die, I have put it on.” *

*STEWART'S HIGHLANDERS, VOL. 1.

Page 354.—On the 10th April 1776, the 42d Regiment being reviewed by Sir Adolphus Oughton, was reported complete, and so unexceptionable that none were rejected.

Hostilities having commenced in America, every exertion was made to teach the recruits the use of the firelock, for which purpose they were drilled even by candle light. New arms and accoutrements were supplied to the men; and the colonel of the regiment, at his own expense, supplied broad swords and pistols.

Page 387.-The pistols were of the old highland fashion, with iron stocks. These being considered unnecessary except in the field, were not intended, like the swords, to be worn by the men in quarters. When the regiment took the field on Staten and Long Island, it was said that the broadswords retarded the men by getting entangled in the brushwood, and they were therefore taken from them and sent on board the transports.

SAILS FOR AMERICA.

15

The troops did not land, and the fleet returned to Spithead. Having waited there until the assembling of all the ships with stores, and recruits for the different regiments serving in North America, we set sail with a large fleet under the orders of Admiral Arbuthnot, and being convoyed by the grand fleet to the Land's-End, we

Admitting that the objection was well founded so far as regarded the swords, it certainly could not apply to the pistols. In a close woody country, where troops are liable to sudden attacks and surprises by a hidden enemy, such a weapon is peculiarly useful. It is, therefore, difficult to discover a good reason for laying them aside. Neither does there appear to have been any objection to the resumption of the broadsword when the service alluded to terminated. The marches through the woods of Long Island were only a few miles, whereas we have seen that the two battalions of the 42d, and Fraser's and Montgomery's Highlanders, in the Seven Years' war, carried the broadsword on all their marches through woods and forests of many hundred miles in extent. In the same manner the swords were carried in Martinique and Guadaloupe islands, intersected with deep ravines, and covered with woods no less impervious than the thickest and closest woods of America. But on that service the broadsword, far from being complained of as an incumbrance, was on many occasions of the greatest efficacy when a decisive blow was to be struck, and the enemy were to be overpowered by an attack hand to hand. I have been told by several old officers and soldiers who bore a part in these attacks, that an enemy who stood for many hours the fire of musketry, invariably gave way when an advance was made sword in hand. It is to be regretted that a weapon which the Highlanders could use so well, should, together with the pistol, which is peculiarly serviceable in close woody countries, have been taken from the soldiers; and, after the expense had been incurred, sent to rust in store. They were never restored,

arrived at New York on the 27th August. The two regiments were encamped on Long Island at Bedford, surrounded by the orchards of the Dutch inhabitants; the recruits and draughts for the army were cantoned in the contiguous villages.

and the regiment has had neither swords nor pistols since. It has been said that the broadsword is not a weapon to contend with the bayonet. Certainly, to all appearance it is not, yet facts do not warrant the superiority of the latter weapon. From the battle of Culloden, when a body of undisciplined Highlanders, shepherds, and herdsmen, with their broadswords, cut their way through some of the best disciplined and most approved regiments in the British army (drawn up, too, on a field extremely favourable for regular troops), down till the time when the swords were taken from the Highlanders, the bayonet was in every instance overcome by the sword.

MAJOR GORDON.

17

CHAPTER THE THIRD.

Major Gordon-Surrender of Charleston—Battle of Camden— Partizan Warfare-Major Andrè-Various Incidents in the War.-1780 to 20th May 1781.

Hav

My brother, a lieutenant in the 64th Regiment, being sent over from New York by his lieutenant-colonel, the Hon. Major-General Leslie, to inspect and report upon the recruits for that regiment, met with such treatment in the execution of this duty, as to oblige him to demand satisfaction from another officer. ing told me the circumstances, I was preparing to do the needful upon the occasion, but having mentioned the affair to my friend and brother officer, Captain Montgomery Cunningham (known by the name of Mont Blanc), that officer undertook the business; and the matter being settled to the satisfaction of all parties, my brother and I were immediately visited by Major James Gordon, of the 80th Regiment, who addressed us, saying that he had heard of a recent occurrence, and as he had served in the same regiment with our father, the 115th or Royal Scotch Lowlanders,* and should ever * Raised in Paisley in 1761, disembodied about 1763.

entertain a great regard for his memory, he insisted that if it ever again happened that either of us stood in need of advice or a friend, we should apply to him, although he had not seen us since our infancy. From that moment my intimacy with this most excellent man commenced, and terminated only with his existence. At this period Major Gordon appeared to be about or above middle age, cheerful and lively, active and zealous in his profession, although his person had a tendency towards "en-bon-point."*

During the time of the encampment the army fired a "feu-de-joie" for the repulse of the French army under the orders of the Count d'Estaing, at Savannah in Georgia. For our success on that occasion the country is much indebted to the activity and exertions of the late Hon. Lieutenant-Colonel Maitland of the 71st or Fraser Highlanders. That gallant officer, penetrating

* When the Chevalier arrived in Scotland in 1745, he was hospitably entertained in Linlithgow Palace by Major Gordon's mother, Mrs. Glen Gordon, her brother, Governor Glen, being at that time keeper of the palace.

At a subsequent period, when fortune turned against the arms of the Chevalier, a troop of Hawley's dragoons took possession of the palace, and made fires on the floors, and committed other excesses; Mrs. Glen Gordon remonstrated with Hawley on the conduct of his men, but the only redress she obtained was an intimation that she might leave the palace if she did not relish the presence of the troops. It is related of her that she retorted by saying (in allusion no doubt to the battle of Falkirk), "I can run from fire as well as any of you," and then quitted the palace.

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