^ THE 5th REGIMENT Royal Scots of Canada Highlanders A REGIMENTAL HISTORY BY CAPTAIN ERNEST J. CHAMBERS, (CORPS OF Guides) AUTHOR OF THE Histories of ttie 1st Prince of Wales Regiment, 3rd (Montreal) Field Battery, 2nd Queen's Own Rifles, The Governor-General's Body Guard, The 43rd Duke of Cornwall's Own Rifles the Montreal Highland Cadet Battalion, etc. K (j^: LT.-COLONEL HON. ROBERT MACKAY Honorary Lt.-Colonel 5th Royal Scots of Canada REV J, EDGAR HILL, M.A., D.D. Chaplain 5th Royal Scots of Canada THE GUERTIN PRINTING COM MOM TREAI- BRIGHT thinker and writer (Niebuhr) once wrote : "A nation cannot possess a nobler treasnre than the nnbroken chain of a long and brilliant history." While this is unquestionably the case with nations, it is quite as true with regard to military organizations. It perhaps takes one who has performed military service to appreciate the full significance of corps pride and corps love, but every civilian is able to form some idea of the extent to which those qualities exist in the com- position of the really good soldier, and of the value placed upon them by those best able to judge. Corps pride, resulting from an abiding affection for and admiration of the regiment in which their own military lives and those of many beloved and honored comrades have been spent, and a fixed determination that disgrace shall never fall upon the venerated organization through any act of theirs, has led soldiers—officers, as well as men in the ranks, to perform the most noble deeds of daring which illumine the annals of the various military services in the world. The record of these acts of devotion is written in characters so large that he who runs may read. Every great military commander has placed himself on record as appreciating the practical im- portance of fostering this powerful military virtue of corps pride. Lord VVolsely in that invaluable manual "The Soldier's Pocket Book" devotes several pages (3, 4, 5 and 6) of the opening chapter to emphasizing the value of military spirit and corps pride in the soldier. His Lordship in this connection remarks : "His- torical traditions and established customs effect the character of regiments more than might be imagined by those who draw their idea of our service from His Majesty Re- gulations No man who knew soldiers or their peculiar way of thinking, or who was acquainted with the many little trifles that go to make up pride of regiment, and that form as it were the link between it and discipline, would ever deprive a soldier of any peculiarity that he prided himself on, without having some overpowering reason for doing so The soldier is a peculiar animal that can alone be brought to the highest efficiency by inducing him to believe that he belongs to a regiment which is infinitely superior to the others around him Make a man proud of himself and of his corps, and he can always be depended upon." In Scottish regiments particularly, corps pride has always been conspicuous, for the Scottish mind will always resent that vicious and sophisticated scepticism which would rob us of the accumulated inheritance of past deeds, and it is the remembrance of past deeds, and the spirit of emulation they arouse, that is the very foundation of your true corps pride. There has never been a lack of praiseworthy corps pride in the 5th Roj'al Scots of Canada ; but I humbly hope, that this modest historj' of the regiment will assist to some extent in stimulating and sustaining that spirit. I would like to state that my primary object in preparing the series of Canadian regimental histories it has been ni}' privilege to write, has been to produce books which will preserve facts about the organiza- tion of our existing militia organizations which should be preserved in the interests of national history, and which will, at the same time, prove beneficial to the country by helping to sustain a necessary, wholesome, national military spirit ; and useful to the corps directly concerned by setting forth in a shape which is available to all ranks, of the facts connected with the past history of their regiments. The record of the Royal Scots is, as far as the records of Canadian militia organizations go, a long one. It is also an honorable one. Compared with regular organizations, the Royal Scots have not had much active service to perform, but the regiment has always been ready when wanted, and upon such occasions has done its duty well. As far as possible, in preparing this history, I have drawn upon official records, and acknowledged historical authorities, and I have to express my deep sense of obliga- tion for assistance rendered me and papers placed at my disposal by Lieut-Col. Ibbotson, Lieut-Col. Carson, Col. John Macpherson, Major Kenneth Campbell and Major H. H. Lyman. To Colonel Macpherson, who furnished some useful information regarding the old Montreal Highland Company, and to Major Campbell who prepared a series of invaluable memoranda on the old Montreal Light Infantery, the 5th Royal Light Infantry, and the 5th Royal Fusileers, I am especially indebted. ERNEST J. CHAMBERS. Montreal, February 29th, 1904. CHAPTER I. Montreal Militia of the Olden Days. HERE appears to have always Britain by the treaty of Paris, signed on the loth of been a martial spirit prevail- May, 1763. Within eleven days of the capitulation steps of ing among the population were taken towards the organization of the first British Montreal. Considering that Canadian militia in the Province of Quebec. the original settlement was a September the 19th, 1760, Colonel Haldimand, who military one, that its first gov- had been appointed the first British military governor of ernor, de Maisonneuve, was a Montreal, was instructed to assemble the militia of the valiant soldier, and that for district who had served under the French regime, and many years the whole male population had to hold thsm- order them to surrender their arms as a mark of their selves ready to defend their set- submission, which being done, the arms wotdd be restor- tlement, and all that they held dear, against the attacks ed to them or placed in an armory, and the officers, of the prowling savage, it is not surprising that the after taking the oath of allegiance, rccommissioned. military spirit prevailed in the original hamlet of Ville The enrollment of the militia of New France, under Marie. When the hamlet had grown into a village of the old regime, was accomplished by the aid of the fair size, and outlying settlements and judicious treaties Feudal law of Fiefs, which obliged every man in the col- kept the war parties of Iroquois at a distance, frequent ony, the noblesse excepted, to enroll himself in the mili- military expeditions against the English colonies stimu- tia, and provided for the appointment of a captain in lated the military spirit of the population. Tlien came every parish, who was responsible to the Governor Wolfe's victory at Quebec followed a- year later by the for the drill and good order of his men. When the climax of French disaster in North America, the capitu- French governors of the colony wanted the services of lation of Montreal, and the surrender of the French army. the militia as soldiers, the colonels of the militia, the The allegiance of the people was transferred from the seigneurs, or the town majors, on receipt of a requisi- fleur-de-lys to the Union Jack, but the military spirit sition from the governor, sent orders to the several cap- remained. tains of the militia in the country parishes to furni.sh a With the whole continent of North America under certain number of militiamen chosen by those officers, one flag, and with the people engrossed in commercial who conducted them to the Town Major, who in turn pursuits, it looked as though the military spirit in issued to the men their arms and equipment. Thus Montreal, and every where else in this part of the globe, were raised the serviceable levies of Canadian militiamen might disappear, and without being mis.sed. Then came who covered them.selves with glory in many desperate the great cleaveage of the American Revolution; and the campaigns against Iroquois, English, New Englanders men of Montreal, with the rest of the people of Canada, and Virginians. have since found ample opportunity for the exercise of The British army officers, in taking steps to recom- their military spirit in presenting a staunch barrier to mission the old French militia officers had no idea republican aggression, more or less openlv threatened, or of utilizing their services to raise by the old system of actually attempted. conscription a military force for the defence of the colo- The visible sign of the existence of the military spirit ny. As a matter of fact, with the whole continent under in Canada to-day is the active militia, and no section of the British flag, and with the British navy triumphant the Canadian people has had a more prominent or more upon the sea, there apjjeared no necessity for the raising honorable connection with the development of Canada's of a defensive force in Canada. splendid national defensive force than the popidation of The sole object of the British army officers was to Montreal. secure the services of the officers and non-commisioned For the inception of the force which has won for officers of the old French Militia in their civil capacities. Canada her most cherished laurels, and which has done When the officers of the British army found them- so much to preserve this half of the continent as a part selves the masters of Canada the first problem they of the Briti-sh Empire, we must go back to the days im- were called upon to face was to provide for the adminis- mediately succeeding the capitulation of Montreal The tration and government of the conquered country.