This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: • This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. • A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. • This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. • The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. • When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. The Fatal Land: War, Empire, and the Highland Soldier in British America, 1756-1783 Volume I Matthew P. Dziennik This thesis was submitted to the School of History, Classics, and Archaeology, University of Edinburgh, for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History February 2011 Behold my Doom! This feather‟d omen, Portends what dismal times are coming. Now future scenes before my eyes, And second-sight forms arise; I hear a voice that calls away, And cries, The Whigs will win the Day; My beck‟ning Genius gives command, And bids us fly the fatal land; Where, changing name and constitution, Rebellion turns to Revolution, While loyalty oppressed in tears, Stands trembling for his neck and ears. - John Trumbull, MacFingal (Philadelphia, 1776), Canto III, p. 117. do m‟ mhàthair ‟s do mo bhràthair na mój ojciec I declare that this thesis is entirely my own work and that no part of it has previously been submitted for any other degree or professional qualification, nor has it been published in any form. 10 October 2010 ABSTRACT This thesis examines the experiences and impacts of the deployment of Highland soldiers to North America in the mid to late-eighteenth century. Between 1756 and 1783, Britain sent ten Highland battalions to the North American theatre, where they fought for the duration of both the Seven Years‟ War and the War of American Independence. The pressures of recruiting, utilizing, and demobilizing these men created powerful new forces in the Scottish Highlands, occurring, and in some cases prefiguring, the region‟s severe socio-economic problems. The impact of military contributions to the imperial state also had significant implications for Gaelic self-perception and the politics of loyalty and interest. This thesis asserts the importance of imperial contacts in shaping the development of the Scottish Highlands within the British state. Rejecting the narrative of a centrifugal empire based on military subjugation, this thesis argues that Gaels, of all social groups, constructed their own experiences of empire, having tremendous agency in how that relationship was formed. The British Empire was not constructed only through the extension or strengthening of state apparatus in various geographical spaces. It was formed by the decision of local actors to willingly embrace the perceived advantages of empire. Ultimately, the disproportionately large Highland commitment to military service was a largely negative force in the Highlands. This thesis establishes, however, the importance of political and ideological imperatives which drove these decisions, imperatives that were predicated on inter-peripheral contacts with British America. It establishes the extent to which Highland soldiers willingly ensured the development of British imperialism in the late eighteenth century. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abbreviations v Notes on the Sources vi Acknowledgements x Introduction 1 Volume I: The Experience of Imperial War 1. A Perfect Purgatory: Negotiations of Authority in Highland Recruiting 35 2. Combat, Imperial Savagery, and the Experience of War in North America 77 3. Imperial War and the Contractual Basis of Military Society 122 4. A‟ tilleadh dhachaigh: Empire, Demobilization, and Mobility 165 Volume II: The Impact of Imperial War 5. 200 acres of free ground: Loyalty and Interest in Transatlantic Perspective 213 6. The heroic fabric of the mind: Culture and Identity through Imperial War 271 Conclusions 318 Bibliography 328 Appendix A: List of Highland regiments, 1739-1784 366 Appendix B: Selection of Highland officers in 1757 372 iv ABBREVIATIONS AL Alderman Library, University of Virginia, Charlottesville ANOM Archives nationales d‟outre-mer, Paris BanQ Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, Québec City BL British Library, London CLIMC Crown Lands Information Management Centre, Department of Natural Resources, Halifax CWM Canadian War Museum, Ottawa DCA Dundee City Archives, Dundee GUL Glasgow University Library, Glasgow HCA Highland Council Archives, Inverness HL Huntington Library, San Marino, California JRL John Rylands Library, University of Manchester JSAHR Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research LAC Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa LoC Library of Congress, Washington DC NAS National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh NCSA North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, North Carolina NLS National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh NMS National Museums of Scotland, War Museum, Edinburgh Castle NSARM Nova Scotia Archives and Record Management, Halifax PARO Public Records and Archives, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island SHR Scottish Historical Review TNA The National Archives, Kew WMQ The William and Mary Quarterly v NOTES ON THE SOURCES In the completion of this thesis, I have attempted to remain as close to the eighteenth- century format as is possible and still retain comprehension. The original spelling of quotations, even where they are not standardized, has been left in their original form with corrections only if the meaning requires elaboration. Throughout the text, names such as Macdonald and Macleod have been standardized, but in quotations or cited sources they remain how the author spelled them. Mc and Mac are interchangeable in Gaelic and do not represent the common assumption that Mc is the Irish form. For reasons of authenticity, Gaelic sources are quoted within the text. If a short quotation, it is followed by the English translation in brackets. For longer quotations, the English translation is placed below the Gaelic. While it might have been helpful for bilingual readers to have parallel text, this has not been possible in order to retain the structure of the original Gaelic songs. The most problematic nomenclature of this thesis consists of the designations of British regiments. Regiments in this period were often known by the name of their colonel, with Highland regiments increasingly known by the localities in which they were raised, ie., 92nd (Duke of) Gordon Highlanders, raised in 1793. There were, however, two regiments known as Fraser‟s Highlanders, the 78th Foot (1757-1763) and the 71st Foot (1776-1783), both raised by Simon Fraser of Lovat. Numbers are also problematic, for disbanded regiments lost their designated number in the Establishment. For instance, during the Seven Years‟ War, the 77th Montgomery‟s Foot was raised and disbanded. A completely new regiment, with no affiliation to the earlier incarnation, was vi raised in 1778 as the 77th Atholl Foot. I have decided to refer to all regiments by their number, ie. 78th Foot, and, have provided a comprehensive set of appendices with details on the formations and leadership of all the Highland regiments raised in the period to ease comprehension. Several further pieces of military nomenclature require elaboration. A regiment was an administrative unit consisting of one or more battalions of infantry. Most British regiments consisted of just one battalion, making the terms regiment and battalion largely interchangeable for modern audiences. I have referred to the military formations in this thesis as regiments, except where there existed two or more battalions within that regiment. Battalions are referred to by a number in front of the regimental designation, thus 2/42nd Foot is the second battalion of the 42nd (Royal from 1758) Regiment of Foot, the Black Watch. Soldiers‟ ranks have also been left in their original form. The rank- and-file consisted of the lowest ranks of the army, the men who made up the width and depth of the regiment in the line of battle, the ranks and files. Above them were corporals and sergeants, the non-commissioned officers (NCOs), responsible for most of the daily organization of the rank-and-file. Above them were the junior commissioned officers, the subalterns, access to which was largely the preserve of social or monetary elites. These ranks consisted of the ensigns and lieutenants, the highest of which was the Captain-Lieutenant, a rank not used since the eighteenth century. For ease, I refer to all grades of lieutenants as Lt. Above the Lieutenants were the captains (Cpt.), generally responsible for the administrative leadership of a company of infantry, which at full strength would consist of 100 rank-and-file. There were ten such companies, eight of the line (standard infantry companies) and two flank companies, one each of light infantry vii and grenadiers. Above the captains were the majors, responsible for a „wing‟ or half of the battalion. Then there was the Lieutenant-Colonel, commonly known as the Commandant, the senior officer in charge of the battalion on campaign. Above him was a full Colonel, who administered the entire regiment, but rarely accompanied them overseas. For example, Simon Fraser of Lovat was colonel of the 71st Foot, consisting of two battalions. He did not serve in America during the War of Independence, however, and the battalions were led by various Lt. Cols. during the course of the war. Of course, these notes should be read as generalizations to make the designations used in this thesis comprehensible. Variations were inevitable. During the War of Independence, for example, the army had a propensity to use composite Grenadier and light infantry battalions drawn from the companies of several regiments.