26th (Cameronian) Regiment of Foot
The 26th Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the Scots Army and subsequently a Scottish infantry regiment of the British Army, active from 1689 to 1881. Although the regiment took the name of its first colonel as The Earl of Angus's Regiment, it became popularly known as The Cameronians until 1751, when it was ranked as the 26th Foot. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 90th Regiment of Foot to form the Cameronians in 1881. The Cameronians were themselves disbanded in 1968, meaning that no Army unit today perpetuates the lineage of the 26th Foot.
Formation
It was originally formed as the Cameronian Guard by the Lords of the Convention, named after the Cameronians, followers of the Presbyterian Richard Cameron, who had been a militant leader in the struggles of the Covenanters against attempts by the Stuart monarchs Charles II and James VII to outlaw Presbyterianism and impose bishops on the Church of Scotland. This conflict culminated with the Glorious Revolution leading to a Convention of the Estates of Scotland meeting on 14 March 1689. On 11 April, the day of the English coronation, the Convention finally declared that James was no longer King of Scotland, and offered the crown jointly to William and Mary.In March 1689, three Scottish regiments in the service of William arrived in Edinburgh, and the ad hoc forces raised to protect the convention were dismissed. However, the following month, a regiment was raised near Douglas by James, Earl of Angus, drawn from among the Cameronians, and placed under the service of William III. 1200 men are said to have been enlisted in a single day, without the need for "the beat of drum" or any bounty money being paid. The regiment had a nominal strength of 1200 men, in twenty companies of sixty, and its unusual religious background was reflected in the regulation that each company was to have an elder, as well as the regimental chaplain being a Cameronian.
Service under William III
The regiment entered government service under King William II of Scotland, III of England, in 1689, and on 21 August defeated Dundee's Jacobite forces at the Battle of Dunkeld, a turning point in Dundee's Jacobite rising of that year. The regiment also took part in the Battle of Landen in July 1693 during the Nine Years' War. After the Treaty of Ryswick was signed in September 1697, Parliament responded to political unrest over the concept of a large standing army by voting to disband all the forces raised since 1680, and to support only a minimal force of ten thousand men. William responded to this by taking a number of regiments, including the Cameronians, onto the strength of the Dutch establishment, where they would not need to be supported by Parliament. They were returned to the English establishment in 1700.War of the Spanish Succession
On the outbreak of the War of the Spanish Succession in 1701, an English expeditionary force of thirteen regiments was sent to the Netherlands. A second force followed in early 1702, which included the Cameronians, and both groups joined a large allied army under the command of the Duke of Marlborough, when war was declared in May. Through 1702 and 1703 the army took a number of towns by siege, though the Cameronians' participation is not recorded in any of these events; they were, however, to be fully engaged the following year. They assembled for the 1704 campaign at Bedburg in the middle of May, and in early July a detachment was part of the main British attack at the Battle of Schellenberg. Of the hundred and thirty men involved, nineteen were killed and sixty-two wounded. The regiment then fought at the Battle of Blenheim in July, where it saw additional duty the following night guarding some of the thirteen thousand men taken prisoner. The British force was withdrawn to the Netherlands in October, where it went into winter quarters.In 1705, they fought at the Battle of Elixheim, though the rest of the year's campaign was mostly uneventful. On General Ferguson's death, the colonelcy of the regiment passed to John Borthwick, the lieutenant-colonel, in October. However, Borthwick chose to exchange his colonelcy for that of a Dutch regiment under Lord John Dalrymple, who became the regiment's colonel as of 1 January 1706. The Cameronians left winter quarters at the end of April, 1706, and during May participated in the extensive maneuvering which led to the Battle of Ramillies on the 23rd. The regiment did not take part in the main attack, but were exposed to heavy cannon fire during the battle, and took a large number of casualties. In August, the colonel – now the Earl of Stair – was appointed to command the Scots Greys, and the lieutenant-colonel, George Preston, succeeded him in the colonelcy. The regiment fought at a number of sieges during the later part of the year, including at Ath, where a party of Cameronians managed to break into the fortress walls four days before it surrendered.
The 1707 campaign was uneventful, but the regiment suffered extensively from fatigue and illness, being reduced at one point to a hundred men able to fight. In 1708 the regiment was briefly placed on notice to return to Great Britain, which was threatened with invasion, but was stood down after the French fleet was dispersed without making a landing. In July they fought at the Battle of Oudenarde, taking heavy casualties, and then served at the Siege of Lille. During the siege, they were part of a force detached to guard an ammunition convoy in late September; it was intercepted by a French force at Wijnendale, who were themselves successfully ambushed by the escorts. The French force lost six thousand killed and wounded, compared to only nine hundred of the allied force. At the very end of the year, the Cameronians were part of the force which captured Ghent, where they then remained in winter quarters.
They left Ghent in June 1709, and were part of the covering force during the siege of Tournai. When the town was captured in early September, the main army moved south; the French army encountered them just outside Mons, and they skirmished briefly with artillery fire on the 9th. In this engagement, the Cameronians took heavy losses, being in an exposed section of the battle line. The Battle of Malplaquet itself took place on the 11th, with the Cameronians in the central British infantry line. This force repeatedly beat off a French cavalry attack, and was credited by the French commander as a major element in his defeat. The regiment's losses included its lieutenant-colonel, who was shot whilst riding at the head of his men.
In the first part of 1710 the regiment was part of the force besieging Douai; they repelled a counter-attack in May with no casualties. However, they regularly took small losses in minor skirmishes, and eventually lost a total of fifty-one men killed and a hundred and ninety-two wounded in the siege. After the surrender of Douai they covered a siege at Béthune before returning to winter quarters in Ghent. They left Ghent unusually early the next year, in late March, and moved quickly into French territory to hold an advanced position before falling back in April to join the main force as it assembled. Throughout the summer they followed Marlborough through northern France, and were a part of the attacking army at the Siege of Bouchain in August, before returning to winter quarters. After some inconclusive fighting in 1712, they withdrew to garrison Dunkirk; after the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, the fortifications here were demolished and the garrison moved to Nieuwpoort in May. They returned to Dunkirk in August, and there embarked for Ireland.
During the campaign, Blackadder recorded that the Cameronians had been thanked by Marlborough seven times for their conduct in action. The 26th was later authorised to carry the battle honours "Blenheim", "Ramillies", "Oudenarde", and "Malplaquet", for its four most prominent engagements in the war.
Mid-eighteenth century service, 1715–1767
The Cameronians were transferred from their posting in Ireland to Scotland in late 1715, ordered there to fight against the First Jacobite rising. The regiment were moved to Preston in November 1715, along with six regiments of cavalry, where they found a strong Jacobite force in possession of the town. A frontal attack into the town on 12 November, led by the Cameronians as the only infantry force present, was beaten back with heavy losses. A further three regiments arrived the next day, and the Jacobite force, now surrounded, surrendered unconditionally. The regiment took ninety-two casualties in the Battle of Preston, including three of its senior officers, who were wounded. Following the suppression of the rebellion, the Cameronians returned to Ireland in 1716.Philip Anstruther was promoted colonel of the regiment in May 1720. In 1726, they left Ireland to serve as marines aboard naval ships, and were then sent as reinforcements to the garrison at Gibraltar during the war with Spain in 1727. They did not see field combat during the siege of Gibraltar, as the activity on both sides was mostly a matter of long-distance bombardment rather than direct attacks; nine men were killed or died of wounds, and twenty-nine were injured. The Cameronians remained in the Gibraltar garrison until 1738, when they moved to Minorca, and left there for Ireland in 1748.
On 1 July 1751, the regiment was formally ranked as the 26th Regiment of Foot, and issued with new, standardised, regimental colours. The regiment returned to Scotland in 1754, and then moved back to Ireland in 1757, where they remained for the following decade. In 1760, Colonel Edward Sandford was appointed colonel, and replaced in 1763 by Colonel John Scott.
North American service, 1767–1800, and the American War of Independence
The regiment embarked for the North American colonies in 1767, to take up garrison duties. On the outbreak of hostilities in the American War of Independence, in 1775, the 26th Foot were stationed in Lower Canada along with the 7th Royal Fusiliers; the two regiments were loosely scattered among frontier posts, and both were at a very low strength, mustering around seven hundred men between them.On 10 May, 36 soldiers and two officers of the 26th were captured at Fort Ticonderoga by a force led by Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold. A second detachment at Fort Crown Point was taken without incident the next day. The main force of the 7th and 26th regiments in Canada was soon shifted towards Fort Saint-Jean, in Quebec. An expedition by 150 men under Allen to capture Montreal was defeated on 25 September by thirty-six Cameronians – the entire regular garrison of the city – and a local militia force.
The Americans, under General Richard Montgomery, had meanwhile led a strong force against Saint-Jean, and began to besiege the fortress in September. The garrison, commanded by Major Charles Preston of the 26th, was made up of 550 men from the 7th and 26th. However, supplies of food and ammunition were limited, and the defenders were forced to surrender in early November. The American force moved towards Montreal, which was evacuated, with the garrison – containing a small remnant of the 26th – sailing down the St. Lawrence towards Quebec City. Slowed by adverse winds and fog, and with their passage challenged by an American artillery battery and gunboat, the ships surrendered and the troops were taken prisoner; the regimental colours were wrapped around a cannonball and dropped in the river so they would not be captured.
This effectively ended the 26th's participation in the fighting for Canada, though a few stragglers may have served with the defenders at the Battle of Quebec in December. A group of reinforcements being sent out to the regiment was landed in May 1776, with the force which lifted the siege of the city. After a large force of Americans was captured at the Battle of The Cedars, they were exchanged for prisoners from the 7th and 26th, allowing these regiments to reform in the summer.
The 26th was moved to the New York theatre in the autumn, and camped at Amboy, New Jersey throughout the winter. It made a short raid further into New Jersey, towards Newark, in September 1777, and then moved to Staten Island. The regiment participated in the attack on Fort Clinton on 6 October, along with three other regiments; the fort was taken with few casualties, but this did not lead to any lasting strategic advantage.
The regiment remained at Staten Island through the Philadelphia campaign, and in late 1779 were ordered home. The rank and file of the regiment were transferred into other units, and the regimental staff returned to England to raise a new force. On arriving in England they were sent to Staffordshire, and by the end of 1780 had a strength of two hundred men. It moved to Shrewsbury in 1781, growing to a strength of 336 men by the end of the year, and then moved to Scotland via Tynemouth. It remained in Scotland until October 1783, when it moved to Ireland.
Lieutenant-General Sir William Erskine was appointed colonel of the regiment in 1782, and petitioned the King for the right to officially change the regimental name. The traditional title of "Cameronian" had fallen into disuse at some point during the 18th century, and Erskine felt that it should be restored. Accordingly, in February 1786, the regiment was formally permitted to assume the title "Cameronian".
The regiment embarked from Cork in May 1787, with a full establishment strength of around 350 men, and arrived in British North America in August. They were garrisoned around Quebec, moving to Montreal in 1789, and then to the frontier posts along the Niagara River in 1790. It moved to St. John in 1792, and then returned to Montreal in 1794. In March 1795, Major-General Sir Charles Stuart was appointed the regimental colonel. The regiment moved back and forth between Montreal and Quebec over the following years, absorbing a large draft of men from the 4th Foot in 1797 in order to bring it up to the new strength of ten companies.
In May 1800 the regiment moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where it served in garrison duties for four months before sailing for England in September. On their return, however, one of the three transport ships was captured by a French privateer, the Grand Decidée, with the men paroled and allowed to return to England on the promise that they would not serve until exchanged for French prisoners. In March 1801, Lieutenant-General Andrew Gordon was appointed Colonel of the regiment.