THE PAPERS OF THE CANADIAN MASONIC
RESEARCH ASSOCIATION, Vol. 1, 1952 [a]
THE MASONIC LODGE IN THE 78TH REGIMENT
(Fraser’s Highlanders)
By: R. W. Bro. A. J. B. Milborne
The Seven Years’ War arose from the formation of a coalition between Austria, France, Russia, Sweden and Saxony against Prussia with the object of destroying the power of Frederick the Great. Prussia was joined by England, and between England and France a maritime and colonial war broke out. This war laid the foundations of the British Empire, for before the campaign had been concluded in Europe, the French dominion in Canada, and the French influence in India had been entirely overthrown by the victories of Amherst, Wolfe and Clive. The resistance of Prussia, almost single-handed against the allies confronted her, had also laid the solid, if then unseen, foundations of modern Germany as it existed prior to the World Wars.
Naval operations began nearly a year before the declaration of hostilities for, as early as June 1756, a British squadron under Boscawen was sent into the Straits of Belle Isle to intercept French ships carrying soldiers and stores to Quebec. Amid the fogs and ice of early summer, this was a desperate and hopeless task.
In 1756, the British efforts to carry the war to the enemy in North America were marked by a slowness and hesitation which doomed any definite plans that may have existed to inevitable failure. Montcalm had captured Fort William Henry on Lake George after a siege that lasted but a few days. Lord Loudoun, the Commander-in-Chief in America, who had received instructions to take the Fortress of Louisbourg, and had assembled a force amply sufficient to do so, failed to carry them out, on the ground that the late arrival of the Fleet had rendered his plans too hazardous. Changes in the command were inevitable. Loudoun was re-called, and replaced by Abercrombie as Commander-in-Chief, and a fresh expeditionary force was despatched from England for the purpose of taking first Louisbourg, and then Quebec. Colonel Jeffrey Amherst was selected to command this new force, with the rank of Major-General, and three Brigadiers who were to go with him were Whitmore of the 22nd Foot, Charles Lawrence, Governor of Nova Scotia, and James Wolfe, a young English soldier (he was then but thirty years of age), who had already given great promise as a sound military strategist and a skillful tactician.
Among the Regiments in this expeditionary force was the colourful 78th Regiment, raised by Colonel the Honourable Simon Fraser, Master of Lovat, a son of the twelfth Baron Lovat. Without estate, money or influence, beyond the hereditary attachment of his clan, Colonel Fraser found himself in a few weeks at the head of eight hundred men, entirely recruited by himself, and the gentlemen of the country raised seven hundred more.
The Regiment thus formed consisted of 82 officers, thirteen companies of 105 men each, 65 sergeants, and 30 pipers and drummers, a total of 1,542, composing a splendid body of men, whose spirit in attach and tenacity in defence helped to establish the high military reputation of Highland Regiments which had ever since been maintained.
The Regiment wore full Highland dress and carried the musket and broadsword. Many of the soldiers added, at their own expense, the dirk and purse of otter skin. The bonnet was raised or cocked on one side with a slight bend inclining down to the right ear, over which were suspended two or more black feathers. Eagles’ or hawks’ feathers were worn by the Officers.
Fifteen of the Officers were Frasers, five of whom bore the Christian name of Simon, three that of John and three that of Alexander. There were seven MacDonalds, and a half-a-dozen of Campbells, Camerons and MacDonnells, so that the problem of identification of an individual is not without difficulty. There was also that rugged giant of a man, Captain the Reverend Robert MacPherson, the popular padre, who was with the Regiment wherever it went, and who was affectionately termed “Caipal Mor” by the men.
One of the companies was recruited by a Captain David Baillie, and he undertook to obtain a commission in the Regiment for his cousin, James Thompson, of whom we shall hear a great deal in this paper. This was not immediately forthcoming as the establishment of commissioned officers was already complete, so Thomson volunteered to go as a Sergeant at a shilling a day.
James Thompson was born in Tain, a small town about a mile from the southern shore of Dornoch Firth, in the County of Ross and Cromarty, in the year 1732, so that he was twenty-five years of age when he enlisted. From his correspondence we learn that he was also made a Mason there, but I have been unable to identify the Lodge in which he was initiated. I have found no reference to his parents. A descendant has recently made the claim that he was connected with the Douglas family, but as the records of the Parish of Tain are not in the custody of the Registrar-General of Scotland, it has not been possible to ascertain he names of his parents. Enquiries at the Court of the Lord Lyon and elsewhere have produced no evidence to substantiate the claim. From his memoirs I learn that Thompson added the letter “p” to his name en route to Canada at the suggestion of Captain Baillie. In one of the earliest notes concerning him, he is described as a “gentleman volunteer.” He had received a fair education, could draw a plan, and his subsequent activities confirm the view that he had considerable knowledge of the building trade. He has left behind him a Diary and a number of volumes of Memoirs. These were acquired by the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, founded in 1823, and are now preserved in its archives. The printed Transactions of this Society, which were first issued in 1829, contain many quotations from his manuscripts, and these have been drawn upon in the preparation of this paper.
After giving details of his enlistment, James Thompson records that “thanks to our gracious chief, Colonel Fraser, we are allowed to wear the garb of our fathers – and in the course of six winters, we showed that the doctors did not understand our constitutions for, in the coldest weather, our men were more healthy than those in regiments that wore breeches.”
Thompson tells us that the Regiment sailed from Cork for service somewhere in North America – “we did not know where.” His company embarked on a beautiful ship – the Martello – on her first voyage. “The ship was so tight, that she did not require pumping the whole of the voyage, which was a lucky circumstance, indeed.” The destination of the fleet was disclosed en route, and “when we arrived at Halifax, we learned that . . . General Wolfe was there busily employed drilling away the men, and making them fight sham battles at a place round the town called Deptford. (Dartmouth?) where the ground was flat.”
“We were not lying at Halifax long” continues Thompson, “When we received orders to set sail for the River St. Lawrence, and in a few days we came to anchor opposite the Harbour at Louisbourg, which we knew it was our business to try to take.”
This would be on the second or third day of June 1758. Louisbourg then had a garrison of regular troops amounting to three thousand five hundred men, and the defence could call upon a large number of civilians and a few Indians for assistance. The fortress had been considerably strengthened since 1745, when it surrendered to Warren and the force of New Englanders under Pepperell, but without command of the adjacent waters, the defenders could scarcely hope to maintain themselves against a well-planned and skilfully executed attack.
The French fleet, after failing to give battle to the British ships, had retuned to France in the Fall of the previous year, and when it attempted to sail to Canada in the spring of 1758, it was delayed by bad weather and the activities of the British squadron on watch for it. Twelve ships, however, evaded the blockade bringing to the garrison greatly needed material and some reinforcements. They were, however, hopelessly outnumbered by the British fleet under Sir Charles Hardy, consisting of ten ships of the line, and four frigates, which had been blockading the port since early in April, and the 180 vessels under the command of Admiral Boscawen, manned by 13,000 men and carrying about the same number of soldiers aboard, which arrived before Louisbourg in the first days of June.
Various schemes for effecting a landing were discussed and finally it was decided that the attacking force should be divided into three parties. Two of these were to distract the enemy’s attention, while the third, under Wolfe, made the actual landing. This third party was a picked force consisting of the grenadier companies of eleven battalions, the Light Infantry, the American Rangers and Fraser’s Highlanders. The landing was made at dawn on Thursday, June 8th, 1758, and here is James Thompson’s account of the operations:
“When,” he writes, “all the troops were got into the flat-bottomed boats that the General had provided at Halifax, and which we brought along with us, we very soon after saw the signal from the General’s barge which was between us and the land, to push off towards shore. . . . We were so closely packed together, there was only room for us to stand up except in the back part of the boat, where the Officers and N.C.O.’s contrived to sit down on the stern sheets. This left no room for rowing so we were taken in tow by a boat from a ’74.’ During this time the French were peppering us with canister shot form a six-bun battery on the heights, while musket balls fired form 24-pownders came whistling about our ears. Nothing could be like it, and as our ships of war kept up a fire upon the batteries to cover our landing, there was a terrific hullabaloo.”
“One 24-pound shot did a great deal of mischief. It passed under my hams and killed Sergeant McKenzie who was sitting as close to my left as he could squeeze, and it carried away the basket of his broadsword which, along with the shot, passed through Lieutenant Cuthbert, who was on McKenzie’s left, tore his body into shivers, and cut off both the legs of one of the two fellows that held the tiller of the boat, who lost an astonishing quantity of blood, and died with the tiller grasped right in his hand! After doing all this mischief, the shot stuck in the stern post. Although this shot did not touch me, the thighs and calves of my legs were affected and became so black as my hat, and for some weeks I suffered a great deal of pain. But that was nothing – what affected me most was the loss of my captain, Captain Billie. He was on the opposite side of the boat to me, and as he merely leaned over his head in a gentle manner upon the shoulders of the man next to him, I had no idea that he had been touched, but thought that he was trying to avoid the shot which was coming so thick upon us. So thought the other man also, but he was struck mortally, and expired without the least struggle. Poor fellow! He was my best friend, and it was to be with him that I had volunteered to come away from Scotland.”
“Whilst we were in this sad predicament, I had my eye on the boat that was towing us, for I was anxious that she should get as far forward as possible, when I observed a fellow fumbling at the painter of our boat, without my knowing what he was at. At last he takes a clasp knife out of his pocket and cuts the rope, and away went he boat, leaving us a mark for the French batteries to fire at. As good luck would have it, our situation was notice by one of our Frigates, from which two boats were sent to our relief, and into which we got. No sooner had we left our flat-bottomed boat that she sank to the gunnel, for the men had withdrawn their plaids from out of the shot holes into which they had thrust them whenever we were struck. The weight of the shot that stuck in her, also helped a good deal to sink her. In this state she was towed alongside the Frigate, and I understand was hoisted aboard and taken home to England as a great curiosity, for she was completely riddled with shot-holes, and nearly a bucket-full of musket balls and other small short was taken out of her. Had there been any other troops than Highlanders in our situation, they must have gone to the bottom for want of such a ready means of plugging up the shot-holes as we carried about us in our plaids.”
“In our fresh boats, and under the covering fire of our ships of war, we at last got landed on the west side of the Town, although we were nearly swamped in the surf. We had to wait a considerable time before we could advance, until some axemen were got to cut a passage through the abattis that lined the beach for about three miles, but aft4er a great deal of difficulty we got to he top of the rock.”
“On our way to join the main Army, we came to the Battery that did so much mischief. It was deserted, only one man being fond, and he had had his head carried away, yet he held firm hold of a lighted lint-stock which one of our Highlanders tried in vain to force out of his grasp.”
“Our Fleet, as it seemed to me from the high shore, made a noble appearance, and looked as if the bowsprit of every one was made fast to the stern of the next to it – they stretched across the whole Harbour.”
From another account of this landing, it appears that Wolfe was among the first to plunge through the surf and get ashore, where, carrying a light cane, he made his dispositions with the greatest coolne3ss, and, it is said, found time to give a guinea apiece to two Highlanders who had been poi8nted out to him as the first men tog et ashore.
The French outposts were quickly driven in – the operation was over in about four hours – and Wolfe’s detachment pressed on until they came under the fire of the guns of the town.
For some unaccountable reason there was a few days delay before any guns were landed by the British, and if the enemy had shown any initiative the position of the landing parties might have become very serious, but their luck held. During the next month there were many skirmishes between the opposing forces while the British artillery gradually reduce the fortifications, the French capitulating on July 26th, 1758.
Mention has been made of the strong bond of affection which existed between James Thompson and his cousin, David Baillie, and it is a curious fact on the day before the landing at Louisbourg, Captain Baillie, having a presentiment of his fate, wrote a letter to Colonel Fraser, relating the circumstances of Thompson’s enlistment, and strongly recommending him to his protection. James Thompson was thus brought to the personal knowledge of his commanding officer, and Baillie made certain that a pledge given to his cousin would be faithfully redeemed.
It would appear that the British originally planned that Quebec should be attacked as soon as Louisbourg had fallen, and Wolfe impatient, as over, of delay, urged upon Amherst the necessity for prompt action, with little avail. A landing was made on the tip of the Gaspé Peninsula, and a reconnaissance was made of the St. Lawrence, but by his time the summer was well advanced, and Boscawen urged postponement of further action on the ground that the Fleet was short of provisions and was badly in need of re-fitting. The Army therefore, went into winter quarters, the greater part staying at Louisbourg. The remainder, with the exception of Fraser’s Highlanders, which wintered in new York, Returned to Halifax.
Wolfe returned to England, reverted to the rank of Colonel and rejoined his Regiment, the 67th Foot. He was shortly afterwards granted leave, but this leave was interrupted by a call to London where Mr. Pitt informed him that he was to command a new expedition to Canada.
Wolfe invited James Murray to serve with him as one of his Brigadiers, and Colonel Guy Carleton as Quartermaster-General. While it was understood that Wolfe was to have entire freedom of choice in the selection of his officers, it would seem that the appointment of George Townshend was a political one. Robert Monckton, the third Brigadier, had been in America since 1751, and because of his knowledge of the country in which the force was to operate, his choice was not only logical, but one that was entirely acceptable to General Wolfe.