NEW HIGHLANDER BOOK  2006

Three proud Highland regiments fought in North America during the Seven Year's War - the 77th Foot (Montgomery's Highlanders), the 78th Foot (Fraser's Highlanders), and the famous Black Watch, more correctly known at the time as the Royal Highland Regiment. Undoubtedly, the exploits of the 42nd, 77th and 78th Highlanders in some of the most bloody and desperate battles on the North American continent were a critical factor in transforming the overall image of Highlanders from Jacobite rebels to Imperial heroes in the latter half of the 18th century.  But the everyday story of these regiments - how they trained, worked, played, fought and died from their own point of view - has never been seriously told.  

 

Sons of the Mountains: A History of the Highland regiments in North America during the French & Indian War, 1756-1767, is a two-volume set due to be co-published Spring 2006 by Purple Mountain Press and the Fort Ticonderoga Museum.  It chronicles the Highland regiments' fighting performance and experiences from the time they were raised in the Highlands and stepped ashore in North America, to their disbandment in 1763; or, as in the case of the 42nd, reduced in establishment and left on lonely garrison duty in the American wilderness until their recall and return to Ireland in 1767. 

 

Volume One of Sons of the Mountains follows all three regiments on their various campaigns in the different theatres of war. As they range from the wilderness of the Ohio Forks to the wind-swept crags of Signal Hill in Newfoundland, and from the waters of the Great Lakes to the torrid swamps and cane fields of the "Sugar Islands", the reader will be exposed to all the major conflicts and actions of the "Great War for Empire" as seen though the eyes of the Highland soldier.

 

Cluny, the 27th Hereditary Chief of Clan Macpherson, writes from Blairgowrie, Scotland:

 

As a direct descendant of a Clansman who was present on the Heights of Carillon and at  Fort Ticonderoga in July 1758 I feel that I understand now far better how my forebear and his fellow Highlanders must have felt and lived and fought, and relate much more closely to those "Sons of the Mountains" of long ago.  I warmly commend Lt Colonel McCulloch's book to readers across the Atlantic and here in Scotland. He has done a great service to the memory of those who fought and died with these distinguished Regiments.

 

Volume Two of Sons of the Mountains will appeal to all families of Scottish descent and serious genealogists.  It features comprehensive biographical histories of every regimental officer from all the major clans (over 350 entries) who served in North America. For example,

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Henry Munro* [1] (1727-1782)

Lieut: 7 February 1757, 77th Foot; half-pay 24 December 1763.

 

The 3rd son of the Reverend John Munro of Halkirk, Caithness and Janet Gunn, heiress of Braemore.  Henry's senior brother, John Gunn Munro of Braemore, was major tenant on the property of Navidale in Sutherland at the time of his commissioning in Montgomery's Highlanders.  The holder of the wadset on this property was none other than Major James Grant, the senior major of the regiment (see above).  Capt. Gordon Graham of Drainie and Lt. John Sutherland, 42nd Foot, (see 42nd register) were his brothers-in-law.  Henry was wounded at Fort Duquesne on 14 September 1758 and one of four officers who escaped death or capture during the debacle.  He subsequently fought in all the major campaigns of the 77th (Fort Duquesne, 1758, Ticonderoga & Crown Point 1759 and the 1761 Cherokee Expedition) with the exceptions of the capture of Montreal and the subsequent Caribbean campaigns.  From late 1760, until the regiment's disbandment in 1763, he served as a company officer in John Sinclair's company garrisoning Annapolis Royal in Nova Scotia. On discharge he settled in the local area, receiving a grant of 2000 acres in 1765.  He married Sarah Hooper, daughter of Thomas Hooper, one of the original Massachussett's settlers in the township, and they had seven children.  In 1765, he was elected the first representative of Granville in the province's legislative assembly, a post he resigned two years later.  He became a justice of the peace and was commissioned a lieutenant-colonel in the militia in 1776, a position he held until 1782 when he died suddenly of apoplexy.  His widow and young family were then taken care of financially by one of his older brothers, Sir George Gunn Munro, of Poytnzfield.

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General Return, 1757; Officers List, 1757; CBs; SBs; BALs.

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Also included in the glossaries are regimental muster rolls and land petitions of discharged Highlanders. Marie Fraser editor of Canadian Explorer, newsletter of the Clan Fraser Society of Canada writes:

 

Besides being compelling Highland history, SOTM is a valuable genealogical resource for all of Scottish heritage.  With over 350 officers' biographies, career details and genealogical notes in the annexes, McCulloch has identified the complex ties of kinship, marriage and friendship that bound the most prominent Scottish families of the day together during the Seven Years War between Britain and France fought in North America, known to some as the French & Indian War.

 

Lavishly illustrated with artwork by Robert Griffing, Steve Noon, Peter Rindisbacher, Gary Zaboly, Charles Stolz and John Buxton, as well as with contemporary prints, maps and portraits from the collections of the Black Watch Museums of Scotland and Canada, the Fort Ticonderoga Museum, the Fort Ligonier Museum, the William L. Clements Library, the National Army Museum, Chelsea, the David M. Stewart Museum, Montreal, the National Archives of Canada and the Library of Congress, Sons of the Mountains is a visual delight.

 

Without a doubt, Sons of the Mountains is the most complete and informative work on the history of early Highland regiments of the British army in North America to date and will be published in Spring 2006.  To learn more about the author and for a sneak preview of the Introduction and excerpts from both volumes of Sons of the Mountains go to http://www.electricscotland.com/history/scotreg/mcculloch/index.htm

 

Further details on pre-ordering and prices will be posted soon at Purple Mountain Press website at http://www.catskill.net/purple/order.htm, or write to be placed on a mailing list for details at: Purple Mountain Press, Ltd., PO Box 309, Fleischmann's, NY, 12430-0309. Phone: 1-845-254-4062.

 

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