GRANT, John of 42nd Regiment of Foot 'The Black Watch', Lieutenant 1
- Born: About 1730
- Marriage (1): GRANT, Penuel before 1771 1
General Notes:
This man wrote a "Journal" coverine the years 1758-1762, covering his experiences in Martinique and Havana among others. 2
Research Notes:
THE BLACK WATCH
"The Black Watch:
Formed into a regiment in 1739, the Black Watch was the vanguard of the Highland battalions. The men of the Black Watch were the only British subjects allowed to wear the Tartan without risk of transportation to the colonies as punishment. The Black Watch, alone of all the Highland regiments, is unique in wearing the red hackle in their bonnets.
The outbreak of the Seven Years' War in 1756 took the Regiment to the New World, and continuous service in North America followed. During the Battle of the Carillon (Ticonderoga, Essex County) in July 1758, the Black Watch sustained heavy casualties during eight hours of repeated attacks.
The 42nd or Highland Regiment of Foot:
In the disastrous Battle of Carillon on July 8, 1758, the British forces commanded by Major General James Abercromby lost 1,967 men, killed and wounded, from the army of almost 16,000, despite outnumbering by 5-to-1 the French force of about 3,200 commanded by the Marquis de Montcalm. In a letter to his wife, Montcalm cited, ..."le courage extraordinaire des montagnards Ecossais.." ---"the extraordinary courage of the Highlanders..."
The Highland Regiment, or the 42nd Regiment of Foot, suffered greater casualties than any other regiment in this battle, losing nearly half of the men reported by General Abercromby just ten days earlier. The French marveled that, with such superior odds, the British did not resume the attack on Carillon during the next few days. They did not yet realize that, in regiment after regiment, virtually the entire British command structure had been decimated in eight hours before the French Lines. The loss of British officers was so great that it took days to obtain a full tally of the catastrophe.
In 1758 campaign against Carillon, of the 42nd Regiment of Foot 205 men were killed and 287 wounded out of 1,074.
In 1759, the Highland regiment returned with General Jeffery Amherst's army and drove the French from Carillon....
list of OFFICERS OF THE HIGHLAND REGIMENT "THE BLACK WATCH"
...Since 1758, the Black Watch has served with distinction from India and Africa to Europe; including Napoleonic Wars, The Crimea, the Indian Mutiny, the South African War, WWI and WWII , Korea and Gulf War. In its long and distinguished history, the Regiment has gained no less than 162 Battle Honors, of which 52 are emblazoned on the Colors.
(Information from Ticonderoga Historical Society)"
Posted by: Robin Tompkins Koch January 22, 2000 3
John married Penuel GRANT, daughter of Alexander GRANT of Dalrachnie, Collector of cess and Helen GRANT, before 1771.1 (Penuel GRANT was born about 1738 and died after 1771.)
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