78th (Highlanders) Regiment of Foot

78th Highland Regiment
Colours of the regiment
Active	1793-1881
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	British Army
Type	Infantry Regiment
Role	Infantry
Garrison/HQ	Fort George
Mascot(s)	Elephant
Battle honours	Assaye (1803)

For other units with the same regimental number, see 78th Regiment of Foot (disambiguation)

The 78th Regiment of Foot (after 1796 sub-titled the Ross-shire Buffs) was a renouned Highland Infantry Regiment of the Line raised in late 18th Century Scotland for service against the French during the Napoleonic Wars. The Regiment later led to involvement in worldwide military activities in countries such as India, Egypt and South Africa. The regiment is most well known for its involvement in the Siege of Lucknow.

Their deeds were commemorated by poets such as John Greenleaf Whittier and Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

Today there is a re-enactment Regiment and the 78th Highlanders (Halifax Citadel) Pipe Band stationed at Halifax Citadel National Historic Site of Canada, Halifax, Nova Scotia, where the 78 Regiment were stationed for three years (1869-1871).

History

Francis Humberstone MacKenzie by Sir Thomas Lawrence

On 7 March 1793, Francis Humberstone MacKenzie raised the "78th (Highland) Regiment of Foot". Francis Humberston Mackenzie was chief of the clan Mackenzie and a descendent of the earls of Seaforth. (Its associations were all with the clan Mackenzie and it bore no relationship to the earlier 78th Highland Regiment that fought at Louisbourg and Quebec under Wolfe in the French and Indian War.)

Napoleonic Wars

During the Napoleonic Wars, just a year after they were formed, the 78th found itself at the defence of Nimjegen in Holland. Another year later, the 78th attacked the Cape of Good Hope (the Dutch having become revolutionary allies of the French) and forced the surrender of Cape Town and Wynberg in South Africa.

The 78th was to spend a good portion of its career in India, which became the locale of its greatest military accomplishments. Thus it was one of three British (as distinct from Indian) regiments that won fame under Sir Arthur Wellesley at the battle of Assaye.

Battle of Assaye

In September 1803, during the Maharatta campaign, the 78th took part in the famous engagement at Assaye under the overall command of Major General Arthur Wellesley (who later became the Duke of Wellington), occupying the crucial left flank of the leading attackers. The 78th was the first infantry to reach the Maharatta and was instrumental in capturing the enemy guns and routing their infantry. Shortly after the Battle of Assaye, the 78th were sent in pursuit of fleeing Mahrattas at Argam. Later in the year, they besieged the Fortress of Gawilghur to help finish the job they had commenced at Assaye. The 78th were awarded an Assaye Colour.

The 2nd Battalion of the regiment served in the Mediterranean for the Sicilian Campaign of 1806, quartered at Syracuse, and the Alexandria expedition of 1807. Three companies of the 78th were surrounded by Turkish cavalry and captured in the expedition. One hundred sixty-three men and officers were killed, including the Commanding Officer Lt-Col. MacLeod. The remainder of the 78th's 2nd battalion withdrew to Alexandria.

During the Napoleonic wars probably its most notable achievement was its participation in Invasion of Java (1811), when they laid siege to and captured Fort Cornelis on the island of Java on 26 August 1811. The British lost 154 men in bitter fighting, including the 78th acting C.O., Brevet Lt-Col.

Sukkar, Sindh

Sindh memorial to the 78th Highlanders in St. Giles, Edinburgh

In 1842, the 78th were back in India because of the First Anglo-Afghan War. While at Sukkar Sindh, the regiment suffered its greatest losses. Major-General Simpson, Sir Charles Napier’s lieutenant (who afterwards commanded our armies in the Crimea), was at Sukhur at the time, and on his return to Hyderabad, caused to be erected there at his own expense a monument to the memory of all those who died, which feeling and tender act filled our hearts with the warmest gratitude. It was the spontaneous effusion of a truly noble mind. The remains of the regiment also erected a monument in St Giles’ Cathedral, Edinburgh, to the memory of their comrades who died in Sindh. The regiment lost, between the 1st of September 1844 and 30th of April 1845, 3 officers, 532 men, 68 women, 134 children —total, 737 souls. In 1844, cholera wiped out 535 officers and more than 200 members of their families.

Anglo-Persian War

It fought in the Anglo-Persian War of 1857 under the command of General Foster Stalker. They were in Persia leading the attack at the famous Battle of Khushab and Mohammerah.

Indian Mutiny

The regiment probably gained its greatest military renown, however, in the Indian Mutiny of 1857-58. Under the command of Sir Henry Havelock, the 78th was instrumental in the first British thrust down the Ganges into rebel held territory, and led the recapture of the town of Cawnpore on 16 July.

The Regiment then were involved in the first relief of the besieged British garrison at Lucknow. The battle weary 78th arrived on September 25 and burst into the residency. The lead troops were the 78th Highlanders and in their furious push into the residency. The 78th fiercely defended the residency for six weeks until it was finally relieved by Sir Colin Campbell's forces on the November 17.

For their defense of Lucknow and gallantry in the Indian Mutiny, men of the 78th Highland Regiment were awarded eight Victoria Crosses (V.C.), including one awarded to the regiment as a whole.

In 1858, the 78th found themselves part of the Rohilkand Field Force, in company with the Highland Brigade. They marched northwest, capturing the town of Bareilly in March. The 78th garrisoned the town until ordered back to Britain in 1859.

These feats, against a vastly more numerous enemy, in the hottest season of the year in India when British troops usually lay sweltering in their barracks, became one of the most celebrated epics of the Victorian army. Indeed, dubbed with such sobriquets as “saviours of India” and “heroes of Lucknow”, it is no exaggeration to say that the officers and men of the regiment for sometime afterwards enjoyed the status of great popular heroes.

Halifax, Nova Scotia

Although there were then only four officers left who had participated in these feats, and probably not a great many more rank and file, this aura to a great extent remained intact when, during the second leg of a North American tour (it was in Montreal from 1867-69), it spent two and a half years in garrison in Halifax.

Afterward

In April 1873 under the "Linked Regiments Depot System" the 78th Highlanders were linked with the 71st Highland Light Infantry at 55 Brigade Depot, Fort George.

In 1881 it was amalgamated with 72nd Highlanders forming the 2nd Battalion of The Seaforth Highlanders (Ross-shire Buffs).

References

Endnotes

Texts

• C Pulsifer. Nationality, Social Background, and Wealth in a Mid-Victorian Highland Regiment: The Officer Corps of the 78th Highland Regiment, 1869-1871. Scottish Tradition. Vol.23 1998
• Alsager Pollock, Arthur William, (ed.), The United Service Magazine, Notes of an Expedition to Alexandria of the year 1807, H. Colburn [etc.], 1837
• Lieutenant Colonel Fairrie, Angus. Cuidich'n Righ: A History of the Queen's Own Highlanders (Seaforth and Camerons). Inverness: Regimental H.Q., Queen's Own Highlanders, 1998
• James MacVeigh, The Jubilee Memorial. The Historical Records of The 78th Highlanders Or Ross-shire Buffs, (Now 2nd Battalion Seaforth Highlanders) From 1793 to 1887. From Official and Authentic Sources. Dumfries: 1887.

External links

• Halifax Citadel Regimental Association
• 78th Highland Regiment - Electric Scotland
• Queen's Own Highlanders Association