The Life of a Regiment; The History of the Gordon Highlanders (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1901. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... mothers, c If I was young again it's not sitting by the fire at home I would be, but with the lads with the yellow tartan' (gillean a' bhreacain bhuidhe), telling his young friends they should join the Gordons." The veterans were generally very reticent as to their adventures, unless specially drawn out. One said, "If I was to tell people the hardships we endured and the sights we saw, they would not believe me." I have often seen it stated both that the Highland regiments were not largely composed of Highlanders, and that they did not wear the Highland dress on active service. The three kilted regiments who fought throughout the great French war were recruited much in the same manner; more than once it appears from the remarks of 92nd men, as at Minorca, at Orthes, at Ghent, that they had brothers and neighbours in the 42 nd and 79th, and that the regiments were delighted when they met to talk of mutual homes. Anyone who knows the Highlands intimately must be aware that there is hardly a respectable family who cannot tell you of an ancestor who was in the army of that period; there were many from the Lowlands also in these regiments, but the Highland element must have been very strong. I myself met a Chelsea pensioner of the 42nd, about 1863, a Waterloo man, who, though himself a Lowlander from Eenfrew, spoke Gaelic with ease, and when asked how he came to know it, replied that he learned it in the regiment. With regard to the dress, the orders, and the statements of those present, show that the Gordons wore the kilt during every campaign they took part in, though after the Egyptian campaign of 1801, when their clothing was worn out, they came home in anything they could get, white, blue, and grey breeks There is not much in the orders on active service as to ...