Read Ebook: The History of the 2nd Dragoons: Royal Scots Greys by Almack Edward

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In writing this record of the history of the Royal Scots Greys I have aimed at giving scenes and characters as exactly as possible. I have, therefore, used contemporary language without any modern editing. The book will contain particulars relating to every officer who has ever held a commission in the Regiment.

Before describing the origin of this famous Regiment, it will be well to refer briefly to the title Dragoon. It will be noticed that in the early official warrants, Horse, Foot, and Dragoons, are always three distinct forces. The Dragoon was nearly allied to the Mounted Infantryman, who, in modern times, has evoked such great public interest. A captain was usually described as appointed to command, not a troop, but a company.

On the breaking out of the war with Holland in 1672 a regiment of Dragoons was raised; the pay was at a lower rate than the Horse, and the men were armed as Infantry, except that a limited number carried halberds instead of pikes, and the others muskets and bayonets, and a few in each troop had pistols.

The warrant, dated 2nd April, 1672, requires that the new force--

"shall be armed out of our stoares remaining within Our office of the Ordinance as followeth; that is to say, three corporalls, two serjeants, the gentlemen at armes, and twelve souldiers of each of the said twelve Troopes, are to have and carry each of them one halbard, and one case of pistolls with holsters; and the rest of the souldiers of the several Troopes aforesaid, are to have and to carry each of them one matchlocke musquet, with a collar of bandaliers, and also to have and to carry one bayonet or great knife. That each lieutenant have and carry one partizan, and that two drums be delivered out for each Troope of the said Regiment."

This was the beginning of the Royal Scots Greys.

On 23rd September, 1678, Viscount Kingstoun was commissioned to be Captain of "a new company of Dragoons appointed by us to be forthwith levyed."

Four days later, Francis Stuart, of Coldingham, was appointed Lieutenant of this new company.

On July 24th, 1679, Francis Stuart became Captain of this new company in succession to Viscount Kingstoun who resigned.

The following extract relates to the state of Scotland and proposed increase of forces there. :--

"CHARLES R.

"Right trusty and welbeloued Cousins and Councellors.--Wee greet you well. After full and satisfactory information from the Lords commissionated by you here, of what has been done by you in our Service, Wee doe againe approve of your proceeding, and thank you for your care, assuring you of our favour, assistance, and protection, upon all occasions; and for the more effectual prosecution thereof, wee find it necessary to signify to you, and by you to our people there, that wee are firmly resolved to owne and assert our authority, so as may equally encourage you and discourage all such as by seditious Practices endeavour in aspersing you to lessen our Prerogative: And finding by good information that the Phanaticks there, expecting encouragement from such as oppose you, and taking advantage of the present juncture of affaires here, have of late with great insolence flocked together frequently and openly in ffield conventicles those Rendevouses of Rebellion, and haue dared to oppose our fforces, though wee neither heed nor doe fear such insolent attempts, yet from a just care of our own authority, and a kindnesse to our good subjects there, we haue thought fit to order that some more fforces may be trained; and for that effect wee haue commanded the Lords of our Treasury to take an effectuall course for providing what money wee shall find necessary for raising and maintaining those Troopes at our charge, And wee expect from you an exact and speedy Account of what number and quality of Troopes may be necessary there upon this occasion; to the end wee may direct commissions, and give such other orders as wee shall find requisite. For doing whereof this shall be your Warrant, and so wee bid you heartily ffarewell.

"Given at our Court at Whitehall the 7th day of May 1678, and of our Reigne the 30th."

Directed on the back thus:--

"To our right trusty and welbeloved Cousins and Councellors ... our Privy Councell of our ancient Kingdome of Scotland."

The very next warrant makes John Strachan Captain of one of "ye two companies of Dragoons to be forthwith leavied." It was followed under the same date by others, one making John Inglis Captain of the other company, one making John Lauder Lieutenant of Strachan's company, and another making William Cleland Lieutenant of Inglis's company. Then followed still two more, one appointing John Livingston Ensign in Strachan's and the other, Henry Dundas, Ensign under Inglis.

"CHARLES R.

"Charles the Second by y? grace of God king of Scotland, england, france and Ireland Defender of y? faith &c. to our trusty and welbeloved John Strachan greeting: Wee reposing speciall trust and confidence in your Loyalty, Courage and good Conduct, doe by these presents constitute and appoint you to be Captaine of one of y? two Companies of Dragoones appointed by us to be forthwith leavied for our service in our ancient Kingdome of Scotland, which Company is to consist of one hundred men besides officers. You are therefore carefully to discharge the Duty of a Captaine by exercising y? said Company in Armes, both Officers and soldiers, and keeping them in good order and Discipline. And wee doe hereby command them to obey you as their Captaine, and you likewise exactly to observe and follow all such Orders and Directions as you shall from time to time receive from Us, our Privy Councell, the Commander in chiefe of our fforces in that our Kingdome now or for the time being, or any other your superiour officer, according to the Rules and Discipline of Warre, in pursuance of y? trust which wee doe hereby repose in you.

"Given at our Court at Whitehall the 21th day of May 1678--and of our Reigne the 30th year."

"You are to pass and allow the said Regiments, Troopes and Companies, according to the directions following.

"The first muster of any of the troopes of Horse is to be from the officers first produceing twenty or more good men well mounted to be mustered, and the following musters shall be upon produceing five men with their Horses till the whole Troope be compleated. The officers are to be allowed and enter into Pay from their said first muster of Twenty.

"The foot are to be mustered as any of them are raised, and the officers of each Company are to be allowed from the time they muster twenty.

"The first muster of every Troope of Dragoones, is to be upon the officers produceing twenty-five good men suitably mounted, and the officers then are to be allowed, and the following musters shall be of eight men with their Horses till the troope be compleated. The first Muster of the Horse Granadiers is to be upon produceing thirty men well mounted and the officers then to be allowed, and the following Musters to be in the same manner as those of the Dragoons. The field officers of each Regiment are to be allowed from the first muster of their respective Companies, and you are to pay the staff officers from the time appointed for the Regiment to Rendezvous.

"Given at the Court at Whitehall this 11th day of June 1679.

"+Monmouth.+

"To Henry Howard, Esqre., Commissary General of the Musters."

The next is of varied interest, giving the Duke of Monmouth supreme command, and urging to be kept informed by "flying packets."

"Whitehall, 11th June, 1679, at Midnight.

"May it please your Lordship I am commanded by his Majesty to acquaint you that in pursuance of his Resolution to send some Supplyes from hence to you for suppressing the Rebellion now amongst the Phanaticks in the West of Scotland, he hath ordered a Regiment of ffoote to be presently embarqued to goe by Sea to Barwick together with cannon and ammunition sufficient, and his Majesty has ordered two Regiments of ffoote more to be presently leauied, the one to be commanded by the Lord Cavendish and the other by the Lord Gray of Wark, as also three Regiments of Horse under the command of the Duke of Monmouth, Duke of Albemarle, the Lord Gerard, Together with eight hundred Dragoons, There is likewise three troopes of Granadiers, and these last are to march towards Scotland to-morrow. The King has also thought fit to name the Duke of Monmouth Generall to command all his fforces so long as his Grace shall remaine in Scotland. His Majesty by this Expedition will be at the charge of upwards of five hundred pounds sterline a day, which is more than ?150,000 sterline by year if they continue so long. And seeing the King has so early provided for the preservation of his royall government and your common safety, he has just reason to expect that in the meantime you will bestow your utmost care and diligence as far as possible to suppresse that vile Rebellion. His Majesty presseth much that frequent flying packets may be sent at least every other day that he may know all things that pass, and that they may bear large and exact accounts. All which by his Majesty's command is signified to your Lordship by my Lord, your Lordships most humble and most faithfull servant, +Lauderdale+.

"To the Right Hon???? The Earl of Rothes, Lord high Chancellor of Scotland. To be communicated to the remnant Lords and other of his Majesty's most honourable Privy Councell of that Kingdome."

The next relates to the rebellion, and to the appointment of "Thomas Dalzell to be Lieutenant General of all His Majesty's forces in that his ancient kingdome."

"Whitehall, 19?? June, 1679.

"May it please your Lordships. It was yesterday in the evening that your Letter of y? 15?? instant came to my hand, and I did immediately waite on the King with it, who after his reading it was pleased to declare that he was very well satisfied with your recommending Generall Thomas Dalzell to be Lieutenant Generall of all his Majesty's Forces in that his ancient Kingdome, and gave me a command for Preparing his Commission for that purpose; wherein I would lose no time, for it was ready this morning for his Royall hand, and he was graciously pleased to signe it, as you have it now hereinclosed. His Majesty is also exceedingly well pleased with the march of his fforces last Munday against the Rebells, and with the extraordinary care and diligence that have appeared in all your consultations and actions since the first notice you had of the breaking out of this Rebellion, which he hopes will be soone crushed. It was likewise a great satisfaction to his Majesty to know that you were resolved to send fflying Packetts frequently for he has a very earnest desire to be informed as often as possible, of the transactions there, during the continuance of this Rebellion. Your Lordships may be pleased to send this Letter to the Duke of Buccleugh, and this commission to the Lieutenant Generall with all speed.

"I am My Lords, ... "+Lauderdale+. "To Earl Rothes...."

Folio 168 contains the Commission.

All the foregoing are from documents in the Record Office.

The next extracts are picked from the British Museum copy of a rare autobiography, "The Memoirs of Captain John Crichton, written by Himself." Printed in the year 1731. The peculiar interest of the words that follow is that they were written wholly as the experiences of one of the first officers of the Greys.

Whereupon Mr. Francis Stuart, grandson to the Earl of Bothwell, a private gentleman in the Horse-Guards, like myself, and my intimate acquaintance, was sent for, in haste, by the General; because the Council of Scotland was then writing to the King that his Majesty would be pleased to grant commissions to those persons whose names were to be sent up to London that very night. Mr. Stuart gave me notice of this: whereupon, although I was not sent for, I resolved to go up with him to Edenborough, and solicit for myself.

The General: "Wha' the Deel sent for you up?" I answered that I hoped his Excellency would now make good his promise of preferring me ... the General stood my firm friend, and although the sons and brothers of Lords and Baronets and other persons of quality solicited to be made Lieutenants and Cornets, in these new raised Troops, yet the General in regard to my services, prevailed with the Council that I might be appointed Lieutenant to Mr. Stuart, who was then made Captain of Dragoons.

Soon after this, the Archbishop of St. Andrews was murdered by the Laird of Hackston and Balfour, assisted by four poor weavers.

The Council finding the Rebels daily increasing in their numbers ... his Majesty sent down the Duke of Monmouth ... to be Commander-in-chief.... General Dalziel refused to serve under him, and remained at his lodgings in Edenborough, till his Grace was superseded, which happened about a fortnight after.... The General Officers ... desired his Grace to let them know which way he designed to take to come at the Enemy, the Duke answered, it must be by Bothwell Bridge. Now the bridge lay a short mile to the right of the King's Army, was narrow, and guarded with 3,000 of the Rebels, and strongly barricaded with great stones; but although the Officers were desirous to have passed the river, by easy fords, directly between them and the Rebels and to march to their main body on the moor, before those 3,000, who guarded the bridge, could come to assist them; yet the Duke was obstinate, and would pass no other way than that of the bridge. Pursuant to this preposterous and absurd resolution, he commanded Captain Stuart with his troop of Dragoons, and 80 Musqueteers, together with four small Field-pieces, under cover of the Dragoons, to beat off the party at the bridge. The Duke himself, with David Lesly and Melvill, accompanyed us, and ordered the Field-pieces to be left at the Village of Bothwell, within a musquet-shot of the bridge. When the Duke and his men came near the bridge, the Rebels beat a parly, and sent over a Laird, accompanied with a Kirk Preacher.... While this Parly lasted, the Field-pieces were brought down and planted over against the bridge, without being perceived by the Rebels. The messengers ... they would not lay down their arms unless their conditions were granted them; whereupon the Dragoons and Musqueteers fired all at once upon those who guarded the bridge, and the Field-pieces played so warmly, that some hundreds of the Rebels were slain; the rest flying to the main body on the moor. The Duke, as soon as he had commanded to fire, retired into a hollow from the enemies' shot; ... and continued there till the action was over. Then Captain Stuart ordered the Musqueteers to make way for the Horse, to pass the bridge, by casting into the river the stones which had been placed there to obstruct the passage over it; but the army could not pass in less than five hours; and then marched up in order of battle towards the enemy, who waited for them on the moor, confiding in the superiority of their numbers. Clavers commanded the Horse on the right, and Captain Stuart the Dragoons on the left. The Field-pieces were carried in the centre of the Footguards, while the rest of the Officers commanded at the head of their men; and the Duke, after the enemy was beaten from the bridge, rode at the head of the Army. Upon the first fire, the Rebel Horse turned about.... Sir John Bell, Provost of Glasgow as soon as he saw the Rebels fly, rode into the town; from whence, in a few hours, he sent all the bread he could find, together with an hogshead of drink to each troop and company in the Army, out of the cellars of such townsmen as were found to be abettors or protectors of the Rebels.

The Pursuers were no sooner returned, and the whole action over, than General Dalziel arrived at the camp from Edenborough, with a commission renewed to be Commander-in-Chief, which he received that very morning by an Express....

On Saturday morning when the army was to march to Glasgow, I desired the General's leave to go with twelve Dragoons in search of some of the Rebels, who might probably pass the Clyde, about Dunlatton, to shelter themselves in the Highlands. With these Dragoons, clad in grey coats and bonnets, I made haste down the side of the river; and about midnight, after travelling twenty-four miles, I came to a church, and while the soldiers stayed to refresh their horses in the churchyard, I spyed a country fellow going by, and asked him in his own dialect, "Whither gang ye this time of night?" He answered, "Wha are ye that speers?" I replied, "We are your ane Foke." Upon this the fellow came up and told me; there were 18 friends with horses at an old Castle waiting for a boat to pass over into the Isle of Arran. I mounted the man behind one of my Dragoons, and went towards the place; but the Rebels not finding a boat were gone off, and the guide dismissed. There was a great dew on the grass, which directed me and my party to follow the track of their horses for three or four miles, till the dew was gone off; I then enquired of a cowherd on a hill whether he saw any of our poor Foke travelling that way; he answered that they had separated on that hill and gone three several ways, six in a party, adding, that in one party there was a bra muckle kerl, with a white hat on him, and a great bob of ribbons on the cock o't. Whereupon I sent 4 of my Dragoons after one party, 4 more after another, and myself with the remaining 4 went in pursuit of him with the white hat.... The good man of the house returning from putting the horses to grass in the garden was going to shut the door, whereupon myself and one of the Dragoons commanded him, with our pistols at his breast, to lead us to the room where the man lay who wore a white hat. We entered the room, and before he awaked I took away his arms, and commanded him to dress immediately; then finding his companion asleep in the barn, I forced him likewise to arise, and mounting them both on their own horses, came at 9 o'clock in the morning with my two prisoners to the other Dragoons at the place where we appointed to meet. From thence we rode strait to Glasgow, and arrived thither about 8 in the evening, after a journey of 50 miles since we left the Army at Bothwell the day before. The man with a white hat had turned out to be Master John King.... About a month after I happened to dream that I found one Wilson, a Captain among the Rebels at Bothwell Bridge, in a bank of Wood upon the river Clyde. This accident made so strong an impression upon my mind that as soon as I awaked I took six-and-thirty Dragoons, and got to the place by break of day. Then I caused some of them to alight and go into the wood and set him up, as hounds do a hare, while the rest were ordered to stand sentry to prevent his escape. It seems I dreamt fortunately, for Wilson was actually in the wood with 5 more of his company, as we afterwards learned, who all seeing me and my party advancing, hid themselves in a little island on the river among the broom that grew upon it. Wilson had not the good fortune to escape.... I seized and brought him to my quarters, and from thence immediately conveyed him to Edenborough, where he was hanged; but might have preserved his life if he would have condescended only to say, God save the King. This he utterly refused to do, and thereby lost not only his life, but likewise an estate worth twenty-nine thousand marks Scots. For this service, the Duke of Queensberry, then High Commissioner of Scotland, recommended me to the King, who rewarded me with the gift of Wilson's estate; but although the grant passed the Seals, and the Sheriff put me in possession, yet I could neither sell it nor let it, nobody daring, for fear of the Rebels who had escaped at Bothwell Bridge, either to purchase or farm it, by which means I never got a penny by the grant; and at the Revolution the land was taken from me, and restored to Wilson's heirs....

"A little recovering my senses, I strove to lift up my head, which one of the rogues happening to see at some distance, immediately returned, and said in my hearing: 'God, the dog is no deed yet.' Then coming up to me, took his sword, and putting its hilt to his breast and guiding it with both his hands, made a thrust at my belly; but my senses were now so far recovered that I parried the thrust with the piece of the sword which remained still in my hand. The fellow, when he missed his aim, almost fell on his face, for the sword ran up to the hilt in the moss; and as he was recovering himself I gave him a dab in the mouth with my broken sword which very much hurt him, but he aiming a second thrust, which I had likewise the good fortune to put by, and having as before given him another dab in the mouth, he immediately went off for fear of the pursuers, whereof many were now returning. In this distress I made a shift, with much difficulty and pain, to get upon my feet, but my right leg being disabled by the wound I received from the broad-sword, I was forced to limp by the help of the carbine, which I made use of as a staff. I had lost my horse, for one of the rogues, when I had quitted him in the hole, led him away through the Moss. I recovered him about a year after from the man to whom the rebel had sold him."

"CHARLES R.

"To our most dear and most entirely beloved Brother James Duke of Albany and York, our high Commissioner in our ancient kingdome of Scotland."

"CHARLES R.

"Establishment for the Pay of his Majesty's present standing Forces in his ancient kingdome of Scotland, according to twenty eight dayes in each month, and for twelve months in the year."

Then are described the following; but I only give in full the Regiment with whose history we are dealing:--

"His Majesty Troope of Guard.

"His Majesty's Regiment of ffoote Guard commanded by the Earle of Linlithgow.

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