Chapter II: Front Matter (2)

I also give in full the letter written by Capt. James Murray to his brother, Mr. Murray of Strowan, dated Albany, July 19, 1758, as his description of the country and the events during and after the battle lend color to the picture.[24]

My Dear Brother:--The last letter I wrote you was dated from Fort
Edward camp about 18th June. We proceeded on to Lake George where
Fort William Henry formerly stood which was taken and destroyed
by the French last year, where we remained until the 5th curt.
and then the whole army embarked on the lake in batteaux that
hold 23 men with a month’s provisions all the artillery stores
was likewise embarked, and everything else belonging to an army.
We were divided into brigades. There was in all about 5,000
regulars and 12,000 provincials. We had also light infantry and
rangers who had whale-boats which are the lightest and best going
boats that can be made. We put off about 8 and got fairly into
the lake which I took to be about 20 miles long and not above two
miles at the broadest part of it. There are several small islands
which are quite covered with wood and all around the lake is
very hilly and quite covered with woods, as the most part of the
country is, at least what I have seen on’t.

This lake abounds in fine trout the meat of which is red, pearch,
suckers and several other sorts of fish. There is also plenty
of beavers. On the side of the lake there is plenty of deer but
I have not seen any since I came to the country. Sometimes when
I have been out on command I have killed rattle snakes about
four feet long and as thick as the small of one’s leg, with 18
rattles, which altogether might be about four inches long. They
say some have twenty or more. They have both teeth and a sting.
The rattles being at the tail makes them that they can stand up
on end and spring a short way at one. When touched they make
a great noise with their rattles. Their bite is not so bad as
called for it can be easily cured with oil or salt. They smell
exactly like a goat, rather ranker if possible before they are
seized but afterwards have almost no smell at all. They make the
richest and best soup that can be which I eat of and like much.
The meat is but insipid.

The 6th we disembarked at the lower end of the lake. In the
morning out light infantry and rangers had some skirmishing with
the French pickets. Lord Howe was killed at the second shot and
he is very much regretted. There was taken that day about 150
prisoners, five of whom were officers. They had a great many
killed so that very few of their pickets escaped which consisted
in all of about 350.

The next day being the 7th, we were making preparations to invest
a fort called Theenderora which is five miles from Lake George
and is situate on a neck of land that runs into Lake Champlain.
As to the dimensions of that lake I can’t say, and marched
within a mile and half of it that evening. The next morning the
light infantry made the French sentries and small posts retire to
their entrenchments for the French had an encampment about half
a cannon shot before their fort, and were entrenched after the
following manner: They had large cut trees one laid above another
a man’s height and in the outside there was brush and logs for
about 15 paces from it which made it impossible to force their
breastworks without cannon which we had not taken up that length
as then. They were also under cover of the fort or if we could
beat them out of their trenches, they could have retired pretty
safely.

Between one and two we marched up and attacked the trenches
and got within twenty paces of them and had as hot a fire for
about three hours as possibly could be, we all the time seeing
but their hats and the end of their muskets. About half an hour
before we were obliged to retire I received a shot through my
thigh after which I stayed a few minutes but finding if I stayed
any longer my thigh would turn stiff and losing a great deal of
blood I with help got into the road and that evening with Capt.
Gordon Graham, our paymaster, got into a whaleboat and against
the next morning got to the upper end of Lake George and was
transported down here. I am confined to my bed but the surgeons
say my wound looks as well as can be expected, nor is there any
sort of danger in it as it has only grazed the bone, so I shall
be well soon again. I am in perfect good health, have a good
appetite and sleep tolerably well.

Our regiment has suffered much. There was the captain, lieutenant
and six subalterns killed on the spot and since the major and
the lieutenant have died of their wounds. The colonel, four
captains, and twelve subalterns are wounded. 180 men killed
and 280 wounded. None of the other regiments’ losses were near
so great. Capt. Stewart was not touched, Capt. Sterling nor
Farquharson were not there so are well, but Lieut. Farquharson’s
younger brother was killed. Lieut. David Mills, my lieutenant,
is not ill wounded and is pretty well, so if you would inform
his father-in-law, Mr. Hamilton, of Hutcheson, who stays near
Glasgow, you would oblige me. Neil Stewart at Perth knows him.

I received a letter from Lord John 15th May letting me know you
are all well which gave me a great deal of pleasure but it would
much more so to hear from some of you for it is very long since I
had that satisfaction, the last being at Ireland, for Lord John
wrote me no particulars.

Offer my humble duty to my dear mother and elsewhere due and best
love to dear Lady Charlotte, Lady Sinclair, George, Charlotte and
Invercauld, and my best blessing attend all the young ones. My
kind compliments to Shusy Moray and tell her I had her hair about
my neck when I received my wound which might have probably gone
to my heart if it had not been wounded already.

I am ever your most effectionate brother,

James Murray.

Thus had the army which landed so proudly two days before been disastrously repulsed, with a loss in killed and wounded and missing of nineteen hundred and forty-four officers and men. In his report of July 12, 1758, Abercrombie gives the casualty of the 42nd as follows:

“Killed--Capt. Lt. John Campbell; Lts. George Farquharson, Hugh
McPherson, William Bailey, John Sutherland; Ensigns Peter Stewart
and George Rattray.

Wounded--Major Duncan Campbell; Captains Gordon Graham, Thomas
Graeme, John Campbell, James Stewart, James Murray; Lieutenants
William Grant, Robert Gray, John Campbell, James Grant, John
Graham, Alexander Campbell, Alexander McIntosh, Archibald
Campbell, David Mill,[25] Patrick Balnevis; Ensigns John Smith
and Peter Grant.

Summary--1 major wounded, captains 1 killed, 4 wounded;
lieutenants 4 killed, 11 wounded; ensigns 2 killed, 2 wounded;
adjutants 1 wounded; quarter master 1 wounded; sergeants 6
killed, 13 wounded, rank and file 190 killed, 265 wounded.”

Stewart of Garth writes as follows:

“Of these the 42nd regiment had 8 officers, 9 serjeants, and
297 men killed, and 17 officers, 10 serjeants, and 306 soldiers
wounded. The officers were, Major Duncan Campbell of Inverawe,
Captain John Campbell, Lieutenants George Farquharson, Hugh
McPherson, William Baillie, and John Sutherland; Ensigns Patrick
Stewart of Bonskied and George Rattray killed; Captains Gordon
Graham, Thomas Graham of Duchray, John Campbell of Strachur,
James Stewart of Urrad, James Murray (afterward General);
Lieutenants James Grant, Robert Gray, John Campbell, William
Grant, John Graham, brother of Duchray, Alexander Campbell,
Alexander Mackintosh, Archibald Campbell, David Miller, Patrick
Balneaves; and Ensigns John Smith and Peter Grant, wounded.”

Capt. James Murray writes from Albany 17th August, 1758:[26]

“As I observed in my last, our regiment has suffered greatly. The
Major has since died of his wounds, Sandy Farquharson has got
his lieutenancy by seniority which one would not have thought
that the youngest ensign of the additionals would have been so
soon a lieutenant. I am recovering pretty well and can walk about
although I am much pained in my knee but hope will be able to
soon joint the regiment.”

Capt. James Stewart writes 14th July from Lake George:[27]

“That all the Captains were wounded, less or more, excepting
Captains McNeil and Allan Campbell, that Major Campbell got his
right arm wounded, but not dangerous and his son, Lieutenant
Alexander Campbell had his arm broke betwixt the elbow and
shoulder, but he was in a good way.”

Parkman states that Lt. Alexander Campbell was severely wounded but reached Scotland alive and died in Glasgow.[28]

Abercrombie reports to Pitt from Lake George, Aug. 19, 1758;

“Major Duncan Campbell of the 42nd who was wounded in the arm at
the battle on the 8th was obliged to have it cut off and died
soon thereafter.”[29]

It would seem therefore that the wounds of Major Campbell and his son were not necessarily fatal and that modern surgery would have cured them. The following however, taken from Garneau’s L’Histoire du Canada might explain the unexpected mortality. “Scarcely any of the wounded Highlanders ever recovered and even those sent home as invalids; their sores cankered, owing to the broken glass, ragged bits of metal, etc., used by the Canadians instead of shot.”[30]

Or this extract from letter of Brig. General James Wolfe to Lord George Sackville:

Halifax 24″ May 1758.

“Some of the Regiments of this Army have 300 or 400 men eat up
with the Scurvey. All of them that are wounded or hurt by any
accident run great risks of their lives from the corrupted state
of the blood.

“The curious part of the barbarity is that the scoundrels
of Contractors can afford the fresh meat in many places and
circumstances as cheap as the salt.”

(Jane McCrea lot in Union Cemetery, between Fort Edward and Hudson Falls.)]

Abercrombie states in his report of July 12, 1758,

“I sent the wounded officers and the men that could be moved to
Fort Edward and Albany.”

Major Campbell was sent to Fort Edward and upon his death nine days after the battle he was buried in the family lot of the Gilchrists, in the old cemetery at Fort Edward. The body was moved to the Gilchrist lot in the new Union cemetery between Sandy Hill and Fort Edward in 1871, and in 1920 was moved again to the Jane McCrea lot in the same cemetery. The original stone may still be seen and bears the inscription: “Here Lyes the body of Duncan Campbell of Inversaw, Esqr Major to The old Highland Regt. Aged 55 Years. Who died The 17th July, 1758, of wounds he received in the attack of the retrenchments of Ticonderoga or Carillon, 8th July, 1758.”

Stewart of Garth says,

“The old Highland Regiment having suffered so severely * * * they
were not employed again that year.”

In the N. Y. Colonial Records, however, we find that some regulars of the 42nd and 6th Regts. amounting to 155 men (probably one company of each) were with Bradstreet in his exposition against Fort Frontenac.[31]

In Abercrombie’s report of Aug. 19, 1758, he states that part of the additional companies of the 42nd were sent to reinforce Brig. General Provost at Fort Edward and that one company of the 42nd and some of the recovering men were stationed at Albany. From this it might be inferred that the only part of the Black Watch fit for duty were the three additional companies which had not been in the battle of July 8th and it is possible that the one company of the 42nd that had been blown out of its course to Antigua and had not arrived at New York until June did not get further north than Albany. The winter quarters of the 42nd for 1758 were at New York. (Abercrombie to Pitt, No. 25, 1758.)[32]

The official title is now changed to the “42nd or Royal Regiment of foot,” and the regiment is commonly called the Royal Highlanders. It has erroneously been stated that the Black Watch was granted this honor of being a “Royal” regiment because of its gallantry at Ticonderoga, but it is all the more to its credit that it had earned this distinction before the battle at Ticonderoga. The title was granted by special warrant dated July 22, 1758, while the news of the defeat did not reach London until the arrival of Abercrombie’s aide de camp with dispatches Aug. 20, 1758.

A copy of the warrant is as follows:

George R

We being desirous to distinguish Our Forty Second Regiment of
Foot with some mark of Our Royal favor, Our Will and Pleasure
therefore is, and we do hereby direct, that from henceforth Our
said regiment be called, and distinguished by the title and name
of Our Forty-Second, or Royal Highland Regiment of Foot, in all
commissions, orders, and writings, that shall hereafter be made
out, or issued for and concerning the said regiment. Given at Our
Court at Kensington this 22nd day of July 1758, in the thirty
second year of Our reign. By His Majesty’s command.

(Signed) BARRINGTON.

The vacancies occasioned in the 42nd were filled up in regular succession and the seven companies which had been ordered at the same time as the change of title were immediately recruited. These were completed in three months and embodied at Perth, October 1758, each company being 120 men strong, all with few exceptions Highlanders and hardy and temperate in their habits. (Lord John Murray’s orders were preemptory that none but Highlanders be taken, but a few O’Donnels, O’Lachlans and O’Briens passed muster as MacDonnels, MacLachlans and MacBriars.)

These seven companies with the three additional companies raised in 1757 were formed into a Second Battalion. The officers appointed to the seven new companies were Robert Anstruther, who was senior captain and served as Major, Francis MacLean, Alexander Sinclair, John Stewart of Stenton, William Murray of Lintrose, Archibald Campbell, Alexander Reid, and Robert Arbuthnot, to be captains; Alexander MacLean, George Grant, George Sinclair, Gordon Clunes, Adam Stewart, John Robertson, son of Lude, John Grant, James Fraser, George Leslie, John Campbell, Alexander Stewart, Duncan Richardson and Robert Robertson, to be lieutenants and Patrick Sinclair, John Macintosh, James MacDuff, Thomas Fletcher, Alexander Donaldson, William MacLean, and William Brown, to be ensigns.

The seven new companies embarked for the West Indies where they joined with the Old Buffs, Kings, 6th, 63rd, 64th, 800 marines and a detachment of artillery amounting in all to 5,560 men under the command of Major Generals Hopson and Barrington and of Brigadier Generals Haldane, Armiger, Trapaud and Clavering, in an exposition against Martinique and Gaudaloupe. This resulted in the capture of Gaudaloupe but was not altogether a success and a great many men were lost by fever and sickness. Of the Royal Highlanders Ensign MacLean was killed, Lieutenants MacLean, Leslie, Sinclair and Robertson were wounded, and Major Anstruther and Captain Arbuthnot died of the fever. One hundred and six privates were killed, wounded or died of disease.

This was a severe initiation for the new recruits who had been herding sheep on their native hills nine months before, but as has always been the case with the Black Watch they acquitted themselves with distinction. The seven companies were then embarked for New York to join the First Battalion where they arrived in July. They just missed being at the capture of Ticonderoga. Major Gordon Graham was ordered at the end of July by General Amherst then at Crown Point to take command of the seven companies and to march them up to Oswego. In August they were ordered to join the First Battalion, Capt. Stewart with 150 men being left at Oswego and the First and Second Battalions, now united, served together for the rest of the campaign.

We will now return to the Veterans of the previous year. After wintering in New York (or on Long Island, as another authority states) the old Black Watch now the first Battalion of the Royal Highlanders, recruited again to its full strength and the three additional companies now a part of the Second Battalion, joined Amherst at Fort Edward in June, 1759.[33] Col. Grant of the 42nd with the Royal Highlanders and light infantry of the army moved forward to Lake George the 20th and the main part of the army followed on the 21st. For five years now Lake George had been the annual mustering place of armies.

The campaign this season comprehended three very important enterprises--Wolfe was to attack Quebec from Lower Canada, Prideaux was to proceed against Niagara, and Amherst, now Commander in Chief and successor of General Abercrombie, was to drive the French from Lake Champlain and if possible join Wolfe on the St. Lawrence.

The army under Amherst consisted of the Royals, 17th, 27th, Royal Highlanders, two battalions of the 55th, Montgomery’s Highlanders, nine battalions of Provincials, and a battalion of light infantry and a body of Rangers and Indians with a detachment of artillery. When joined by the 2d battalion of the Royal Americans from the West Indies, this army amounted to 14,500 men.

Major Alexander Campbell of the 77th writes from Fort Edward, June 19th, 1759:

“Our General is beloved by his soldiers, Honoured and Esteem’d
by his officers, Carful of mens lives and healths, in short he
is the man I would choose to serve under of any I know in the
service. Our Regiment are healthy and in High spirits as are the
whole army, and I hope we soon will stricke a stroke that will
bring credite and Glory to our General and Army and Satisfaction
to our Country and friends.”

Amherst never remained long in one place without building a fort. Fortified places were built at intervals of three or four miles along the road to Fort Edward and especially at the station called Halfway Brook, while for the whole distance a broad belt of wood on both sides was cut down and burned to deprive a skulking enemy of cover. At Lake George he started a fort, now called Fort George, the ruins of which are in the Lake George Battle Ground Park of which this Association is custodian.

July 21st, 1759, Lake George again witnessed a military pageant as the army embarked for its second attack on Fort Ticonderoga. At daylight they landed, beat back a French detachment and marched by the portage road to the sawmill. There was little resistance and the army marched to the former line of entrenchments which had proved so fatal to Abercrombie. These had been reconstructed partly of earth and partly of logs, and as the French made no attempt at their defence the English encamped along their front and found them excellent shelter from the cannon of the fort. It is the general impression that the French retreated with only faint resistance and that there was hardly a shot fired at the second attempt to capture Fort Carrillon but the following letter from Capt. Murray would correct this impression:

“Camp at the Lines of Burning Theanderoga, 27 July, 1758.

My Dear Brother:--I write you these few lines to acquaint you
that I am in perfect good health and that the army landed at this
end of the lake the 22nd, invested the Fort the 23rd and was
very buisy carying on the worcks till the 26th in the night, at
which time we had three batteries ready to open, when the enemy
abbandoned and set fire to the fort. During the time that the
enemy remained they could not keep a hotter fire, for I dare say
that fired ten thousand cannon shott and five hundred bombs and I
don’t believe there has been forty men killed and wounded during
that hott fire, altho’ all the Bombs fell in different parts
among us and that we were nigh point blank of the cannon shott
but the line that had been of so much hurt to us last year saved
our men this.

Your most afft. Brother, James Murray.”

I also add Amherst’s report to Governor James DeLancey:

Camp at Ticonderoga 27th July 1759.[34]

Sir:--

On Saturday morning last I embarked with the army at Lake George,
the next day landed without opposition and proceeded to the saw
mills, and took post on the commanding grounds, meeting only a
trifling opposition from the enemy. We lay on our arms all night
and early on the 23rd we continued our march to the ground which
I took possession of in the forenoon, the enemy having abandoned
the lines without destroying them, first having carried off
their effects as well as sent away the greatest part of their
troops. As soon as I was set down before the place and after
having reconnoitered it, I ordered the trenches to be opened
and batteries to be made, which were finished last night, and
were to have opened at break of day, but the enemy did not think
proper to wait till then, having about ten of the clock yesterday
evening blown up a part of the Fort, and made their escape all
to about 20 deserters. Our loss considering the fire we sustained
is inconsiderable. We have only two officers killed, vis. Colonel
Townshend, Deputy Adjutant General and Ensign Harrison of late
Forbe’s.

Bourlamaque had on receipt of orders from Vaudreuil retired down Lake Champlain leaving four hundred men under Hebecourt to defend the fort as long as possible and then to abandon Ticonderoga and later when pressed Crown Point and to retreat to Isle-oux-Noix at the outlet of Lake Champlain, where defense was to be made to the last extremity. When the English battery was ready to open fire Hebecourt saw that further resistance was useless and lighting a slow match to the magazine the French escaped down the lake in their boats and a few hours later an explosion which hurled one bastion of old Fort Carrillon skyward shook the promontory. Thus did French Carillon become English Ticonderoga and “Ticonderoga 1758-9” should be among the battle honors to be borne on the colors of the Black Watch. It is true that these honorary distinctions are awarded by the King only in case of victory but Ticonderoga 1758-9 would certainly be as much a victory as “South Africa 1899-1902,” which has been granted. South Africa was not all victory and the Black Watch suffered at Magersfontein as it did at Ticonderoga under Abercrombie.

The length of time elapsed since the battle would also be no objection to the honor being now granted as it was not until 1910, two and one half centuries later that the armies that upheld British honor on the Coast of Morocco were authorized to bear “Tangier 1662-1680” on their colors and appointments.

FORT EDWARD, 1759]

Ticonderoga is the one place on the American continent where Great Britain and France, Canada and the United States can all unite on one common ground. The Yankees and British can meet here and clasp hands over the time when they once fought together and there is not even a sectional feeling which detracts from the unanimity. The North, South, East and West of the United States all join with equal fervor. Each nation had its defeats here at different times but each also had its victories. Therefore there is no battle honor which could be conferred on any British regiment that would please more people of different nations than “Ticonderoga 1758-9.” The fact that there is at present in the village of Ticonderoga a public library and historical building dedicated to a British Regiment, even though this same regiment in its line of duty fought against us in a later war, is sufficient proof that we consider Ticonderoga of international history and above matters of local prejudice.

The rest of the story is soon told. Crown Point was captured and the army was to have moved forward to Isle oux-Noix and to the St. Lawrence but a succession of storms so delayed operations that further active movements were abandoned for the remainder of the season. Amherst profiting by the fatal precipitation of his predecessor was slow but sure and in this campaign was successful in every enterprise that he undertook.

After the capture of Crown Point the army under Amherst was mainly employed in building operations on Lake Champlain, Fort Amherst at Crown Point and Fort Ticonderoga in place of old Fort Carrillon at Ticonderoga. The Black Watch was stationed at Crown Point and helped to build Fort Amherst. In November, they went into camp for the winter and in his report of “Garrisons and Winter Quarters of His Majesty’s forces in North America under the command of His Excellency, Major General Amherst, Headquarters at New York, 15 Dec., 1759” in the Public Record Office, the stations of the Black Watch were as follows: 1st Battalion Royal Highland Regiment, 1 company Halfway Brook, 5 companies Fort Edward, 1 company Fort Miller, 1 company Saratoga, 1 company Stillwater and 1 company Halfmoon, 2d Battalion Royal Highland Regiment, Albany, one Battalion of the Inniskilling (27th Foot) and two companies of the Rangers were left at Crown Point, six companies Late Brig. Gen’l Forbe’s (17th Foot) at Ticonderoga, and four companies 17th Foot at Fort George. The following season (1760) the Black Watch was with Amherst at the capture of Montreal which was the end of the French domain on the American Continent.

In 1761 the Black Watch with ten regiments embarked for Barbadoes there to join an armament against Martinique and Havana. After the surrender of Havana, the first battalion of the 42nd and Montgomery’s Highlanders embarked for New York which they reached in the end of October, 1762. Before leaving Cuba most of the second battalion of the 42nd fit for service were consolidated with the first, and the remainder shipped to Scotland where they were reduced the following year.

The Black Watch was stationed at Albany until the summer of 1763, when they, with a detachment of Montgomery’s Highlanders and another of the 60th, under command of Col. Henry Boquet were sent to the relief of Fort Pitt then besieged by the Indians. The 42nd passed the winter at Fort Pitt and during the summer of 1764, eight companies were sent with the army of Boquet against the Ohio Indians. After subduing the Indians they returned to Fort Pitt, January 1765. The regiment remained in Pennsylvania until the month of July, 1767, when it embarked at Philadelphia for Ireland. Such of the men who preferred to remain in America were permitted to join other regiments. These volunteers were so numerous that along with those who had been previously sent home disabled and others discharged and settled in America, the regiment that returned was very small in proportion to that which had left Scotland.

Let us now turn our attention to Major Duncan Campbell as not only would no sketch of the Black Watch of Ticonderoga be complete without the legend with which his name is associated, but we are perhaps more interested in him than any other officer of the Regiment of that time because he lies buried in the cemetry midway between Hudson Falls (formerly Sandy Hill) and Fort Edward. The other officers and men who were killed July 8, 1758, were doubtless buried on the field of battle and if the graves were ever marked, these marks have long since been destroyed.

Old Inverawe House from the River Awe with Ben Cruachan in the background.

View from the West. X marks the window of the Ghost Room.

Bridge over the Awe built by Captain William Piman about 1756.]

No ghost story is more widely known or better authenticated than that of Duncan Campbell of Inverawe. It has been made the subject of an address before this Association by the late Robert O. Bascom at the meeting of July 30, 1901, and has been repeated in many forms and in various publications but it will bear still one more repetition. The following is taken from Parkman’s “Montcalm and Wolfe” and is the story as was told by Dean Stanley and endorsed by the family of the hero of the tale:

“The ancient castle of Inverawe stands by the banks of the Awe,
in the midst of the wild and picturesque scenery of the Western
Highlands. Late one evening, before the middle of the last
century, as the laird, Duncan Campbell, sat alone in the old
hall, there was a loud knocking at the gate; and, opening it, he
saw a stranger, with torn clothing and kilt besmeared with blood,
who in a breathless voice begged for asylum. He went on to say
that he had killed a man in a fray, and that the pursuers were
at his heels. Campbell promised to shelter him. “Swear on your
dirk!”[35] said the stranger; and Campbell swore. He then led
him to a secret recess in the depths of the castle. Scarcely was
he hidden when again there was a loud knocking at the gate, and
two armed men appeared. “Your cousin Donald has been murdered,
and we are looking for the murderer!” Campbell, remembering his
oath, professed to have no knowledge of the fugitive; and the
men went on their way. The laird, in great agitation, lay down
to rest in a large dark room where at length he fell asleep.
Waking suddenly in bewilderment and terror, he saw the ghost of
the murdered Donald standing by his bedside, and heard a hollow
voice pronounce the words: “Inverawe! Inverawe! blood has been
shed. Shield not the murderer.” In the morning Campbell went to
the hiding place of the guilty man and told him that he could
harbor him no longer. “You have sworn on your dirk” he replied;
and the laird of Inverawe, greatly perplexed and troubled, made a
compromise between conflicting duties, promised not to betray his
guest, led him to the neighboring mountain (Ben Cruachan) and hid
him in a cave.[36]

In the next night, as he lay tossing in feverish slumbers, the
same stern voice awoke him, the ghost of his cousin Donald stood
again at his bedside, and again he heard the same appalling
words: “Inverawe! Inverawe! blood has been shed. Shield not the
murderer!” At break of day he hastened, in strange agitation,
to the cave; but it was empty, the stranger had gone. At night,
as he strove in vain to sleep, the vision appeared once more,
ghastly pale, but less stern of aspect than before. “Farewell,
Inverawe!” it said; “Farewell, till we meet at TICONDEROGA!”

The strange name dwelt in Campbell’s memory. He had joined the
Black Watch, or Forty-Second Regiment, then employed in keeping
order in the turbulent Highlands. In time he became its major;
and, a year or two after the war broke out, he went with it to
America. Here, to his horror, he learned that it was ordered to
the attack of Ticonderoga. His story was well known among his
brother officers. They combined among themselves to disarm his
fears; and when they reached the fatal spot they told him on the
eve of the battle, “This is not Ticonderoga; we are not there
yet; this is Fort George.”[37] But in the morning he came to
them with haggard looks. “I have seen him! You have deceived me!
He came to my tent last night! This is Ticonderoga! I shall die
today!” and his prediction was fulfilled.”

As will be seen by the preceding pages, Inverawe lived nine days after the battle and was not even mortally wounded if it had been possible in those times to have had antiseptic treatment, but the real point of the legend is that he had been warned of Ticonderoga when he did not know there was such a place, years before there was any prospect of his being sent there and when Ticonderoga was only the Indian name for a point of land on a lake in the wilderness of a far off continent.

To one interested no place could be more fascinating than old Inverawe;[38] everything connected with it breathes of legend and romance and naturally this was one of the first places visited in our Black Watch pilgrimage last summer. Taynuilt, the railroad station nearest Inverawe is a small village across the Awe and about a mile away as the crow flies, but to drive to our destination, one must follow the road two miles up the River to the old bridge which was being built at the time that the Major left for the war in America in 1756. The builder was Captain William Pitman apparently a good friend of Duncan of Inverawe as he charged him with the safe keeping during his absence of his daughter Janet and his favorite dog. History does not record what happened to the dog but the Captain married the daughter and in time Inverawe became her property.

Photo by Miss Dorothea E. Seaton, Edinburgh

A Corner of the Ghost Room]

After crossing the Awe the road turns down the north side of the River and winds through a magnificent park, some of the trees of which must certainly have been there before the Major’s time. This is all the more remarkable because with the exception of the parks of the private estates, Scotland is nearly a treeless country and even the mountains and wild land which with us would be covered with forests, have there only grass and heather. Then at the end of a delightful four mile drive was old Inverawe house and a most cordial and hospitable welcome from its present owner.

The old house has had many additions in the past one hundred and fifty years but the entrance hall and the main part of the building and particularly the room where Duncan Campbell saw the ghost, are still very much as they were in his time. We endeavored to learn as much as possible of the family history of the Campbells of Inverawe, but like the records of the Black Watch of that time, there was in 1910, little left but tradition.

_The Campbells of Inverawe_

Twenty years have passed since the account of the Black Watch at Ticonderoga as written for the 1910 meeting of the New York State Historical Association was published, and while we regret that very little can be added, we are pleased to say that few corrections have had to be made in the story as then told. It was thought that the records of the Regiment of the 18th Century were discovered in 1913 among the military manuscripts in the Royal United Service Institution, but while they purported to be the original records, careful examination disclosed that they had been written early in the nineteenth century so nothing new was learned of the Regiment of the Ticonderoga period. The preceding pages therefore are practically unchanged.

The part, however, about the family history of Major Duncan Campbell of Inverawe has been entirely rewritten. We are indebted for this additional information to the descendants of Alexander, a brother of Duncan of Inverawe, to the late Major Sir Duncan Campbell of Barcaldine, to the late Captain Douglas Wimberly, and others. No one feature of the Black Watch at Ticonderoga has been of such general interest as the ghost story of its Major, Duncan Campbell of Inverawe, and the straightening out of the family puzzle which was such a mystery in 1910 has been a fascinating study.

The Major’s memory has been honored recently by two celebrations. In 1920 when his bones were moved to the Jane McCrea enclosure, just inside the main gate of the Union Cemetery between Hudson Falls and Fort Edward, where his ancient tombstone now has the protection of a high iron fence, and in 1925 when a monument to the Black Watch and its Major was unveiled at Fort Ticonderoga. Both occasions were under the auspices of the St. Andrews Society of Scots of Glens Falls and vicinity, and the New York State Historical Association.

OLD INVERAWE HOUSE

Showing Door to Ghost Room from Balcony in Entrance Hall

View from North showing Main Entrance

Entrance Hall (Door to Ghost Room may be seen in upper left hand corner)]

Of all the new material which has been found since 1910 none is so important or so interesting as the following letter from Major Duncan Campbell of Inverawe:

Albany, 14th March, 1758.

Dear Sir,

I received your letter from Inveraw of the 25th November and
the first from you since we parted, tho I have been informed by
letters that come to hand, of your writing formerly. The State
you sent me of my affairs is not very agreeable nor encouraging
for me to make a retreat that I had in view, and in a little
time I believe might be in my power but I am not disappointed;
and notwithstanding I shall do all in my power to assist you. I
am sorry that no other scheme of living can be accomplished upon
the fund, than the one fixed on; to me it gives uneasiness of
minde, tho I’m sensible the consequence may be worse if it is
not followed, and therefore bear it with concern. I don’t choose
to mention my reasons or enter upon particulars as letters from
this part of the world to yours are lyable to inspection and many
accidents. I see a separation must be that will expose them to
the disrespect and ridicule of many; coud they live together in
the way proposed it might prevent much of that but I can’t hope
or expect it from what I know.

As to my advice or directions with regard to any plan you, and my
other freinds, to whom I fear I have given much trouble and to
whom in any event I shall rekon myself oblig’d there is no sort
of use for them, you are best judges, and as I am well satisfied
that everything will be don and ordered for the best, I shall
be as satisfied with any consequence. I am glade you think of
raising nurseries and planting, I sent from this Country to be
forwarded by Mr. Gatty from Belfast two Barrels of the different
kindes of Timber tree seeds &c. but I doubt they will be too
late excepting the Pines which seed will do when two year old.

Your letter came a few days ago by an advice Ship of War,
which superceeded My Lord Loudoun in the Command and General
Abercrombie appointed in his place, with many other changes
and promotions in our Military affairs in this Continent, how
far they may change our Luck I shall not pretend to judge, but
we have need of some sort of medicine for that end. We have a
prospect of a very warm and vigorous campaign, and I hope it
will be successful. Our Regiment is appointed for the Lewisburgh
Expedition, but as we are so far up in the Country where the
Generall is to have his department and opperations it is yet
uncertain but he may keep us with him; we are all in very good
health and compleat for service.

I cannot yet know what remittance I can make for this year,
some I will and shall, sometime before we take the field or the
midle of May. To prevent a relaps of my last years companion I
travelled to the Southard during the severity of the winter to N.
York and Philadelfia &c. which have had the desyrd effect and I’m
now as chois as ever, but it will not enlarge the remittance.

I have had no letter from Sandy Campbell since Aprile last,
Nor from Jesie since July, I received one from Mr. Richardson
with yours which I shall answer by next Pacquett and tell him
so with my compliments. Lykways please tell Peter Campbell that
his letter came at the same time, and that as Adam Fisher is
here I had are opportunity of enquiring about his son who is at
present out as master, not Capt. of a Privateer there was no such
prizes or Fortoune as Peter believed what may be now I know not
but there is no great prospect of it. This is the only letter I
write by the first Pacquett, so that you may communicate it to my
friends as a proof of my being well and youll in the same course
make my compliments to them all.

I’m sorry that Captain Campbell should make objections to the
payment of his Bill; he brought me 3 * * * for which I cleared
him all his charge and gav * * * at that time 20 guineas over for
his own trouble * * * expense this he knows and will appear by
my * * * which you can see; * * * this indeed I thought suitable
any expense he coud incur in Mull and that it * * * my power to
give him or not the raising of an * * * rather than have any
difference about it let h * * * what I had allowed me by the
Regiment which was £3 per man for the first two years and two
guineas for the remaining years that at a medium or the full as
you please but I hope he’ll allow interest upon what Ballance
may be due by him upon such an amot from the time it fell due
April 46 when he went to the Regt.

I am,
My dear Sir,
Your affect, humble servant.
Dun. Campbell.

To

John Campbell of Cloichombie Esqr.
Inveraray,
North Brittain.

(edge of letter torn off--hence gaps) (J.F.C.)

The letter bears the Inverawe arms on seal and is endorsed, probably by the addressee “14th March 1758, from Inveraw concerning his familie and affairs and Lieut. Collonel Dugd. Campbell’s Bill.”

This letter will bear reading and re-reading. The first and to the writer the most important part of the letter was some financial and family problem. Unfortunately his guarded and cryptic message caused by the fear that the letter might be opened by another than the addressee will perhaps leave it always an unsolved mystery. It would be interesting to know what success attended the planting of the two barrels of timber seed. His guess that the Black Watch might be used in the Ticonderoga campaign rather than the Lewisburgh as planned, proved correct. It would be interesting to know what the malady of the previous winter was, to prevent a relapse of which it had been necessary to travel to the Southard. The letter closes with another financial problem. If he means that he was allowed ten or fifteen dollars per man for the thousand men in the Regiment, that would be a very sizable income for those days and the bill must have been a large one. The allowance, however, might have been for recruits secured or some other regimental activity. But aside from the interesting contents of this letter its real value is that it gives an opportunity to learn something of the character of its writer. One can read between the lines that Duncan of Inverawe was a reserved man of a strong but a quiet, kindly nature, he would suffer loss himself rather than make trouble for others, and after having done his best was willing to take whatever came without complaint. It quite matches the Inverawe of the ghost story who promised to protect a fugitive and then stood by his oath even though the refugee was the murderer of his cousin. The reader of this letter can not help but feel drawn towards its writer.

A. D. 1925. The Saint Andrews Society of Glens Falls, N. Y.,
erected this tablet to commemorate the heroic gallantry of the
42nd Regiment of Foot, better known as “The Royal Highlanders” or
“THE BLACK WATCH” who on July 8, 1758, lost here in killed and
wounded over six hundred of the thousand men engaged. Mortally
wounded on that day was their Major, DUNCAN CAMPBELL OF INVERAWE,
the hero of one of the most noted ghost stories of Scottish
history and of Robert Louis Stevenson’s poem, “Ticonderoga.”]

Now what was the immediate family and what was the background of our hero. One version of the ghost story was that he made his will the night before the battle, but no sensible man waits until death is at the door for this very important transaction and we find the following in Vol. XV, Abstract of Entry in Sheriff Court Books of Argyll at Inveraray.

“Disposition by Major Duncan Campbell of Inverawe to Lieut.
Dugald Campbell, his eldest son procreated between him and Mrs.
Jean Campbell, his wife, whom, failing, to Lieut. Alexander
Campbell, his second son, whom failing, Duncan Campbell, his
third and youngest son, whom failing, to any other sons he may
lawfully have, and the heirs male of their bodies in succession,
whom failing, to Janet Campbell, his only daughter now in life
procreated between him and the said Mrs. Jean Campbell, of his
whole lands and estate of Inverawe and others, under certain
reservations; dated at Glasgow 17th April, 1756; witnesses, John
Campbell of Cloichombie, Alexander Campbell in Achalion, and
others.”

This establishes Inverawe’s family and we will see what became of them. Dugald was appointed 2nd Lieutenant in the 21st or Royal North British Fuziliers, December 28, 1755, joined his Regiment at Gibraltar in 1756, died and was succeeded by John Wallace, March 1st, 1758.

Alexander was appointed Lieutenant in the Black Watch Jan. 28, 1756, was wounded at Ticonderoga and invalided to Glasgow where he was promoted to a Captaincy in the Argyllshire Regiment of Fencible men, July 21, 1759, died unmarried Feb. 8, 1760 and was buried in Grey Friers Burying Ground. A powder horn said to have belonged to Lt. Alexander and bearing the coat-of-arms of the Campbells of Inverawe is at the McCord Museum of McGill University in Montreal.

Duncan, third son of Inverawe, is still a mystery but the fact that Janet was proven heir to Inverawe February 5, 1762 would seem to show that he had died without issue before that date.

Major Duncan, born Nov. 22, 1702, married March 20, 1732 Jean, daughter of Col. Alexander Campbell of Finab. She died at Edinburgh August 20, 1761. When Janet succeeded to Inverawe in 1762 therefore her father, her mother and three brothers had all predeceased her--a tragic mortality in six short years. There is a family tradition that Major Duncan mortgaged Inverawe to his brother-in-law, Col. Robert Campbell of Finab and Monzie and that according to old Scottish law the property was handed over to the man who advanced the money until the rental had paid off the debt, and that this arrangement was called a wadset. Whether Col. Campbell of Finab and Monzie acquired the property by wadset or purchase, it passed into his hands soon after Janet proved her title and it is said that when she left the estate she washed her hands in a bottle of wine at the border, which we were told was an old Highland custom. The owner of Inverawe in 1910 was a descendant of Col. Robert Campbell of Finab and Monzie, a Mrs. Campbell of Dunstaffnage. Since then we are informed it was purchased by the late Mr. James Currie and is now for sale to settle his estate.

Janet who married Capt. William Pitman, had only one daughter, Susan, who died unmarried. So with her the descendants of Major Duncan Campbell of Inverawe are at an end.

There is a very interesting tale about an Inverawe cup. It seems that in 1714 the three brothers, Archibald of Inverawe, Dugald of Shirvan, and Alexander of Kilmartin, each got a silver cup. The Kilmartins always kept their cup but both those of Inverawe and Shirvan were lost. This was such a grief to the Inverawes that the fact was often mentioned. On one occasion a friend who had heard of this cup was hunting in Ireland and stopped at a wretched little inn to get a drink for himself and his horse. The place was so disreputable looking that he would not go in but had his drink brought out to him. It came in a battered old metal cup and on the chance that it might be of value, he bought it from the landlord. To his great pleasure he found on having it cleaned that it was the long lost Inverawe cup. He had an inscription put on it, recording the finding, and sent it to Archibald Campbell of Blackhouse, a nephew of Major Duncan, and the representative at that time of the Inverawe family. The cup is still a treasured possession of the descendants of this Archibald, the Campbells of Arduaine, Lochgilphead.

THE INVERAWE CUP]

The will of the Archibald of Inverawe of the Silver Cup and father of Major Duncan Campbell, is as follows:

“1727, February 23rd--Disposition by Archibald Campbell of
Inveraw to Duncan Campbell, his eldest lawful son, and the heirs
male of his body, whom failing, to Dugall Campbell, his second
lawful son, and his heirs male, whom failing, Lachlan Campbell,
his third son, and Alexander Campbell, his fourth son, whom all
failing, the heirs of the Granter and Janet McLean, his spouse,
whom failing, his heirs of any other marriage of his lands of
Inveraw, Drumchoise, Dalneass, etc., with certain exceptions,
including a life rent right granted by the deceased Archibald
Campbell of Inveraw to Lilias Campbell, his spouse, now spouse
to Angus Campbell of Dunstagnage; dated at Inveraw 14th February
1722.”

Another interesting fact in the Inverawe annals is that Dugald Campbell of London in the parish of Saint Martin’s, Westminster, and County of Middlesex, by his will bearing date the 2nd day of June 1718, gave to old decayed men and young women of Campbell of Inverawe’s family, the sum of £300, and that this “Inverawe Annuity Fund” since augmented, is still administered by Trustees chosen from the Inverawe heirs.

The present known Campbells who are proud to claim that they are of the Clan Inverawe are descended from Alexander, brother of Duncan, the fourth son of Archibald, as named in the foregoing will. Alexander was born in 1710 and married Ann Somerville in 1747. If all of the descendants of this union have been of as fine, high character as those whom we have been privileged to meet, the world has indeed been richer for the Campbells of Inverawe.

_Family Tree of The Campbells of Inverawe_

The family does not seem to be entirely in agreement on the line back of the 18th Century. The following is gathered from different branches. One version is that the Inverawes descended from Sir Archibald Campbell of Lochow, whose son Colin was knighted by Alexander III, 1280, and died 1294. His son, Niel or Nigel of Lochow, died 1360, and _his_ son, Dugald or Duncan was the 1st “Inverawe” and ancestor of the Clan Dhonnachie Campbells. He got a grant of the estate of Inveraw and Cruachan from David II, 1330. A later Inveraw got a grant of lands from Queen Mary, 1558. With the exception of a gap of about 60 years from 1460 or so to 1510, we have a complete record of “Inveraws” practically an unbroken succession from father to son.

Another version is the following:

Archibald, c/v from 1st Earl of Argyll

Dougal, c/v 22.11.1485, from 2nd Earl. Sasine Des. 1486. Officer
of Over Lochow to the Earl. (Inverawe deeds)

Archibald, signs Archibald McCoul McConachie of Inverawe 1519,
(Thanes of Cawdor), c/v from 2nd Earl as heir to Dugal (Inverawe
deeds) married Margaret Campbell.

Dougal, (Inverawe 1548-1562). (Register of Decreets and Acts)
said to have married a dau. of Lochnell.

Archibald, (1562-1567 or 1576) married Margaret C. dau. of Dougal
C. of Ardcullour, sister of Sir James C. VIth of Ardkinklas. (A.
Charters)

Dougal, (1576 or 1567-1583) married Christian Carswell, dau. (or
granddaughter) of Bishop Carswell. Relict of Dougal 1587. She
afterward married Neill Campbell, Bishop of Lismore.

Archibald, (1583-1650)

Dougal, (1650-1674), burned “Bonnie House of Airlie” 1640.
married 1st, Agnes, dau. of Sir Robert C. of Glenarguhy
(Braedalbane) 2nd, Janet, dau. of Rory McNeill of Barra.

Archibald, (1674-1705), son of Dougal and Agnes. Married 1st,
Mary, dau. of Hector McNeill of Thayneis. 2nd, Lilias, dau. of
Sir James C. of Lawers.

Archibald, (1705-1730) married Janet McLean of Torloisk. Served
heir to Cattinis 1700, later Inverawe, etc. Received Inverawe cup
1714.

Duncan (1730-1758), Major Black Watch, married Jane Campbell of
Finab.