It was not till the third year of the American War,
that Government ordered Fencible regiments to be raised for the internal
defence of the country, and to relieve the regiments of the line from
this duty, and increase the number of disposable troops for service
abroad. One of the first corps of this description in the kingdom was
raised, under the influence of the Duke of Argyll, in 1759; and, in
1778, the first Fencible regiment was raised by Lord Frederick Campbell,
a son of that family. Archibald Earl of Eglinton, who had been so active
a partisan, and had proved himself so able and high-spirited an officer
when he commanded his regiment of Highlanders in America during the
Seven Years' War, applied at the same time for permission to raise a
regiment of Fencible Highlanders; but it was not thought expedient that
two regiments of Fencibles should be raised in the West Highlands, as it
might interfere too much with the recruiting for the line. It was
therefore determined that only one corps should be raised in the West;
and Lord Eglinton having got the appointment of the officers of two
companies, Mr Montgomery of Coilsfield, afterwards Earl of Eglinton, was
appointed major, and the late Earl of Glencairn captain; the other
companies being filled up from Argyleshire, in which, and in other parts
of the Highlands, 700 men were recruited: the rest were from Glasgow and
the south-west of Scotland. This regiment
was embodied at Glasgow in
April 1778. Both officers and men were
animated with more than ordinary zeal and spi-it which were kept in full
activity by Colonel Montgomery and Major Campbell of Melford, who
commanded the regiment alternately in the absence of the colonel and
lieutenant-colonel, Lord Frederick Campbell and Sir James Campbell of
Ardkinglas, who were occasionally employed on other duties. Part of this
spirit was exhibited in a voluntary offer of the corps to extend their
services to any part of the world where their country required them;
having thus had the honour of setting an example which has since been
frequently followed by regiments whose service was limited to the
immediate defence of their native country. Besides this patriotic offer,
the corps exhibited another trait of character not uncommon among their
countrymen, namely, so much economy in the expenditure of their daily
pay of sixpence, as to be able to remit considerable sums of money to
their relations, and, when disembodied at Glasgow in 1783, to possess so
much money, that, if the whole had been reckoned in one sum, it would
have appeared very remarkable, considering the moderate means from which
it had been saved.
