India WHILE Major-General Sir Archibald Campbell was appointed Colonel of the 74th, the colonelcy of its coeval regiment, the 75th, was conferred on Colonel Robert Abercromby of Tullibody. He had commanded a light infantry brigade during six campaigns in the American war; and as several companies of this brigade had been composed of the light infantry of theHighland regiments then in America, the colonel was well known to the Highlanders, and had acquired an influence among them rare enjoyed by officers born south of the Grampians. There are instances, no doubt, such as those of the Marquis of Montrose and Viscount Dundee, and others of modem date, "where Highland corps have formed attachments to officers not natives of their country, and not less ardent than to the chiefs of old;" and if the instances have been few, it must be attributed entirely to want of tact in officers themselves, who, from ignorance of the Highland character, or from some other cause, have failed to gain the attachment of the Highland soldiers.
From personal respect to Colonel Abercromby, many of the Highlanders who had served under him in America, and had been discharged at the peace of 1783, enlisted anew, and, with about 300 men who were recruited at Perth, and in the northern counties, constituted the Highland part of the regiment. According to a practice which then prevailed, of firing the headquarters of a regiment about to be raised in the neighbourhood of the colonel’s residence, if a man of family, the town of Stirling was appointed for the embodying of the 75th; and here, accordingly, it first assembled in June 1788, and immediately thereafter proceeded to England, and embarked for India, where it arrived about the end of that year.
For eighteen months after its arrival in India, the regiment was subjected to extreme severity of discipline by one of the captains, who appears to have adopted the old Prussian model for his rule. A more unfortunate plan for destroying the morale of a Highland regiment could not have been devised, and the result was, that, during the existence of this discipline, there were more punishments in the 75th than in any other corps of the same description. But as soon as the system was modified by the appointment of an officer who knew the dispositions and feelings of the Highlanders, the conduct of the men improved.
The regiment took the field in 1790, under the command of Colonel Hartley, and in the two subsequent years formed part of the force under Major-General Robert Abercromby, on his two marches to Seringapatam. The regiment was also employed in the assault on that capital in 1799, the flank companies having led the left columns. From that period down to 1804, the regiment was employed in the provinces of Malabar, Goa, Goojerat, and elsewhere, and in 1805 was with General Lake’s army in the disastrous attacks on Bhurtpoor.
The regiment was ordered home in 1806; but such of the men as were desirous of remaining in India were left behind. In 1809 there were not one hundred men in the regiment who had been born north of the Tay; on which account, it is believed, the designation was at that time changed.
Ranks Officers
Spoiler Captain; Cpt
Lieutenant; Lt
Ensign; Ens | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Non-Commisioned Officers
Spoiler Serjeant-Major; Sjt-Mjr
Colour Serjeant; CSjt
Serjeant; Sjt
Corporal; Cpl
| | | | | | | | | | Enlisted men
Spoiler Lance-Corporal; L-Cpl
Regular; Rgl
Private; Pte
Recruit; Rec
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