Stories from the first half of the nineteenth
century are notorious for containing exaggerations, convolutions, and
outright falsehoods about the American Revolution. The passage of fifty
or more years left memories muddled and faded, and
tales passed by word of mouth were conflated, elaborated, and sometimes
even invented. This means that such stories must be evaluated carefully
for plausibility, comparing details carefully with more reliable
information. One such story concerns a British
serjeant in New Jersey in 1777.
After the battles of Trenton and Princeton, British
forces settled in to a string of posts in New Jersey, quartered in
abandoned buildings, barns and other shelter in the area around Amboy
and New Brunswick. American forces were centered
in Morristown, separated from their opponents by a ridge line called
the Short Hills. A number of battles and skirmishes occurred during the
ensuing months, none of which had an impact on the overall disposition.
It was a long, difficult winter for soldiers
on both sides.
In May, the 42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment of Foot
was quartered in Piscataway, just north of the Raritan River. While
most of the soldiers went about the routine duties required to maintain
sufficient food, fuel, cleanliness and general
readiness, a portion did duty as piquets (or pickets), individuals
placed around the perimeter to detect any approaching threats. On the
afternoon of 10 May, a threat came, and it was a big one.
A force of some 2000 American troops had carefully
made their way towards Piscataway, making use of the terrain to remain
concealed for as long as possible. When they could get no closer
undetected, the rushed upon the picquets. The highlanders,
vastly outnumbered, nonetheless fought back, and were quickly joined by
additional men on guard duty who were not already posted. They put up
the best resistance that they could, but were forced to retire all the
way back to their own quarters, leaving the
garrison dangerously exposed. They had bought enough time, however, for
the remainder of their regiment to put aside their other task and form
for battle. Other regiments quartered in the area joined the fight as
well. The tide was soon turned and the Americans
were chased back from whence they had come. A dozen men of the 42nd
Regiment had been killed, and just over three times that number wounded.
In 1822, General David Stuart published a substantial work in Edinburgh entitled Sketches of the character, manners, and present
state of the Highlanders of Scotland: with details of the military
service of the Highland regiments. He gave a brief account of the battle in Piscataway, and included this anecdote:
On this occasion, Sergeant Macgregor, whose
company was immediately in the rear of the picquet, rushed forward to
their support, with a few men who happened to have their arms in their
hands, when the enemy commenced the attack. Being
severely wounded, he was left insensible on the ground. When the
picquet was overpowered, and the few survivors forced to retire,
Macgregor, who had that day put on a new jacket with silver lace, having
besides, large silver buckles in his shoes, and a watch,
attracted the notice of an American soldier, who deemed him a good
prize. The retreat of his friends not allowing him time to strip the
sergeant on the spot, he thought the shortest way was to take him on his
back to a more convenient distance. By this time
Macgregor began to recover; and, perceiving whither the man was
carrying him, drew his dirk, and, grasping him by the throat, swore that
he would run him through the breast, if he did not turn back and carry
him to the camp. The American, finding this argument
irresistible, complied with the request, and, meeting Lord Cornwallis
(who had come up to the support of the regiment when he heard the
firing) and Colonel Stirling, was thanked for his care of the sergeant;
but he honestly told him, that he only conveyed
him thither to save his own life. Lord Cornwallis gave him liberty to
go whithersoever he chose.
This story sounds fanciful, but it does contain
details that can be compared to a reliable sources. British reports of
this action show that the 42nd Regiment had three serjeants killed and
three wounded in the action. The regiment's muster
rolls show that there was a serjeant named Duncan McGrigor in the 42nd
at this time. More telling is that this Serjeant McGrigor was discharged
in November 1778, and returned to Great Britain to go before the
pension board. The pension examiners recorded that
he was forty-six years old, had served in the army for twenty-three
years, and was a native of Perth. Most important, he was discharged
because wounds rendered him no longer fit to serve.
The actions of the 42nd Regiment on 10 May 1777
received the praise of General Sir William Howe, commander in chief of
the British army in America, as recorded in general orders four days
later:
His Excellency the commander-in-chief has requested
Earl Cornwallis to communicate his thanks to the Forty-Second Regiment,
for its spirited behaviour on the 10th instant, when it defeated a body
of the enemy much superior to itself in
numbers; and he is much pleased with the alertness with which the
second brigade got under arms to support the Forty-Second Regiment.
Did a badly-wounded Serjeant Duncan McGrigor really
get carried around the battlefield by a plunder-seeking American
soldier? We don't know for sure, but the facts we have show that the
story is plausible.
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