93rd Regiment of Foot
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The 93rd (Sutherland Highlanders) Regiment of Foot was a Line Infantry Regiment of the British Army . In 1881 during the Childers Reforms it was united with the 91st (Argyllshire Highlanders) Regiment of Foot to form the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (Princess Louise's) .
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[edit] History
[edit] The 93rd Regiment
The 93rd Regiment was raised three times before it became the Sutherland Highlanders.
[edit] Sutherland Fencibles
The Sutherland Fencibles were raised in Scotland from the area of Sutherland and Caithness in 1759 and disbanded in 1799. They were raised solely for the defence of Britain from French invasion by William, 18th Earl of Sutherland .
On disbanding in 1799 the new 93rd Regiment was recruited from the recently disbanded Sutherland Fencibles by their old colonel William Wemyss, at this time a Major General in the British Army. Wemyss had the remaining volunteers from all over Sutherland lined up by Parish and selected those he thought most suitable and issued each of these a pinch of snuff, a dram of whiskey and their bounty money. When the regiment first mustered, in Strathnaver in August 1800, not a single man selected by Wemyss failed to report. There is a cairn at Skail, in Strathnaver, marking the spot where this muster took place. It was known as Wemyss Regiment of Foot until 1861 when it was officially dubbed the Sutherland Highlanders.
[edit] Crimea
The 93rd Sutherland Highlanders became famous for their actions during the Crimean War. The regiment was sent to the Crimea in 1854, after war broke out against Russia, as part of Colin Campbell's Highland Brigade. They took part in the storming of the height above the Alma River followed by a move to Sevastopol. On 24 October they were stationed outside the British-controlled port of Balaklava as part of its very thin defences. The Russian Army sent a massive force to attack Balaklava, the Russian force was 25,000 strong; but only their massed cavalry pushed right forward down the road to Balaklava. Part of this threat was parried by the immortal charge of General Scarlett's Heavy Cavalry Brigade.
| “ | The rest, a formidable mass, swept on to charge the 93rd drawn up in line, two deep. "There is no retreat from here, men," Campbell told them as he rode down the line, "you must die where you stand." And the reply of John Scott, the right-hand man, was taken up by them all: "Ay, Sir Colin. An needs be, we'll do that." They fired two volleys and the cavalry charge split in half, galloping to right and left and finally into full retreat. Some of the younger soldiers started excitedly forward for a bayonet charge, but Sir Colin called out, "93rd, 93rd, damn all that eagerness!" From the Argylls History | ” |
It was in this action that the regiment earned its nickname of The Thin Red Line, coined by the The Times journalist W.H.Russell.
| “ | The Times correspondent, W. H. Russell, who standing on the hills above could clearly see that nothing stood between the Russian cavalry and the defenceless British base but the "thin red streak tipped with a line of steel" of the 93rd. Condensed almost immediately into "The Thin Red Line", the phrase has survived to this day as the chosen symbol of everything for which The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders believe themselves to stand.
Asked why he had been so unorthodox as to receive a cavalry charge in line instead of in a square. Sir Colin Campbell said; "I knew the 93rd, and I did not think it worth the trouble of forming a square."From the Argylls History |
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[edit] Amalgamation
From 1881 to 1882 the 93rd Sutherland Highlanders were united with the 91st (Argyllshire Highlanders) Regiment of Foot to form the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the Princess Louise's (Sutherland and Argyll Highlanders) later renamed Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (Princess Louise's) . The traditions and character of the 93rd remained so strong that members of the 2nd Battalion would continue to refer to themselves as the 93rd right up until that battalions move in to suspended animation in 1948.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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