42nd Royal Highland Regiment

Now in our 25th year, we re-enact the Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) of the late 1700s, in North America, and wish to share the history of this famous regiment. This site is in no way an official representation of the British Army, or the Black Watch.

In the American Revolution, the Army did not officially authorize pipers for the highland regiments, but they were present: One of the Black Watch mutineers in 1743 was piper Donald MacDonald; The 42nd was known to have a piper attached to the grenadier company in 1759, who was appointed pipe major, interesting if nothing else for the fact that he was appointed, suggesting that there must have been more than two pipers. Additionally, inspection returns of regiments show that in 1768, the 25th Foot had a bag piper in the Band of Music, in 1773, the 42nd had two Pipers and a very good band of music.

In September, 1776, between Long Island and White Plains, a piper was known to have been killed in battle.