Allan Maclean of Torloisk
Encyclopedia
Allan Maclean of Torloisk was a Jacobite
who became a British Army General. He was born at a cottage built close to the site of the Duart Castle
in Scotland
from its scattered stones. He is best known for leading the 84th Regiment of Foot (Royal Highland Emigrants)
in the defence of Quebec without which Canada would have become a part of the United States of America.
and Mary (Campbell) Maclean, daughter of Archibald Campbell of Sunderland. His other siblings were Hector, Lachlan, Archibald, Mary, Anna, Alicia, Christiana, Betty, and Elizabeth. His family, though titled, was quite poor, the Maclean of Torloisk's property valued at £671 6s. Maclaine begun his military training with the clan as a 17-year-old lieutenant in the Scots Brigade of the Royal Dutch Republic after a brief service as an adjutant.
and Battle of Culloden
with the Maclachlans and Macleans battalion, he spent the next four years in exile, including in the service of France during War of the Austrian Succession
, again in the Scots brigade in the rank of a lieutenant at Bergen Op Zoom
in 1747, where he was taken prisoner after his part of the brigade cut their way through the French lines. Lieutenants Allan and Francis Maclean were then presented before General von Löwenthal, who said to them,
. He served as a temporary captain under Wolfe at the taking of Quebec and on 16 January 1759 was given Captaincy of the Third New York Independent Company, being present at the siege of Niagara in July, where he was again dangerously wounded. While serving in that unit, from 1761 he also begun to participate in raising the 114th Foot (Maclean’s Highlanders)
, helping to raise six companies when he returned to Scotland, and remaining with it as the Major Commandant until 1763. However the regiment never went on active service, and served only as a source of recruits for other Highland regiments serving in Germany and British America.
A number of officers and soldiers from his regiment settled on St John’s (Prince Edward) Island. While Maclean also later received a land grant on the island along with several other Maclean gentry, there is no record of him living there.
In 1765 he moved to Paris where he fathered a son out of wedlock, and was recruited by the East India Company
. Returning to England not in the rank of a Major, Allan begun to court Janet Maclean in Glasgow
whom he had met earlier, and who came to London to be closer to him. At this time he also engaged in writing letters signed "Junius" which appeared in the Public Advertiser, advocating freedom of the press. On the 4 February 1771 he wed Janet at the Monkwell Presbyterian Meeting House though she was half his age, which included a piper, at that time still forbidden in London. On the 25 May of the following year he was appointed an active lieutenant-colonel in the army with full pay of one pound a day, but was not assigned a battalion, so had no duties to perform. Shortly before that his older brother Lauchlin was appointed Commissary-General of the army in Bengal
, and was leaving England with his other brother Harry who had been hired as a secretary in the office of the East India Company in Calcutta. Allan had been close with both, but Lauchlin was still involved with the Jacobites, and this association could hurt his career. At this time a teenage son from Janet's father's second marriage came to live with them and, since they had not been able to conceive a child of their own, Allen revealed his son in France, and Janet agreed to foster the nine year old. Wanting to return to active service he eventually secured an audience with the Secretary at War, William Barrington, 2nd Viscount Barrington
who refused his resignation to enable him to join the East India Company because the Crown needed officers with experience in the American colonies where trouble was expected over the Townshend Acts
and the Stamp Act
.
and would be raised in the colonies from Highlanders settled there, commencing with New York. However, on arrival Maclean was warned that going into the city in his regimental uniform would invite attacks from the rebels, and that the British garrison had departed to Boston. He therefore sailed to that city to obtain commissions for his officers from General Gage
. However, soon Gage retired due to age, and Maclean accompanied General Haldimand to New York who, although a British subject, was replaced by Sir William Howe
, a brother of Viscount Howe
and former colonel of 3rd Battalion, the 60th Regiment. He then proceeded to coordinate the clandestine recruiting activities of his officers, the 1st Battalion recruited in Canada and New York, and the 2nd Battalion in Nova Scotia
and St John’s Island
, before proceeding to marshal them in Canada, himself travelling alone and in disguise of a doctor. During defence of Quebec he was appointed second-in-command by Governor Guy Carleton
, often sleeping in his uniform at the Récollet cloister
in Quebec City
while the city was threatened by a rebel army under Benedict Arnold
which had appeared on the Plains of Abraham
in mid-November. Through the long siege, commanding as many as 1,178 troops, Maclean suffered a leg injury, causing a partial loss of its use for the remainder of his life.
On 11 May 1776, now in the rank of Colonel, Maclean was appointed Adjutant-General of the army in Canada, which he held until 6 June 1777, when he was granted the rank of Brigadier-General, and ordered to take command of the Montreal Garrison. Due to increased danger for General Burgoyne's position, General Maclean was ordered, on 20 October, to march with the 31st Regiment and his own battalion of the Royal Highland Emigrants, to Chimney Point, Vermont
, but during November was ordered to Quebec. He departed Quebec on 27 July 1776, for London in order to obtain rank and establishment for his regiment that had been promised, returning to Quebec on 28 May 1777. In 1778 he again went to England to make a personal appeal to the King on behalf of his regiment, which was successful. Sailing from Spithead on 1 May 1779, he arrived at Quebec on 16 August. Maclean finally became a regimental colonel in the active army 17 November 1780 with his regiment becoming the 84th Regiment of Foot, and with its station on the Canadian border between Oswegatchie, New York
and Fort Michilimackinac
until 1782.
Maclean retired from the military service in 1784. He did not return to live in Scotland, but died in London, in March 1797. Contents of his correspondence with John Maclean of Lochbuie suggest that he died in comparative poverty.
In 2007 a cairn was unveiled at Kilninian Church in memory of Brigadier-General Allan Maclean of Torloisk, who ‘saved Canada for the Empire’ in 1775.
Jacobitism
Jacobitism was the political movement in Britain dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, later the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Kingdom of Ireland...
who became a British Army General. He was born at a cottage built close to the site of the Duart Castle
Duart Castle
Duart Castle or Caisteal Dhubhairt in Scottish Gaelic is a castle on the Isle of Mull, off the west coast of Scotland, within the council area of Argyll and Bute...
in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
from its scattered stones. He is best known for leading the 84th Regiment of Foot (Royal Highland Emigrants)
84th Regiment of Foot (Royal Highland Emigrants)
The 84th Regiment of Foot was a British regiment in the American Revolutionary War that was raised to defend present day Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada from the constant land and sea attacks by American Revolutionaries...
in the defence of Quebec without which Canada would have become a part of the United States of America.
Early life
Allan was the third son of Donald Maclean, 5th Laird of TorloiskDonald Maclean, 5th Laird of Torloisk
Donald Maclean, 5th Laird of Torloisk was the 5th Laird of Torloisk.-Biography:He was a son of John of Tarbert. John of Tarbert was the third son of Hector Maclean, 2nd Laird of Torloisk....
and Mary (Campbell) Maclean, daughter of Archibald Campbell of Sunderland. His other siblings were Hector, Lachlan, Archibald, Mary, Anna, Alicia, Christiana, Betty, and Elizabeth. His family, though titled, was quite poor, the Maclean of Torloisk's property valued at £671 6s. Maclaine begun his military training with the clan as a 17-year-old lieutenant in the Scots Brigade of the Royal Dutch Republic after a brief service as an adjutant.
Jacobite rising and after
Participating in the Jacobite rising of 1746, and fighting at the siege of Fort WilliamFort William, Scotland
Fort William is the second largest settlement in the highlands of Scotland and the largest town: only the city of Inverness is larger.Fort William is a major tourist centre with Glen Coe just to the south, Aonach Mòr to the north and Glenfinnan to the west, on the Road to the Isles...
and Battle of Culloden
Battle of Culloden
The Battle of Culloden was the final confrontation of the 1745 Jacobite Rising. Taking place on 16 April 1746, the battle pitted the Jacobite forces of Charles Edward Stuart against an army commanded by William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, loyal to the British government...
with the Maclachlans and Macleans battalion, he spent the next four years in exile, including in the service of France during War of the Austrian Succession
War of the Austrian Succession
The War of the Austrian Succession – including King George's War in North America, the Anglo-Spanish War of Jenkins' Ear, and two of the three Silesian wars – involved most of the powers of Europe over the question of Maria Theresa's succession to the realms of the House of Habsburg.The...
, again in the Scots brigade in the rank of a lieutenant at Bergen Op Zoom
Siege of Bergen op Zoom (1747)
The Siege of Bergen op Zoom took place during the Austrian War of Succession, when a French army, under the command of Lowendal and the overall direction of Marshal Maurice de Saxe, laid siege and captured the strategic Dutch border fortress of Bergen op Zoom on the border of Brabant and Zealand...
in 1747, where he was taken prisoner after his part of the brigade cut their way through the French lines. Lieutenants Allan and Francis Maclean were then presented before General von Löwenthal, who said to them,
Gentlemen, consider yourselves on parole. If all had conducted themselves as your brave corps have done, I should not now be master of Bergen-op-Zoom.He returned to Edinburgh in 1750.
Seven Years' War
On the 8 January 1756 he was commissioned a lieutenant, and later travelled to the American colonies with the 62nd, later the 60th Royal America Regiment for two years. After being severely wounded at Ticonderoga on 8 July 1758 while with James Abercromby’s troops taking part in the assault against Montcalm’s forces in Fort CarillonFort Carillon
Fort Carillon was constructed by Pierre de Rigaud de Vaudreuil, Governor of Canada, to protect Lake Champlain from a British invasion. The fort was not far from Fort Saint Frédéric. It was built to prevent an attack on Canada and slow the advance of the enemy long enough to send reinforcements...
. He served as a temporary captain under Wolfe at the taking of Quebec and on 16 January 1759 was given Captaincy of the Third New York Independent Company, being present at the siege of Niagara in July, where he was again dangerously wounded. While serving in that unit, from 1761 he also begun to participate in raising the 114th Foot (Maclean’s Highlanders)
114th Regiment of Foot (Royal Highlander Volunteers)
The 114th Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army from 1761 to 1763.It was raised in October 1761, by Sir Allan MacLean of Torloisk. He was commissioned lieutenant in the 60th Foot Royal Americans at the beginning of the Seven Years' War and was severely wounded at...
, helping to raise six companies when he returned to Scotland, and remaining with it as the Major Commandant until 1763. However the regiment never went on active service, and served only as a source of recruits for other Highland regiments serving in Germany and British America.
A number of officers and soldiers from his regiment settled on St John’s (Prince Edward) Island. While Maclean also later received a land grant on the island along with several other Maclean gentry, there is no record of him living there.
In 1765 he moved to Paris where he fathered a son out of wedlock, and was recruited by the East India Company
East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
. Returning to England not in the rank of a Major, Allan begun to court Janet Maclean in Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
whom he had met earlier, and who came to London to be closer to him. At this time he also engaged in writing letters signed "Junius" which appeared in the Public Advertiser, advocating freedom of the press. On the 4 February 1771 he wed Janet at the Monkwell Presbyterian Meeting House though she was half his age, which included a piper, at that time still forbidden in London. On the 25 May of the following year he was appointed an active lieutenant-colonel in the army with full pay of one pound a day, but was not assigned a battalion, so had no duties to perform. Shortly before that his older brother Lauchlin was appointed Commissary-General of the army in Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
, and was leaving England with his other brother Harry who had been hired as a secretary in the office of the East India Company in Calcutta. Allan had been close with both, but Lauchlin was still involved with the Jacobites, and this association could hurt his career. At this time a teenage son from Janet's father's second marriage came to live with them and, since they had not been able to conceive a child of their own, Allen revealed his son in France, and Janet agreed to foster the nine year old. Wanting to return to active service he eventually secured an audience with the Secretary at War, William Barrington, 2nd Viscount Barrington
William Barrington, 2nd Viscount Barrington
William Wildman Shute Barrington, 2nd Viscount Barrington PC was a British politician best known for his two periods as Secretary at War during Britain's involvement in the Seven Years War and American War of Independence....
who refused his resignation to enable him to join the East India Company because the Crown needed officers with experience in the American colonies where trouble was expected over the Townshend Acts
Townshend Acts
The Townshend Acts were a series of laws passed beginning in 1767 by the Parliament of Great Britain relating to the British colonies in North America. The acts are named after Charles Townshend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who proposed the program...
and the Stamp Act
Stamp Act
A stamp act is any legislation that requires a tax to be paid on the transfer of certain documents. Those that pay the tax receive an official stamp on their documents, making them legal documents. The taxes raised under a stamp act are called stamp duty. This system of taxation was first devised...
.
Return to American colonies
Maclean's proposal to raise a Highland regiment for service in the colonies had to be sent to the King, who, as Captain-General, approves all new levies personally. The regiment was initially called the Royal Highland Emigrants84th Regiment of Foot (Royal Highland Emigrants)
The 84th Regiment of Foot was a British regiment in the American Revolutionary War that was raised to defend present day Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada from the constant land and sea attacks by American Revolutionaries...
and would be raised in the colonies from Highlanders settled there, commencing with New York. However, on arrival Maclean was warned that going into the city in his regimental uniform would invite attacks from the rebels, and that the British garrison had departed to Boston. He therefore sailed to that city to obtain commissions for his officers from General Gage
Thomas Gage
Thomas Gage was a British general, best known for his many years of service in North America, including his role as military commander in the early days of the American War of Independence....
. However, soon Gage retired due to age, and Maclean accompanied General Haldimand to New York who, although a British subject, was replaced by Sir William Howe
William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe
William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe, KB, PC was a British army officer who rose to become Commander-in-Chief of British forces during the American War of Independence...
, a brother of Viscount Howe
George Howe, 3rd Viscount Howe
George Augustus Howe, 3rd Viscount Howe was a career officer and a Brigadier General in the British Army. He was described by James Wolfe as "the best officer in the British Army"...
and former colonel of 3rd Battalion, the 60th Regiment. He then proceeded to coordinate the clandestine recruiting activities of his officers, the 1st Battalion recruited in Canada and New York, and the 2nd Battalion in Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
and St John’s Island
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...
, before proceeding to marshal them in Canada, himself travelling alone and in disguise of a doctor. During defence of Quebec he was appointed second-in-command by Governor Guy Carleton
Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester
Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester, KB , known between 1776 and 1786 as Sir Guy Carleton, was an Irish-British soldier and administrator...
, often sleeping in his uniform at the Récollet cloister
Recollets
The Récollets were a French branch of the Roman Catholic order, the Franciscans , which developed out of a reform movement that began in the 15th century in Spain and established itself in France in Tulle in 1585, at Nevers in 1592, at Limoges in 1596 and in Paris in 1603...
in Quebec City
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...
while the city was threatened by a rebel army under Benedict Arnold
Benedict Arnold
Benedict Arnold V was a general during the American Revolutionary War. He began the war in the Continental Army but later defected to the British Army. While a general on the American side, he obtained command of the fort at West Point, New York, and plotted to surrender it to the British forces...
which had appeared on the Plains of Abraham
Plains of Abraham
The Plains of Abraham is a historic area within The Battlefields Park in Quebec City, Quebec, that was originally grazing land, but became famous as the site of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, which took place on 13 September 1759. Though written into the history books, housing and minor...
in mid-November. Through the long siege, commanding as many as 1,178 troops, Maclean suffered a leg injury, causing a partial loss of its use for the remainder of his life.
On 11 May 1776, now in the rank of Colonel, Maclean was appointed Adjutant-General of the army in Canada, which he held until 6 June 1777, when he was granted the rank of Brigadier-General, and ordered to take command of the Montreal Garrison. Due to increased danger for General Burgoyne's position, General Maclean was ordered, on 20 October, to march with the 31st Regiment and his own battalion of the Royal Highland Emigrants, to Chimney Point, Vermont
Chimney Point, Vermont
Chimney Point is an unincorporated community in the town of Addison in Addison County, Vermont, United States. It lies across Lake Champlain from Crown Point, New York. French settlers established the community of Hocquart near modern-day Chimney Point in 1730. This first settlement in Vermont...
, but during November was ordered to Quebec. He departed Quebec on 27 July 1776, for London in order to obtain rank and establishment for his regiment that had been promised, returning to Quebec on 28 May 1777. In 1778 he again went to England to make a personal appeal to the King on behalf of his regiment, which was successful. Sailing from Spithead on 1 May 1779, he arrived at Quebec on 16 August. Maclean finally became a regimental colonel in the active army 17 November 1780 with his regiment becoming the 84th Regiment of Foot, and with its station on the Canadian border between Oswegatchie, New York
Oswegatchie, New York
Oswegatchie is a town in St. Lawrence County, New York, United States. The population was 4,370 at the 2000 census. The name reportedly means "Black water" in the aboriginal language. It is on the northern border of the county and is adjacent to the city of Ogdensburg.- History :The area was first...
and Fort Michilimackinac
Fort Michilimackinac
Fort Michilimackinac was an 18th century French, and later British, fort and trading post in the Great Lakes of North America. Built around 1715, it was located along the southern shore of the strategic Straits of Mackinac connecting Lake Huron and Lake Michigan, at the northern tip of the lower...
until 1782.
After colonial service
Promoted a General for his services soon after the 1783 Treaty of ParisTreaty of Paris (1783)
The Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3, 1783, ended the American Revolutionary War between Great Britain on the one hand and the United States of America and its allies on the other. The other combatant nations, France, Spain and the Dutch Republic had separate agreements; for details of...
Maclean retired from the military service in 1784. He did not return to live in Scotland, but died in London, in March 1797. Contents of his correspondence with John Maclean of Lochbuie suggest that he died in comparative poverty.
Commemoration
MacLean Memorial School is located in the town of Chibougamau in the Northern Quebec region about 230 km north from St-Félicien (Lac St-Jean).In 2007 a cairn was unveiled at Kilninian Church in memory of Brigadier-General Allan Maclean of Torloisk, who ‘saved Canada for the Empire’ in 1775.
Recommended reading
- Private archives, J.N.M. Maclean of Glensanda, the younger (Edinburgh), Torloisk mss and transcripts. G.B.,
- Board of Trade, JTP, 1764–67, 404–14.
- Boatner, Encyclopedia of American revolution. DNB.
- Gentleman’s Magazine, 1798, 354–55. G.B.,
- WO, Army list, 1756–84., National Archives, Kew, London
- J. N. M. Maclean, Reward is secondary; the life of a political adventurer and an inquiry into the mystery of ‘Junius’ (London, 1963).
- John Patterson MacLeanJohn Patterson MacLeanJohn Patterson MacLean was an American Universalist minister and archaeologist and historian. In Ohio state he dealt in Shaker documents, and became a historian of the Shakers.-Biography:...
, An historical account of the settlements of Scotch Highlanders in America prior to the peace of 1783 . . . (Cleveland, Ohio, and Glasgow, 1900; repr. Baltimore, Md., 1968); - Renaissance of the clan Maclean . . . (Columbus, Ohio, 1913).
- G. F. G. Stanley, Canada invaded, 1775–1776 (Toronto, 1973).
- John F. Röche, Quebec Under Siege, 1775–1776: The "Memorandums" of Jacob Danford, Canadian Historical Review, University of Toronto Press, Volume 50, Number 1 / 1969, pp. 68–85
- Mary Beacock Fryer (1996) Allan Maclean, Jacobite General: the life of an eighteenth century career soldier