FORTY-SIXTH FOOT.
The Regiment was raised in the north of England.
It was allowed to wear a red plume in the hat, for the conduct of its Light Company in 1777, which with five others of different Regiments composed “The Light Battalion” which made itself so obnoxious to the Americans, that they said= they would give it no quarter; to prevent mistakes, the Light Battalion dyed their feathers red. The Regiment is the only one that has retained this distinction.
It was nicknamed “Murray’s Bucks” from its Colonel’s name 1743 to 1764; also “The Surprisers” from its surprise of General Wayne’s American Brigade in September 1777; also “The Lacedemonians” from its Colonel making it a long speech under a heavy fire about the Lacedemonians and their discipline; also it is said= to have been commonly known at one time as “The Edinburgh Regiment.”