Authority, therefore, was given to John Campbell, 4th Earl of Loudoun to raise another Highland regiment under the patronage of the noblemen, chiefs, and gentlemen of that part of the kingdom, whose sons and connections would be appointed officers.

The regiment was raised at Inverness and Perth in August 1745 and the Earl of Loudoun served as its colonel throughout its short life.

[2] Loudon's regiment was an entirely different unit to the eighteen Independent Highland Companies with whom they are often confused,[3] and which were raised by Duncan Forbes of Culloden starting in October 1745.

[1] In the aftermath of Culloden, the regiment was involved in the search for the Jacobite leader, Charles Edward Stuart, and under Grant of Knockando, they nearly caught him at a hut at Torvault on 23 August 1746, but he managed to escape.

It served at the siege of Bergen op Zoom where it distinguished itself and suffered over one thousand casualties out of a complement of 1,450.