The troops under Washington were accompanied by a body of Highlanders. On the morning of November 25th, the army advanced with the provincials in the front. They entered upon an Indian path. "Upon each side of which a number of stakes, with the bark peeled off, were stuck into the earth, and upon each stake was fixed the head and kilt of a Highlander who had been killed or taken prisoner at Grant's defeat. The provincials, being front, obtained the first view of these horrible spectacles, which it may readily be believed, excited no kindly feelings in their breasts. They passed along, however, without any manifestation of their violent wrath. But as soon as the Highlanders came in sight of the remains of their countrymen, a slight buzz was heard in their ranks, which rapidly swelled and grew louder and louder. Exasperated not only by the barbarous outrages upon the persons of their unfortunate fellow soldiers who had fallen only a few days before, but maddened by the insult which was conveyed by the exhibition of their kilts, and which they well understood, as they had long been nicknamed the 'petticoat warriors' by the Indians, their wrath knew no bounds. Directly a rapid and violent tramping was heard, and immediately the whole corps of the Highlanders, with their muskets abandoned, and broad swords drawn, rushed by the provincials, foaming with rage, and resembling, as Captain Craighead coarsely expressed it, 'mad boars engaged in battle,' swearing vengeance and extermination upon the French troops who had permitted such outrages. Their march was now hastened--the whole army moved forward after the Highlanders, and when they arrived somewhere about where the canal now passes, the Fort was discovered to be in flames, and the last of the boats, with the flying Frenchmen, were seen passing down the Ohio by Smoky Island. Great was the disappointment of the exasperated Highlanders at the escape of the French, and their wrath subsided into a sullen and relentless desire for vengeance."[138] The Highlanders passed the winter of 1758 in Pittsburg, and in May following marched to the assistance of General Amherst in his proceedings at Ticonderoga, Crown Point and the Lakes. Before the heroic action of The Black Watch at Ticonderoga was known in England, a warrant was issued conferring upon the regiment the title of Royal, so that it became known also by the name of 42d Royal Highland Regiment, and letters were issued to raise a second battalion. So successful were the recruiting officers that within three months, seven companies, each one hundred and twenty men strong were embodied at Perth in October 1758. Although Highlanders only were admitted, yet two officers, anxious to obtain commissions, enlisted eighteen Irishmen, several of whom were O'Donnels, O'Lachlans, O'Briens, &c. The O was changed to Mac, and the Milesians passed muster as true Macdonels, Maclachlans, and Macbriars, without being questioned.