There is much controversy about which tartan the 78th wore back in the 1750s. Colonel Harper’s research in the 1960s found that there was no conclusive evidence either way but that contemporary images generally had more red tartans being used than Black Watch.

More recent research continues to be inconclusive. For example, Ian McCulloch in his book “Sons of the Mountains” feels that the Officers may have worn a red tartan while the men wore the Government tartan. Colonel Harper copied a piece of a typical 18th century Inverness tartan found in the possession of a descendant of an Officer and the Regiment adopted it as our tartan. More reading on this subject can be found on this website by using the dropdown menus or the Search function.