The Regiment was raised during 1755-56 in North America - Christmas Day 1755 has always been adopted as the actual birthday - for the express purpose of assisting our army to retrieve the disaster which had befallen the British troops under General Braddock on 8th July, 1755, at the hands of a force of French and Red Indians in the forests on the banks of the Ohio River. It had been found that the slow and ponderous movements of troops trained upon the European model, with their heavy accoutrements, tight uniforms and unsuitable tactics, were handicapped against savages, and almost equally so against soldiers such as those of France then serving in America, who were habituated to war in the dense forests and trackless wastes of that country. It was therefore decided by the British Government to raise in America, from the colonists themselves, a force which should be able to meet these conditions.

Designated as the 62nd, and the following year as the 60th, Royal American Regiment, the Regiment was accordingly formed of 4,000 men in four battalions, and General The Earl of Loudoun, Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in America, was appointed Colonel-in-Chief. It was recruited from settlers in the States of Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and North Carolina, to which were added volunteers from British regiments and others from Europe. Many of the officers were also drawn from the armies of Europe, some of them being highly experienced soldiers. Through the bold initiative of Lieutenant-Colonel Henri Bouquet, a Swiss officer of distinction commanding the 1st Battalion, the 60th Royal Americans adopted colonial methods of equipment, simpler drill, open formations, and the Indian system of forest warfare, thus early acquiring those attributes of individual action, swift initiative and elastic though firm discipline, which have always been the conspicuous characteristics of the Regiment. Thus equipped, the Royal American Regiment played a distinguished part in establishing British power in North America.

The Regimental Motto

"Celer et Audax." The 2nd and 3rd Battalions were subsequently, in 1759, moved up the St. Lawrence to Quebec, where they still further distinguished themselves at Montmorency Falls, below Quebec, on 31st July, and by their rapid movements and intrepid courage won from General Wolfe the motto of "Celer et Audax" (Swift and Bold). Official approval of the motto was not given until 11th October, 1824.