commissioned as a Catholic regiment in service to the government. Clan chief Alexander Ranaldson Macdonell and John Fletcher of Dunans went to London and presented the documents to King George III, along with letters of commendation from Glasgow merchants. Letters of service were accordingly issued in August, 1794. Though contrary to the existing law, Father Alexander Macdonell was gazetted as chaplain to the regiment, thus becoming the first Catholic military chaplain in the British Army since the Reformation. A Presbyterian minister was appointed as well for those of that persuasion. More than half the regiment that numbered 800, were from the area of Glengarry. In June, 1795, the regiment was deployed to Guernsey, where it remained until the summer of 1798, when it was moved to Ireland. Laggan Hill and was involved in some skirmishing at Kilkenny, Hackett's Town and New Ross. An American bishop gave testimony to the chaplain's services: "The memory of Father Macdonell is as green in those regions as the fields they cultivate. That holy, chivalrous priest saved the lives of many innocent Irishmen and restored the chapels to their original purpose." Canada The Glengarry Fencibles were sent to Ireland during the Rebellion of 1798. The regiment saw action at When the regiment was disbanded in Glasgow in 1802, Rev. Macdonell appealed to the government to grant its members land in Canada. The government countered with a proposal for the recently acquired island of Trinidad, but Macdonell held fast. Influential lairds and landholders raised objections to "depopulating" the land, and the Emigration Act rigidly enforced. With all the obstacles placed in his way, Bernard Kelly says, "he may be literally said 'to have smuggled his friends away'" Father Macdonell arrived at York, Upper Canada (now Toronto), 1 November 1804, and proceeded to settle the people on the lands granted by the British government. The area was part of the Diocese of Quebec. Macdonell, was assigned to the mission of St. Raphael's in Glengarry, which he made his headquarters for twenty-five years. On his arrival he found three priests in the province, the Rev. Roderick Macdonell at St. Andrews (St. Andrew's West, Ontario) and St. Regis (St. Regis, Quebec), the Rev. Francis Fitzimmons in Glengarry, and the Rev. Father Richard at Sandwich. The Rev. Roderick Macdonell died in 1806 and Father Fitzimmons removed shortly afterwards to New Brunswick; this left Father Macdonell in charge of the whole