The personnel were based at Greendyke Street drill hall near Glasgow Green and were distinctive because they continued to wear their kilts in contrast to the rest of the HLI, who wore trews.
For example, the 91st Highland Regt of Foot wore trews during the Walcheren campaign of 1809 and more famously, the 93rd Highland Regiment of Foot wore trews and round unfeathered Highland bonnets during the war of 1812–1815 against the USA, when taking part in the British campaign to capture New Orleans in January 1815 and during the disastrous Battle of Chalmette Plain itself (lithographs of the battle wrongly depict them wearing kilts).