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to two battalions of ten companies each with 100 private soldiers in each company sailed from scotland in april of 1776 they made for boston not knowing that city had been abandoned by the british army some of their transports ran afoul of american privateers about a quarter of the regiment became prisoners of war before even making landfall the rest of the regiment including mcpherson put in to halifax nova scotia only to find that the army had recently departed from that place the highlanders finally caught up with the british army on staten island where they landed at the beginning august 1776 just three weeks later the army was on the move over 20 000 british and german soldiers crossed from staten island to long island several days later part of the army made a feint towards american lines in brooklyn while the rest including the 71st regiment made a long nighttime march east then north and finally back to the west around the flank of the american defenses the battle of long island or battle of brooklyn began in the morning of 27 august and ended in a total rout of american forces in some places the defenders put up a determined if futile fight individual companies of british grenadiers light infantry and highlanders fell into close combat as they rapidly overtook surprised and retreating americans in some places the fighting was hand to hand donald mcpherson in the army for less than a year and in his first battle suffered three wounds two from bayonets or perhaps from the same bayonet and one from a saber careful comparison of british casualty returns to regimental muster rolls reveals something counterintuitive most wounded british soldiers survived their wounds mcpherson was among those survivors in spite of receiving three wounds on the same day he not only recovered but rejoined his regiment and served for the remainder of the american war the 71st regiment suffered many casualties during their seven years in america but mcpherson was among those who returned to his native scotland at the end of hostilities the 71st regiment was disbanded at the end of the war it s soldiers sent home and mustered out in scotland when war with france was declared in 1793 he returned to soldiering spending six years in a regiment called the strathspey fencibles a corps that served only within the boundaries of scotland he served for the entire six year existence of that regiment which was disbanded in 1799 his military career was not yet finished after leaving the fencibles he joined the argyleshire militia as a substitute that is serving instead of another man who was obliged to serve he was finally discharged from that regiment on 1 may 1802 at the age of forty six having spend sixteen of those years as a soldier an army surgeon noted on his discharge that the scars from his wounds were still evident he was awarded an army pension learn more about british soldiers in america information in this post is from the discharge of donald mcpherson from the argyleshire militia wo 121 53 289 in the british national archives and from general information about the 71st regiment of foot posted by don n hagist at 6 43 pm 1 comment email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels 71st regiment pensioner sunday february 12 2023 joseph and mary whitaker 17th regiment of foot make their claims a few miles southwest of dublin is a village called kill in county kildare in 1736 joseph whitaker was born there he grew up to pursue the trade of a whitesmith crafting metal into products with shiny surface finishes this was a good trade but for some reason not enough for the young irishman at the age of twenty he enlisted in the army his skill and education served him well as a professional soldier after nine years he was a sergeant the highest rank that most common soldiers could expect to achieve and one in which afforded numerous opportunities for earning extra money over and above the base pay by 1772 he was in the 17th regiment of foot a regiment that had spent ten years in north america first participating in the sieges of louisbourg in 1758 ticonderoga in 1759 montreal in 1760 then in the west indies and on the american frontier during pontiac s rebellion it is not known whether whitaker was in the 17th during this time or served in a different regiment before joining the 17th whether he had been to america before or not in late 1775 he embarked with his regiment for boston to reinforce the british garrison that was besieged there the 17th regiment of foot disembarked in boston in december 1775 joseph whitaker served in the regiment s grenadier company detached from the regiment and joined with other grenadier companies to form a grenadier battalion whitaker s company was in the forefront of many of the war s most fierce and famous battles he came through it all unscathed and his time in america brought more good fortune to him the british grenadier battalions spent most of the second half of the war quartered in the area of new york city probably during that time he met mary williams a widow who had lived in the city prior to and during the troubles she ran a business in the public line probably referring to a public house or tavern and did well enough to purchase property in her own right for ever her holdings amounted to between four and five hundred pounds a testament to her enterprise she married sergeant whitaker who by this time may have accumulated a fair amount of cash from his work for the army in terms of prosperity their future looked bright no amount of marital optimism however could overcome the tide of events for the british military and loyalist citizens in america by 1783 the war was lost the army and a large number of inhabitants were forced to abandon the city of new york joseph and mary whitaker left their property to the mercy of the rebels and sailed with the 17th regiment to halifax nova scotia they didn t stay there long a reduction in forces afforded sergeant whitaker the opportunity to be discharged the couple went to england where joseph whitaker went before the army pension examining board at chelsea near london in february 1784 and was awarded a pension this would afford a modest but sufficient income for them mary whitaker made a claim to have her losses compensated by the british government but hers was one of thousands of such claims whether she ever received any payment is not known information in this installment come from the muster rolls of the 17th regiment of foot wo 12 the army out pension admission books wo 116 and audit office records ao 13 all in the national archives of great britain learn more about british soldiers in the american revolution posted by don n hagist at 7 57 am 2 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels 17th regiment pensioner wives saturday september 10 2022 john bartley 31st regiment knows the war is over the terms of enlistment were very clear to john bartley service would be over at the end of three years or at the end of said rebellion at the option of his majesty these were the terms prescribed by the british war office for enlistments after december 16 1775 the british government had committed to using military force to quell a rebellion in thirteen british colonies in north america this required a significant increase in the size of the army the established strength of regiments deployed to america was increased by 50 percent an increase met partly by transferring men from non deployed regiments and partly by new recruits john bartley was one of those recruits the five foot nine and a quarter inch tall scotsman enlisted in the 31st regiment of foot in early 1777 at the age of twenty four later that year he was on a transport with other recruits bound first for quebec and then going on to the regiment s post at st johns on the richelieu river between lake champlain and montreal bartley served uneventfully enough that no mention of him has been found other than his name on muster rolls throughout the rest of the war the 31st s grenadier and light infantry companies went on the 1777 campaign towards albany and were captured at saratoga that october remaining in captivity for the rest of the war in 1781 the regiment selected suitable men from the eight remaining companies to create new grenadier and light infantry companies bartley was among those chosen to be a grenadier early in 1783 a peace treaty was signed the war that had been winding down for months was now officially over there were now innumerable administrative and logistic tasks involved in reducing the army to a peacetime footing the 31st regiment was in quebec so it didn t need to go anywhere but around half of the soldiers were eligible for discharge because of reduced manpower needs officers awaited orders for how to proceed with this but john bartley decided for himself that his military career was over in april probably soon after news of the finalized peace treaty reached quebec he refused to do any more duty as far as he was concerned he was done his officers not surprisingly had a different point of view bartley was tried by court martial on may 1 found guilty and sentenced to be punished with 500 lashes the commander in chief in quebec reviewed the case and chose to forgive bartley in consideration of the prisoners good character his confession of having been misled and acted through ignorance in general orders the commander proclaimed that he hoped bartley s case would be a warning and prevent any other soldier from falling into the like error those soldiers awaiting discharge did not have to wait too much longer later in the year large numbers of soldiers were discharged with the option of remaining in north america or returning to great britain gaps in the muster rolls make john bartley s fate unknown learn more about british soldiers in america posted by don n hagist at 6 15 am no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels 31st regiment monday august 29 2022 what became of sarah mcpike 62nd regiment thomas mcpike enlisted in the british army at the young age of sixteen in the year 1759 a native of ballinderry parish in county antrim ireland he had learned no trade and as such fell under the general category of labourer in the army he fared well rising to the rank of serjeant within only four years suggesting that he was well educated and highly capable perhaps someone who aspired to become an officer but lacked the patronage or social standing achieve such a goal by the beginning of 1776 he was a sergeant in the 62nd regiment of foot s grenadier company the tallest most fit men in the regiment the 62nd was among the regiments that sailed from ireland to quebec driving off american forces that had besieged that city and chasing them all the way to lake champlain before the end of 1776 the following year they were in the army led by general john burgoyne that advanced from canada towards albany soon after landing in quebec in 1776 the 62nd s grenadier company joined grenadier companies from nine other regiments to form a grenadier battalion this battalion was part of the advance guard on the 1777 campaign and saw heavy fighting at the battle of hubbardton in july the battle of freeman s farm in september and the battle of bemis heights in october somewhere on the campaign probably in one of these battles mcpike was wounded in the leg in period parlance this referred to the part of the leg below the knee the upper part being called the thigh when the british army capitulated at saratoga in october mcpike became a prisoner of war the prisoners presumably including thomas mcpike were marched first to the boston massachusetts area then a year later to virginia and finally to lancaster pennsylvania in 1781 in the meantime his wife sarah and child samuel had found their way to newport rhode island by january 1779 how they got there has not been determined most likely they had stayed behind in quebec when burgoyne s army marched south in june 1777 and then taken a passage from quebec to newport from newport they boarded the armed victualling ship maria on january 31 and sailed to the city of new york disembarking there on february 9 from there sarah and samuel s whereabouts are unknown until june 1781 when the british prisoners of war arriving at lancaster included sjt mcpike wife somehow sarah had joined her husband in captivity and young samuel was now old enough to be drummer samuel mcpike the prisoners were finally freed in the first half of 1783 after a peace treaty formally ended the war from lancaster they walked to the city of new york still a british garrison and in june sergeant thomas mcpike and drummer samuel mcpike along with about forty soldiers and fifteen of their wives boarded the british sixty four gun warship lion they boarded on june 21 and disembarked at portsmouth england on july 24 thomas mcpike accepted his discharge from the army after twenty four years of service and received an army pension samuel continued as a drummer in the 62nd regiment but sarah was not with them on the voyage what became of her nothing more has been found about her after her arrival in lancaster in june 1781 it would be nice to hope that she survived and found her own way back to england and her family or at least made a new life for herself in america but probably not she probably died in captivity the same fate that befell many of the saratoga prisoners one of many whose fate is unknown learn more about british soldiers in america information for this article comes from the muster rolls of the 62nd regiment of foot army pension admission books and muster books of hms maria and hms lion all in the british national archives and the list of prisoners sent to lancaster in the peter force papers library of congress posted by don n hagist at 7 42 pm no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels 62nd regiment child drummer pensioner prisoner wives saturday april 16 2022 john fletcher 54th regiment far the most witty various military records provide details on british soldiers ages places of birth trades and sometimes even physical attributes like their height hair color eye color complexion and visage the shape of the face round square long etc this sort of information gives a sense of who each person was but tells nothing about his personality it is extremely rare to find anything about what type of person a soldier was what they thought whether they were articulate william cobbett enlisted in the 54th regiment of foot in 1783 when he was twenty years old and served for eight years like many soldiers he used his time in the army to better himself becoming an avid reader and writer he became a journalist pamphleteer and political activist lobbying hard for reforms to benefit soldiers and the working class his time as a soldier had left a strong impression on him th...