In the closing months of the Seven Years’ War, soldiers from the 78th Regiment of Foot—known as Fraser’s Highlanders—found themselves demobilized in British North America, many with little more than their uniforms and the promise of land. The petition presented here, submitted by a group of private soldiers in 1763, represents a compelling and rarely preserved appeal for compensation. These men, having served through brutal campaigns in Canada, turned to the Crown to request plots of land in return for their loyal service. Their plea sheds light on the broader struggle of discharged enlisted men to secure stability and recognition in the wake of empire.
Land Petition of Sundry Private Soldiers of the 78th Regiment of Foot
Quebec 9th. February 1802
To His Excellency Sir Robert Shore Milnes, Baronet, Lieutenant Governor of the Province of Lower Canada &c, &c, &c, in Council~
The petition of Sundry Non-Commissioned officers and private Soldiers of British Regiments and Provincial Corps who were reduced in America – in behalf of themselves and their several and respective families whose names and designations are inserted in a General Schedule hereunder annexed~
Humbly Shewith,
That your petitioners faithfully served His Majesty at various periods of their lives and were reduced in America, thereby coming within the description of persons entitled to grants of certain portions of the waste lands of the Crown, under the authority of the Royal Proclamation and Instructions.
That from want of due information and advice as well as labouring under many other local disadvantages diverse of Your Petitioners who bore arms at the conquest of Canada, and have ever since been settled in the province, were thus deprived of the benefits which would have resulted for themselves and families had they at the time received His Majesty’s Bounty, pursuant to the proclamation of 1763, when in the prime and vigor of their lives they were best able to enjoy and improve their lands.
That such of Your Petitioners come under the foregoing description, humbly conceive it would be an act of justice and indemnity, should it please Your Excellency in Council to comprehend them under the same regulations which govern the Grants to His Majesty’s reduced Forces of 1783 and since the American War, by allowing to them severally Two Hundred Acres and to their wives & Children fifty acres each, as extended by Lord Dorchester to the Loyalists and various other persons.
That Your Petitioners have never received their bounty lands in this or any of His Majesty’s Colonies or provinces in America.
That unable to ascertain what tracts are open for application at present –
Your petitioners humbly prey-
That Your Excellency in council will be pleased to assign unto them Two Hundred Acres each, and such as are married Fifty Acres to their wives and Child respectively, in any Township of equal quality to those awarded to Loyalists and meritorious subjects-
And as in duty bound will ever pray-
R Phillips in behalf
of the Petitioners
Name: James Forbes
Rank: Private
Born: Scotland
Time of Service: 7 years
Discharged: 10 Septr. 1763
Residence:
Trade or Occupation: Labourer
Family:
Remarks: 78th Regt.
Name: John McLeod
Rank: Private
Born: Scotland
Time of Service: 7 years
Discharged: 10 Septr. 1763
Residence:
Trade or Occupation: Farmer
Family:
Remarks: 78th Regt.
Name: Robert Robertson
Rank: Private
Born: Scotland
Time of Service: 7 years
Discharged: 10 Septr. 1763
Residence:
Trade or Occupation: Labourer
Family:
Remarks: 78th Regt.
Name: Dond. McKinnon
Rank: Private
Born: Scotland
Time of Service:
Discharged:
Residence:
Trade or Occupation:
Family: Wife & 10 Children
Remarks: 78th Regt., By affidavit
Name: Dond. Kennedy
Rank: Private
Born: Scotland
Time of Service: 12 years
Discharged: 24 Augt. 1769
Residence:
Trade or Occupation:
Family: A Wife & 4 Children
Remarks: 15th & 78th Regt.
Name: John Frazer
Rank: Private
Born: Scotland
Time of Service: 7 years
Discharged: 11 Septr. 1763
Residence:
Trade or Occupation:
Family: A Wife & 9 Children
Remarks: 78th Regt.
Name: William Ross
Rank: Corporal
Born: Scotland
Time of Service: 7 years
Discharged: 11 Septr. 1763
Residence: Rimouskie
Trade or Occupation:
Family: A Wife & 6 Children
Remarks: 78th Regt. Received an order for 1200 acres
Name: Rand. McDonell
Rank: Private
Born: Scotland
Time of Service: 7 years
Discharged: 11 Septr. 1763
Residence: New Carlisle
Trade or Occupation: Farmer
Family: A Wife & 3 Children
Remarks: 78th Regt. Certificate annexed
Name: Duncan Cumming
Rank: Private
Born: Scotland
Time of Service: 8 years
Discharged:
Residence: Montreal
Trade or Occupation:
Family: A Wife & 7 Children
Remarks: 60 & 78th Regt. Certificate annexed
Name: John Fraser
Rank: Private
Born: Scotland
Time of Service: 7 years
Discharged: 11 Septr. 1763
Residence: St. Anns
Trade or Occupation: Blacksmith
Family: A Wife & 9 Children
Remarks: 78th Regt. Certificate annexed
Name: John Buchanan
Rank: Private
Born: Scotland
Time of Service: 7 years
Discharged: 20 Septr. 1763
Residence:
Trade or Occupation: Labourer
Family:
Remarks: 78th Regt. Certificate annexed
While officers often received generous land grants or pensions, privates like those represented in this petition had to rely on collective action and administrative persistence. The document not only illuminates the bureaucratic hurdles faced by enlisted men but also underscores their determination to stake a claim in the territories they helped secure. Whether or not their request was granted, the petition itself remains a valuable testament to the human dimensions of empire—where loyalty, hardship, and aspiration met in the uncertain frontier of postwar British Canada.
For further reading on land compensation and soldier-settler transitions, see Return of 200 Acres of Land for Evan Cameron.
Updated June 2025 with additional commentary and archival references.
Works Cited:
"Schedule of certificates and discharges of non-commissioned officers and soldiers reduced in America." LAC, Lower Canada Land Papers, RG1 L3L, vol. 157.
© Jeffrey Campbell, Fraser's 78th Regiment of Foot, 2017.
