Captain Alexander Wood's Company

The following is a list of the officers and men of the 78th Regiment [Fraser's Highlanders] attached to Captain Alexander Wood's Company when the regiment was discharged in 1763. Of the approximately 865 enlisted men and NCOs of the regiment, only 170 men are documented as discharged in America. The other soldiers that stayed were transferred to different regiments in the area.

It should be noted that in these subsistence rolls there are female names appearing in italicised script type. And the more interesting question of what part they played in the regiment can be found in the following notes:

1. In "Louisbourg, Key to a Continent" by Fairfax Downey, p. 160: "--- yet more draft had to be manpower, no animals being available, and it proved to be womanpower as well. Among the parties who tugged on the drag ropes, one thousand strong with frequent shift changes, were several hundred laundresses, a number being allowed to each British regiment by regulation, and carried as 'married and on the strength'. Heavy fire from [the guns of] Louisbourg disconcerted them no more than it did the men."

2. In "The Great Fortress" by William Wood, p. 112: "The practice of assigning laundresses, usually the wives of NCOs to military units was frequently followed. In the U.S. Army, where four were allowed each company, it persisted through the Indian Wars."

3. In "The Fraser Highlanders" by J.R. Harper, p. 73, appears: Included in Wolfe's final orders for embarkation to Quebec from Louisbourg, May 17, 1759: "The regiments are to receive provisions for no more than three women per company of 70, and four per company of 100 men."

These rolls should prove to be of great historic value to those who claim ancestry to soldiers who fought at Louisbourg and Quebec with the 78th Regiment. Many of the soldiers who chose to enlist in Fraser’s Highlanders, did so for the money, and those who stayed when the regiment was discharged in 1763, likely felt that their chances of land ownership were better in the New World than they would have been had they returned to Scotland.

Captain Alexander Wood's Company
Time of Entry: Aug. 30, 1763
Number of Days Victualled: 14

1. Corporal John Fraser
2. Private John McDonell
3. Private Donald Cameron
4. Private Alexander McKenzie
5. Private Donald McDonald
6. Private John Kennedy
7. Private James McKenzie
8. Private Angus Gillis
9. Private William Graham
10. Private John McDougal
11. Private John McDonell
12. Private Ranald McDonell
13. Jennet McDonell

Time of Entry: Sep. 6, 1763
Number of Days Victualled: 7

14. Private Roderick McDonell
15. Private John McDonell
16. Private James Crawford
17. Private Lachlin McKenon
18. Private Angus Morrison

Sources:

Treasury Board Papers, "Subsistence Rolls of Fraser's Highlanders (the 78th), 1763." LAC, T.1, vol. 422.

Ibid., "Subsistence Rolls of Fraser's Highlanders (the 78th), 1763." TNA, T.1, vol. 422.

Marie Fraser, "Subsistence Rolls of Fraser's Highlanders (the 78th), 1763." Clan Fraser Society, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2001.

McIntosh, Walter H. 78th or Colonel Simon Fraser's Regiment [Topsfield, Massachusetts, n.d.].

©  Jeffrey Campbell, Fraser's 78th Regiment of Foot, 2018.