The following is a list of the officers and men of the 78th Regiment [Fraser's Highlanders] attached to Captain Hugh Cameron'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."
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 Hugh Cameron's Company
Time of Entry: Aug. 16, 1763
Number of Days Victualled: 28
1. Captain Hugh Cameron
2. Lieutenant Malcolm Fraser
3. Lieutenant Robert Menzies
4. Ensign James McQueen
5. Sergeant Allan Cameron
6. Sergeant George McKenzie
7. Sergeant Gilbert Anderson
8. Corporal Roderick Fraser
9. Corporal Evan Cameron
10. Drummer Duncan McKenzie
11. Private John Beaton
12. Private Evan Cameron
13. Private Evan Cameron
14. Private Evan Cameron
15. Private John Cameron
16. Private John Cameron
17. Private John Cameron
18. Private Donald Cameron
19. Private Donald Cameron
20. Private William Cameron
21. Private John Campbell
22. Private William Chisholm
23. Private Alexander Fraser
24. Private James Fraser
25. Private Jeremiah Fraser
26. Private John Fraser
27. Private Alexander Fletcher
28. Private John Gibbon
29. Private John Hutchinson
30. Private James Hunter
31. Private John Lowe
32. Private John McGillivrae
33. Private John McDonald
34. Private John McDonald
35. Private Alexander McDonald
36. Private Duncan McCraw
37. Private Duncan McDonald
38. Private Robert McDonald
39. Private Alexander McDougal
40. Private John McIntyre
41. Private Lachlin McIntyre
42. Private Alexander McKenzie
43. Private David McLea
44. Private John McPhie
45. Private Evan McMillan
46. Private Evan McMillan
47. Private Duncan McMillan
48. Private Robert McKinn
49. Private John McFarlane
50. Private Alexander Murray
51. Private Willam Nichols
52. Private John Ross
53. Private James Rhind
54. Private Alexander Ramsey
55. Private George Stuart
56. Private George Sutherland
57. Private George Thomson
58. Private Donald Williamson
59. Elizabeth Hunter
60. Mary McDonald
Time of Entry: Aug. 23, 1763
Number of Days Victualled: 21
61. Private Donald McIntyre
62. Private Duncan McRaw
63. Private James Taylor
Time of Entry: Sep. 6, 1763
Number of Days Victualled: 7
64. John Lamb
65. Donald Gunn
66. William Cameron
67. Dougal Campbell
Soldiers' notes.
28. Most likely the same soldier; court-martial scheduled 8 June 1762 for John McGibbon, soldier in Captain Cameron's Company. [Captain John Nairne, "Order Books, 1762." LAC, R5991-0-3-E, MG23-GIII 23].
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.
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.
Last updated 25 November 2022.
