Captain Hugh Fraser's Company

The following is a list of the officers and men of the 78th Regiment [Fraser's Highlanders] attached to Captain Hugh Fraser'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 Hugh Fraser's Company
Time of Entry: Aug. 23, 1763
Number of Days Victualled: 21

1. Sergeant Alexander McKay
2. Sergeant John Clarke
3. Sergeant Alexander Fraser
4. Corporal Alexander McDonell
5. Corporal George Geddes
6. Corporal Alexander Fraser
7. Drummer John Stuart
8. Private Alexander Campbell
9. Private Peter Campbell
10. Private John Cameron
11. Private Peter [Crell or Croll?]
12. Private George Davidson
13. Private John Fraser
14. Private John Fraser
15. Private John Fraser
16. Private Alexander Fraser
17. Private Donald Fraser
18. Private Alexander Ferguson
19. Private David Jackson
20. Private John Kennedy
21. Private Angus Kennedy
22. Private Donald Levache
23. Private George Miller
24. Private John Mitchell
25. Private John McCutcheon
26. Private Alexander McCraw
27. Private Alexander McTavish
28. Private Robert McDonell
29. Private Alexander McDonell
30. Private John McDonell
31. Private John McDonell
32. Private Allan Eachhorn
33. Private John McLachlin
34. Private Duncan McIntosh
35. Private Farquhar McIntosh
36. Private Alexander McIntyre
37. Private Angus McIntyre
38. Private John McKenzie
39. Private John McKay
40. Private Evan McKay
41. Private Donald McMaster
42. Private Donald McMillan
43. Private Alexander McPhie
44. Private Murdoch McPherson
45. Private Archibald McQueen
46. Private Alexander Patterson
47. Private Alexander Rose
48. Private William Nichey
49. Private Duncan Stuart
50. Private John Stuart
51. Private Peter Stuart
52. Private John Sutherland
53. Private Alexander Sutherland
54. Private John Turner
55. Catharine McDonald

Time of Entry: Aug. 30, 1763
Number of Days Victualled: 14

56. Captain Hugh Fraser
57. Lieutenant James Murray
58. Lieutenant George Fraser

Soldiers' notes.

John Stalker of Capt. Hugh Fraser's Company deserted his company about 29-30 May 1762. "Stalker is of a fair complection [sic], five feet three inches high, round visage, Blue eyes, fair hair'd County of Inverness & Parish of Killmely [Kilmallie] by trade a Laberour [sic]." [Captain John Nairne, "Order Books, 1762." LAC, R5991-0-3-E, MG23-GIII 23].

2. Ibid., Appointed to Captain Hugh Fraser's Company 25 August 1762 from Major Abercrombie's Company in exchange for Serjeant [Hugh] Tulloch. 

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.