The Colonel's Company

The following is a list of the officers and men of the 78th Regiment [Fraser's Highlanders] attached to Colonel 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.

The Colonel's Company
Time of Entry: Aug. 23, 1763
Number of Days Victualled: 21

1. Sergeant Donald Grey
2. Sergeant Donald Fraser
3. Sergeant Alexander Fraser
4. Corporal John Grant
5. Corporal Thomas Ried
6. Corporal Thomas Fraser
7. Drummer Thomas Gunn
8. Private William Anderson
9. Private Alexander Cameron
10. Private Alexander Cameron
11. Private Thomas Cameron
12. Private William Cameron
13. Private John Cameron
14. Private Donald Cameron
15. Private William Cameron
16. Private William Cameron
17. Private Donald Cameron
18. Private Donald Cameron
19. Private Donald Cameron
20. Private Donald Cameron
21. Private Donald Cameron
22. Private Donald Cameron
23. Private Alexander Cameron
24. Private John Fraser
25. Private John Fraser
26. Private John Fraser
27. Private John Fraser
28. Private John Fraser
29. Private Alexander Fraser
30. Private Thomas Fraser
31. Private Thomas Fraser
32. Private Thomas Fraser
33. Private Hugh Fraser
34. Private William Forbes
35. Private John Gunn
36. Private Thomas Maitland
37. Private Donald McBain
38. Private John McBain
39. Private William McDonald
40. Private Alexander McDonald
41. Private Alexander McDonell
42. Private Peter McDonell
43. Private Donald McDonell
44. Private Peter McGregor
45. Private Murdoch McKenzie
46. Private Donald McKenzie
47. Private Donald McKenzie
48. Private Colin McKay
49. Private Alexander McKay
50. Private Alexander McKay
51. Private Evan McPhie
52. Private Hugh Ross
53. Private Alexander Ross
54. Private John Ried
55. Private Robert Robinson
56. Private Walter Simpson
57. Private William Stewart
58. Private Donald Thompson
59. Mary Kennedy
60. Ann Simpson

Time of Entry: Aug. 29, 1763
Number of Days Victualled: 7

61. Private D. Cummins

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

62. Captain-Lieutenant Donald McBain
63. Lieutenant Simon Fraser
64. Ensign Malcolm Fraser

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

65. Surgeon Mate Donald 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.