This emotional image captures the first moments of Bettee Gunn’s fragile life, glimpsed from within the wooden cradle where she lay swaddled in Stratford, Connecticut. Her father, Donald Gunn of the 78th Fraser’s Highlanders, stood quietly nearby, a soldier tempered by war, now silenced by the wonder of new life. The mother’s presence lingers only in memory—believed to have passed during the hardships of the Seven Years’ War. In the soft candlelight, Bettee’s tiny breath fills the quiet space, and through the slats, the viewer bears witness to love, loss, and the sacred beginnings of a soldier’s only child. (Jeffrey Campbell, Through the Cradle Slats, 2025)
Private Donald Gunn, 78th Regiment, 1757-1763
Donald Gunn was originally a soldier in Colonel Simon Fraser's Second Highland Battalion (of Scotland), later renumbered the 63rd Regiment of Foot, and finally the 78th Regiment of Foot. His regiment embarked at Cork, Ireland, in June 1757 for passage to North America to participate in the Seven Years' War in Quebec, Canada.
30 November 1757: The regiment arrived in Connecticut, and the ten companies were quickly divided into two companies per city, garrisoned in civilian homes at Stratford, Fairfield, Norwalk, Milford, and Stanford.
29 January 1758: In the Congressional Church records at Stratford, Connecticut, Reverend Izahiah Wetmore recorded a baptism of "bettee daughter of Daniel Gunn Drum major in Colonel Fraziers Regiment." [1] Unfortunately, the name of the mother is not recorded in the document, and she is not listed on the final muster roll taken in the summer of 1763.
Daniel Gunn may have been assigned to Captain Baillie's Grenadier company at Stratford when his daughter was born. [2]
1762-63: Private Donald Gun, a drummer in Captain Hugh Cameron's Company, is listed as an "invalid" soldier in 1762, and is also carried on the final subsistence rolls taken in September 1763. Invalids were typically soldiers no longer able to enter the battlefield for any number of reasons, but more often than not it was due to sickness or disability. They were then considered unfit for duty. [3, 4, 5]
6 January 1764: Daniel Gunn, aged 50, 24 years of service, from Caithness, Scotland, is recorded as admitted to Royal Chelsea Hospital, London, and listed as "worn out." Considering the 78th Regiment returned to Scotland in December 1763, his admittance to the hospital one month later is consistent with being an invalid soldier returning home. [6, 7]
Donald & Daniel are sometimes, but not always, interchangeable in Scotland, because Domhnall, the Gaelic version of Donald, may be Anglicized as Daniel.
Works Cited:
Works Cited:
1. Wilcoxson, Wm. Howard, "History of Stratford, Connecticut, 1639-1939", Connecticut, 1939, p. 310; First Congressional Church Records, Stratford Connecticut, 1688-1927. FHL, Microfilm 7883792.
2. "Report of the Quarters of His Majesty’s 63d or Second Highland Battalion as Cantoned in the Government of Connecticut in New England, 1758." NAS, GD42/2/41/1-7.
3. Captain Cameron may have assumed command of the Grenadier Company upon the death of Captain Baillie, at Louisbourg.
4. LAC, W.O. 34, vol. 2.
5. Although Donald Gunn appears in Captain Cameron's Company on the final subsistence rolls (soldier #65), his spouse is not listed with him. As only a certain number of women per company were permitted to be carried on the regimental establishment, she could have returned home to Scotland with her husband, but not "on the list." Or, she may have died in childbirth.
6. While no actual evidence has surfaced, with 24 years of military experience he was a prime candidate for potential service in the Austrian Succession (1740-1748) or the Battle of Culloden, 1746.
7. TNA, W.O. 116/5-3.
© Jeffrey Campbell, Fraser's 78th Regiment of Foot, 2021.
