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Highland Chaplaincy in the French & Indian War, 1756-1763
by Ian
McCulloch
Captain Francis Grose’s satiric Advice to the
Officers of the British Army, first published in 1783, was a
sarcastic account of the failings and weaknesses of officers in the British
army, including NCOs and enlisted soldiers. According to Scottish poet
Robert Burns, Grose "had been thrown into the Army from the Nursery"
and had retired as a captain on half pay, as well as doing a unfortunate
stint as paymaster and adjutant of the Surrey Militia in which he lost most
of his personal fortune.
In spite of his
less‑than‑illustrious military career, Grose echoed the prevailing views of
the 18th century British army regarding religion in the ranks.
Tongue‑in‑cheek, but with an eye to reality, he cautioned the
would‑be‑chaplain:
The chaplain is a character
of small importance in a regiment, though many gentlemen of the army think
otherwise…. If you are ambitious of being thought a good preacher by your
scarlet flock, you must take care to keep your sermons short…. Never preach
any practical morality to the regiment. You would only be throwing away
your time…. You may indulge yourself in swearing or talking as much as you
please; this will only show you are not a stiff high priest. Moreover,
example being more effectual than precept, it will point out to the young
officers the ugly and ungentlemanly appearance of the practice and thereby
deter them. 1
Grose’s view was based upon practice. In 1760, General
Jeffery Amherst, the Commander in Chief of British Forces in North America
wrote from Montreal to Dr. Philip Hughes, Chaplain of the 44th
Foot who was in New York, about the laxity with which regimental chaplains
performed their duties. The general was somewhat annoyed:
The bad Choice that has
been Made of Persons to Officiate for the Chaplains of the Army, Which has
made it necessary to Discharge one lately for imbibing Seditious principles
into the Soldiery, & the Other Your Deputy having Seldom Appeared during the
Campaign, added to the few Chaplains that have come out to Attend their
Duty: rendering it of Absolute Necessity, in Order to Convince His Majesty’s
new Acquired Subjects, that their Brethren have a Sense of the Duty they owe
to God; that all those Who are Appointed to have the Care of their Souls
Should Attend to Discharge that trust; And the Regimt.
to Which You belong being to Winter in these Parts.
I can no longer Admit of
Your Absence from the Same; You will therefore immediately upon the receipt
hereof. Set out for, and with all possible Diligence, repair to this place,
in Order to remain with them & duly to Discharge the Office, You have taken
upon You by the Acceptance of the Commission You Enjoy.
Doctor
[John] Ogilvie [60th
Foot, Royal Americans]
is likewise to remain here, and is gone to fetch his Family; And in
case You Should Chuse to bring Yours likewise, I here add a pass to procure
to You and them, all the facilities You may Stand in need of, on the Road. .
. 2
Whatever the actualities in
regiments of the line, things seemed to be different in the Highland
regiments that came to North America during the Seven Years’ War 1755-1763.
In all three Highland regiments, the chaplain was the acknowledged keeper of
the regiment’s morality and the fount of spiritual comfort.
There is also strong
evidence to suggest that he represented an intellectual focus for the oral
traditions of the Highlands and actively encouraged original compositions in
song and poetry that tended to reinforce the warrior ethic so crucial to
good morale. The importance of what was proper (còir), what was right
and just (ceart), what was necessary or obligatory (dligheach)
and the need for strict loyalty (dìleas) were all key elements of a
preaching military chaplain’s ministry and canny clergymen of the day were
not averse to using the current Gaelic poetry and songs of the day to
underline his message.3
The Black Watch had sterling
ministers from the day of its raising, and as such, set a high standard for
all Highland regiments that followed: standards which contemporary Sassenach
line regiments could not seem to match. The 1745 issue of the Articles of
War included mandatory attendance at "Divine Service and Sermon", and
the Duke of Cumberland included particular instructions for all battalions
employed in Scotland to ensure "Divine service" was "to be
regularly performed in Camp which the Officers and Soldiers are to attend to."
A pamphlet entitled A
System of Camp Discipline published ten years later emphasized that an
army on campaign should have Prayers "read every morning at the head of
each brigade at nine; the Chaplains of each Brigade to take it in turns,
beginning with the Eldest [most senior]."4
Stewart of Garth cites early
Black Watch orderly book entries to show that such encouragement was not
necessary in the early Highland regiments. "Great regularity was
observed in the duties of public worship," he wrote, and "… the
greatest respect was observed towards the ministers of religion."
As example, he identified Dr
Adam Ferguson who, fresh out of Divinity school, and directly ordained to
serve in the 42nd as probationary chaplain, was beloved by his
men.5
They said of him that he
never shied away from his flock whether in the thick of battle or billeted
in peacetime garrisons and that his behaviour alongside the men of the 42nd
during a particular battle earned him their undying respect:
When the regiment was
taking its ground on the morning of battle, Sir Robert Munro perceived the
chaplain in the ranks, and, with a friendly caution, told him there was no
necessity to expose himself to unnecessary danger, and that he should be out
of the line of fire. Mr Ferguson thanked Sir Robert for his friendly
advice, but added, on this occasion he had a duty which he was imperiously
called upon to perform.
Accordingly he continued
with the regiment during the whole of the action, in the hottest of the
fire, praying with the dying, attending to the wounded, and directing them
to be carried to a place of safety.
By his fearless zeal, his
intrepidity, and his friendship towards the soldiers (several of whom had
been his schoolfellows at Dunkeld), his amiable and cheerful manners,
checking with severity when necessary, mixing among them with ease and
familiarity, and being as ready of any of them with a poem or heroic tale,
he acquired an unbounded ascendancy over them.6
Stewart fancifully claims
that this battle was Fontenoy, but records clearly show that Ferguson he was
still at school on the date the batlle was fought and was only examined and
ordained in Dunkeld on 2 July 1745 six months after Fontenoy. The battle in
question must be a later engagement or rear-guard action fought later in the
year. Ferguson himself wrote to a friend from Vilvoorden Camp of the 42nd
Foot in Flanders saying that he did not take up his post as assistant
minister with the regiment until September 1745.7
On 30 April 1746, Dr.
Ferguson replaced the Hon. Gideon Murray as the principal chaplain, the
latter the brother of Lieutenant Colonel James Murray of the 15th
Regiment of Foot, who later distinguishing himself as one of Wolfe’s
brigadiers at Quebec in 1759.8
Ferguson remained as
chaplain of the 42nd for the next ten years but, on the
announcement that the regiment was ordered upon North American service, he
retired on 20 December 1757. His replacement was a younger man, James
Stewart, who went out to the Americas in 1758 with the Second Battalion of
the newly-honoured "Royal Highland Regiment".
In August 1759, Stewart
would resign and return home to Scotland and take up duties as Minister of
Dull, replaced by an old schoolmate, Lachlan Johnston, for the next three
years.9
There was some talk in 1761
that, being a married man, he might return to Scotland, and officers of both
the 42nd and 78th Foot tried to encourage Presbyterian
parson, Robert Macpherson the Caipal Mhor to exchange into the Royal
Highland Regiment. But the drums did beat and the war went on, and Johnston
was obliged to go to the Caribbean and do double-duty for the two battalions
at Martinique and at the even more grueling siege of Havana. He would
witness firsthand over 500 of his flock die from disease and wounds. In
August 1762, Johnston himself succumbed to the “yellow jack” and by the time
Macpherson heard of the vacancy, it was too late and he had already decided
to return to Badenoch to become a gentleman farmer.
As the Seven Years’ War was
winding down the following year, the veteran chaplain, Dr. Ferguson, now a
professor at Edinburgh University, returned as a stopgap chaplain according
to the British Army Lists, but there is no record however that the good
doctor actually crossed the Atlantic to join his flock in the middle of
Pennsylvania’s forests. With most of Scottish society talking excitedly of
the prospect of the three Highland regiments returning home after six years
abroad and he probably felt he could join his flock when it arrived back on
Scottish soil. When it became apparent however that the regiment was not
returning home immediately because of the western Indian tribes’ uprisings
in the spring of 1763, the professor’s primary job was to find a new young
chaplain to go out to the Ohio on behalf of Lord John Murray.
In 1764, at a Chapel of Ease
in Amulree, Ferguson finally found an ideal candidate who was possessed of
the "Irish tongue" and whose mind held a wealth of poems and heroic
tales. James Maclagan, son of Dr. Maclagan of Little Dunkeld, one of the
principal clergymen of the Presbytery of Dunkeld who had ordained Fergusson
back in 1746, was dispatched to America and took up his post at Fort Pitt at
the Ohio Forks. Educated at St Andrew’s University (1750‑51), Maclagan was
a 34‑year old Gaelic scholar and accomplished poet. Eight years earlier,
whilst a divinity student in 1756, Maclagan had composed a Gaelic song ‑ "To
the Highlanders Upon Departing for America"‑ in honour of the 42nd Highlanders.
Although written well before he himself would serve in the regiment,
Maclagan was inspired to record the historic event in the time‑honoured
tradition of the Gaelic bards, as he had family and friends serving in the
regiment. An older brother, Alexander, had served the British Crown as a
lieutenant in Lord Loudoun’s Highlanders (1745-48).10
There is also some evidence in the lyrics of later verses of this song
(attributed to 1756) that Maclagan added onto it whilst serving with the
regiment in North America from 1764-1767.11
Maclagan’s departure song reflected all the
traditional bardic devices commonly used to inspire the Highland soldier to
martial action: an appeal to their hereditary prowess as gallant warriors
fighting for their families and clans; veiled promises of material wealth
and young ladies’ favours; and the widely held belief that traditional
weapons and kilts, as well as highland honour and old homelands, would be
restored to all Scots for their current loyalty and service. It’s a mixture
of religious and pagan tradition: a fiery cross of rhetoric on one hand,
exulting in how "the hardy band of Lord John...will make enemies mourn
and allies rejoice" when "Scots go hunting after treacherous
Frenchmen and Forest‑folk". On the other, it’s a sermon exhorting only
the best behaviour and conduct on the part of the Highlandmen. Maclagan
reminded his flock that they would be conspicuous in their red coats and
dark tartan and thus scrutinized by "Britain and Ireland and all of
Europe". As a final benediction, he promised
Your land, and myself like a kindly mother,
Will pray to Heaven that you will succeed
Rejoicing or lamenting according to
your fortunes.
Always keep the Lord God in your minds.
Now, take blessings with you, full of
happiness and success. 12
The two younger Highland
regiments raised for service in North America, the 77th and 78th,
were both blessed with outstanding chaplains who served with them for the
entirety of war thus providing continuity and stability for those regiments
until they were disbanded. Henry Munro was commissioned chaplain in the 77th
Foot, 12 January 1757, and accompanied his regiment to Charles Town, South
Carolina that same year. Born 1730 in Inverness, Scotland, Harry studied
divinity at Edinburgh University, was ordained in 1757 and appointed
chaplain to the 77th Highlanders at the age of 27, no doubt through his
mother’s connections, the daughter of John Munro, 4th Laird of
Teanourd.
Harry accompanied the
regiment on General Forbes's expedition to Fort Duquesne, (site of present
day Pittsburgh) as well as participating in the capture of Ticonderoga and
Crown Point in 1759, and Montreal in 1760. He preached a thanksgiving
sermon to the victorious armies of Amherst, Haviland and Murray at the foot
of Mont Royal, September 1760. He subsequently served in the West Indies
with nine companies of his regiment and returned with it in 1762 to New York
having witnessed hundreds of his flock succumb to the ravages of yellow
fever at the successful but costly Siege of Havana.
His decision to remain in
North America after the disbandment of his regiment in 1763 was an easy one
for he had married a New Jersey beauty in 1762, one Miss Stockton of
Princeton. During the American Revolution he was imprisoned as a Loyalist
but escaped to join the Royal New York Regiment in Montreal where he served
briefly as their chaplain. He returned to Britain in 1778 to study,
intending to return after a British victory which was not to be. He
finished his days in his native Scotland, dying in Edinburgh in 1801.13
The 26-year old chaplain of
the 78th Fraser
Highlanders was The Reverend Robert Macpherson, known affectionately to his
men as Caipal Mor ("The Big Chaplain") because of his towering
physique. Macpherson was not adverse to soldiering alongside his men like
the redoubtable Ferguson of the Black Watch and he ensured "their
religious discipline was strictly attended to…and was indefatigable in the
discharge of his clerical duties", so much so, that "the men of the
regiment were always anxious to conceal their misdemeanors from the
Caipal Mor…"14
After the Conquest of Canada
in 1760, Macpherson, a Freemason, served as chaplain to the Quebec Select
Lodge composed of officers serving in the various regiments then in
garrison. Sergeant James Thompson, himself a Free Mason and Senior Warden
of Canada Lodge No.6 in the 78th, recorded that on St John’s Day
in the winter of 1761, the members of his lodge "Walked in procession in
due form at one o’clock attended by the Reverend Brother Robert Macpherson,
Member of the Select Lodge at Quebec from whom we had a sermon on the
Occasion in the Church of St Valier".
Solemnities over, the
Caipal Mor left the small stone church located on the southern shore of
the St Lawrence River across from the Isle d’Orleans, to join Thompson and
the rest of his brethren Masons at dinner. He then helped install new lodge
officers and afterwards "Spent the Evening in True Harmony & Brotherly
Love." When the lodge closed at 10 o ’clock, the records showed that "all
Brothers [were] sober and everything in good order and Decorum."
On disbandment of the Fraser Highlanders ,
Robert Macpherson went on half‑pay like many of the 78th officers
and returned to Badenoch where he petitioned the Factor of
the forfeited estates at Aberarder in 1766 stating he had “served in
America for seven years, on reduction put on half-pay. Being a half-pay
chaplain, he is prevented by an act of Parliament from holding an
ecclesiastical position. He therefore wants to try farming. Seen methods
while travelling home and abroad which he thinks will enable him to carry on
better than most. Therefore requests Aberarder and Tullochrom comprehending
Strachronnachan as possessed by Ronald and Alexander Macdonell.” He
took up residence at Aberarder by 1770 where he was known for many years by
his neighbours as "Parson Robert." He married Louisa Campbell,
daughter of Duncan Campbell of Achlyne in 1775, and of his five sons, three
entered the army, Duncan attaining the rank of Lieutenant-General. His
eldest son, John Macpherson of Ness Bank, was Factor to both Lord Macdonald
in Skye and to the Lovat estates at Inverness. The Caipal Mhor died
in March 1791 and is buried in Perth.15
Unlike so many of the
chaplains of the day in other line regiments of the British Army, the
Highland regimental chaplain by comparison was the foundation for the
regiment’s moral and spiritual character as well as an active promoter and
guardian of the Highland oral tradition. By placing high value on poetry,
music and heroic tales as part of their ministry, chaplains, through their
conduct before, during and after battle, reinforced the Highlander’s warrior
code. They were, without a doubt, key players in maintaining the morale and
esprit de corps of their units with powers and influence sometimes
surpassing that of the colonel commandant. In many respects, although some
of them would have recoiled at the analogy, they were 18th century
equivalent of the ancient druid‑bards who had special place in the Celtic
tribal structure, with dìleas their battle‑cry.
Francis Grose, Advice to the Officers of the British Army:
With the Addition of Some Hints to the Drummer and Private Soldier,
(London, 1783), x; also see Francis Grose & D. J. Cragg, The
Mirror's Image: Advice to the Officers of the British Army. With a
Biographical Sketch of the Life and a Bibliography of the Works of Captain
Francis Grose, F.S.A., (Philadelphia, 1978). Francis Grose
(1731-1791), once referred to as “the greatest antiquary, joker and
porter drinker of his day”, was the eldest son of Francis Grose, the
Swiss jeweller that fashioned George II's coronation crown. Francis, junior,
retired from the British Army with the rank of captain to study art and was,
at one time, the Richmond Herald in the College of Arms. He served as
Paymaster and Adjutant of the Surrey Militia, a position he was highly
unsuited for, since he kept no books and gave no receipts. The private
fortune he inherited from his father was quickly drained to make up for his
huge deficiencies. He published his Antiquities of England and
Wales in 6 volumes between 1773 — 87 and The Antiquities of Scotland
in 2 volumes, in 1789 and 1791. Scotland’s immortal bard, Rabbie
Burns, met Grose while he was in Scotland collecting material for his
Scottish volumes and, becoming fast friends, agreed to write his greatest
narrative work, “Tam o' Shanter” for Grose’s pending volumes. Writing
to a Mrs Dunlop from Ellisland on 17th July 1789, Burns told her:
'Captain Grose, the well known [author] has been through Annandale,
Nithsdale and Galloway, in the view of commencing another publication,
The Antiquities of Scotland…. I have never seen a man of more original
observation, anecdote and remark…. His delight is to steal thro' the country
almost unknown, both as most favorable to his humor and his business... if
you discover a cheerful looking grig of an old, fat fellow, the precise
figure of Dr. Slop, wheeling about your avenue in his own carriage with a
pencil and paper in his hand, you may conclude: "Thou art the man!"
Major General Jeffery Amherst to Dr. Phillip Hughes, 44th Foot,
20 September 1760,
WO
34/85: f. 123.
For an excellent study on how Gaelic poetry was an integral part of
maintaining the Highlander’s warrior code and how it provides an authentic
window through which one can view and understand the Highlanders’ feelings,
perceptions and opinions of the time, see Michael Newton’s pioneering study
on the Highlander oral tradition and its meaning in North American history,
We’re Indians Sure Enough: The Legacy of the Scottish Highlanders in
the United States, (Richmond: 2001) [hereafter Indians].
Also his recent article “Jacobite Past, Loyalist Present” in the online
magazine, eKeltoi, Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic
Studies, Vol.5, “Warfare”.
Rules and Orders for the better Government of His Majesty’s Forces
Employed in Foreign Parts (1747); Orders for the Troops in Scotland, 1753-57,
Military Library, Edinburgh Castle; A System of Camp Discipline,
Part II (1757), 11.
Adam Ferguson was commissioned Chaplain to the 42nd, 30 April
1746, just a few days after the Battle of Culloden. He was the ninth child
of Adam Ferguson (1672-1754) of Logierait and Mary Gordon of Hallhead.
Ferguson had a large portion of his college courses waived in order that he
might join his regiment promptly as the regiment was told off for duty in
Flanders. Lord John Murray, the Colonel of the 42nd made
representations to the 1745 General Assembly of Dunkeld that he and his
regiment were inclined “to have a chaplain of the communion of this
church, having the Irish language, who must be soon ordained to that office;
and that Adam Ferguson, student in Divinity, son to the minister of Logierat,
in the Presbytery of Dunkeld, is pitched upon for that purpose.” Quoted
in Nathaniel Morren, Annals of the General Assembly of the Church of
Scotland, (1840), vol. I, 73f; Dr. Ferguson, on resigning from the
Regiment 20 December 1757, became a tutor for two years before accepting a
Chair as Professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. He
later surrendered this Chair for that of Moral Philosophy and is now
acknowledged as one of Scotland’s leading men during the Enlightenment and
“The Father of Modern Sociology”. It was at Ferguson’s house, The
Sciennes, that Robert Burns and Walter Scott met for the first and only
time. On retirement from university life, Ferguson moved back to St. Andrews
(his house, with sundial over the door, can still be seen on South Street),
and is buried in the Cathedral grounds. The epitaph on his memorial is by
Sir Walter Scott. Newton, Indians, 120-1; James Ferguson and
Robert Menzies Fergusson, Records of the Clan and Name of Fergusson,
Ferguson and Fergus, (Edinburgh, 1895).
David M. Stewart, Sketches of the Character, Manners and present
State of the Highlanders of Scotland…, Vol. II, (Edinburgh: [reprint
1822 edition] 1977), Appendix, KK, lvii. [hereafter Sketches]
There is an 1897 watercolour by W. S. Cumming of Reverend Adam Ferguson
kneeling beside a wounded soldier, a Highland broadsword at his waist, in
the Black Watch Museum at Balhousie Castle in Perth. A black and white
reproduction appears in Eric and Andro Linklater’s The Black Watch:
The History of the Royal Highland Regiment, (London: 1977), 26.
Records of the Presbytery of Dunkeld, 1745, NLS; Jane B. Fagg,
The Ministry of Adam Ferguson, University of
North Carolina PhD thesis, (1968), 3.
Stewart,
Sketches, I, 292-93n.
Gideon Murray (1710-1778), third son of Lord Elibank and Elizabeth “Bare
Betty” Stirling. Educated at Musselburgh school, he matriculated at
Balliol College, Oxford, on 24 January 1728. Intended originally for the
army, he turned towards the Church and entered Holy Orders from Oxford, 28
December 1733, becoming MA, 6 June 1735. He served as Chaplain to the Earl
of Stair during operations in Germany in 1743 and was present at the battle
of Dettingen in June of that year . He was commissioned Chaplain to the 42nd
in 1739 and served in that capacity until 1745. Clerical appointments
included Vicar of Gainsborough, Lincoln; Prebendary of Corringham and Stow
in Lincoln Cathedral; and Prebendary of the Third Stall in Durham Cathedral
20 August 1761 at which time he was made a Doctor of Divinity. Tradition
has it that the Jacobite leanings of his brothers Patrick and Alexander
spoiled any chances he had of obtaining a bishopric. Col. Arthur C. Murray,
The Five Sons of “Bare Betty”, (London: 1936), 85-6; an oil
portrait of Gideon Murray is reproduced on page facing 86 in aforesaid book.
Robert Macpherson to William Macpherson, 21 December 1761, Berthier, Quebec,
JGP; British Army Lists [hereafter BAL].
A younger brother, Ensign George Maclagan, was commissioned in the 42nd
on 27 Jan 1756 and resigned under a cloud in 16 May 1757. Ensign Maclagan
appears to have been a quarrelsome drunk and other junior officers
eventually refused to do duty with him. John Campbell, Lord Loudon,
personally noted in a list of commissions sent to the Duke of Cumberland 3
June 1757 that Maclagan “had suffered himself to ill use”, that “the
Regt refused to do duty with him” and he subsequently, “Resigned his
Commission”. Loudon noted that volunteer Peter Grant had been given the
vacancy upon paying 50 pounds “to cary Ensign Maclagon home”. Quoted
in Stanley Pargellis, ed., Military Affairs in North America
1758-1763: Selected Documents from the Cumberland Papers in Windsor Castle,
(London & New York: 1936), 362.
In 1756, the Black Watch’s knowledge of North American geography was
limited. The men merely knew they would be fighting the French and hence
Maclagan’s mention of “routing and extirpating every Monsieur who leaps
over the St Lawrence River” in an early verse of the song. However by
verse 14, the subject matter of the song has drastically changed and talks
about returning home to Scotland after many years away, a very good
indication that this song is a composite to which later verses were added to
provide a chronological and oral record of the regiment’s service. When
Maclagan took up his post at the Ohio Forks in 1764, his homesick flock had
been in North America for eight years and would remain for another three.
The verse’s lines are crafted to reassure the Highland soldiers of the 42nd
that they will not be forgotten in the wilderness and their duty is almost
at an end. “After leaving them with peace and all/the goodness that
comes with it/…about the lovely Ohio of many bends/You will return to your
residences/Going across the ocean with rhythmic pipe music/with merry
rejoicing….” There was no way Maclagan would have known the regiment
would be stationed on the Ohio in his 1756 composition. This habit of
adding new verses to an existing song is seen more clearly in the Gaelic
song “At the Siege of Quebec, 1759” which chronicles the
exploits of the 78th Foot (Frasers’ Highlanders). Newton,
Indians, 124-7, 131-36. Maclagan is listed as one of the participant
in peace talks with Shawnee, Delaware and Iroquois Indians at Fort Pitt,
9-10 June 1766. See Croghan to Gage, 15 June 1766, Clements Library, Gage
Papers, American Series, Vol.52; Reel 10.; BL Add. MSS. 21634:
f.178c.
Newton, Indians, 127.
Reverend Harry (Henry) Munro was born 1730 in Dingwall, Scotland, son of Dr.
Robert Munro of Dingwall and Anne Munro (1718-1748). Harry Munro married
three times. His first wife, the widow of a regimental officer of the 77th
Foot, died in 1760 leaving him with an infant daughter, Elizabeth. In 1762,
on his return from the West Indies, he married a "Miss Stockton" from
Princeton, New Jersey and built a house there. She died bearing him a son a
year later. During the 1760s, Munro’s religious beliefs had evolved to a
point where he went to England to pursue Anglican Holy Orders. Munro was
ordained in the Church of England in 1765 and returned to America where he
conducted a mission on Philipsburgh Manor in Westchester County. In 1766,
he met and married his third wife, 38-year-old Eva Jay - the sister of the
American lawyer (and later Revolutionary War patriot) John Jay. In 1768 he
became rector of St. Peter's Church, Albany, and, at Sir William Johnson's
request, acted as missionary to the Mohawk Indians at Fort Hunter. In 1770,
he was appointed chaplain at Albany with an annual salary of fifty pounds
and received an honorary M.A. degree from Kings College in 1772. During that
time, he sought to develop his wartime bounty land - 2,000 acres "between
the Hudson River and Lake Champlain" called "Munrosfield." He built a
large cabin there (later the town of Hebron) and held summertime services
for the many ex-soldiers of the 77th and other regiments that had
settled there on disbandment. However, his subdivision of the tract into
smaller farms in 1774 found few takers. His son later sold the patent. As
the situation between Crown and colonists deteriorated, Munro found himself
more at home at the Fort Hunter Mohawk mission than at Albany. St. Peter's
Church ceased operations in 1776 with his arrest and other prominent Tories.
In October 1777, Munro and others escaped the Albany jail and fled north to
join the British army in Montreal. After serving briefly as a military
chaplain to the King’s Royal New Yorkers, Munro sailed for England in 1778
leaving his wife and only son behind. He preached in London and studied
languages, intending to return to America when the war was finished but the
success of American arms discouraged him. When his wife declined to join
him and remained with the Jay family in Westchester, Munro decided to retire
in Scotland. Suffering a stroke in 1791 that partially paralysed him, he
moved from the countryside to Edinburgh where he died in 1801. Edward F. De
Lancey, "Memoir of the Reverend Dr. Harry Munro, The Last Rector of St.
Peter's Church, Albany, under the English Crown,"
New York Genealogical and
Biographical Society,
4:113-24.
Born 19 December 1731, Robert Macpherson, yr of Banchor, was the
third of six sons of John Macpherson of Banchor and first of the second
marriage to Christian Macpherson. Stewart, Sketches, II, 22.
Robert MacFarlane, “The Macdonells of Aberarder”, Clan Donald Magazine,
No. 12 (1991);
Sketches of the Old Seats of Families and
Distinguished Soldiers,
Etc.,
335-36. |
