James Abercrombie (General)

James Abercrombie, portrait by Allan Ramsay around 1759/60

James Abercrombie (* 1706 in Glassaugh , Banffshire , Scotland , Great Britain ; † April 28, 1781 in Stirling , Stirlingshire , Scotland, Great Britain) was a British general in the French and Indian War .

Life

Abercrombie came from a wealthy Scottish family and in 1742 bought an officer's license as a major in the 1st Royal Scottish Infantry Regiment in the British Army . In 1746 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and in 1756 to major general .

Abercrombie commanded a brigade in the capture of Fort Louisbourg in 1757 and became the commander of the British forces in America after the detachment of Loudoun in March of 1758.

In the summer of 1758 he led a campaign against Fort Ticonderoga . Abercrombie was organizational, but unstable in his leadership, so his troops called him Mrs. Nanny Cromby (Miss Nanny Cromby). He accomplished the remarkable feat of raising 15,000 troops and leading them and their entourage through the wilderness. Then, however, 2,000 of them were killed or wounded in front of Fort Ticonderoga on July 8, 1758, which proved that 15,000 men cannot take a stone fort manned by 4,000 men and armed with cannons by a frontal attack with mounted bayonets. The French were commanded by Louis-Joseph de Montcalm . Ultimately, Abercrombie’s forces panicked and fled, and he retired to his fortified camp south of Lake George . This disaster led to his replacement by General Jeffrey Amherst in 1759 and his recall to Great Britain.

Upon his return, Abercrombie became a member of the British Parliament and supported the hard line against the American colonies .

literature

• Richard Middleton: Abercromby, James . In: Dictionary of Canadian Biography . 24 volumes, 1966–2018. University of Toronto Press, Toronto ( English , French ).

Individual evidence

1. ^ Who Was Who in America , Historical Volume, 1607–1896. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who .