James Abercrombie (British Army officer, born 1732)

For other people with the same name, see James Abercromby (disambiguation).

James Abercrombie
Born	(1732-01-01)1 January 1732 Scotland, Kingdom of Great Britain
Died	23 June 1775(1775-06-23) (aged 43) Boston, Province of Massachusetts Bay, British America
Buried	King's Chapel Burying Ground
Allegiance	Great Britain
Service/branch	British Army
Years of service	1744–1775
Rank	Lieutenant Colonel
Commands held	1st Regiment of Foot 42nd Regiment of Foot 22nd Regiment of Foot
Battles/wars	Seven Years' War War of the Austrian Succession Jacobite Rising of 1745 French and Indian War Battle of Carillon American Revolutionary War Battle of Bunker Hill  (DOW)
Relations	James Abercrombie (father) Mary Duff (mother) Ralph Abercrombie (brother)

Lieutenant Colonel James Abercrombie (1732 – 23 June 1775) was a British army officer who died during the American Revolutionary War.

James Abercrombie injured on the Bunker Hill battleground under the footsteps of a British commanding officer

There is much uncertainty about Abercrombie's family. He may have been related to General James Abercrombie, as described in Appletons' Cyclopedia of American Biography, but the Dictionary of Canadian Biography states that the common identification of him as the general's son or nephew is probably erroneous.

On 11 June 1744 Abercrombie was made Lieutenant of the 1st Foot. On 16 February 1756, he was promoted to the rank of Captain of the 42nd Foot. With this rank he served in the French and Indian War, notably as one of General Abercrombie's aides in the Battle of Fort Carillon at Ticonderoga in 1758 before being made aide-de-camp to General Amherst in 1759. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel in 1770.

On 17 June 1775, Abercrombie led the grenadier battalion in their charge of the redoubt on the Americans' left wing at the Battle of Bunker Hill. During the assault on Breed's Hill, he sustained a large gunshot wound on his right thigh from an African soldier named Salem Poor, although there is probability that it was friendly fire. After removal from the Bunker Hill battleground, he was treated at a hospital facility in Boston. He succumbed to his wound a week later at the residence of British military engineer John Montresor.

Legacy

• namesake of Abercrombie, Nova Scotia

See also

Richard Frothingham Jr.

References

• Russell, Peter E. (1979). "Abercrombie, James". In Halpenny, Francess G (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. IV (1771–1800) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
• Wilson, James G; Fiske, John (1888) "Abercrombie, James" in Appletons' Cyclopedia of American Biography. D. Appleton and Company, New York.
• Abercrombie, James; Green, Samuel A. (1897). A British account of the battle of Lexington; and the last meeting in the Dowse library at No. 30 Tremont St., Boston. Massachusetts Historical Society.