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	Kingdom of Great Britain
Service / branch	British Army
Years of service	1744–1775
Rank	Lieutenant Colonel
Commands	1st Regiment of Foot 42nd Regiment of Foot 22nd Regiment of Foot
Battles / wars	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 the much better known 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 listed as a newly promoted Lieutenant of the 1st Foot. On 16 February 1756, he was promoted to the rank of Captain in 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 his successor Jeffrey Amherst in 1759. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel in 1770 and joined British forces assigned to the American colonies under the command of General Thomas Gage.

On 17 June 1775, Abercrombie led his 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 reportedly sustained a large gunshot wound on his right thigh from a black militiaman named Salem Poor, although there is a high probability that friendly fire caused the wound. Abercrombie was evacuated back to Boston and treated in the city's army hospital. He succumbed to his wound a week later while being cared for in the home of one of Gage's staff officers, 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.