American Civil War

Major Robert McCrea 1754-1835,
Mods, I hope you don't mind me posting this. He was a 4 times gr grandfather and I thought I would post some of his story.
He fought on the Loyalist side in American War of Independence -gained commission in Queen's Rangers, "the most famous of theTory partisan corps"Major, 1st American Regiment, 1782. Severely wounded at theBattle of Brandywine, losing use of his right hand.Later, Major Commanding 5th Royal Veterans, Guernsey. At the age of only 22 he was severely wounded, losing the use of his right hand, at the Battle of Brandywine on 11th Sept 1777, probably in the fighting around Chad's Ford, and subsequently received "a pension of £300 a year for wounds". One of his great grandsons remembers a silver appliance he subsequently used for holding a pen.

J.G.Simcoe in his 'Journal of the Operations of The Queen's Rangers' (1787) says that the regiment "had suffered materially in the action at Brandywine, and was too much reduced in numbers to be of any efficient service; but if the loss of a great number of gallant officers and soldiers had been severely felt, the impression which that action had left upon their minds was of the highest advantage to the regiment; officers and soldiers became known to each other; they had been engaged in a more serious manner, and with greater disadvantages than they were likely again to meet with in the common chance of war; and having extricated themselves most gallantly from such a situation, they felt themselves invincible."

After the British surrender at Yorktown in Oct 1781, he and his brother Creighton went to Canada, along with many Loyalists, the two of them settling in St John, New Brunswick. Robert received a grant (#1057) for Parrtown in St John, but it is believed that he lived with his brother in nearby Kings County until in 1785 the two of them decided that their military careers would be better furthered in England. (See E.C.Wright, 'The Loyalists of New Brunswick'). In 1785 he and Creighton were on the Half-Pay List and they had presumably been so since 1781.

Around Sept 1785 he went to Guernsey as Captain of one of the six Companies of Invalides being quartered there from after 1782, when the building began of Fort George above St Peter Port, to strengthen the British garrison in order to better defend the island against the threat of French invasion. He married his first wife there the following year.

In March 1789 he moved to the Chester garrison as Captain of one of the two Companies of Invalides there. He returned to Guernsey in Dec 1791 in his previous role. With the reorganisation of the Invalides in Dec 1802 he became Major commanding the 5th Royal Veterans Battalion until they were disbanded in 1814. He continued to receive full-pay for some time.

At some time around 1800 he is believed to have built a house called Montville at Les Vardes; this house was subsequently sold to Major Bourne and then to Thomas Priaulx.

He is mentioned as a man of fine presence, being 6'4" tall and at the age of 75 is said to have looked like a man of 50.

The Guernsey Star reported his death as having been on the 15 July, rather than the accepted 2 July, but perhaps this was his burial.

 

Good post - 300 quid a year? that's good money back then wasn't it?

 

Great history, thanks for sharing. Very detailed for so long ago, someone kept good records.
I love your saying "Unselfish and noble actions are the most radiant pages in the biography of souls. ~David Thomas"

 

It would have been nice to have got some of the inheritance, but none for me. I have a few other gr grands there were 3 John Chilton Lambton Carter's a Lt. a Lt Col. & Capt and a couple of Admirals and other ranks along the lines as well. I'll get a few more stories of these men in time.
Brian.

 

Thanks Buten42, I have quite a few ancestors who fought from the Peninsular wars, through to WW2.
When I came across the the quote I thought it was particularly suited to men & women who fought and died through battles, as there are always so many that stand above the rest with actions that endanger themselves even more and in doing so saving sometimes many lives at the sacrifice of their own.

 

Anywhere between £35,050 - £3,683,000 at today's prices according to this-
Measuring Worth - Purchase Power of the Pound

According to this, average annual British earnings in 1777 earned were almost £17 (very roughly)-
(Sorry about the mess; didn't quite remain in the original format)
The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)
Year Retail Price Index
(2010 = 100) Average Annual Nominal Earnings

Average Average
Retail Annual Annual​

Price Nominal Real
Year Index Earnings Earnings (in 2010 £s)

1776 0.952 17.02 1,788.00
1777 0.992 16.95 1,709.00
1778 1.006 16.81 1,671.00
1779 0.954 16.68 1,748.00
1780 0.966 17.29 1,790.00​

Measuring Worth - Measures of worth, inflation rates, saving calculator, relative value, worth of a dollar, worth of a pound, purchasing power, gold prices, GDP, history of wages, average wage

 

pretty serious amount of money, I wonder what the average seaman or other officers would have earned in comparison?
Brian

 

Major McCrea's brother..., I don't know a great deal the Col and are still doing some research but this is what I have so far.

Colonel John McCrea, son of Rev. James McCrea, was a graduate of Princeton in 1762. He studied law and was admitted to practice at Albany, New York, in 1763. He settled in Northumberland, Saratoga district, N.Y., where he was living at the time the revolution broke out. He enlisted for the war, and was commissioned colonel in the 13th regiment of infantry from Saratoga district of Albany county, Oct. 20, 1775. He remained at his home until the near approach of Burgoyne's army rendered his further stay dangerous, when he removed to Albany and resided until his house was burned in 1781, at the time of the great fire. He then removed to Salem, New York, in 1783. He was clerk of Washington county from April 16, 1785 to Feb. 24, 1797. He died at Lisbon, St. Lawrence county, about 1811.
He married (first) in 1766, Eva Buckman, who died in 1780; (second) Eleanor, daughter of John McNaughton. He had several children, among them John, mentioned below.


McCrea, John:
Additional military information: In 1775 he was appointed colonel of the 13th
Regiment of infantry and served until 1781.
Other: he was born in Lamington NJ; died, 1811, in Lisbon NY. He was a
graduate of Princeton in 1762,lived in Albany NY, and then moved to Saratoga
county in 1773. His second wife was Helen McNaughton. They had at least
one daughter, Jane. Ref. DA01(#20583), SN01

 

American Civil War?

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I wondered the same thing, but I guess from an English point of view it may be correct.

 

Is that what they call the Revolutionary War over there?

 

We call it the American War of Independence.

 

And what do y'all call the War of 1812 then?

 

I think they called it the war of 1816. News traveled slow back then.


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The few folk who know about it just call it the war of 1812.

 

If it weren't for Francis Scott Key and his pretty popular poem the Star Spangled Banner, nobody here in the U.S would remember it either.

 

That's because most of the people that were participants or alive at the time have passed on.

 

Most folk over here only know about it vaguely through the old Johnny Horton number in the' 50s.