British Officer Bain, Active in the American Revolutionary War, Wounded at Charlestown, Seeks Relief – ALS, ADS
WILLIAM BAIN, ALS, February 15, 1791, Grenada. 2 pp, 7 ¼ x 8 ¾, together with an ADS, Memorial to Sir George Yonge, February 15, 1791, Grenda, 2 pp, 8 x 13.
“Grenada 15th Febry 1791.
“Sir
As I must always consider myself much indebted to you for my promotion to a Company in the 67th Regiment, I am again induced to solicit your countenance and protection – Finding my health much impaired by this Climate I had thoughts of applying to retire on half pay but a desire to remain employ’d in the Service inclines me to try if I can exchange and to submit to you whether my having served near Sixteen years in a variety of Climates five of which was in America last war on the severest services four at Gibraltar and now some time in the West Indies added to my being wounded may dispose the Secretary of War to recommend me to His Majesty for a Company of Invalids – I have to lament the death of the late Lord Heathfield who I served under for some time and was honor’d with his patronage – But I have no doubt of your recollecting the recommendation he gave to you of me as well as that given by my former Colonel Lord George Lennox – Allow me to submit the matter entirely to you either to suppress this application or lay the enclosed Memorial before Sir George Yonge – I have the honor to be with the utmost respect.
“Your Most Obed’t. & Most Obliged Serv.
“W. Bain
“Capt 67th Regt
“Mr. Massy will enter the appln. & let the Letter fr Capt Bain be entd the W. India”
ADS: “To The Right Honble Sir George Yonge Bart His Majesty’s Secretary at War...The Memorial of Captain William Bain of the 67th Regiment of Foot –
“Humbly Sheweth
“That the Memorialist had the honor to serve in America as Ensign and Lieutenant in the late 71st regiment from the beginning of the war to December 1780 – That early in 1779 he was appointed Lieutenant to a Troop of Light Dragoons form’d under the late Captain Tawse and in the Summer of that year was wounded at the gates of Charlestown when under the orders of Major General Prevost the two Troops of Captain Tawse attack’d and drove into the Town a large body of the Enemy commanded by Count Polaskie – That the Memorialist was present at the Siege of Savannah and in that particular redoubt against which, in the assault the County D’Estaing in person led the French and American Troops and in defending which Captain Tawse so gallantly fell – Under Colonel Tarleton and others the Memorialist was afterward constantly employ’d on severest services until at length from the effects of incessant fatigues in a bad climate he was attacked by sickness which compel’d his return to Europe in December 1780 – That when at home he had in some degree recover’d his health he applied for and had leave from Lord Amherst to raise an Independent Company but when at a very great expense and labour he had raised two Sergeants and fifty six privates his disorders returned on him with renewed violence which obliged him to relinquish his object of an Independent Company and he was then glad to purchase an Exchange of Lieutenant into the 25th Regiment – The Memorialist afterwards went out to Gibraltar in that regiment where he remained four years and in 1787 was used by your kind attention to his situation permitted to purchase a Company in his present Corps –
“The Memorialist begs leave now humbly to submit as he finds his health very much impaired form a Service of near Sixteen years in a variety of Climates added to his being wounded if these considerations will dispose you to recommend him to His Majesty for a Company of Invalids –
“W. Bain
“Capt 67th Regt.
“Grenada 15th Febry
“1791”
BAIN joined the British Army as an ensign in the 71st Highlander Regiment, organized at Glasgow, Scotland, under the command of Col. Simon Fraser, in 1775. The regiment left for North America in April 1776 and arrived in New York in July. It participated in the Battle of Long Island in August and the Battle of Fort Washington in November. It went on to participate in the Philadelphia campaign and fought in the Battle of Brandywine in September 1777. The regiment helped capture Savannah, Georgia, in December 1778, and held off a siege of the city by the Americans in 1779. Bain received a promotion to lieutenant in 1779 and was wounded in the battle near Charleston, South Carolina (likely the First Battle of Charleston on May 11), in which troops under the overall command of Maj. Gen. Augustine Prevost (1723 – 1786) and the direct command of Capt. Thomas Tawse (d. 1779) attacked American forces under the command of Polish nobleman Casimir Pulaski (1745 – 1779). Bain returned home to convalesce in December 1780, and began to raise an independent company before illness interrupted his plans. He became a lieutenant in the 25th Regiment and served at Gibraltar for four years before moving to Grenada in the West Indies as a captain in the 67 Regiment. In 1794, Bain transferred to the 97th Regiment in Scotland as a major and received a promotion to lieutenant colonel. In 1803, he became captain in the Stirlingshire Regiment of North British militia.
Folds, some toning. Both stamped with a deaccession stamp on verso from Connecticut Historical Society.
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