29th (Worcestershire) Regiment of Foot - American Revolution

American Revolution

Early in the spring of 1776 during the start of the 2nd year of the American Revolutionary War, the 29th Regiment of Foot under the command of Lt. Col. Patrick Gordon was sent with other British regiments to relieve the siege of Quebec City by an American army. On 25 July Lt. Col. Patrick Gordon was shot and mortally wounded by Benjamin Whitcomb of Whitcomb's Rangers, Lt. Col. Thomas Carleton of the 20th Regiment of Foot was then promoted to command the 29th. After pushing the American army down the St. Lawrence River at the Battle of Trois-Rivières, men from the battalion companies served on board the ships of General Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester in the Battle of Valcour Island on Lake Champlain on 11 October 1776. In 1777, the Light Infantry Company and the Grenadier Company were with Lt. General John Burgoyne as he headed down from Montreal to Saratoga. Both the Light Infantry Company and Grenadier Company saw action at the Battle of Hubbardton under the command of Brigadier Simon Fraser, as part of his Advance Corps on 7 July 1777. Both companies surrendered with the rest of Burgoyne's Army after the defeats at Battle of Freeman's Farm and Battle of Bemis Heights in September and October 1777. The other eight Battalion Companies remained in Canada and took part in raids and small battles along the Vermont and New York frontiers during the rest of the American Revolution led by Major Christopher Carleton and Lt. John Enys. In 1781 the 29th was linked to the county of Worcestershire in England, giving them a recruiting area and home. The 29th Regiment returned to England in 1787.

For more details on the raids along Lake Champlain and the upper Hudson Valley see Carleton's Raid (1778) and Burning of the Valleys.