to benefit. In November 1775 orders were published setting out a plan to expand the Fusiliers and other regiments doing duty in America to an establishment of more than 850 men. Given that there were only about 300 men fit for duty in Boston by that time, this would involve upheaval for the 23rd.
Two regiments serving in Boston were to be broken up, the rank and file going to others, while the serjeants and officers went home as the bones upon which new bodies of men could be built. The regiments remaining in America were asked to appoint two new companycommanders, along with subalterns and non-commissioned officers, to go home for the same purpose. The creation of these two new captain’s jobs allowed Mecan to get his step without buying the post. Mecan being Mecan, he traded his place recruiting in England with another officer, taking command of that man’s company in America.
Advancing Mecan created a possibility for Frederick Mackenzie at last, and he took the Irish officer’s post as captain lieutenant and with it also gained, after his long years of waiting, command of a company. Two other lieutenants moved on too, one worthy but penniless old officer benefiting from the Secretary at War’s patronage to gain promotion into another regiment, the other getting the second recruiting captain’s job in the Fusiliers and with it his ticket home.
A passage back with the recruiting parties ‘pleases them not a little’, wrote one of the officers forlornly staying in Boston. In addition to danger on the lines and startling rates of sickness, some men were staring ruin in the face. The annual pay of a 2nd Lieutenant of Fusiliers (the lowest officer rank, called an ensign in other regiments) was just under £ 67, of lieutenants a little more. Yet by the winter the price of a chicken had gone up to 6/- and of a bushel of potatoes to 12/-. Most were paying rent too and some trying to sustain wives and children. Many subalterns were unable to keep up the struggle and sold out.
On 13 December, Major Francis Hutcheson received an urgent summons to the townhouse that served as General Howe’s headquarters. Hutcheson served on the staff and as unofficial ambassador for Major General Fredrick Haldimand, formerly number two to Gage who had returned to England. Both Hutcheson and his master had been guests at the Welch Fusiliers’ Saint David’s dinner in March.
As the major made his way through the frigid streets, it is unlikely that he guessed the sudden order concerned General Haldimand’s nephew Anthony, who, less than one month earlier, had transferred into the Fusiliers. Hutcheson was summoned into the General’s presence to hear a story of woe. Howe said there was a lieutenant in the 45th for whom recent months had proven altogether too much. So indebted was the lieutenant that he asked Hutcheson to ‘pay the unfortunate fellow to keep him from starving one hundred pounds’. If this douceur was received, then the man would clear his debts and sell out his lieutenancy. The general’s nephew, 2nd Lieutenant Haldimand,might then buy the lieutenancy in the 45th for the usual price of £ 500.
Major Hutcheson quickly drew a bill (on General Haldimand’s bankers) for £ 115 (the bargain proved £ 15 more expensive than he had expected) and the deal was completed. Young Anthony Haldimand had been promoted out of the 23rd after less than one month in the regiment, and just over one year all-told in the army. The major was gratified that Howe had asked for no favour in return, for the dispensers of army patronage were often keen on dictating a quid quo pro. Perhaps, Hutcheson reasoned, this would be requested later of General Haldimand. Hutcheson wrote to that senior officer, with more than a hint of personal bitterness, ‘The respect which is due to you has gained the young man in 13 months a rank that I had three years of hard service to acquire.’
The case of 2nd Lieutenant Haldimand showed what could be achieved
Two regiments serving in Boston were to be broken up, the rank and file going to others, while the serjeants and officers went home as the bones upon which new bodies of men could be built. The regiments remaining in America were asked to appoint two new companycommanders, along with subalterns and non-commissioned officers, to go home for the same purpose. The creation of these two new captain’s jobs allowed Mecan to get his step without buying the post. Mecan being Mecan, he traded his place recruiting in England with another officer, taking command of that man’s company in America.
Advancing Mecan created a possibility for Frederick Mackenzie at last, and he took the Irish officer’s post as captain lieutenant and with it also gained, after his long years of waiting, command of a company. Two other lieutenants moved on too, one worthy but penniless old officer benefiting from the Secretary at War’s patronage to gain promotion into another regiment, the other getting the second recruiting captain’s job in the Fusiliers and with it his ticket home.
A passage back with the recruiting parties ‘pleases them not a little’, wrote one of the officers forlornly staying in Boston. In addition to danger on the lines and startling rates of sickness, some men were staring ruin in the face. The annual pay of a 2nd Lieutenant of Fusiliers (the lowest officer rank, called an ensign in other regiments) was just under £ 67, of lieutenants a little more. Yet by the winter the price of a chicken had gone up to 6/- and of a bushel of potatoes to 12/-. Most were paying rent too and some trying to sustain wives and children. Many subalterns were unable to keep up the struggle and sold out.
On 13 December, Major Francis Hutcheson received an urgent summons to the townhouse that served as General Howe’s headquarters. Hutcheson served on the staff and as unofficial ambassador for Major General Fredrick Haldimand, formerly number two to Gage who had returned to England. Both Hutcheson and his master had been guests at the Welch Fusiliers’ Saint David’s dinner in March.
As the major made his way through the frigid streets, it is unlikely that he guessed the sudden order concerned General Haldimand’s nephew Anthony, who, less than one month earlier, had transferred into the Fusiliers. Hutcheson was summoned into the General’s presence to hear a story of woe. Howe said there was a lieutenant in the 45th for whom recent months had proven altogether too much. So indebted was the lieutenant that he asked Hutcheson to ‘pay the unfortunate fellow to keep him from starving one hundred pounds’. If this douceur was received, then the man would clear his debts and sell out his lieutenancy. The general’s nephew, 2nd Lieutenant Haldimand,might then buy the lieutenancy in the 45th for the usual price of £ 500.
Major Hutcheson quickly drew a bill (on General Haldimand’s bankers) for £ 115 (the bargain proved £ 15 more expensive than he had expected) and the deal was completed. Young Anthony Haldimand had been promoted out of the 23rd after less than one month in the regiment, and just over one year all-told in the army. The major was gratified that Howe had asked for no favour in return, for the dispensers of army patronage were often keen on dictating a quid quo pro. Perhaps, Hutcheson reasoned, this would be requested later of General Haldimand. Hutcheson wrote to that senior officer, with more than a hint of personal bitterness, ‘The respect which is due to you has gained the young man in 13 months a rank that I had three years of hard service to acquire.’
The case of 2nd Lieutenant Haldimand showed what could be achieved
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