Oglethorpe's Regiment

{{Short description|Military unit}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox military unit

|unit_name=Oglethorpe's Regiment
Old 42nd Foot

|image=Oglethorpe's Regiment.jpg

|caption=

|dates=1737-1748

|country= 25px
Great Britain

|allegiance=

|branch= British Army

|type= Foot

|role= Colonial service in America

|size= Six line companies and a grenadier company

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|battles=Siege of St. Augustine, 1740
Battle of Bloody Marsh, 1742
Battle of Gully Hole Creek, 1742

|notable_commanders=James Oglethorpe

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Oglethorpe's Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army formed for service in North America during the War of Jenkins' Ear. It was commanded by James Oglethorpe, first Governor of Georgia.{{cite book|author=René Chartrand|title=Colonial American Troops 1610-1774 (3)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZJ3IRwtWfe8C|date=January 2003|publisher=Osprey Publishing|isbn=978-1-84176-483-2|page=18}}{{cite book|author=David Lee Russell|title=Oglethorpe and Colonial Georgia: A History, 1733-1783|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iojIM25o6wkC&pg=PA30|date=1 January 2006|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-2233-3|pages=30–35}}{{cite book|title=Colbourn's United Service Magazine, Part III|year=1867|publisher=Hurst & Blackett|location=London|pages=201–212|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m-yDhirnqWAC&pg=PA205|access-date=12 November 2013|chapter=The Old Forty-Second or Oglethorpe's Regiment of Foot}}

Service

The raising of the regiment, ranked as the 42nd Regiment of Foot, was authorised in August 1737. The unit formed at Savannah in the following year.{{cite book|author=Richard J. Lenz|title=Highroad Guide to the Georgia Coast and Okefenokee|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uvl2yH8sk3MC&pg=PA244|date=1 December 2002|publisher=John F. Blair, Publisher|isbn=978-0-89587-281-4|page=244}}

The regiment took part in the Siege of St Augustine in June and July 1740 and the Battles of Bloody Marsh and Gully Hole Creek near Fort Frederica in July 1742.

The regiment was disbanded at the end of the conflict on 24 November 1748. Some of its discharged soldiers enlisted in the South Carolina Independent Companies.Cashin 2009, pp. 79–80.Foote 1966, p. 314.

Organization

The regiment consisted of six companies of 100 privates each, non-commissioned officers and drummers in addition. Later a company of grenadiers was added. Oglethorpe secured commissions for gentlemen of family and character in their communities. In addition he established twenty young gentlemen of no fortune as cadets in the regiment.Knight 1914, vol. 2, part 2, pp. 768-769.

Officers

Officers included:

  • James Oglethorpe, Colonel
  • James Cochran, Lieutenant-Colonel
  • William Cook, Major
  • Hugh Mackay, Captain
  • Richard Norbury, Captain
  • Alexander Herron, Captain
  • Albert Desbrisay, Captain
  • Philip Delegall, Sr., Lieutenant
  • Philip Delegall, Jr., Lieutenant
  • Raymond Demere, Lieutenant
  • George Morgan, rank not stated
  • George Dunbar, rank not stated
  • William Horton, Ensign
  • James Mackay, Ensign
  • William Folsom, Ensign
  • John Tanner, Ensign
  • John Leman, Ensign
  • Sandford Mace, Ensign
  • Hugh Mackay, Adjutant
  • Edward Dyson, Clerk and Chaplain
  • Thomas Hawkins, Surgeon
  • Edward Wansall, Quartermaster

Lachlan McIntosh served as a cadet in the regiment.Hawes 2021, pp. 4-5.

References

=Notes=

{{Reflist|2}}

=Sources=

  • Cashin, Edwar J. (2009). Guardians of the Valley. The University of South Carolina Press.
  • Foote, William Alfred (1966). The American Independent Companies of the British Army 1664-1764. Thesis - University of California, Los Angeles.
  • Hawes, Lilla Mills (2021). Lachlan McIntosh Papers in the University of Georgia Libraries. Georgia University Press.
  • Knight, Lucian Lamar (1914). Georgia's Landmarks, Memorials and Legends. Atlanta, Georgia, vol. 2, part 2, p. 768-769.

{{Regiments of Foot}}

Category:Infantry regiments of the British Army

Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 1748

Category:Military units and formations established in 1737

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