James Inglis Hamilton (c. 1732-27 July 1803) was a General of the British Army during the American Revolutionary War and French Revolutionary Wars.
Biography[]
James Inglis Hamilton was born between 1723 and 1742, and he enlisted in the British Army on 28 February 1755. Hamilton served in the Seven Years' War at the Fall of Minorca and the Raid on St. Malo, and in 1772 he was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel. Hamilton led the 21st Regiment of Foot during the American Revolutionary War, leading the 1,100-strong center column at the Battle of Freeman's Farm during the 1777 Saratoga campaign, bearing the brunt of the British losses in the battle. In the Battle of Bemis Heights, he commanded the British camp, and he became a prisoner of war after John Burgoyne's surrender. On 3 September 1781, he was released and returned to Scotland, becoming a full general in 1802 after fighting in the invasion of Guadeloupe during the French Revolutionary Wars. Hamilton died in 1803.