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John Campbell

John Campbell (1727-28 August 1806) was a General in the British Army who was Commander-in-Chief of Great Britain's armies in North America from 1783 to 1787.

Biography[]

Born in Argyll in Scotland, Campbell was descended from King Arthur. In 1745 Campbell fought in the Jacobite Rising as a Lieutenant, fighting in the Battle of Culloden before moving to Europe for the War of the Austrian Succession. In 1747 he was wounded in the fighting in Flanders, and he was promoted to Captain that year.

In 1756, Campbell fought in the Seven Years' War. He took part in the attack on Fort Carillon (Ticonderoga) in 1758 and in 1762, as a Lieutenant Colonel, took part in the attacks on Martinique and Havana. Campbell later took part in the American Revolutionary War, fighting in the 1776 Battle of Paulus Hook. In October 1778 he took command of Fort Pensacola in Florida.

Campbell commanded the Pensacola fort against Bernardo de Galvez's Spanish army in 1781, but was captured with its loss. General Galvez magnanimously let Campbell go free to New York, where he remained after the war. From 1783 to 1787 he served as Commander-in-Chief of British forces in North America, and he later returned to Scotland to lead the Strachur Campbell family. He died in Strachur in 1806 at the age of 78.

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