Image of Sir Thomas Musgrave, a British Officer Wounded During the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776

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British officer Thomas Musgrave was made a Lieutenant Colonel of the 40th Regiment on August 28, 1776, only about eight weeks before serving in the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776.  He is, perhaps, the most well-known of the combatants who was wounded during the Battle of Pelham.  Indeed, I have written about Thomas Musgrave before.  See:

Mon., Oct. 30, 2006:  Brief Biographical Data About Sir Thomas Musgrave, British Lieutenant Colonel Wounded at the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776.

Thu., Jan. 22, 2009:  Another Brief Biography of Sir Thomas Musgrave, a British Officer Wounded at the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776.  

Below is a rather rare image of Thomas Musgrave, shown shortly after the end of the Revolutionary War.  The image was engraved in about 1797 from a painting created in 1786.   

Lieutenant General Thomas Musgrave, Governor of 

Gravesend & Tilbury Fort, Colonel of the 76.th Regiment of Foot.

Engraved from a Picture painted in 1786: with a view of Mr. Chew's House,

near German-town, in Pennsylvania 1777. L. Abbot 

pinx.t 1786. G.S. Facius sc. 1797. [n.d. c.1797.]

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British Report on Killed, Wounded and Missing Soldiers During the Period the Battle of Pelham Was Fought on October 18, 1776

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For more than a century, conflict has raged over how many British soldiers were killed and wounded during the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776.  British records suggest losses far smaller than purported eyewitness accounts from British deserters at the time of the Battle.  Some have suggested that the British numbers do not truly reflect the Battle losses because the numbers do not include the German troops who fought alongside the British troops.

Below is a transcription of one such record, followed by a citation to its source.

"An abstract of the return of the killed, wounded and missing, belonging to the army under the command of Gen. Howe, from Sept. 17. to Nov. 16. inclusive.  Dated Dec. 8, 1776.

In the action at Pelham Manor, Oct. 18, and in previous skirmishes from Sept. 17, inclusive.

BRITISH.

17th reg. light dragoons, 1st and 2d batt. light infantry, 2d batt. grenadiers, 4th, 27th, 28th, 38th, 55th, 57th, and 71st regiments and royal artillery, -- 2 serjeants, 11 rank and file killed; 1 field-officer, 1 captain, 1 subaltern, 3 serjeants, 1 drummer or trumpeter, 40 rank and file, wounded; 1 drummer, 3 rank and file, missing; -- including a serjeant and 3 rank and file, royal artillery, drowned in East river by the oversetting of a boat, Oct. 12, returned killed which was the whole loss of that corps.

Names of the officers killed and wounded.

1st batt. light infantry.  Capt. Evelyn, of the 4th reg. mortally wounded, and dead; Lt.-Col. Musgrave, of the 40th and Lieut. Archibald Rutherford of the 22nd reg. wounded." 

Source:  "America:  Operations of the Army Under Gen. Howe" in The Scots Magazine MDCCLXXVI, Vol. XXXVIII, p. 646 (Edinburgh, Scotland:  A. Murray and J. Cochran, Printers 1776). 

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Another Brief Biography of Sir Thomas Musgrave, a British Officer Wounded at the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776

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Sir Thomas Musgrave became a general in the British army in the 18th century. He fought in the Battle of Pelham, apparently as a Lieutenant-Colonel. He was wounded during that battle.

I previously have posted a brief biography of Musgrave to the Historic Pelham Blog. See:

Monday, October 30, 2006: Brief Biographical Data About Sir Thomas Musgrave, British Lieutenant Colonel Wounded at the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776.

Today's posting transcribes another such biography of Musgrave that appeared in Appletons' Cyclopaedia of American Biography. The text appears below, followed by a citation to its source.

"MUSGRAVE, Sir Thomas, British soldier, b. in 1737; d. in London, 31 Dec., 1812. He was captain of the 64th regiment, brevet major in 1772, and lieutenant-colonel of the 40th regiment on 28 Aug., 1776, in which year he accompanied Gen. Howe to this country. He was wounded in the battle of Pelham Manor, 18 Oct., 1776, and at Germantown, 4 Oct., 1777, saved the day by throwing himself with five companies into the Chew house, where he successfully held the American forces at bay until the British columns rallied. He became colonel and aide-de-camp to the king and brigadier-general in 1782, major-general in September, 1790, and general in April, 1802."

Source: Wilson, James Grant & Fiske, John, eds., Appletons' Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. IV Lodge-Pickens, p. 471 (NY, NY: D. Appleton and Company 1900).

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