George Turnbull (1728 - 16 February 1809) was a

Scottish American Scottish Americans or Scots Americans (Scottish Gaelic: ''Ameireaganaich Albannach''; sco, Scots-American) are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in Scotland. Scottish Americans are closely related to Scotch-Irish Americans, d ...

soldier and settler in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He served as a soldier for about 60 years, initially for about 10 years in Colonel Majoribanks' Regiment of Scots, but then in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

Early life

George Turnbull was born in 1728 at Blackadder Mains in the county of

Berwickshire Berwickshire ( gd, Siorrachd Bhearaig) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in south-eastern Scotland, on the English border. Berwickshire County Council existed from 1890 until 1975, when the area became part of th ...

in Scotland close to the Scottish/English border. In 1728 his father Hector Turnbull and Hector's son William had taken a lease from Sir John Home for Blackadder Mains: rent of 1200 marks Scottish money, carriage of 36 loads of coals or 5 Scots shillings each load, 18

capon A capon (from la, cāpō, genitive ''cāpōnis'') is a cockerel (rooster) that has been castrated or neutered, either physically or chemically, to improve the quality of its flesh for food, and, in some countries like Spain, fattened by force ...

s or 8 shillings each capon, and 18 hens or 6 shillings each hen.

Military career

Turnbull was commissioned as a lieutenant in the British army in February 1756 and rose to captain of the

60th Regiment of Foot 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

in November 1765. He sold his commission and left the army between 1774 and 1776 to settle in New York. He raised and commanded the

New York Volunteers The New York Volunteers, also known as the New York Companies and 1st Dutchess County Company, was a British Loyalist Provincial regiment, which served with the British Army, during American Revolutionary War. Eventually, the New York Volunteer ...

in January 1776; this regiment was renumbered in May 1779 as the 3rd American Regiment. As a captain in the

Loyal American Regiment The Loyal American Regiment was a British Provincial regiment raised in 1777 for Loyalist service during the American Revolutionary War. The regiment fought in many engagements throughout the war and the men were among the thousands of loyalists ...

, Turnbull took part in the capture of Fort Montgomery in October 1777, and was commissioned a lieutenant colonel a few days later. He remained in command of the

until the end of the war. General Henry Clinton’s after-orders at 9pm on 23 August directed the New York Volunteers and the British 15th and 46th Regiments to march to

New Utrecht New Utrecht ( nl, Nieuw Utrecht) was a town in western Long Island, New York (state), New York encompassing all or part of the present-day Bath Beach, Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst, Borough Park, Brooklyn, Borough Park, Dyker Heights and Fort Hamilton n ...

on the morning of 24 August, but new orders at 3pm on that date directed the two British regiments to ''return again to their former Encampments as soon as convenient.'' Turnbull was based at Rocky Mount, South Carolina and commanded at the Battle of Rocky Mount,

Lancaster County, South Carolina Lancaster County is a county located in the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2020 census, its population was 96,016, Its county seat is Lancaster, which has an urban population of 23,979. The county was created in 1785. Lancaster Coun ...

on August 1, 1780. Captain Christian Huck of

Huck’s Defeat Huck's Defeat or the Battle of Williamson's Plantation was an engagement of the American Revolutionary War that occurred in present York County, South Carolina on July 12, 1780, and was one of the first battles of the southern campaign to be won ...

(July 12, 1780) served under Turnbull's command. In early July 1780 Turnbull ordered Christian Huck, to find the rebel Patriot Whig leaders and persuade other area residents to swear allegiance to the king.

Death

Turnbull's will is dated 16 February 1809. He died in

in 1810.

George Turnbull (civil engineer) George Turnbull was a British engineer responsible from 1851 to 1863 for construction of the first railway line from Calcutta to Benares, some – later extended to Delhi. Turnbull was acclaimed by the Indian government as the "first railway ...

autobiography page 387, held in The British Library, London

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turnbull, George soldier 1729 births 1810 deaths People from Berwickshire Loyalist military personnel of the American Revolutionary War Loyalists in the American Revolution from New York (state) Royal American Regiment officers Scottish emigrants to the Thirteen Colonies British America army officers Scottish military personnel