John Ross (1744 – 1809) was a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

officer in the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...

and the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

. He is best known for commanding a mixed force of approximately 600 (some sources say 1750) regulars, Loyalists, and Indians in a raid into

upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region consisting of the area of New York State that lies north and northwest of the New York City metropolitan area. Although the precise boundary is debated, Upstate New York excludes New York City and Long Is ...

on October 24, 1781 that culminated in the Battle of Johnstown, one of the last battles in the northern theater of the American Revolution. After the war, Ross was instrumental in settling Loyalist refugees in what is now the

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the five most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

area of eastern Ontario.

Early career and the French and Indian War

Ross was born in Scotland in 1744. He was commissioned lieutenant in the

34th Regiment of Foot The 34th Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1702. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 55th (Westmorland) Regiment of Foot to form the Border Regiment in 1881. History Early history The regim ...

in July, 1762, and was present for the capture of Havana that year and then went on to garrison West Florida. In 1764, following the conclusion of the

he was sent to the Illinois Country as an emissary to the French Commander at Fort de Chartres. On this trip he mapped the

Mississippi Valley The Mississippi River is the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest Drainage system (geomorphology), drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson B ...

from

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

to de Chartres. He was promoted to captain in March, 1772.

American Revolutionary War

In 1780 Ross was given the temporary rank of

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

to organize the second battalion of the King's Royal Regiment of New York (Royal Yorkers) at Lachine, Quebec. Later that year the second battalion was sent to occupy and fortify

Carleton Island Carleton Island is located in the St Lawrence River in upstate New York. It is part of the Town of Cape Vincent, in Jefferson County. History Originally held by the Iroquois, one of the first Europeans to take notice of the island was Pierre ...

in New York's Thousand Islands. In October 1781 Ross led a force of troops from his garrison and from Fort Niagara in a raid on the

Mohawk Valley The Mohawk Valley region of the U.S. state of New York is the area surrounding the Mohawk River, sandwiched between the Adirondack Mountains and Catskill Mountains, northwest of the Capital District. As of the 2010 United States Census, th ...

by way of Oswego and

Oneida Lake Oneida Lake is the largest lake entirely within New York state, with a surface area of . The lake is located northeast of Syracuse and near the Great Lakes. It feeds the Oneida River, a tributary of the Oswego River, which flows into Lake Ontario ...

. The American forces repelled the British; during the retreat the famed commander of Butler's Rangers, Walter Butler, was killed. On his return to Carleton Island Ross built Fort Haldimand. In 1782 he led a force which occupied Oswego and rebuilt Fort Ontario.

Cataraqui settlement

In 1783 Ross, was assigned to Cataraqui, now

Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the north-eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River (south end of the Rideau Canal). The city is midway between Toro ...

to arrange the resettlement of Loyalist refugees in the Cataraqui area. To help with this assignment Ross brought with him 25 officers and 422 men, most of whom belonged to the Royal Yorkers.''The Yorker Courant'', Issue 2010-1. pg 4
Retrieved February 22, 2016 He rebuilt and repaired the old French fort (

Fort Frontenac Fort Frontenac was a French trading post and military fort built in July 1673 at the mouth of the Cataraqui River where the St. Lawrence River leaves Lake Ontario (at what is now the western end of the La Salle Causeway), in a location tradition ...

) to enable the establishment of a garrison, built grist and saw mills, established a navy yard, and assisted with the allotment of land and supplies. Ross also recommended that the land on which the Loyalists were settling should be purchased from the

Mississaugas The Mississauga are a subtribe of the Anishinaabe-speaking First Nations peoples located in southern Ontario, Canada. They are closely related to the Ojibwe. The name "Mississauga" comes from the Anishinaabe word ''Misi-zaagiing'', meaning "hose ...

. Since local concerns were administered by the military, Ross was appointed Justice of the Peace in 1784 to better enable him to deal with civilian problems among the settlers. Because of Ross's significance in establishing the Cataraqui settlement, It has been said that "He, rather than

Michael Grass Captain Michael Grass (c.1734–1813) was a French-born militia captain who was loyal to the British and led a contingent of United Empire Loyalists to Canada after the American War of Independence. Grass was one of the founders of Kingston, Ontario ...

... should be called the 'founder of Kingston.'"

Later years

It is believed he married a sister of Captain

John McDonell Captain John McDonell of Aberchalder (also spelled MacDonell; c. 1758-21 November 1809) was a soldier, judge, and political figure in Upper Canada following the American Revolution. He was elected as the first speaker for the Legislative Assembly ...

of Butler’s Rangers. In 1785 Ross returned to England to care for his aged father. He was promoted major in the 34th Foot on May 20, 1785. He returned to Canada in 1786 and was arrested based on accusations by his second in command at Cataraqui. Ross was exonerated and put in command of the 34th Foot in Montreal in August, 1786. The regiment returned to England in 1787. Ross retired from the army in 1789 and sold his commission. He re-entered service during the

Napoleonic wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

and at some point was promoted to

lieutenant-colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...

. Ross transferred to the Coldstream Guards and was killed at the Battle of Talavera in Spain in July 1809 during the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * Mika, Nick and Helma et al. ''Kingston, Historic City''. Belleville: Mika Publishing Co., 1987. . * Osborne, Brian S. and Donald Swainson. ''Kingston, Building on the Past for the Future''. Quarry Heritage Books, 2011. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ross, John British Army personnel of the American Revolutionary War 1744 births 1809 deaths British Army personnel of the Peninsular War British military personnel killed in action in the Napoleonic Wars British Army personnel of the French and Indian War Coldstream Guards officers