William Eyre (lieutenant-colonel) on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
William Eyre (died 1764) was an officer in the
Eyre served in the Royal Engineers during the
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 ...
during the French and Indian Wars
The French and Indian Wars were a series of conflicts that occurred in North America between 1688 and 1763, some of which indirectly were related to the European dynastic wars. The title ''French and Indian War'' in the singular is used in the U ...
.
Early life
Eyre served in the Royal Engineers during the Jacobite rising of 1745
The Jacobite rising of 1745, also known as the Forty-five Rebellion or simply the '45 ( gd, Bliadhna Theàrlaich, , ), was an attempt by Charles Edward Stuart to regain the British throne for his father, James Francis Edward Stuart. It took ...
and the War of the Austrian Succession
The War of the Austrian Succession () was a European conflict that took place between 1740 and 1748. Fought primarily in Central Europe, the Austrian Netherlands, Italy, the Atlantic and Mediterranean, related conflicts included King George's ...
.I.K. Steele (1974), "Eyre, William", ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography'', University of Toronto Press, vol. 3, pp. 214–215.
North America
Eyre came to North America in 1755 as a captain in44th Foot
The 44th Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment in the British Army, raised in 1741. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 56th (West Essex) Regiment of Foot to form the Essex Regiment in 1881.
History
Early history
The regime ...
. He was sent by General Edward Braddock
Major-General Edward Braddock (January 1695 – 13 July 1755) was a British officer and commander-in-chief for the Thirteen Colonies during the start of the French and Indian War (1754–1763), the North American front of what is known in Europe ...
to support to attend General William Johnson as military Engineer upon his expedition to erect Forts on the Hudson, at the foot of Lake George, and at Crown-Point. He was also made quartermaster
Quartermaster is a military term, the meaning of which depends on the country and service. In land armies, a quartermaster is generally a relatively senior soldier who supervises stores or barracks and distributes supplies and provisions. In ...
general and director of artillery
Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...
for the campaign, making three roles he filled as the only British regular officer in the otherwise American colonial militia
Colonial troops or colonial army refers to various military units recruited from, or used as garrison troops in, colonial territories.
Colonial background
Such colonies may lie overseas or in areas dominated by neighbouring land powers such ...
and Mohawk Indian army of General Johnson. Eyre's planned Fort Lyman – later renamed Fort Edward – under orders from General Phineas Lyman.
During the Battle of Lake George
The Battle of Lake George was fought on 8 September 1755, in the north of the Province of New York. It was part of a campaign by the British to expel the French from North America, in the French and Indian War.
On one side were 1,584 French, Can ...
he commanded the artillery that defeated repeated French attacks. After the battle he planned and led the construction of Fort William Henry
Fort William Henry was a British fort at the southern end of Lake George, in the province of New York. The fort's construction was ordered by Sir William Johnson in September 1755, during the French and Indian War, as a staging ground for ...
, becoming its first commandant. In 1757 he left the command to George Monro when the 35th Foot relieved the 44th. During the Battle of Carillon
The Battle of Carillon, also known as the 1758 Battle of Ticonderoga, Chartrand (2000), p. 57 was fought on July 8, 1758, during the French and Indian War (which was part of the global Seven Years' War). It was fought near Fort Carillon (now ...
(also known as the 1758 Battle of Ticonderoga) he was wounded leading his 888-men strong regiment during the failed attacks to take the French fort.John Romeyn Brodhead (1858), ''Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New-York'', vol. 10, p. 729. He was later in charge of the rebuilding of Fort Ticonderoga
Fort Ticonderoga (), formerly Fort Carillon, is a large 18th-century star fort built by the French at a narrows near the south end of Lake Champlain, in northern New York, in the United States. It was constructed by Canadian-born French milit ...
. Having been promoted to Major in the 44th in 1756, he became an Engineer in Ordinary in 1758 and Chief Engineer of the Army and Lieutenant-Colonel in his regiment in 1759.''The Scots Magazine'' (20) 1758, p. 613.
Death
Eyre drowned off the English coast in November 1764 on his way home.References