ALS, DLC:GW.

Robertson (Robert) Duncanson was commissioned a lieutenant in the 71st Regiment of Foot and subsequently promoted to captain. He received half-pay upon his regiment being disbanded. Duncanson described his Revolutionary War service in an undated document prepared after 4 June 1784: “In October 1775, Captain Duncanson was Appointed Second Lieutenant of the Division of Marines lying in Portsmouth, and in November 177[5] obtain’d a Lieutenancy in the 71st Regimt of Foot then raiseing under the Command of Lieut. General Fraser—He embark’d for Boston in North America as eldest Lieutenant of Grenadiers in the 2d Battalion of that Regt in April 1776 and upon the 18th of June following was made Prisoner with the whole of the Company by Eight American Arm’d Vessells in Boston Harbour.” After suffering in various New England prisons for eighteen months, Duncanson escaped on 23 Feb. 1777 “in Disguise from Worcester Goal in Massachussetts Bay … He landed upon Rhode Island (then in our possession) upon the Morning (between two and three O’Clock) of the 29th of the same month … He soon after sail’d for Newyork on board of the Amazon Frigate and join’d the 71st after which he joind the Grenadiers of the Army.” Taken prisoner again during the capture of Stony Point, N.Y., on 16 July 1779, Duncanson “was then sent into the Interior part of Pennsylvania and remain’d a Prisoner at Lancaster in that Province for Seven Months, dureing which his Treatment was doubly severe in consequence of his former Escape—By repeated Applications to the Board of War at Philadelphia, he was at last indulged with leave to proceed to New York upon Parole for Three weeks only, in which time he effected an Exchange with an Officer of equal rank in the American ser⟨vice⟩ … he immediately Emb⟨arked⟩ for Charlestown South Carolina.” Duncanson later participated in the Battle of Cowpens on 17 Jan. 1781, when he “was wounded and a third time made Prisoner … Being soon thereafter Exchanged he was Order’d into Virginea from Charlestown ⟨So⟩outh Carolina in Order to Effect an Exchange of several Hundred British Prisoners for an equal Number of the Enemy then in our possession, and ⟨on⟩ the Completion of that Duty he join’d the Army ⟨und⟩er Lord Cornwallis at Portsmouth … at which ⟨pla⟩ce he was seizd with a Dangerous Fever in consequence ⟨of th⟩e fatigue he had undergone and severe Treatment while Prisoner with the Enemy—Haveing Obtain’d Lord Cornwallis’s leave of Absence he Embarkd from York Town in Virginea (to which place the Army had moved) on board of the Richmond Frigate for Newyork where he remained exceedingly ill for a considerable time when Sir Henry Clinton Indulg’d him with Permission to return to Britain for the re-establishment of his Health where he remaind till the Regiment return’d from America and in Reward for all their services had the Honor of being reduced at Perth (where he then Commanded, upon the 4th of June 1784—N.B. The French fleet under Compt de Grasse block’d up Lord Cornwallis’s Army the day after the Richmond saild from York River” (MiU-C: Schoff Collection). Duncanson returned to the army as a captain in the 77th Regiment of Foot in November 1788 and apparently abandoned his military career in the early 1790s.