AMERICAN REVOLUTION]. [LESLIE, Alexander (c.1740-1794), Major General, British Army .]. A List of All The Officers of the Army [London:] War Office, 20 July 1781. Large 8 o (213 x 18mm.) contemporary English red morocco, gilt-ruled borders (worn, spine splitting, joints cracked). THE BRITISH ARMY LIST, ANNOTATED BY AN IMPORTANT OFFICER SERVING IN AMERICA. A highly interesting copy, liberally annotated by the General commanding the 63rd and 64th Regiments of Foot, two British units which bore the brunt of much of the fighting in North America, serving from the before the Boston Tea Party through the war until they were sent to the West Indies in 1782. The top of the titlepage is signed "Leslie," and in a neat hand and the text shows some 224 notes on 47 pages. On p.5 he brackets a series of officers evidently promoted to rank of Major General on 19 October 1781 (ironically, the same day as Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown). Most notes record the deaths of fellow officers in the prolonged war in America, simply reading "Dead," or "Killed." Leslie sometimes adds the date of their death, with, in several cases, the name of the battle in which they fell ("Eutaw Springs," or "Camden"). Brevet promotions are occasionally recorded; on p. 53 Leslie notes that Oliver De Lancey (the New York loyalist) had been brevetted Lt. Colonel. On the several pages which list the officers of Leslie's own regiments, the 63rd and 64th, his notations are particularly telling: of 35 officers in the former, 10 are marked "dead" or "killed." In the 64th, 3 are so marked, while others, he records, have been transferred or are simply "out" (mustered out?). Leslie, son of a Scottish Earl, played a critical role in the British Army's American campaigns. He and the 63rd served in Boston from 1768, and at Bunker Hill, and Leslie commanded the Salem raid of Febraury 1775. He later fought at the Battle of Long Island, Kip's Bay, Harlem Heights and White Plains, and at Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, and in the southern theater at Charleston, Eutaw Springs and Guildford Courthouse, finally succeeding Cornwallis as commander in October 1781. A sobering testimony to the severe losses experienced in some British units during the Revolution.
AMERICAN REVOLUTION]. [LESLIE, Alexander (c.1740-1794), Major General, British Army .]. A List of All The Officers of the Army [London:] War Office, 20 July 1781. Large 8 o (213 x 18mm.) contemporary English red morocco, gilt-ruled borders (worn, spine splitting, joints cracked). THE BRITISH ARMY LIST, ANNOTATED BY AN IMPORTANT OFFICER SERVING IN AMERICA. A highly interesting copy, liberally annotated by the General commanding the 63rd and 64th Regiments of Foot, two British units which bore the brunt of much of the fighting in North America, serving from the before the Boston Tea Party through the war until they were sent to the West Indies in 1782. The top of the titlepage is signed "Leslie," and in a neat hand and the text shows some 224 notes on 47 pages. On p.5 he brackets a series of officers evidently promoted to rank of Major General on 19 October 1781 (ironically, the same day as Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown). Most notes record the deaths of fellow officers in the prolonged war in America, simply reading "Dead," or "Killed." Leslie sometimes adds the date of their death, with, in several cases, the name of the battle in which they fell ("Eutaw Springs," or "Camden"). Brevet promotions are occasionally recorded; on p. 53 Leslie notes that Oliver De Lancey (the New York loyalist) had been brevetted Lt. Colonel. On the several pages which list the officers of Leslie's own regiments, the 63rd and 64th, his notations are particularly telling: of 35 officers in the former, 10 are marked "dead" or "killed." In the 64th, 3 are so marked, while others, he records, have been transferred or are simply "out" (mustered out?). Leslie, son of a Scottish Earl, played a critical role in the British Army's American campaigns. He and the 63rd served in Boston from 1768, and at Bunker Hill, and Leslie commanded the Salem raid of Febraury 1775. He later fought at the Battle of Long Island, Kip's Bay, Harlem Heights and White Plains, and at Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, and in the southern theater at Charleston, Eutaw Springs and Guildford Courthouse, finally succeeding Cornwallis as commander in October 1781. A sobering testimony to the severe losses experienced in some British units during the Revolution.
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