Browne, Jeremiah

The Browne brothers, Richard and Francis, had long careers as officers in the British Army during the mid-eighteenth century. From 1757, when Francis arrived in North America, through at least 1765, the brothers wrote home regularly to their father Jeremiah, in Kinsale, Ireland, reporting on their experiences and on their progress as soldiers during the French and Indian and Seven Years Wars.

In April, 1756, Francis Browne enlisted as a Lieutenant in the 28th Regiment of Foot, which, during the following summer was sent to Fort Cumberland, Nova Scotia [located in present day New Brunswick], 'a disagreeable place.' Browne was almost immediately engaged in action with Indians and French inhabitants, narrowly escaping during an ambush by a combined party of French and Indians (1757). The 28th Regiment went on to participate in the capture of Louisburg, in an expedition led by James Wolfe against Gaspie (sic) and other Acadian settlements (1758), and in the Battle of Quebec. In 1761, the Regiment was given orders to march from Quebec to a staging area on Staten Island, where it was to become a part of a massive expeditionary force to the West Indies under Monckton's command.

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