Simon Fraser

Brigadier-General Simon Fraser (1729 – 7 October 1777) was a British Army officer who served in the American War of Independence. He was killed at the Battle of Bemis Heights of the Battles of Saratoga. The shot that killed Fraser is often attributed to Continental Army soldier Timothy Murphy.

Early life and military service

Simon was born 26 May 1729, the son of Alexander Fraser of Balnain, son of Hugh Fraser of Balnain by his wife Katherine Chisholm, daughter of Alexander Chisholm 19th of Chisholm by his wife, eldest daughter of Roderick Mackenzie I of Applecross. Simon Fraser's mother was his father's second wife, Jean Mackintosh, daughter of Angus Mackintosh 10th of Kyllachy by his wife Lucy, daughter of Sir Alexander Mackenzie, 2nd baronet of Coul. Simon's brother Thomas Fraser (born 8 June 1726), M.D. of Antigua's daughter Jean married Charles Grant, parents of Charles Grant, 1st Baron Glenelg

Apparently seeking to atone for the participation of Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat in the Jacobite rising of 1745, he fought with the Dutch States Army at Siege of Bergen-op-Zoom in 1747, and joined the British Army as a lieutenant in 1755.

Fraser went to Canada with the British forces in the French and Indian War and took part in the Siege of Louisbourg.

The depiction by the artist John Graham in 1792 shows Fraser being wrapped for burial on the battlefield, surrounded by grieving officers and soldiers under his command. Also killed during the action was Francis Clerke (1748–1777), the aide-de-camp to General Burgoyne. Clerke was also shot and killed by Morgan's riflemen as he rode upon the field to deliver orders to Fraser from Burgoyne to fall back, orders that never reached him.

Fraser's death is noted by a memorial plaque in the Saratoga Battlefield National Park.

Portrayal in historical fiction

Fraser is a character in Diana Gabaldon's historical fiction novel An Echo in the Bone in which she portrays him as a kinsman to several of the major characters in the book, most notably Jamie Fraser, who is fighting on the side of the revolutionaries and William Ransom, Jamie's son, who is fighting for the British under Simon Fraser's command. The book diverts from the historical events when Gabaldon uses a request by Horatio Gates as an excuse for three main characters, Jamie, his wife Claire, and Jamie's nephew Ian Murray, to return to Scotland under the auspices of escorting Fraser's disinterred body back to his homeland.