W. O. 71/87 p. 209 - 250, Public Record Office

Proceedings of a General Court Martial held in the Camp at Rhode Island on Monday the 7th of September 1778, by virtue of Warrants from His Excellency Sir Henry Clinton, Knight of the Most Honorable Order of the Bath, General and Commander in Chief of all His Majesty's Forces within the Colonies, laying on the Atlantic Ocean, from Nova Scotia to West Florida inclusive, &ca &ca &ca. Dated at Head Quarters, in Newport, September the 2d 1778.

Lieutenant Colonel John Campbell [22nd Regiment] President.

Members

Lieut. Col. Andrew Bruce [54th Regiment] Lieut. Col. Rawlins Hillman [22nd Regiment]

Capt. Stephen Bromfield [43th Regiment] Capt. Thomas Coore [54th Regiment]

Capt. Duncan Cameron [54th Regiment] Capt. John Bachop [54th Regiment]

Capt. William Miller [43th Regiment] Capt. William Wade [38th Regiment]

Capt. Robert Lindsay [22nd Regiment] Capt. Michael Seix [22nd Regiment]

Capt. John Rowland [22nd Regiment] Capt. Thomas Cornwall [not identified]

Capt. Andrew Maxwell [not identified] Capt. Thomas Chapman [not identified]

Captain Henry Barry, Deputy Judge Advocate

Saturday September 12th 1778, The Court being assembled.

Prisoner Bartholomy Gillmore, private Soldier in the 22d Regiment and the Colonel's Company being brought before the Court, was charged with being Guilty of Desertion.

1st Evidence. Serjeant John Gilbert, of the same Regiment and Company with the Prisoner, being duly sowrn deposes, that on the Evening of the 31st of July last, the Prisoner was missing from the Company, to which he did not return for two nights, and the best part of as many days, when he was brought back a Prisoner, and without his Cloaths.

2d Evidence. Patrick Dunn, private Soldier in the same Regiment being duly sworn, deposes, that on the second of August last, being on Guard at Bristol Ferry, he, with another Soldier walking near it, found the Prisoner in a Fen, and took him to the Officer of the Guard, to whom they delivered him, and that he was then without any other Cloathing than a Shirt and Trowsers.

3d Evidence. Timothy Connel, of the same Regiment being duly sworn and examined by the Court, deposes exactly the in every respect the same as the former Evidence.

Defence.

The Prisoner Bartholomy Gillmore, being called to and put on his Defence, says, that he never had any intention to Desert, but that he got drunk the Evening he quitted Camp, in which Condition he fell a sleep, and had his Cloaths stole, and this making him affraid to return to Camp, was the cause of his remaining so long absent from it.

The Court having heard and considered the Evidence against the Prisoner Bartholomy Gillmore, as also his Defence, is of Opinion he is Guilty of the Crime laid to his Charge, being a Breach of the first Article of the Sixth Section of the Articles of War, and doth therefore Adjudge him to suffer Death.

John Campbell

Lieut. Col. 22nd Regt.

Henry Barry

D. J. Advocate

Confirmed

HClinton

Bartholomew Gilmore had a rather infamous career in the army. He was recruited in Ireland some time after the beginning of the war, and deserted from the recruiting party. He was apprehended, and was one of a large contingent of recruits that sailed from Portsmouth in August of 1776, joining the 22d Regiment in American in late October and being placed in General Gage's company. He apparently was pardoned from his sentence above, for he was tried in 1779 for robbery and another desertion, and again he was sentenced to death. Unaccountably, this sentence was also not remitted, and he was discharged from the army in September of 1780.

John Gilbert was a baker born in 1743 in Brampton, County Norfolk. He joined the army around 1764; by 1776 he was a Corporal in General Gage's company of the 22nd Regiment, and was promoted to Serjeant on May 4, 1778. He was wounded during the war, but it is not known when. He was discharged in 1783, and received a pension from Chelsea Hospital.

Patrick Dunn was added to the regiment's payrolls in August of 1776, but may not have joined the regiment in America until the summer of 1777. He served in Christopher French's company.

Timothy Connel was one of several soldiers from the 50th Regiment of Foot, who were drafted into the 22nd Regiment as soon as the 50th arrived in America during the Summer of 1776. A weaver from Cork, Ireland, born in 1747, he served in two battalion companies before being transferred to the Light Infantry company in 1780. He was among the soldiers captured at Yorktown, and eventually returned to England to be discharged and receive a pension in 1785, having served 17 years in the army.

Transcript Source: First Recreated 22nd Foot Website - H. Joswick