Scope and Content Note
The microfilm edition of the papers of James Grant of Ballindalloch (1720-1806) spans the years 1740-1819, with the bulk of the material dating from 1760 to 1780. Largely in English but also containing Spanish and French material, the papers are organized in the following series: Governorship , Personal Papers , Army Career , Macpherson Family Papers , Archibald Montgomery Papers , and Oversize .
A survey of family papers at Ballindalloch Castle in Banffshire, Scotland, by staff of the National Register of Archives in Edinburgh, now the National Archives of Scotland, revealed that a substantial amount of these papers related to North America. Papers of James Grant were subsequently identified and removed for filming. Much of Grant’s correspondence showed evidence of a previous alphabetical arrangement. Since this arrangement had been disrupted, however, it was determined to establish a simple chronological arrangement for the items organized for filming.
The Governorship series contains papers relating to James Grant’s tenure as governor of the British province of East Florida (1763-1773) and spans the years 1764-1810. Correspondence consists primarily of incoming correspondence ranging from letters from colonial and trade officials in London to diplomatic communications with leaders of the Creek Indians. Included among the miscellaneous material are plans of land allocations, lists of East Florida planters, and Grant’s housekeeping receipts. The Governorship series also contains correspondence and miscellaneous business records from Grant’s indigo plantation in East Florida (1768-1783) and his letterbooks of outgoing correspondence from 1764 to 1771.
The Personal Papers series contains material pertaining to James Grant’s life and American connections.
The Army Career series includes records of Grant’s long military career. Having entered the British army in 1742, he retired from active military service in 1796. The series includes his army commissions and miscellaneous records from the 1740s and 1750s as well as financial accounts of the colony of Nova Scotia from 1754 to 1758. Grant’s expedition against the Cherokee Indians in 1761 and the British occupation of Cuba in 1762 are also represented. The series resumes with Grant’s return to the British army in 1775 and contains detailed material on his wartime experiences in the American colonies from 1775 to 1778 and his command of British forces in the West Indies from 1778 to 1780. Correspondents include the British generals Charles Cornwallis, Marquis, and William Howe, Viscount, Prime Minster William Pitt, and George Washington.
The Macpherson Family Papers series contains correspondence from two cousins of James Grant, John and Robert Macpherson, who served as British soldiers in North America in the French and Indian War and the American Revolution. The papers include firsthand accounts of the battle of Louisbourg. In letters to his family written in September and November of 1776, John Macpherson discussed the Battle of Long Island and subsequent military action in New Jersey. Two items concern his capture at the Battle of Princeton, 1777. A letter granting safe conduct signed by George Washington concerns the movement of supplies to the Hessians and the passage of a surgeon and medicines for the wounded at Princeton.
The Archibald Montgomery Papers consist of correspondence and miscellaneous records of the First Highland Battalion commanded by Montgomery. James Grant took part in the recruitment of the battalion in northern Scotland and served with it in North America in the 1750s. Many of the papers relate to British military offensives against Cherokee Indians in South Carolina. The series also includes receipts for tartan purchased in Glasgow for the soldiers’ highland dress.