Beginnings 1774 1775 1776 1777 1778 1779 1780 1781

1776

1 January – The Regiment is officially conveyed from Lord Robert Bertie to Colonel Richard Prescott.

March - Recruitment efforts in England pay off, and while the majority of the Fusiliers are held as POWs, a detachment of recruits from England arrive in Boston. Their stay is short, however, as General Howe ordered his Army to evacuate the city, and on March 27 they sailed to Halifax, Nova Scotia.
(Historical Record of the Seventh or Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, pg 70)

April 23 – The Fusiliers celebrate St. George’s Day in a raucous manner. In 1780, an imprisoned General Moultrie would recall an incident involving the Royal Fusiliers while the regiment was held as prisoners of war in Carlisle, PA. Moultrie was being held as a POW outside of Charlestown, SC, in Haddrell’s Point in Christ Church Parish in the house of Loyalist Colonel Pinckney. Cornwallis had called on Moultrie to answer for the recent “despicable” behavior of his imprisoned troops during an Independence Day celebration. Moultrie replied by calling attention to the behavior of the British POWs at the prison barracks in Carlisle, PA:

• "… the Seventh Regiment … celebrated the anniversary of St. George's Day, when prisoners at Carlisle; and the convention troops [i.e. Burgoyne's army] kept the birthday of his Britannic Majesty both in the year '78 and '79, without the harsh animadversion of 'indecent abuse of lenity' and 'gross outrage!’ "
• (The History of South Carolina in the Revolution, Edward McCrady, pg 344-347)

19 May - Captain Forester’s light infantry company of the 8^th regiment, along with 100 Canadians and 200 Indians, attack “the Cedars”, a fort about 43 miles above Montreal, which was held by the American Colonel Beadle and 390 rebels. Captain Forester took the fort and made the occupants his prisoners or war. It was this action that enabled the British to use the American prisoners as a bargaining chip to effect the release of those soldiers taken as prisoners of war at Fort Chambly and Fort St John seven months previous.
(Historical Record of the Seventh or Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, pg 70)

Autumn - The detachment that had arrived in March arrive in New York.
(Historical Record of the Seventh or Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, pg 70)

2 December - The regiment marches into New York (then the regimental headquarters) where it receives new clothing, joins up with its new recruits  and resumes its regimental duties.
(Historical Record of the Seventh or Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, pg 70)

Based in and around New York 1776-77

“At Amboy – 23^rd and 71^st regiments; the remains of the 7^th and 76^th regiments; a detachment of Dragoons; and the Waldeck regiment.
(“The Arrangements for Winter Quarters of His Majesty’s Troops, in North America, 1776.” – Naval and Military Memoirs of Great Britain 1727 – 1783, vol. VI, pg 64)

Gen. Sir William Howe’s Orders:
“HEAD QUARTERS, New York, Dec. 21^st, 1776.
Parole, Oxford ; Countersign, Warwick.

The 7th. and 26th. Regiments, as soon as they have received their Arms, are to proceed immediately to their intended Cantonments ; The 7th. to Newbridge, and 26th. to Hackinsack. The Commander-in-Chief has the Honour of communicating to the Army that the Behaviour of the Officers and Soldiers, both British and Hessian, on the 27th. August last, has received his Majesty's strongest Approbation.
…
The 7th. and 26th. Regiments to be on the General Parade to-morrow at 12 o'Clock.”
(Kemble Papers, pg 426-27)

“HEAD QUARTERS, New York, 23d. Dec., 1776.
Parole, Tuscany ; Countersign, Florence.
…
The 7th. and 26th. Regiments are to embark tomorrow for the Jerseys; they will land at Fort Lee and march to Newbridge and Hackinsack, there to remain till further Orders.“

“HEAD QUARTERS, New York, Dec. 24th., 1776.
Parole, Recourse ; Counter Sign, Magdeburg. The 7th. and 26th. Regiments to be at Powles Hook”
[rest unreadable]
(Kemble Papers, pgs 428-9)

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