66 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



Ultimately, on recourse to more exact records, the following were 

 found to be the principal facts of his career: 



Gerrit (or Garret) Fisher was born at or near Albany on the 

 24th October, 1742, a member of a once noted New York family of 

 Dutch descent usually spelling their name "Visscher." His branch 

 was intimately allied with some of the principal manorial gentry who, 

 before the Revolution and long after it, ruled that Province. It 

 was intermarried with the Van Rensselaers, Schuylers, Wendells and 

 others, who always supported with spirit the plans and operations of 

 the armies engaged in the wars with Canada. In 1757, towards the 

 closing year of those wars, a brilliant young Commander-in-Chief 

 appeared at Albany — Lord Howe, "the earlier Wolfe," who, as a 

 matter of fact, was greatly admired by Wolfe himself. The hopes of 

 the British army and of its friends were placed upon him, until his 

 lamented death in the battle of Ticonderoga in 1757. His own corps, 

 the Fifty-fifth, or Westmoreland Regiment of Foot, reflected the 

 fame of its colonel, and fought tenaciously when he fell, suffering 

 heavy losses. It had been formed, partly in Scotland, in 1755 for 

 service in America. After Lord Howe's death it came in 1759 under 

 the colonelcy of a highly esteemed soldier, "that singularly worthy 

 and benevolent character" Sir Adolphus Oughton, under whom it was 

 known as "Oughton's Regiment," after a custom of the period. He 

 is mentioned in Wolfe's will. "Oughton's" served with Sir Jeffrey 

 Amherst's army in the conquest of Montreal and consequent final 

 reduction of Canada. Several commissions were at that time thrown 

 open to the young New York gentry; and thus, on the 8th of Sep- 

 tember, 1761, Garret Fisher entered as ensign. 



On the declaration of peace in 1763, the Fifty-fifth were to have 

 been sent home, but the conspiracy of Pontiac in that year caused 

 them to be detained a further two years. A partial picture of their 

 life in Western New York is contained in the charming pages of 

 Mrs. Grant of Laggan's "Memoirs of an American Lady," the 

 authoress's father having been an officer of the corps. Just as they 

 were at length on the point of departing for Britain, they were once 

 more detained and the greater part of them sent to the f-ever-haunted 

 marshes of Pensacola in Florida, to their hearty disappointment. 

 Among the latter was Fisher. They seem to have been partly in 

 Ireland and partly in the Island of St. Kitt's at the outbreak of the 

 Revolution in 1775, and returning served in that war until 1783. 

 But family tradition states that Fisher was excused because of his 

 relationship to many of the patriots in military positions, for families 

 were much divided. This does not seem likely. 



