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Major Major ( commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicato ...
John Pitcairn (28 December 1722 – 17 June 1775) was a Marine Service officer who was stationed in
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
, at the start of the
American War of Independence The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
. Born in Scotland in 1722, Pitcairn joined the Naval Service at the age of 23 and was stationed in Canada during the
French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the st ...
serving as a captain of Marines. He arrived in
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
in 1774 and the next year was one of the leading officers of the
Battles of Lexington and Concord The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. The battles were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord, ...
, which marked the start of the American Revolution. Two months later in June, Pitcairn was killed in action during the
Battle of Bunker Hill The Battle of Bunker Hill was fought on June 17, 1775, during the Siege of Boston in the first stage of the American Revolutionary War. The battle is named after Bunker Hill in Charlestown, Massachusetts, which was peripherally involved in ...
. Considered one of the most respected British officers by both his men and the colonists, he was buried at the
Old North Church Old North Church (officially, Christ Church in the City of Boston), at 193 Salem Street, in the North End, Boston, is the location from which the famous "One if by land, two if by sea" signal is said to have been sent. This phrase is related ...
in Boston.


Early life and education

Pitcairn was born in 1722 in Dysart, a port town in
Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross ...
,
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...
. His parents were
the Reverend The Reverend is an honorific style most often placed before the names of Christian clergy and ministers. There are sometimes differences in the way the style is used in different countries and church traditions. ''The Reverend'' is correctl ...
David Pitcairn and Katherine (Hamilton) Pitcairn. An older brother, was
William Pitcairn William Pitcairn (9 May 1712 – 25 November 1791) was a Scottish physician and botanist. He was born in Dysart, Fife, the second son of the Revd David Pitcairn. A younger brother was John Pitcairn, who became a British Marine officer and was ...
, who later became a botanist, doctor and president of the Royal College of Physicians. John Pitcairn entered the Marines when he was twenty-three, was commissioned as a lieutenant in 1746, served in
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...
during the
French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the st ...
as a captain, and was promoted to major in 1771. In 1774 he arrived in Boston, Massachusetts, in command of 600 Marines assigned to support the British forces in the increasingly resistive colony.


Career

John Pitcairn was respected by the citizens in Boston as one of the more reasonable officers in the occupying force. He was in command of the advance party that marched on Lexington and Concord on 19 April 1775, which began the
American War of Independence The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
. His horse was shot from under him, and he lost a pair of matched pistols when the column's baggage was abandoned. Patriot leader Israel Putnam would carry them through the rest of the war.


Death

At the
Battle of Bunker Hill The Battle of Bunker Hill was fought on June 17, 1775, during the Siege of Boston in the first stage of the American Revolutionary War. The battle is named after Bunker Hill in Charlestown, Massachusetts, which was peripherally involved in ...
two months later, Major Pitcairn commanded a reserve force of about 300 Marines. They landed at the south end of the Charlestown peninsula. When the first assaults failed, Pitcairn led his men up the hill toward the American position. Although already being wounded by two gunshots, he led his men through the rebel trenches. When he entered the trenches, he was shot four times, including the final blow, which was a wound to the head, said to have been fired by a former slave named
Peter Salem Peter Salem (October 1, 1750 – August 16, 1816)BlackPast.org
"Salem, Peter"
was an < ...
. He toppled into the arms of his son, Thomas, also a Marine officer, who cried out, "I have lost my father!" Some Marines tried to console the son, while others, overcome with emotion, openly wept. Pitcairn was carried back to Boston, where he died of his wound within hours. He is buried at the
Old North Church Old North Church (officially, Christ Church in the City of Boston), at 193 Salem Street, in the North End, Boston, is the location from which the famous "One if by land, two if by sea" signal is said to have been sent. This phrase is related ...
in Boston. After the battle, the redcoats said they "had all lost a father".
John Trumbull John Trumbull (June 6, 1756November 10, 1843) was an American artist of the early independence period, notable for his historical paintings of the American Revolutionary War, of which he was a veteran. He has been called the "Painter of the Re ...
's painting of the Battle of Bunker Hill depicts Pitcairn's death, though with several errors and anachronisms. Since no portrait of him is known to exist, Pitcairn's son
David Pitcairn David Pitcairn M.D. (1749–1809) was a Scottish physician. Life Born on 1 May 1749 in Fife, he was eldest son of Major John Pitcairn, who was killed at the battle of Bunker's Hill; Robert Pitcairn (1752–) was his brother. He was sent to Ed ...
was used as a model by Trumbull. The uniform depicted in it was not actually adopted by the Marines until the 1780s. Pitcairn is shown falling at the crest at its capture from the American force, while he was actually shot starting to climb the hill. Major Pitcairn is also depicted at the painting of the Battle of Lexington in the U.S. Capitol rotunda.


Family

John Pitcairn married Elizabeth Dalrymple (1724–1809), a daughter of Robert Dalrymple. Together they had four other sons and four daughters. One son,
Robert Pitcairn Robert Pitcairn (May 6, 1836 – July 25, 1909) was a Scottish-American railroad executive who headed the Pittsburgh Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad in the late 19th century. He was the brother of the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company (now P ...
, was a
midshipman A midshipman is an officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Canada (Naval Cadet), Australia, Bangladesh, Namibia, New Zealand, South Af ...
in the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...
. On 3 July 1767 the 15-year-old boy, aboard the sloop HMS ''Swallow'', was the first person to sight an unknown island in the south Pacific. The captain named the island Pitcairn's Island in the boy's honour. Later, in 1770, Robert Pitcairn was aboard an
East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Sou ...
ship that vanished without trace en route to the
Comoro Islands The Comoro Islands or Comoros ( Shikomori ''Komori''; ar, جزر القمر , ''Juzur al-qamar''; french: Les Comores) form an archipelago of volcanic islands situated off the southeastern coast of Africa, to the east of Mozambique and nort ...
. Another daughter, Catherine Pitcairn, married Charles Cochrane, son of the 8th Earl of Dundonald and a first cousin of Admiral
Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, Marquess of Maranhão (14 December 1775 – 31 October 1860), styled Lord Cochrane between 1778 and 1831, was a British naval flag officer of the Royal Navy, mercenary and Radical politician. He was a ...
.


In popular culture

*Pitcairn appears in ''
April Morning ''April Morning'' is a 1961 novel by Howard Fast, about Adam Cooper's coming of age during the Battle of Lexington. One critic notes that in the beginning of the novel he is "dressed down by his father, Moses, misunderstood by his mother, Sarah ...
'', a 1961 novel by Howard Fast depicting the
Battles of Lexington and Concord The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. The battles were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord, ...
. Pitcairn is also a character in the novel ''
Johnny Tremain ''Johnny Tremain'' is a work of historical fiction written in 1943 by Esther Forbes that is set in Boston prior to and during the outbreak of the American Revolution. Intended for teen-aged readers, the novel's themes include apprenticeship, co ...
''. *Pitcairn is a secondary antagonist in the video game ''
Assassin's Creed III ''Assassin's Creed III'' is a 2012 action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U, and Microsoft Windows. It is the fifth major installment in the ''Assassin's Creed'' serie ...
''. Pitcairn was rescued and recruited by Haytham Kenway to support the Templars' aims of controlling a fledgling America's future in the name of the Templar Order. In the game, he can either be assassinated on his horse from high in the trees during the
Battle of Bunker Hill The Battle of Bunker Hill was fought on June 17, 1775, during the Siege of Boston in the first stage of the American Revolutionary War. The battle is named after Bunker Hill in Charlestown, Massachusetts, which was peripherally involved in ...
or fought as a
boss Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, a ...
, by the protagonist Kanienʼkehá꞉ka Assassin Ratonhnhaké:ton. *Pitcairn is a supporting character in the
History Channel History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney ...
's three-part
miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format ...
''Sons of Liberty'' which aired in 2015. He is portrayed by Irish actor Kevin Ryan. *Pitcairn's tomb can be found in the video game ''
Fallout 4 ''Fallout 4'' is a 2015 action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is the fourth main game in the ''Fallout'' series and was released worldwide on November 10, 2015, for PlayStation 4, ...
'', in the Railroad's headquarters, found under the Old North Church's ruins, in Boston. This corresponds with where Pitcairn actually was laid to rest.


References


External links


Major JOHN PITCAIRN, Marines
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pitcairn, John 1722 births 1775 deaths British military personnel killed in the American Revolutionary War British military personnel of the French and Indian War Royal Navy personnel of the American Revolutionary War People from Dysart, Fife Royal Marines officers Scottish soldiers