James Henry Craig

Sir James Craig
Sir James Craig by Schipper
Born	1748 Gibraltar
Died	12 January 1812 (aged 63) London
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army
Rank	General
Commands held	Indian Army
Battles/wars	American Revolutionary War Battle of Bunker Hill Battle of Quebec Battle of Trois-Rivières Saratoga Campaign Battle of Ticonderoga Battle of Hubbardton Battle of Saratoga Penobscot Expedition Southern Campaign French Revolutionary Wars Battle of Muizenberg Napoleonic Wars Anglo-Russian invasion of Naples
Awards	Knight of the Order of the Bath

General Sir James Henry Craig KB (1748 – 12 January 1812) was a British military officer and colonial administrator.

Craig came from a Scottish family whose father was a judge of the civil and military courts in the British fortress of Gibraltar. At the age of 15 in 1763 he was enrolled as an ensign in the 30th (Cambridgeshire) Regiment of Foot. Colonel Robert Boyd, the lieutenant governor of Gibraltar in 1770 endorsed his promotion to an aide-de-camp which allowed him to later take command of a company in the 47th (Lancashire) Regiment of Foot stationed in the American colonies.

After the outbreak of the War of Independence in 1775, Craig took part in the Battle of Bunker Hill, where he was badly wounded, but refused to leave his regiment, and participated in the defence of Quebec in 1776, where he met the American invaders at Trois-Rivières while commanding the advance guard that forced them back beyond the border. During 1777 he was wounded twice, once seriously, during engagements at Fort Ticonderoga, Hubbardton, and Freeman’s Farm. Major-General John Burgoyne, who expressed high regard for Craig as an officer, recommended him for the rank of a major in the 82nd Regiment of Foot (Prince of Wales's Volunteers) in recognition of his service. From 1778 to 1781 Craig served with the 82nd Regiment in Nova Scotia, at Penobscot, and later in North Carolina. Due to constant involvement in operations during the war, Craig usually led light infantry troops. His rapid promotion suggests that Craig possessed an unusual degree of initiative and resourcefulness.