Major-General Nisbet Balfour (Dunbog

Dunbog

Dunbog is a parish in the county of Fife in Scotland. The parish is of entirely rural character, with no actual village - only a collection of farm houses. Dunbog parish is bounded on the north by the River Tay, on the south by Monimail, on the east by Flisk and Creich, and on the west by Abdie....

, 1743 – 10 October 1823, Dunbog) was a British soldier in the American War of Independence and later a Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 (MP) in the British Parliament

Parliament of Great Britain

The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and Parliament of Scotland...

.

He was born in Dunbog, in the county of Fife, Scotland in 1743. Joining the 4th Regiment of Foot as ensign in 1761, He rose to become one of Cornwallis' most trusted officers during the American Revolution. He fought and was severely injured in the Battle of Bunker Hill

Battle of Bunker Hill

The Battle of Bunker Hill took place on June 17, 1775, mostly on and around Breed's Hill, during the Siege of Boston early in the American Revolutionary War...

 (Breed's Hill) and also participated in battles in Elizabethtown, Brandywine, and Germantown

Battle of Germantown

The Battle of Germantown, a battle in the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War, was fought on October 4, 1777, at Germantown, Pennsylvania between the British army led by Sir William Howe and the American army under George Washington...

, and was made Lieutenant-Colonel in 1778. He accompanied Cornwallis to Charleston

Charleston, South Carolina

Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...

where he was sometimes commandant. He was promoted to Major General in 1793 and served in the war with France. He died in October 1823 in Dunbog, Scotland.

Family

Descendants and kin include the Stewarts of St Fort, Fife, Scotland,
as well as John Stewart of Urrard, son of Robert Stewart of Fincastle and the Athol Stewarts.
Elizabeth Mure of Rowallan.
Reference is made in the 1842, 1853, and 1863 editions of Sir Bernard Burke's A Genalogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain, Volume 2. In the 1863 edition on page 1437 mentions one William Campbell and states that he assumed the additional surnames of Stewart and Balfour to conform with the terms of the will of his maternal uncle, Lieut. General Nisbet Balfour.