Series 12 - James Gordon memoirs

34pp

Photocopy of Mayer, Josephine (1936). 'The Reminiscences of James Gordon', New York State Historical Association Proceedings 34 (pp. 316-333, 423-439), plus Kerby A. Miller's summary notes.
James Gordon (1739-1810) was a native of Killead, County Antrim whose memoirs describe his experiences in colonial New York between 1758 and 1768, as well as his capture during the American Revolution. Gordon left Ireland in 1758 at age nineteen, arriving in New York with merchandise intended for trade. Over the next decade he worked as a sutler with Rogers’ Rangers, a clerk for the trading firm of Askin and Rogers, and later an independent trader in Oswego. His account provides valuable details of frontier commerce, including the fur trade, military supply networks, and relations with Indigenous peoples and British military posts.
After returning briefly to Ireland, Gordon settled in Ballston, New York, where he acquired land, built mills, and helped establish a growing Scots-Irish community. During the American Revolution he became a prominent Patriot leader, serving in the New York Assembly, the militia, and local government. He advocated measures against Loyalists and defended frontier settlements.
In 1780 British and Indigenous forces raided Ballston, capturing Gordon and taking him to Canada. He later escaped and returned home. Following the war, he resumed public service as a brigadier general, congressman, state senator, and trustee of Union College. Retiring after his wife’s death, Gordon died in 1810; he wrote down his memoirs some time around 1803.