View source for James Burd

{{about||the member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives|James M. Burd}}
[[File:Col James Burd attrib to Gilbert Stuart via HABS.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|From a portrait of Burd attributed to [[Gilbert Stuart]]]]
'''James Burd''' (March 10, 1725 – October 5, 1793) was a colonial American soldier in the [[French and Indian War]], during which he played an important role in fortifying the [[Pennsylvania]] frontier.

==Early life==
Born in [[Ormiston]], near [[Edinburgh, Scotland]], the son of Edward Burd, James Burd came to [[Philadelphia]], Pennsylvania in 1747 or 1748 where he worked as a merchant. On May 14, 1748, he married Sarah Shippen, daughter of former mayor [[Edward Shippen (II)|Edward Shippen]] of the prominent Shippen family of [[Philadelphia]]. The couple had eleven children, eight of whom lived to maturity, including [[Edward Burd]].

In 1752, he moved his young family to manage his father-in-law's vast land holdings in the area now known as
[[Shippensburg, Pennsylvania|Shippensburg]]. In August 1755, his father-in-law asked him to build [[Fort Morris (Pennsylvania)|Fort Morris]] in Shippensburg.<ref name = "Hunter">[http://libsysdigi.library.illinois.edu/OCA/Books2012-06/fortsonpennsylva00hunt/fortsonpennsylva00hunt.pdf Hunter, William Albert. ''Forts on the Pennsylvania Frontier: 1753–1758,'' (Classic Reprint). Fb&c Limited, 2018]</ref>{{rp|455}}

==Seven Years' War==
{{further|Great Britain in the Seven Years' War}}
In 1756, he settled on a farm in [[Lancaster County, Pennsylvania]], but soon joined the military as an officer at the outbreak of the French and Indian War. He was commissioned a major at [[Fort Augusta]] (at present-day [[Sunbury, Pennsylvania]]) in 1756, and on December 8, 1756, after the resignation of Lt. Col. [[William Clapham]], he took command of the fort. Under his command the fort's construction was completed, as well as the Provincial Road between the fort and Tulpehocken, the location of [[Conrad Weiser]]'s homestead (near present-day [[Reading, Pennsylvania|Reading]]).

In 1758, Burd was promoted to colonel. He went with [[John Forbes (British Army officer)|General John Forbes]] on the Duquesne Expedition under Colonel [[Henry Bouquet]], and 360 of the 400-man garrison participated in the expedition, leaving 40 men at Fort Augusta. During that campaign, Burd contributed to the construction of [[Fort Ligonier]]. After the fall of [[Fort Duquesne]], Burd was sent to the [[Erie, Pennsylvania|Erie]] area, where he supervised the construction of roads and fortifications.

Most importantly, upon his return from the Great Lakes region he oversaw the erection, with [[Joseph Shippen]], of [[Fort Burd]] (later confusedly called ''Redstone Old Fort'' due to its proximity to the [[Monongahela River]] tributary [[Redstone Creek (Pennsylvania)|Redstone Creek]]). The confusion comes from its being mistaken for a fort associated with the name "Hangard" which French and Native American forces burned repeatedly. Burd felt ill-advised to repeat the blunder, and directed his engineer, instead, to erect the bastion fort on a high bluff overlooking both the Monongahela River and [[Dunlap's Creek]].  From this site, at the Western terminus of [[Nemacolin Trail]] would develop [[Brownsville, Pennsylvania]], and this former trading Post would grow to serve as a historic depot for river transport to [[Fort Pitt (Pennsylvania)|Fort Pitt]] during the war and as the settlement expanded came to build many of the [[keel boat]]s and later, steam boats that transported settlers to the [[Northwest Territory]], [[Ohio Country]] and via the [[Missouri River Valley|Missouri Valley]], the [[American frontier|far west]] and the [[Oregon Country]]. He returned to Fort Augusta in 1760, where he remained until the dissolution of the Pennsylvania Regiment.

From 1764 to 1770 he held the office of Justice of Lancaster County.

In 1774, a year before the outbreak of hostilities with [[Great Britain]], Burd was instrumental in garnering local support for the colonial congress in its opposition to the Crown, and by the following year he was assisting in the military organization of Lancaster County as a member of the Committee of Safety. His direct military involvement in the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]] was brief, however, as he resigned his post in December 1776 because of a dispute concerning rank and [[insubordination]] in his command and some criticism from the Committee of Safety. He retired to civilian life, as a county judge.

He died at "Tinian", his farm near Highspire, [[Dauphin County, Pennsylvania]], on October 5, 1793. He and his wife (d. September 17, 1784) are buried near the entrance in the Old Presbyterian Cemetery in [[Middletown, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania|Middletown, Pennsylvania]].

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
*Cubbison, Douglas. ''The British Defeat of the French in Pennsylvania 1758: A Military History of the Forbes Campaign Against Fort Duquesne.'' Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 201.
*Nixon, Lily Lee. ''James Burd: Frontier Defender, 1726-1793''. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1941.

==External links==
*[http://www.augustaregt.org/Burd.htm Portrait and biography at the Augusta Regiment webpage]
*[http://www.pagenweb.org/~fayette/bios/burd001.html James Burd Biography, based on John W. Jordan, ''Genealogical and Personal History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania''] (New York, 1912), [[Fayette County, Pennsylvania]] Genealogical Site
*[http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-75 James Burd Pennsylvania Historical Marker]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927184343/http://www.amphilsoc.org/library/mole/b/burd.htm Burd-Shippen Papers, 1708-1792], [[American Philosophical Society Library]], [[Philadelphia]]
*[http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/bah/dam/mg/mg30.htm Burd-Shippen Family Collection, 1704-1900], at the [[Pennsylvania State Archives]], [[Harrisburg]], PA
*[http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/spec/findaids/burd1.htm Burd Family Papers] at the [[University of Delaware]] Morris Library, [[Newark, Delaware]]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20150610224647/http://www.dauphincountyhistory.org/research/archives/mg/435 James Burd papers] at the Historical Society of [[Dauphin County, Pennsylvania]]
*[http://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/clementsmss/umich-wcl-M-1898bur?view=text Burd-Shippen Papers 1738-1847, at the William L. Clements Library], [[University of Michigan]]
*{{Find a Grave|10921311}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burd, James}}
[[Category:1726 births]]
[[Category:1793 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Ormiston]]
[[Category:Scottish emigrants to the Thirteen Colonies]]
[[Category:People from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:People from Shippensburg, Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:People of Pennsylvania in the French and Indian War]]
[[Category:People of Pennsylvania in the American Revolution]]
[[Category:Merchants from colonial Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:18th-century American merchants]]