British Officer American Revolutionary War. He is most remembered for his military actions, as a young man, during the Revolutionary War in South Carolina. After arriving from Scotland, he had settled before the war in New Jersey. Commissioned a lieutenant in the New York Volunteers in August 1777, he had acted as its adjutant and then as quartermaster. As his service in the South began, he was seconded as quartermaster to General Nesbit Balfour’s detachment. A spirited and able officer, he would, as recommended by Balfour, receive a warrant from General Charles Cornwallis to raise a company of which he was appointed captain. He proceeded to take part on August 19, 1780 in the action against General Elijah Clark of Georgia at Musgrove’s Mill, where he was wounded. His commanding officer, Lt. Col. Alexander Innes, was also wounded. The British lost a couple of hundred men, whereas Clark lost four and retreated to the woods of Georgia. Shortly afterwards Cornwallis appointed him to the majority of the South Carolina Royalist Regiment and backdated the order to August 10,1780; on August 10, 1780, at age 25, he had been appointed to the rank of major. With the recall soon after of Innes to New York, Fraser would take command of the units in the field and became an active part in operations in South Carolina; this is outlined to some extent in “The Cornwallis Papers”. On March 6, 1781 at Radcliff’s Bridge, he faced Brigadier General Thomas Sumter; he lost twenty men, whereas Sumter lost ten. The town of Sumter, South Carolina was named in the honor of General Sumter. While in command of 200 Tories, he faced the “Swamp Fox” Francis Marion on August 29, 1782 at Fair Lawn; this was Marion’s last battle and he was victorious. When the regiment was disbanded at the close of the war, he was placed on the Provincial half-pay list and retired to South Carolina. Many royalist returned to England. Marrying there, he engaged at first in the lumber business by establishing saw mills on the Edisto River, this business did not appear to prosper. He then became a factor or commission merchant in Charleston, South Carolina. Until his death he continued to receive half-pay, and his widow was granted a pension by the British Crown.