Adam Charles Muir: An Officer From the Ranks of the 41st Regiment

By Tom Fournier

An Officer of the 41st Regiment whose service with the Regiment began shortly after it changed its character from an Invalid Regiment to a Regiment of the Line.

Muir was born in Scotland (the year of his birth is unclear with 1766 and 1770 being given)

The 41st became a Regiment of the Line in 1787.  Muir joined as an enlisted man in 1788.

In a remarkably short period of time, he became a Serjeant within 5 months.  This was likely not just due to his qualities but also to the fact that the 41st were in the need for capable NCOs as it scaled up to be able to serve as a Regiment of the Line.

​The 41st Regiment served in the Caribbean during the French Revolutionary Wars from 1793 to 1796. During this deployment, the regiment suffered heavy losses primarily from disease rather than combat.

During this time in the Caribbean, Muir rose to the rank of Serjeant Major in 1793.  He then had the somewhat rare distinction of being promoted to an Officer in the rank of Ensign in later in 1793.  As Ensign, he assumed responsibility as the Adjutant for the Regiment.

In this time period, Officers were typically from the upper classes of society.  Men from the ranks did not fit or mix well with the Officers.  Of the routes to becoming an Officer from the ranks, one of the most common was for a Serjeant Major to be promoted to Adjutant.  In this time period both roles were the soldiers with the primary responsibility for knowing the various aspects of drill and training the soldiers.  The adjutant would also help train young Officers.

While still in the Caribbean, Muir was further promoted to Lieutenant in 1794.

As the 41st’s service in the Caribbean was wrapping up, only the Officers and a cadre of experienced Serjeants were transferred back to the United Kingdom.  The surviving soldiers were transferred into other regiments where they were desperately needed to offset losses due to illnesses.

While with the 41st in the Caribbean, Muir would have taken part in the captures of Martinique, St Lucia and Guadeloupe as well as the capture of San Domingo in Hispaniola (modern day Haiti).

The 41st were active recruiting and rebuilding in the United Kingdom and ultimately sailed from Cork, Ireland for Canada in 1799.

While in Canada, in 1801 Muir married a Montreal woman, Mary Elizabeth Bender who also happened to be the sister of Lieutenant Benoit Bender of the 41st Regiment.

While in Canada, Muir was promoted to Captain in 1804.

In 1805, while stationed along the Detroit River, Muir was involved in an altercation seeking to recapture a deserter who had gone to Detroit.  Muir and an Ensign reported into the American garrison and spent some time socializing with the American Officers before going out into the community to arrest their deserter.  A number of the American Officers joined in on what they thought would be a fun adventure.  The public rose up against the Officers trying to protect the deserter.  A pistol was accidentally discharged and a ball passed through Muir’s calf.

Muir and the Ensign were arrested and had massive fines levied against them which ultimately were all discharged.  Amongst the American Officers were Porter Hanks and Abraham Hull.

A more detailed article on this incident can be found here.

Muir and his wife had a very large family eventually totalling six sons and four daughters.  Supporting a large family and with no other wealth beyond his pay as an Officer, Muir was desperately poor.  He faced jokes and criticisms for continuing to wear the old-style Officers’ coat because he could not afford the purchase of a new coat that followed the 1812 clothing warrant.

Muir was known to have carried a short rifle or carbine into action with him.  He often had command of the Light Company.

As war was declared in 1812, Muir was once again in the Detroit area.  He was part of attacks on the American side of the river interrupting the flow of supplies to Hull’s army in Detroit.  These occurred at Brownstown and Maguaga – where Muir sustained a wound in his leg.

Muir was part of Brock’s capture of Detroit, where he was given a brevet (temporary) rank of Major to lead one of the British columns.  Muir was awarded a Gold Medal for his part in the Capture of Detroit.

After the fall of Detroit, indigenous warriors invested Fort Wayne in Indiana in a siege and sent word to the British asking for support.  Muir led a small force of regulars along with a small cannon deep into Ohio as they traveled towards Fort Wayne.  In the area of modern-day Defiance, Ohio, Muir received word that the American garrison at Fort Wayne were relieved and a large American force was heading his way.  Muir successfully extricated all of his men and equipment and brought them back to Fort Amherstburg.

Muir remained in the Detroit area.  In January of 1813 he was part of the Battle of the River Raisin (modern day Monroe, Michigan). 

In May of 1813, Muir was part of the invading British force to the rapids in area of Fort Meigs (modern day Perrysburg and Maumee, Ohio).  When the Americans captured the British batteries on the west side of the river, Muir led one of the attacking relief columns from the British camp in the ruins of Fort Miamis.

Here his humanity shone through as he was part of the British Officers “purchasing” American Prisoners from the Indigenous Warriors and thereby gaining their release.

In July of 1813, Muir was with the British as they joined Tecumseh and his warriors for what is known as Tecumseh’s sham battle which failed to draw the American garrison out of Fort Meigs.  The force went onto Fort Stephenson which was thought to be lightly garrisoned.  This force met disaster as they attacked the palisaded fort with no scaling ladders, blunt axes and were mown down in the ditches by the cannon known as “Old Betsy.”

In the late summer of 1813, Muir had command of the garrison in Detroit.  After the British loss at the Battle of Lake Erie, a decision was made to abandon Amherstburg, Sandwich and Detroit.  Muir crossed the Detroit River to join the column where he commanded the rear guard.

The British decided to turn and fight on the 13th of October at the Battle of the Thames (Moraviantown).

Muir along with many of the men and Officers of the 41st Regiment were captured at this battle and marched into captivity in the States.  The Officers were ultimately moved to Frankfort, Kentucky where initially they were billeted in the town on their parole.  The Officers were soon caught up in an escalating series of retaliations between the Americans and British and moved into the local jail.

For more on this, read an article about a letter from an imprisoned Officer of the 41st Regiment here.

Muir and a number of the other Officers were exchanged in the late Spring of 1814 and they had to find their way back to Upper Canada.

The men of the 41st Regiment were not to be released until later that fall so the 41st had a surplus of Officers with the result that many were assigned to other duties.  Muir was at the area of Brant’s Ford in November 1814 leading a mixed force of regulars and militia that prevented the crossing of McArthur’s Raid.

As the war was winding down, the 41st Regiment and many of its Officers went to Europe where they arrived too late for Waterloo but were part of the Army of Occupation in Paris.

In September 1816, Muir was the Officer of the Day for the Dublin Garrison.  The horse he sat upon slipped and severely injured Muir.  There were suggestions his legs were frail from the previous wounds he had received.  Unable to sufficiently recover, he was deemed unfit for further service causing him to resign in 1818 after which he received a modest pension.

Muir and his family returned to Lower Canada to settle but he was unsuccessful and desperately poor.

He was moved to William Henry in Lower Canada where there was a military asylum for invalids.  He died there in 1829.
His widow Elizabeth wrote a petition asking for support, citing Muir’s amazing record of service.

She added “he is gone; he died broken hearted”
​
His one son, George Manly Muir, went on to become Clerk of the Legislative Assembly in Quebec.  He is also considered the founder of the St. Vincent de Paul Society in Ontario.