John MacDonell

Who was John MacDonell?

Colonel John MacDonell of Scotus was a Spanish officer and a Highland gentleman who emigrated to the Province of New York in 1773. He was a Loyalist in the American Revolutionary War and emigrated to Upper Canada after the war.

He was born 1728 into the clan MacDonell of Glengarry, the son of John of Crowlin. As a boy he was sent to the Scots College in Rome. He obtained a commission in one of the Irish regiments in the service of Spain. He saw some action in Italy and was promoted from cadet to lieutenant before volunteering. In 1746 he was part of the invasion force which the French government assembled, Irish Brigade, to assist the Jacobite rebels in Britain. In 1773 he emigrated with others in his clan to Caughnawaga in the Mohawk valley of the Province of New York at the invitation of Sir William Johnson.

After the war he settled in Upper Canada near St. Andrew's where he died on April 15, 1810.

His son Miles Macdonell was the first governor of what is now Manitoba, another son John McDonell become a political figure in Upper Canada.