The Ballston Raid of 1780 was one of three coordinated raids launched primarily out of Canada in late September 1780 which struck upstate New York targets in Albany, Tryon, and Charlotte counties, including present-day Saratoga County, NY.
Ballston resident William Fraser was Captain of a group of 34 Loyalists known as Fraser’s Rangers. They were part of a 200-man force commanded by Captain John Munro of the King’s Royal Regiment.
(Munro had been an Albany County Justice of the Peace during the New Hampshire Grants dispute with Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys.)
On October 7, 1780 Munro led a force of British Regulars, Loyalists, and Mohawks southwest from Crown Point, splitting off from a larger force commanded by Major Christopher Carlton of the 29th Regiment. While Carlton went on to raid Fort Anne and Fort George at the southern end of Lake George, Munro marched toward Ballston.
The 1780 Raid on Ballston, described in more detail here, is the subject of a new documentary, “America 250: The Ballston Connection.” A premiere showing will take place in the Town Meeting Room at Ballston Town Hall, 323 Charlton Road, in Ballston Spa, NY, on October 28, 2024 at 6:30 pm. The event is open to the public.
Video Still: After the Raid on Ballston in 1780, the British marched the captured colonial Patriots to Canada.
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