Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Donkin, Robert

DONKIN, Robert, British soldier, b. 19 March, 1727; d. near Bristol, England, in March, 1821. He entered the army in 1746, was at the siege of Belle Isle in 1761, afterward served in Flanders with Wolfe, and through the Seven years' war. and was aide-de-camp and secretary to Gen. Rufane, governor and commander-in-chief at Martinique. He was commissioned captain in 1770, and had risen to the rank of general in 1809. He served through the whole of the American war from 1775 till 1783, in the early part of it as aide-de-camp to Gen. Gage, and then as major of the 44th regiment. He was the author of " Military Collections and Remarks" (New York, 1777, "published for the benefit of the children and widows of the valiant soldiers inhumanly and wantonly butchered when peacefully marching to and from Concord, April 19, 1775, by the rebels").