Barrimore Matthew "Barry" St. Leger bapt. Leger was active in the Saratoga Campaigncommanding an invasion force that unsuccessfully besieged Fort Stanwix. Leger remained on the frontier for the duration of the war; after its conclusion, he served briefly as commander of British forces in Quebec.
Leger was baptised on 1 May in County Kildare, Ireland. He was the brother of Gen. The St Legers of Kildare were a junior branch of the family of Viscount Doneraileand the Pennefathers were a wealthy landowning family in County Tipperary. He was educated at Eton Collegeand then at Peterhouse, Cambridge.
He was appointed brigade-major in July and served as a staff officer in the campaign against Montreal under James Murray. On 16 SeptemberSt. Leger was promoted to major in the 95th Regiment of Foot. When the American Revolutionary War began inSt.
Leger was a lieutenant colonel in the 34th Regiment of Foot. He saw service in the British relief of Quebec following the Continental Army 's invasion of that province. He was selected to lead the western offensive that formed one leg of the Saratoga campaign.
John Burgoyne breveted him as brigadier general for this mission so that he would outrank the militia officers involved. The fort was more strongly defended than he and Burgoyne had anticipated, so he laid siege to it. When word arrived that an American relief column was approaching to break the siege, he sent a group of mostly Indians and Loyalists to oppose them.
They ambushed Nicholas Herkimer 's force in the Battle of Oriskanybut the fort's occupants sortied and raided their camp. When reports of a relief force under Benedict Arnold reached him he was abandoned by his Indian supporters, and was forced to withdraw back to Quebec.
He then tried to join up with Burgoyne's army near Saratoga, but had only reached Fort Ticonderoga by the time Burgoyne surrendered his army in October For the next several years, St. Leger was a leader of the British frontier war against the Americans.
He was promoted to colonel in Inhe led an attempt to kidnap General Philip Schuyler. He was also involved in the secret negotiations between Frederick HaldimandQuebec's governor, and the Vermont Republic 's leaders over the possibility of bringing Vermont into the British fold.