Pigot, Sir Robert
Pigot, Sir Robert
PIGOT, SIR ROBERT. (1720–1796). British general. A small, strongly built man, Pigot served in the War of the Austrian Succession, and in Minorca and Scotland from 1749 to 1752. Lieutenant colonel of the Thirty-eighth Foot from 1764, he went to America in 1774. In 1775 Pigot was with Lord Percy's column sent to rescue the force falling back from Concord. At Bunker Hill, as a local brigadier general, he led the left wing with great courage and distinction, being promoted colonel of the Thirty-eighth on 11 December 1776. He commanded William Howe's Second Brigade at Long Island (27 August 1776). In May 1777 he inherited his brother's baronetcy; he became commander of the Rhode Island garrison on 15 July and was promoted major general on 29 August. In August 1778 he held Newport against John Sullivan's army and comte d'Estaing's fleet, and on 29 August he tried unsuccessfully to dislodge Sullivan from Butts Hill. He gave up the command in October and sailed for home in 1779. He was made lieutenant general on 20 November 1782.
SEE ALSO Long Island, New York, Battle of; Newport, Rhode Island (September 1777).
revised by John Oliphant