James Innes (British Army officer, died 1759)

James Innes (c. 1700 – 5 September 1759) was an American military commander and political figure in the Province of North Carolina who led troops both at home and abroad in the service of the Kingdom of Great Britain.

[2] In 1732, Innes purchased 320 acres (130 ha; 0.50 sq mi) on the Cape Fear River in what is now Bladen County, North Carolina.

Innes was selected by Governor Johnston to lead a company of 100 men from the Cape Fear region to Cartagena in the Spanish Viceroyalty of New Granada, a city which is located in the modern-day country of Colombia.

[1] Upon arriving in South America, Innes and his men, as well as North Carolina's three Albemarle companies, were placed under the direct command of Colonel William Gooch, a baronet and the Governor of Virginia.

At Cartagena, delays by the British fleet in landing troops to assault a key Spanish fortification, combined with the fact that the ladders used by British scaling parties were shorter than the walls they were intended for, caused the militia and regular soldiers to suffer a 50 percent casualty rate prior to the assault being called off.

[7] After the conclusion of King George's War in 1748, tension increased on the frontier between the French-held North American territory and the British colonies on the coast.

[11] With the possibility of the outbreak of war in 1754, Innes, as an experienced soldier, was nominated as the commander of North Carolina militia, which was to be sent to aid Virginia at the request of Governor Robert Dinwiddie.

[7] Washington was given command of the Virginia Regiment upon Fry's death, and he led that unit into the Ohio River Valley on Dinwiddie's orders before Innes was appointed his superior.

[7] Dinwiddie blamed Matthew Rowan, the acting Governor of North Carolina, for the defeat, stating that had Innes's men been assembled in a timely fashion, they could have accompanied Washington to the frontier.

[7] The North Carolina soldiers that came to Virginia were unruly and difficult to manage, eventually deserting after being informed that their pay was to be reduced,[7] or returning home after Innes himself disbanded the unit due to its instability.