Sir Thomas Stirling, 5th Baronet

Thomas Stirling (1733–1808) had a long, active military career in the British Army. In 1758 he came to America and served in the French and Indian War in the Canadian campaign. After the French and Indian War, the British Empire took control of the land between the British colonies west to the Mississippi River, north of the Ohio River. Captain Thomas Stirling departed Fort Pitt going down the Ohio River to Fort de Chartres to take possession of the Illinois for the Crown, in October, 1765. In 1767 Stirling went to England, but he returned to America later to serve with the British forces during the Revolutionary War. Before his death he achieved the rank of general.