Abstract
Most historical accounts of the battle of Saratoga in 1777 credit patriot Timothy Murphy as the soldier who shot British Brigadier General Simon Fraser. However, it took sixty-eight years after the battle for an author to name Murphy as the rifleman, and that version was based on dubious testimony. This article analyzes the various accounts of the battle to determine the origins and validity of the Murphy legend, and its repetition by subsequent historians. Additionally, it examines the ballistics involved in shooting a round ball bullet at the one quarter-mile distance attributed to Murphy and concludes that there is no primary evidence to indicate that Murphy shot Fraser.
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Cite this article
Hugh T. Harrington and Jim Jordan, “The Other Mystery Shot of the American Revolution: Did Timothy Murphy Kill British Brigadier General Simon Fraser at Saratoga?,” The Journal of Military History 74, no. 4 (October 2010): 1037–1045.