James Colbert (trader)

James Logan Colbert was a British trader who lived much of his life among the Chickasaw. He also served as an officer of the British Army who commanded an independent company in the Western Theater of the American Revolutionary War. In 1783, Colbert led an unsuccessful raid on the Franco-Spanish village of Arkansas Post, Louisiana in an attempt to capture Fort Carlos III.

Early life and career

According to tradition, Colbert was born around 1720 in Scotland and settled in Georgia in January 1736 along with other Scots escaping the reprisals of the Jacobite Uprising.
He was married to three Chickasaw women: Nahettaly, Sophia, and Mary and among them had nine children; including George, Levi, and William, who became notable 19th-century tribal leaders. Fluent in Chickasaw, he served as an interpreter at the 1763 Augusta and the 1765 and 1771 Mobile Indian conferences. He fought with the British during the American Revolutionary War; most notably at Fort Jefferson, where he was wounded in action, and Arkansas Post. He died on 7 January 1784 in West Florida en route from St. Augustine, East Florida.