Sergeant John Francis Berfield may have been surprised when told that to fight the traditional enemy, the French, he must cross the Atlantic Ocean. For nearly 100 years, there had been conflict of varying intensity that had now reached intercontinental proportions. Accordingly, in February 1755, the 45th and 48th Regiments of Foot (in today's parlance, "infantry") landed at Alexandria, Virginia to join General Braddock's campaign against the French in North America, a war that Americans call the French and Indian War, but which Europeans perceive as merely the North American theatre of the Seven Years War.

The two regiments were supplemented by Virginia militia commanded by Colonel George Washington. Braddock's small army marched from Alexandria to Fort Necessity in a part of southern Pennsylvania then claimed by Virginia. Here he plotted his attack on Fort Duquesne, located at the tip of the peninsula upon which today's Pittsburg is located. On July 9, about 10 miles east of the fort, they engaged with disastrous results. The French and their Indian allies killed or wounded 878 of the 1300 men commanded by Braddock. Braddock was mortally wounded and carried off the field by Washington himself, only to die four days later. The militia retreated to Winchester and the British units to Philadelphia.

But, Sergeant Berfield's war was not yet finished. 

Desperately short of manpower, Colonel John Forbes (promoted to Brigadier) recruited German-Americans, as well as Irish rejected for service in their homeland, into a new 60th Regiment of Foot, called the "Royal Americans". The recruits were commanded by British officers and sergeants. The veteran Sergeant Berfield would have been responsible for training the new recruits and deploying small units in battle as commanded by officers. By spring of 1758, they were ready and Forbes began a slow, methodical campaign to capture Fort Duquesne. In the autumn, the British negotiated an agreement with the Ohio Valley Indians to abandon the French, causing the French to evacuate and burn Fort Duquesne. Forbes took the ruins in November 1758 and ordered the building of a new Fort Pitt. Gravely ill with a "wasting disease", Forbes transferred command to Colonel Henry Bouquet. We are fortunate that Bouquet left copious papers and journals, mentioning Sergeant Berfield several times. The regiment returned to Philadelphia.

But, Sergeant Berfield's war was still unfinished. 

The regiment fought in 1758 at the siege of Louisbourg (a fortress in the St. Lawrence River) and the Cape Sable campaign, often remembered for the deportation of the Acadians. On 13 September 1759, Berfield and the 60th arrived on the Plains of Abraham, just west of the walled city of Quebec. The victorious battle ended a three-month siege, resulting in the surrender of Quebec and, effectively, the end of the French and Indian War. 

The English army returned to Philadelphia and Berfield to his wife, Anna Maria Burrows, whom he had married after the Braddock campaign. Moving to Chester County and owning no land, by 1770, he had become an agent for a Philadelphia attorney, Harry Gordon, who had been a major in the Royal Americans. 

As the Revolutionary War approached, former English soldiers may have been regarded with suspicion. Perhaps Berfield had Loyalist convictions, perhaps his neighbors perceived such convictions; for whatever reason, Berfield decided to relocate. By 1779, he moved to the vicinity of the current Juniata County, in central Pennsylvania, where he joined the local militia. One has to suspect that he failed to disclose his military experience because he served as a private in Captain Farrier's company of the 7th Battalion until about 1785.

Eventually, the family moved further north to Bald Eagle, Clinton county, on the western branch of the Susquehanna River. He died there in 1811 and his possessions were sold at public auction. 

Among the items that his family chose to buy back was a red coat.

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John Francis Berfield is a 5 x great-grandfather of the Moore brothers. The famous Braddock Road in Alexandria, following the route of General Braddock's march to Fort Necessity, is less than a mile from one of their childhood homes. The Berfield family continues to live in central Pennsylvania, including in Emporium, PA, Jim's birthplace, where they owned a store and where one of them served as sheriff. Ironically, Jim met the principal source for this story, John Berfield, in a genealogy library, the Balch Library in Leesburg, VA.

This article is primarily based on an email with attachments, John Berfield, dated 22 February 2018, to James Moore.

Other sources include:

• Jack L. Summers and Rene Chartrand, "History and Uniform of the 60th (Royal American) Regiment of Foot, 1755-1760," Access Heritage (http://www.militaryheritage.com/60thregt.htm : viewed 3 March 2018); citing same authors, "Military Uniforms in Canada, 1665-1970" (Canadian War Museum : 1981).
• King's Royal Rifle Corps, Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King%27s_Royal_Rifle_Corps : 10 Dec 2017).
• 45th (Nottinghamshire) (Sherwood Foresters) Regiment of Foot, Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/45th_(Nottinghamshire)_(Sherwood_Foresters)_Regiment_of_Foot : 3 Jan 2018). 
• 48th (Northamptonshire) Regiment of Foot, Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/48th_(Northamptonshire)_Regiment_of_Foot : 29 Oct 2017).
• French and Indian War, Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_and_Indian_War : 12 Feb 2018).
• Edward Braddock, Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Braddock : 18 Feb 2018).
• John Forbes (British Army officer), Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Forbes_(British_Army_officer) : 28 Jan 2018).
• Battle of the Plains of Abraham, Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Plains_of_Abraham : 22 Feb 2018).