George Howe , 3rd Viscount Howe George Augustus Howe , 3rd Viscount Howe ( c . 1725 – 6 July 1758 ) was a career officer and a Brigadier General in the British Army . He was described by James Wolfe as " the best officer in the British Army " . He was killed in the French and Indian War in a skirmish the day before the Battle of Carillon , an ultimately disastrous attempt by the British to capture French - controlled Fort Carillon . Background . Howe ' s father was Emanuel Scrope Howe , 2nd Viscount Howe , and mother was Mary Sophia von Kielmansegg ( A niece of King King George I ) , and he had two notable younger brothers , Richard Howe , Earl Howe and William Howe , 5th Viscount Howe , as well as seven other siblings . George was born either on the Howe estate at Langar , Nottinghamshire , or at the Howe home on Albemarle Street , London . Early career . Howe joined the army as an Ensign of the 1st Foot Guards in 1745 and saw service during the Flanders campaign of the War of the Austrian Succession . In 1746 he was made an aide - de - camp to the Duke of Cumberland who led the Allied Army in Flanders . In 1747 Howe fought at the Battle of Laufeld . He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in 1749 following the end of the war . Ticonderoga campaign reforms . In 1758 , in preparation for the attack on the French fort at Ticonderoga , which controlled access from Lake George to Lake Champlain , Lord Howe set about reforming General James Abercrombie ' s army for warfare in North America . He used his own 55th Regiment as an example for the rest of the army to follow . Howe had uniforms cut short , so that they came just to the men ' s waists , and all lace was removed from the coats as well . The cumbersome tricorn hats worn by the soldiers were cut down to brims of , resembling derby hats . Infantrymen were issued leggings made of wool , in place of their linen and hemp canvas gaiters . Excess uniforms and equipment were done away with . The men ' s hair was cut short , Dr . Richard Huck wrote ; " we are an army of round heads . " Officers were not immune to his changes either , and he made himself an example of this , cutting his hair short . He washed his own clothes , and took very little baggage into the field . His changes did not only affect the uniforms of the army but its tactics as well . In the fall of 1757 , Lord Howe had accompanied the famous ranger Major Robert Rogers on a scouting expedition . In the spring he again met with Rogers to discuss warfare and tactics in the North American theater . He began instructing the troops in Abercrombie ' s army in the manner of marching , forming , and fighting in the woods . One observer stated that Lord Howe had trained his 55th Regiment so well that they were as " dexterious as rangers . " Many historians have credited Lord Howe with the creation of light infantry , and have called the 55th Regiment as light infantry regiment , however that was not the case . While Lord Loudoun contemplated creating light infantry companies in each redcoat battalion , the idea was scrapped when Colonel Thomas Gage proposed to raise a regiment of Light Armed Foot , that became Gage ' s 80th Regiment . They wore brown uniforms , instead of red and were the first British light infantry regiment . At the Siege of Louisbourg , General Jeffery Amherst ordered his regiments to create light infantry companies . Those companies were then placed into a light infantry battalion under the command of Colonel George Scott of the 40th Regiment . The following year , as Commander - in - chief in North America , Amherst ordered each regiment in North America to create a light infantry company . Seven Years War . On 2 February 1757 , Howe was appointed Colonel , 3rd Battalion of the 60th Foot ( the Royal Americans , later the King ' s Royal Rifle Corps ) , but transferred to command the 55th Regiment of Foot on 28 September 1757 while at Halifax . In December he was promoted to Brigadier General . In 1758 he and the regiment were part of General James Abercrombie ' s failed attack at Ticonderoga . England ' s Prime Minister William Pitt had wanted Howe in command of this expedition rather than Abercromie , but Abercrombie had more political contacts and seniority , so Howe was made second - in - command . On 6 July Abercrombie ' s force marched north from the shore of Lake George in four columns . Howe led one of these columns , with the 55th regiment accompanied by a unit of Connecticut militia , with Major Israel Putnam as a scout and guide . They made contact with a French detachment that had been separated from the main force and a sharp skirmish ensued . They fought well , taking 148 prisoners , and causing an estimated 300 enemy casualties with limited losses to their own number . But one of those casualties was General Howe , who died in Putnam ' s arms . Aftermath . Howe was widely mourned on both sides of the Atlantic . The Massachusetts Assembly ( or general court ) later voted £250 to place a monument in Westminster Abbey , something for which Howe ' s brothers were extremely grateful . Genealogy . George Augustus was brother to Admiral Richard Howe , 1st Earl Howe , 4th Viscount and Sir William Howe , 5th Viscount Howe . " The Family of Hoge " quotes " The Encyclopaedia Britannica " as having this to say about the Howes : " The friendliness of the brothers , Admiral Richard Howe and General William Howe , to the colonies led to their selection for the command of the British forces in the Revolutionary War . It was thought that they could negotiate a settlement with the American forces . "