In 1776, the 24th was transferred to Quebec in response to the American invasion, and Governor Guy Carleton promoted him to Brigadier General. When John Burgoyne organized his Saratoga campaign in 1777, Fraser was chosen to command the advance unit.
Ticonderoga
At the start of the campaign, the advance corps had about 1,000 men. Besides his own 24th Regiment of Foot, he had the grenadier battalion, the light infantry battalion, and a company of marksmen, along with some Canadian militia and First Nations auxiliaries. Fraser's command was in the vanguard during the taking of Fort Ticonderoga, and Fraser helped dislodge the retreating Americans.
Hubbardton
On 7 July 1777, Fraser's corps caught up with the American rear guard at the town of Hubbardton in the newly formed Republic of Vermont. At the Battle of Hubbardton in a sharp skirmish he drove off the enemy but with the loss of many men.
Freeman's Farm
At the Freeman's farm on 19 September he commanded the right wing and led four companies in a successful attack on Daniel Morgan's riflemen.
Bemis Heights
Early in the Battle of Bemis Heights on 7 October 1777, Fraser fell to rifle fire from Daniel Morgan's rifle brigade. Legend has it that a rifleman named Timothy Murphy, was specifically ordered by Benedict Arnold to target Fraser, as he was vigorously directing and supporting his troops. He was carried to a nearby house and placed in the care ofBaroness Riedesel, where he died that evening. He was reportedly buried in a nearby redoubt, but the exact location is uncertain. In her diary, the Baroness noted that he was "...buried at six o'clock in the evening, on a hill, which was a sort of redoubt." The depiction by the artist Barlow showing Fraser's interment on the redoubt as reported by Baroness Riedesel. Barlow shows two coffins in transport—the second likely that of Sir Francis Clerke, 7th Baronet, the aide-de-camp to General John Burgoyne, who was shot and killed by Morgan's riflemen as Clerke rode upon the field to deliver orders from Burgoyne to fall back, orders that never reached their intended. Fraser's death is noted by a memorial plaque in the Saratoga Battlefield National Park.
Fraser is a character in Diana Gabaldon's historical fiction novelAn Echo in the Bone in which she portrays him as a kinsman to several of the major characters in the book, most notably Jamie Fraser, who is fighting on the side of the revolutionaries and William Ransom, Jamie's son, who is fighting for the British under Simon Fraser's command. The book diverts from the historical events when Gabaldon uses a request by Horatio Gates as an excuse for three main characters, Jamie and Claire and Jamie's nephew Ian Murray, to return to Scotland under the auspices of escorting Fraser's disinterred body back to his homeland.
