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  BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

  OF THE

  GENERALS

  OF THE

  CONTINENTAL ARMY OF THE

  REVOLUTION.


  PRINTED FOR SALE AT MOUNT VERNON.

  1889.




  University Press:
  JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE.




  A LIST
  OF
  THE GENERAL OFFICERS OF THE
  REVOLUTIONARY ARMY,

  AND DATES OF THEIR APPOINTMENT BY THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS, FROM JUNE
  17, 1775, TO THE CLOSE OF THE WAR.


I.

GEORGE WASHINGTON, _Commander-in-Chief_,

Appointed June 17, 1775.


II. MAJOR-GENERALS.

  (Ranked in order as given below.)

                      PAGE
  GEORGE WASHINGTON     11 |          |                                 |
  ARTEMAS WARD          20 | Mass.    | June 17, 1775                   | Resigned Apr. 23, 1776.
  CHARLES LEE           21 | Va.      |  „    „    „                    | Dismissed Jan. 10, 1780.
  JOHN PHILIP SCHUYLER  23 | N. Y.    |  „   19,   „                    | Resigned Apr. 19, 1779.
  ISRAEL PUTNAM         26 | Conn.    |  „    „    „                    | Served to close of war.


  (First Brig.-Gens., then Maj.-Gens.)

                                          BRIG.-GEN.        MAJ.-GEN.
  RICH. MONTGOMERY      28 | N. Y.    | June  22, 1775 | Dec.   9, 1775 | Killed Dec. 31, 1776.
  JOHN THOMAS           31 | Mass.    |  „     „    „  | Mar.   6, 1776 | Died June 2, 1776.
  HORATIO GATES         32 | Va.      |  „    17,   „  | May   16,   „  | Suspended Oct. 5, 1780.‡
  WILLIAM HEATH         36 | Mass.    |  „    22,   „  | Aug.   9,   „  | Served to close of war.
  *JOSEPH SPENCER       37 | Conn.    |  „     „    „  |  „     „    „  | Resigned Jan. 13, 1778.
  JOHN SULLIVAN         38 | N. H.    |  „     „    „  |  „     „    „  | Resigned Nov. 30, 1779.
  NATHANIEL GREENE      39 | R. I.    |  „     „    „  |  „     „    „  | Served to close of war.
  LORD STIRLING         42 | N. J.    | Mar.   1, 1776 | Feb.  19, 1777 | Died Jan. 15, 1783.
  THOMAS MIFFLIN        43 | Penn.    | May   16,   „  |  „     „    „  | Resigned Feb. 25, 1779.
  ARTHUR ST. CLAIR      45 | Penn.    | Aug.   9,   „  |  „     „    „  | Served to close of war.
  *ADAM STEPHEN         47 | Va.      | Sept.  4,   „  |  „     „    „  | Cashiered Oct. --, 1777.
  BENJAMIN LINCOLN      48 | Mass.    |        †       |  „     „    „  | Served to close of war.
  BENEDICT ARNOLD       49 | Conn.    | Jan.  10, 1776 | May    2,   „  | Deserted Sept. 25, 1780.
  MAR. DE LAFAYETTE     53 | France   |        †       | July  31,   „  | Served to close of war.
  BARON DE KALB         56 | Germany  |        †       | Sept. 15,   „  | Killed Aug. 16, 1780.
  DU COUDRAY            57 | France   |        †       | Aug.  11,   „  | Died Sept. 16, 1777.
  *ROBERT HOWE          58 | N. C.    | Mar.   1, 1776 | Oct.  20,   „  | Served to close of war.
  ALEX. McDOUGAL        60 | N. Y.    | Aug.   9,   „  |  „     „    „  | Served to close of war.
  *THOMAS CONWAY        61 | Ireland  | May   13, 1777 | Dec.  13,   „  | Resigned Apr. 28, 1778.
  BARON STEUBEN         64 | Prussia  |        †       | May    5, 1778 | Served to close of war.
  WILLIAM SMALLWOOD     68 | Maryland | Oct.  23, 1776 | Sept. 15, 1780 | Served to close of war.
  *SAMUEL H. PARSONS    70 | Conn.    | Aug.   9,   „  | Oct.  23,   „  | Retired July 22, 1782.
  CHEVALIER DUPORTAIL   71 | France   | Nov.  17, 1777 | Nov.  16, 1781 | Resigned Oct. 10, 1783.
  HENRY KNOX            72 | Mass.    | Dec.  27, 1776 | Mar.  22, 1782 | Served to close of war.
  WILLIAM MOULTRIE      75 | S. C.    | Sept. 16,   „  | Oct.  15,   „  | Served to close of war.

* No engraving exists.

† Original appointment as Major-General.

‡ Restored Aug. 14, 1782, but did not serve.


III. BRIGADIER-GENERALS.

                      PAGE
  *SETH POMEROY         77 | Mass.    | June  22, 1775 | Died February, 1777.
  DAVID WOOSTER         78 | Conn.    |  „     „    „  | Died (wounds) May 2, 1777.
  *JOSEPH FRYE          80 | Mass.    | Jan.  10, 1776 | Resigned April 23, 1776.
  *JOHN ARMSTRONG       81 | Penn.    | Mar.   1,   „  | Resigned April 4, 1777.
  *WILLIAM THOMPSON     82 | Penn.    |  „     „    „  | Died Sept. 4, 1781.
  *ANDREW LEWIS         83 | Va.      |  „     „    „  | Resigned April 15, 1777.
  *JAMES MOORE          85 | N. C.    |  „     „    „  | Died Jan. 15, 1777.
  *BARON DE WOEDTKE     86 | Prussia  |  „    16,   „  | Died July 28, 1776.
  *JOHN WHITCOMB        87 | Mass.    | June   5,   „  | Resigned shortly after.
  HUGH MERCER           88 | Va.      |  „     „    „  | Died (wounds) Jan. 12, 1777.
  JOSEPH REED           90 | N. H.    | Aug.   9,   „  | Retired shortly after.
  *JOHN NIXON           91 | Mass.    |  „     „    „  | Resigned Sept. 12, 1780.
  JAMES CLINTON         91 | N. Y.    |  „     „    „  | Served to close of war.
  CHRISTOPHER GADSDEN   93 | S. C.    | Sept. 16,   „  | Resigned Oct. 2, 1777.
  LACHLAN McINTOSH      95 | Georgia  |  „     „    „  | Served to close of war.
  *WILLIAM MAXWELL      96 | N. J.    | Oct.  23,   „  | Resigned July 25, 1780.
  *ROCHE DE FERMOY      97 | France   | Nov.   5,   „  | Resigned Jan. 31, 1778.
  ENOCH POOR            98 | N. H.    | Feb.  21, 1777 | Died Sept. 8, 1780.
  JOHN GLOVER          100 | Mass.    |  „     „    „  | Retired July 22, 1782.
  *JOHN PATERSON       101 | Mass.    |  „     „    „  | Served to close of war.
  JAMES M. VARNUM      102 | Mass.    |  „     „    „  | Resigned March 5, 1779.
  ANTHONY WAYNE        104 | Penn.    |  „     „    „  | Served to close of war.
  *JOHN P. DE HAAS     107 | Penn.    |  „     „    „  | Served to close of war.
  PETER MUHLENBURG     107 | Penn.    |  „     „    „  | Served to close of war.
  *FRANCIS NASH        109 | N. C.    |  „     5,   „  | Killed Oct. 4, 1777.
  GEORGE WEEDON        110 | Va.      |  „    21,   „  | Retired Aug. 18, 1778.
  JOHN CADWALADER      111 | Penn.    |  „     „    „  | Refused to accept.
  *WILLIAM WOODFORD    113 | Va.      |  „     „    „  | Died Nov. 13, 1780.
  GEORGE CLINTON       113 | N. Y.    | Mar.  25,   „  | Served to close of war.
  EDWARD HAND          115 | Penn.    | April  1,   „  | Served to close of war.
  CHARLES SCOTT        116 | Va.      |  „     „    „  | Served to close of war.
  *EBENEZER LARNED     117 | Mass.    |  „     2,   „  | Resigned March 24, 1778.
  *CHEVALIER DE BORRE  118 | France   |  „    11,   „  | Resigned Sept. 14, 1777.
  JEDEDIAH HUNTINGTON  119 | Conn.    | May   12,   „  | Served to close of war.
  *JOSEPH REED         120 | Penn.    |  „     „    „  | Resigned June 7, 1777.
  COUNT PULASKI        124 | Poland   | Sept. 15,   „  | Killed Oct. 9, 1779.
  JOHN STARK           126 | N. H.    | Oct.   4,   „  | Served to close of war.
  JAMES WILKINSON          |          |                |
    (_BREVET_)         129 | Maryland | Nov.   6,   „  | Resigned March 6, 1778.
  *CHEV. DE LA NEUVILLE    |          |                |
    (_BREVET_)         134 | France.  | Oct.  14, 1778 | Resigned Dec. 4, 1778.
  *JETHRO SUMNER       135 | N.C.     | Jan.   9, 1779 | Served to close of war.
  *JAMES HOGAN         136 | N. C.    |  „     „    „  |
  ISAAC HUGER          137 | S. C.    |  „     „    „  | Served to close of war.
  MORDECAI GIST        139 | Maryland |  „     „    „  | Served to close of war.
  WILLIAM IRVINE       140 | Penn.    | May   12,   „  | Served to close of war.
  DANIEL MORGAN        142 | Va.      | Oct.  13, 1780 | Retired March, 1781.
  *MOSES HAZEN             |          |                |
    (_BREVET_)         145 | Canada   | June  29, 1781 | Served to close of war.
  OTHO H. WILLIAMS     146 | Maryland | May    9, 1782 | Retired Jan. 16, 1783.
  JOHN GREATON         146 | Mass.    | Jan.   7, 1783 | Served to close of war.
  RUFUS PUTNAM         147 | Mass.    |  „     „    „  | Served to close of war.
  ELIAS DAYTON         149 | N. J.    |  „     „    „  | Served to close of war.
  *ARMAND                  |          |                |
    (MAR. DE ROUERIE)  150 | France   | Mar.  26,   „  | Served to close of war.
  THADDEUS KOSCIUSKO       |          |                |
    (_BREVET_)         151 | Poland   | Oct.  13,   „  | Served to close of war.
  *STEPHEN MOYLAN      154 | Penn.    | Nov.   3,   „  | Served to close of war.
  *SAMUEL ELBERT       155 | Georgia  |  „     „    „  | Served to close of war.
  C. C. PINCKNEY       156 | S. C.    |  „     „    „  | Served to close of war.
  *WILLIAM RUSSELL     158 | Va.      |  „     „    „  | Served to close of war.
  FRANCIS MARION       160 |          |                | Non-commissioned.
  THOMAS SUMTER        163 |          |                | Non-commissioned.

  * No engraving exists.


(The following-named officers of the above were Major-Generals in
commission at the end of the war.)

IV. MAJOR-GENERALS AT THE CLOSE OF THE WAR.

                                                          DATE OF
                                                        COMMISSION.
  GEORGE WASHINGTON,      | Virginia                | June  17,  1775.
    _Commander-in-Chief_  |                         |
  ISRAEL PUTNAM           | Connecticut             |  „    19,    „
  HORATIO GATES           | Virginia                | May   16,  1776.
  WILLIAM HEATH           | Massachusetts           | Aug.   9,    „
  NATHANIEL GREENE        | Rhode Island            |  „     „     „
  ARTHUR ST. CLAIR        | Pennsylvania            | Feb.  19,  1777.
  BENJAMIN LINCOLN        | Massachusetts           |  „     „     „
  MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE    | France                  | July  31,    „
  ROBERT HOWE             | North Carolina          | Oct.  20,    „
  ALEXANDER McDOUGAL      | New York                |  „     „     „
  BARON STEUBEN           | Prussia                 | May    5,  1778.
  WILLIAM SMALLWOOD       | Maryland                | Sept. 15,  1780.
  HENRY KNOX              | Massachusetts           | Mar.  22,  1782.
  WILLIAM MOULTRIE        | South Carolina          | Oct.  15,  1782.
  LACHLAN McINTOSH        | Georgia      (_Brevet_) | Sept. 30,  1783.
  JAMES CLINTON           | New York          „     |  „     „     „
  JOHN PATERSON           | Massachusetts     „     |  „     „     „
  ANTHONY WAYNE           | Pennsylvania      „     |  „     „     „
  PETER MUHLENBURG        | Virginia          „     |  „     „     „
  GEORGE CLINTON          | New York          „     |  „     „     „
  EDWARD HAND             | Pennsylvania      „     |  „     „     „
  CHARLES SCOTT           | Virginia          „     |  „     „     „
  JEDEDIAH HUNTINGTON     | Connecticut       „     |  „     „     „
  JOHN STARK              | New Hampshire     „     |  „     „     „




PREFACE.


            NEW YORK, Oct. 5, 1888.

  DEAR MRS. LEITER,--According to promise, I have sent you by express
  to-day a list of the general officers in the Revolution who were
  commissioned by the Continental Congress. There were others, not
  in the list, and well known as generals who served through the
  Revolution, but they held their commissions in the State Militia.

  The list is made in the order of the date of commission, and their
  rank was determined by this date. The collection of portraits
  I have sent you for Mount Vernon is of great historical value,
  from the fact that it is made up to a great extent of portraits
  issued as “private,” or “club portraits,” of which the plates
  were destroyed. It would be almost impossible to get another set
  together which would be as complete as this is, in containing the
  authentic likeness of every general of whom a portrait is known to
  exist. For years I have been engaged with others in tracing out
  the descendants of these men, and with the object of having their
  portraits engraved whenever a likeness could be found. For a long
  time nothing new has turned up, and I believe we have accomplished
  about all it is possible to do in this line.

        Yours very truly,
            THOMAS ADDIS EMMET.

The rare and valuable gift of engravings from Dr. THOMAS ADDIS EMMET
has been placed in the old mansion at Mount Vernon; and as this is
the only complete collection on exhibition of the generals of the
Continental Army, it seemed fitting that there should be a concise
history compiled to enable the visitor at Mount Vernon not alone to
view this valuable collection, but to refer to dates of birth and
death, commissions of service, and battles of importance, in which
these generals distinguished themselves. In this small book the
author has sought to enable the reader to obtain information of most
importance, and also maintain her original design of a pocket edition,
to encumber as little as possible the pilgrim to Mount Vernon.

The following books have been consulted for the compilation of the
papers:--

  Journals of the Continental Congress.

  Records of the Revolution, War Department.

  Narrative and Critical History of America. (Justin Winsor.)

  The Biography of the American Military and Naval Heroes, 1817.
  (Thomas Wilson.)

  Washington and his Generals. (J. T. Headley.)

  Lossing’s American Revolution.

  Washington and his Masonic Compeers. (Sidney Hayden.)

  Appleton’s Cyclopædia of American Biography.

  The Memorial History of Boston. (Justin Winsor.)

  Sparks’ Life of Washington.

Correspondents who have rendered assistance:

  Hon. W. Frye, Maine.

  General Drum, War Department.

  Dr. T. A. Emmet.

  H. C. Spofford, Congressional Librarian.

  Justin Winsor.

  Prof. Edward Channing.

  F. D. Stone, Librarian of Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

  Dr. Toner, Washington.

  Charles J. Hoadly, Connecticut.

  MARY THERESA LEITER,
  _Vice-Regent of Ladies’ Mount Vernon Association_.

  August 7, 1889.




BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.




GEORGE WASHINGTON.


George Washington, born at Pope’s Creek, near Bridge’s Creek,
Westmoreland County, Virginia, on the 22d of February, 1732, was
the son of Augustine Washington and his second wife Mary Ball. His
earliest known ancestor in this country was John Washington, who came
to Virginia from England in 1657. Augustine Washington died when
George was but twelve years of age, leaving to his widow the care of
five children and a large property. George’s education was such as was
afforded by the local schools, but included surveying,--an important
branch at that time. Ever thoughtful of the feelings of others, at
the age of thirteen he formulated for his own guidance a set of one
hundred and ten “rules of civility and decent behavior in company
and conversation.” The next year his half-brother Lawrence obtained
a midshipman’s warrant for him, which he was most anxious to accept,
but gave up because of his mother’s opposition. At the age of sixteen
he was absent from home for several weeks, while surveying for Lord
Fairfax. Delighting in military exercises and outdoor sports, he
grew tall, strong, and well proportioned, and at nineteen was chosen
adjutant-general with the rank of major, to inspect and exercise the
militia of his district. The same year he accompanied Lawrence on a
trip to Barbadoes, the doctor having recommended change of climate
for the improvement of the latter’s health. Having kept a journal of
his surveying trip in 1748, he resumed the record of his life with
great minuteness during this his only sea voyage. Returning after four
months, he soon after received the sad intelligence of Lawrence’s
death, and found himself, young as he was, one of his brother’s
executors and the guardian of his only child. Neither the widow nor
the orphan long survived; and upon their demise, Mount Vernon passed
to George. At this time he joined the Masons. The records of the
Fredericksburg Lodge show the presence of Washington for the first time
“on the 4th of November, 1752.”

  “November 6, 1752, received of Mr. George Washington for his
  entrance £2 3_s._”

  “March 3, 1753, George Washington passed Fellow Craft.”

  “August 4, 1753, George Washington raised Master Mason.”

In 1753, the encroachments of the French awakening serious alarm,
Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia selected Major Washington to carry a
demand, in the name of the English monarch, that the chain of forts
along the Alleghany and Ohio rivers should be abandoned. The mission
was both a difficult and dangerous one; and failing in its object,
active preparations were begun in the colonies for the war that was
now unavoidable. In 1754, Washington was appointed lieutenant-colonel
of one of the Virginia regiments, and in July distinguished himself
by his brave defence of Fort Necessity at Great Meadows, which he
was compelled at length to surrender. In 1755, General Braddock, as
commander-in-chief of the royal forces in America, invited Colonel
Washington to act as aide-de-camp during an expedition having for its
ultimate object the reduction of the French forts of Niagara and Crown
Point. Ignorant of the modes of Indian warfare, and disregarding his
aid’s warning and advice, Braddock suffered a terrible defeat, and
lost his life at Fort Duquesne, now Pittsburg. The chaplain of the
army being also among the wounded, Washington read the burial service
over Braddock at Great Meadows,--the scene of his own capitulation one
year before. A second expedition in 1757 against the same fort, led
by General Forbes, the advance guard being commanded by Washington,
resulted in its capture and the change of name. On the 6th of January,
1759, he was married to Martha Custis, daughter of John Dandridge, and
widow of a wealthy planter, John Parke Custis. The wedding ceremony was
performed by Reverend John Mossum in St. Peter’s Church, Kent County,
and was one of the most brilliant affairs of the kind ever celebrated
in Virginia.

  “The groom’s suit was of blue cloth, the coat lined with red silk
  and ornamented with silver trimmings; his waistcoat, of embroidered
  white satin; his knee-buckles, of gold; his hair was tied in a
  queue and powdered. The bride’s costume was a quilted white satin
  petticoat, a rich white silk overdress with diamond buckles and
  pearl ornaments.”

Among the guests, who were all in full courtdress, were the governor,
many members of the Legislature, British officers, and the neighboring
gentlefolk. Bishop, a tall negro, Washington’s valet,--to whom he
was much attached, and who had accompanied him on all his military
campaigns,--stood in the porch, dressed in the scarlet uniform of a
soldier of George II. At the conclusion of the ceremony Mrs. Washington
and her three bridesmaids drove from the church to her own home, the
“White house on the Pamunkey River,” in a coach drawn by six horses,
led by liveried postilions; while Colonel Washington and an escort of
cavaliers rode at the side. Having retired from the army, he occupied
himself with the care of his large estate. Elected to the Virginia
House of Burgesses, when he took his seat the Speaker presented him the
thanks of the colony for his former distinguished military services.
Washington rose, stammered, trembled, but could make no fitting
response. The Speaker relieved his embarrassment by saying, “Sit down,
Mr. Washington! your modesty equals your valor, and that surpasses the
power of any language I possess!” As a delegate in 1774 to the first
Continental Congress, during the prayer with which Dr. Duché opened the
meetings, Washington knelt while the other members stood. Re-elected in
1775, he was unanimously chosen commander-in-chief on the 17th of June,
his commission reading as follows:--

            SATURDAY, June 17, 1775.

  To GEORGE WASHINGTON, ESQ.

  We, reposing special trust and confidence in your patriotism,
  valor, conduct, and fidelity, do, by these presents, constitute
  and appoint you to be General and Commander-in-chief of the army
  of the United Colonies, and of all the forces now raised or to
  be raised by them, and of all others who shall voluntarily offer
  their services and join the said army for the defence of American
  liberty, and for repelling every hostile invasion thereof. And you
  are hereby vested with full power and authority to act as you shall
  think for the good and welfare of the service.

  And we do hereby strictly charge and require all officers and
  soldiers under your command to be obedient to your orders, and
  diligent in the exercise of their several duties.

  And we do also enjoin and require you to be careful in executing
  the great trust reposed in you, by causing strict discipline and
  order to be observed in the army, and that the soldiers be duly
  exercised, and provided with all convenient necessaries.

  And you are to regulate your conduct in every respect by the rules
  and discipline of war (as herewith given you), and punctually to
  observe and follow such orders and directions, from time to time,
  as you shall receive from this or a future Congress of these United
  Colonies, or Committee of Congress.

  This commission to continue in force until revoked by this or a
  future Congress.

  By order of the Congress.

Accepting with hesitation, Washington said:--

  “But lest some unlucky event should happen unfavorable to my
  reputation, I beg it may be remembered by every gentleman in the
  room, that I this day declare, with the utmost sincerity, that I
  do not think myself equal to the command I am honored with. As
  to pay, I beg leave to assure the Congress that, as no pecuniary
  consideration could have tempted me to accept this arduous
  employment at the expense of my domestic ease and happiness, I do
  not wish to make any profit of it. I will keep an exact account of
  my expenses. Those I doubt not they will discharge, and that is all
  I desire.”

Washington’s history during the next eight years is the history of the
Revolution, for he was the animating spirit and the controlling power
throughout that great struggle. On the 2d of November, 1783, he took
final leave of the army, and resigned his commission on the following
23d of December. Retiring to Mount Vernon, which he had visited
but once during the war, he resumed the peaceful life of a country
gentleman. These were happy days, his time being fully occupied with
his large estate, which required a tour of inspection each day. His
servants were many; but he gave personal attention to their welfare.
His guests were numerous; yet all were entertained with a bountiful
hospitality. One ceremony was never omitted at Mount Vernon, and that
was a daily visit to his old war-horse, Nelson, to pat his head.
Washington rode him when receiving the surrender of Cornwallis at
Yorktown. The war ended, Nelson’s work was over; carefully tended, he
lived to a good old age, but by his master’s strict orders, no service
was ever again required of him.

In 1784, Washington crossed the Alleghanies to visit his lands
in western Virginia, and planned the Potomac and the James River
canals. In 1787, he was sent as a delegate to the convention held
in Philadelphia for the purpose of deciding on the best mode of
governing the United States. The result of their labors was the federal
Constitution, under the provisions of which Washington was unanimously
chosen first President, with John Adams as Vice-President. Owing
to a delay in the assembling of the members of the first National
Congress, the inauguration could not take place until April 30, 1789.
Washington’s journey from Mount Vernon to New York, temporarily the
seat of government, was the triumphant progress of a hero; young and
old, rich and poor, vied with one another to do him honor. Being
re-elected, he took his second oath of office on the 4th of March,
1793. Appreciating the fact that America’s true policy was to keep
clear of all European alliances, on the 22d of April of the same year,
he issued his famous proclamation of neutrality, to restrain the United
States from taking any part in the French Revolution.

Wearied with his long public service, and not deeming it for the best
interests of the country that he should enter upon a third term,
on the 16th of September, 1796, Washington published his “Farewell
Address.” His tenure of office expiring on the 4th of March, 1797,
he once more sought the tranquil enjoyment of life at Mount Vernon.
War-clouds were gathering on the horizon; and when hostilities with
France seemed inevitable, he again responded to the call of his
country, and accepting on the 3d of July, 1798, the appointment of
lieutenant-general and commander-in-chief, began the organization of
an army. The difficulties were, however, settled without an appeal to
arms, though Washington did not live to know it. Riding over his estate
on the 12th of December, 1799, during a snow-storm, he contracted a
severe chill from which he never seemed to rally, and died on the 14th,
saying to Dr. Craik, his physician, “I die hard; but I am not afraid to
go.” His funeral occurred on the 18th, Reverend Thomas Davis preaching
the sermon, a schooner lying in the Potomac firing minute-guns, and
his favorite horse being led after the coffin. Richard Henry Lee
pronounced a eulogy before both Houses of Congress, in which occurred
the since oft-quoted words,--“first in war, first in peace, and first
in the hearts of his countrymen.” Napoleon ordered all the standards
and flags in the French army to be bound with crape for ten days, and
the British fleet of sixty ships-of-the-line, lying at Torbay, England,
lowered their flags to half-mast upon hearing the sad intelligence.
Sincerely mourned by the whole civilized world, his memory to-day is
cherished as that of no other man has ever been, and the passing years
but add to the lustre of his fame. Beautifully has it been said of him,
“Providence left him childless that his country might call him father.”




ARTEMUS WARD.


Artemus Ward, born in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, in 1727, graduated
at Harvard College in 1748. Soon after, he entered public life as a
representative in the Colonial Assembly, and later was a delegate in
the first Provincial Congress, and justice of the peace in his native
town in 1752. Having gained some reputation for military ability during
the French and Indian War, he was appointed commander-in-chief of the
Massachusetts troops on the 19th of May, 1775, and held that rank until
the arrival of Washington at Cambridge. Though nominally in command
during the battle of Bunker Hill, he remained in his camp and took no
active part in determining the events of that day. On the 19th of May,
1775, he was made brigadier-general, and on the 17th of June, 1775, he
was commissioned as senior major-general by the Continental Congress,
being the first officer of that rank appointed by that body. Owing to
impaired health, however, he resigned on the 23d of April of the year
following, but at the request of Washington, continued to act until
May. From that time until his death, he held responsible legislative
and judicial positions, and served in the former one for sixteen years.
Possessed of high integrity and unyielding principles, his judicial
conduct won for him much praise, especially during Shays’ Rebellion in
1786. He died in his native town on the 28th of October, 1800.




CHARLES LEE.


Charles Lee, born in 1731 at Dernhall in Cheshire, England, was
destined by his parents, from his earliest youth, to the profession of
arms; his education, therefore, was such as to further that purpose.
In 1758, he came to New York with the British forces designed for the
conquest of Louisburg, and served with distinction during the French
and Indian War. Returning to England at the close of the war, he threw
himself with characteristic ardor into politics; but finding this too
tame a pursuit, he offered his services to Poland, then to Russia
against the Turks, and in 1773 returned to America, where, on the 17th
of June, 1775, he was appointed second major-general of the Continental
forces,--Washington at the same time being made commander-in-chief,
though from his experience and brilliant achievements abroad, Lee had
hoped for the latter appointment himself. His first service was the
putting of New York City in a good state of defence. In March, 1776,
Congress ordered him south, and in conjunction with General Moultrie,
he defeated the British at Charleston, South Carolina, in the battle
of the 28th of June, with the fleet of Parker under Lord Cornwallis.
Moultrie won the victory, although it was conceded to Lee. Moultrie
constructed the famous Palmetto Fort on Sullivan’s Island.

In October, Lee was recalled to New York; here his jealousy of
Washington blinded his better judgment and led him into a series
of indiscretions which after the battle of Monmouth subjected him
to a court-martial, some of the charges being “disobedience of
orders,” “misbehavior before the enemy,” and “disrespect to the
commander-in-chief.” The court found him guilty of these charges, and
Congress, after considerable delay, on Monday the 10th of January,
1780, resolved, “That Major-General Charles Lee be informed that
Congress have no further occasion for his services in the army of the
United States.” Retiring to his estate in Berkeley County, Virginia,
he led the life of a hermit, shunning society and devoting himself to
agricultural and literary pursuits. His dwelling was a rudely built
house containing one large room, chalk-marks on the floor taking the
place of partitions and indicating where the various apartments should
be. Wearying of this life, and his farm proving unprofitable, he went
to Philadelphia to make arrangements for selling it. While attending to
this business, he was attacked by a fatal illness and died there on the
2d of October, 1782, at the age of fifty-one.




JOHN PHILIP SCHUYLER.


John Philip Schuyler, born at Albany on the 22d of November, 1733,
was of Dutch origin. He was the second son of John Schuyler, who was
the nephew of Peter Schuyler,--a native of Albany, born in 1657.
At the age of twenty-two he received the appointment of commissary
under Lord Howe, and rendered valuable service throughout the French
and Indian War. In 1755, he recruited a company for the army and was
commissioned its captain, taking part in the battle of Lake George. His
health failing, he was obliged to transfer his command at Ticonderoga
to General Montgomery. After the peace of 1763, he turned to the
management of his private affairs. Inheriting a large property, much
of which was covered with valuable timber, he transported the latter
in his own vessels down the Hudson River to New York City, where he
found a favorable market. Cultivating large fields of flax, and there
being no facilities for its utilization, he built a flax-mill,--the
first of its kind in this country,--and received, in recognition of his
enterprise, a medal from the Society for Promoting Arts. In 1764, he
was appointed a commissioner to settle the disputes between the States
of New York and Massachusetts, relative to their boundary line, and he
arbitrated in the same controversy between New York and New Hampshire.
When elected to a seat in the Assembly of New York, he was one of the
few in that body to antagonize the oppressive measures adopted by the
British Government in its dealings with this country. He was made
colonel of a State militia company in 1768.

In May, 1775, Schuyler was elected a delegate to the Continental
Congress at Philadelphia, but such was the appreciation of his military
ability and his patriotism that on the 19th of June he was appointed
third major-general of the American army, and given command of its
Northern division. Being possessed of great wealth, he provided large
stores of arms, ammunition, clothing, and provisions, from his private
purse, to suitably equip this army for the campaign against Canada.
Stricken by a wasting fever from which he suffered for two years, he
planned and directed even when too ill for active service. Fearing
lest his increasing weakness might work against the public good, he
sought leave during this time to retire; but Congress, well knowing
his worth and his devotion to his country, requested him to reconsider
his determination, at the same time tendering him a vote of thanks for
past services. Schuyler responded nobly, contributing his wealth and
using all his personal influence in behalf of American independence.
At the end of two years of hardships, disappointments, arduous labor,
great responsibility, and inadequate supplies of men and of provisions
to accomplish the tasks set him by Congress, he at length saw his
way to certain victory. At this critical moment Gates appeared in
camp, and Philip Schuyler found himself superseded by a man who, from
jealousy, had always been his enemy, and who had tried in every way
to bring about his downfall. Wounded to the quick, he bore this most
unjust treatment with dignity, and without showing resentment; and
Congress having accepted his resignation on the 19th of April, 1779,
he continued still to serve his country as a private citizen. In 1782,
he was appointed Surveyor-General of New York. A zealous advocate for
the adoption of the Constitution, he was elected a member of the first
United States Senate, filling that office from 1789 until 1798, when a
severe attack of gout compelled his resignation. It is to him that the
State of New York is indebted for her excellent canal system. As early
as 1776 he calculated the actual cost of a canal from the Hudson River
to Lake Champlain; and later he advocated the connection of that river
and Lake Erie by the same means. Dying in his native city at the age of
seventy-one, on the 18th of November, 1804, he was buried with military
honors. In 1871, a Doric column of Quincy granite, thirty-six feet
high, was erected to his memory.




ISRAEL PUTNAM.


Israel Putnam, born at Salem, Massachusetts, on the 7th of January,
1718, was a lineal descendant of one of the Puritan Pilgrims. Even as a
boy, he displayed that fearlessness and resolution that in later years
characterized his military career. A fierce wolf was causing much loss
of life among the sheep, and great annoyance to the farmers in the
neighborhood, while cunningly eluding all their efforts to kill her.
Putnam tracked her to her den, and descending into its gloomy recesses,
shot her by the light of her own blazing eyeballs. He led the life of
a farmer until the breaking out of the French and Indian War, when by
his indomitable courage and enterprise he won a name that gained for
him a high rank at the beginning of the Revolutionary War. When news of
the skirmish at Lexington flew like wildfire over the country, Putnam,
who was ploughing, left his yoke of oxen standing in the furrow, and
mounting his fleetest horse, hurried to Boston.

On the 19th of June, 1775, Congress appointed Putnam major-general,
but it was not until the month following that he became acquainted
with General Washington, who subsequently declared him to be “a most
valuable man and a fine executive officer.” He served with distinction
throughout the war, again and again effecting by his daring boldness
results that seemed impossible with the limited resources and
insufficient number of men at his command. In the winter of 1778, while
superintending the building of the fort at West Point, he visited one
of his outposts at West Greenwich. Governor Tryon with five hundred
dragoons made at this time an attack, hoping to capture Putnam, who had
but fifty men. Stationing himself on the brow of a steep hill, Putnam
received the attack with a discharge of artillery, then ordered his
men to withdraw to a swamp where no cavalry could follow them, while
he himself escaped by urging his horse down the almost perpendicular
declivity. Not one of the British dared to follow. The descent known as
Horse Neck has since borne the name of “Putnam’s Hill.” During the next
winter, while still superintending the erection of new fortifications
along the Hudson River, he suffered a stroke of paralysis from which
he never recovered, although he lived till the 19th of May, 1790. His
friend, Dr. Dwight, in summing up his character speaks of him as--

  “A hero who dared to lead where any dared to follow; as a patriot
  who rendered gallant and distinguished services to his country; as
  a man whose generosity was singular, whose honesty was proverbial,
  and who raised himself to universal esteem, and offices of eminent
  distinction, by personal worth and a useful life.”

During the Revolution he was familiarly known as “Old Put.” The British
offered him money and the rank of major-general if he would desert the
American cause; but he could neither be daunted by toil and danger, nor
bribed by gold and honors.




RICHARD MONTGOMERY.


Richard Montgomery, born in Ireland, on the 2d of December, 1736,
educated at Trinity College, Dublin, entered the British army at
eighteen as ensign. He performed good service during the French and
Indian War, taking an active part in the siege of Louisburg and at
the storming of Quebec under Wolfe. At the close of the war, he
obtained permission to return to Europe; but in 1772, he resigned his
commission in the British army and came to New York, being fully in
sympathy with the colonies in their conflict with the mother country.
He identified himself with the American colonists by purchasing a farm,
and shortly after marrying the daughter of Robert R. Livingston. In
1775, he represented Duchess County in the first New York Provincial
Convention. On the 22d of June of the same year, Congress appointed
him brigadier-general in the Continental army. Preparations were
immediately begun for investing Canada, as Congress appreciated the
importance of securing commanding positions, to prevent invasions from
that quarter and the alliance of the frontier Indians with our enemies.
It being thought best to divide the forces, part were sent by way of
the Kennebec, under Arnold, the others, by way of the Sorel River, were
intrusted to Montgomery. Both armies had to contend with insufficient
provisions and untold hardships of all kinds. Montgomery succeeded,
however, in taking the fortresses of St. Johns, Chambly, and Montreal.
At St. Johns the colors of the Seventh Fusileers were captured, being
the first taken in the Revolution. In sending his report to Congress,
Montgomery added, “Until Quebec is taken, Canada is unconquered.” On
the 9th of December, 1775, he was advanced by Congress to the rank
of major-general. About this time Arnold crossed the St. Lawrence,
and at last the two armies were united and ready to act in concert.
But cold, privation, and toilsome marches had done their work, and
reduced the number of men available for active service to less than
one thousand, while Quebec was not only strongly fortified, but amply
garrisoned. A summons to surrender was answered by firing upon the
bearer of the flag. A siege of three weeks served only to dishearten
still further the frost-bitten and half-starved Americans. But the
stout hearts of Montgomery and Arnold never quailed. At a council of
war, it was decided that their best chance of success lay in attempting
to carry the place by assault. Accordingly, on the 31st of December,
1775, in the midst of a blinding snow-storm, the two leaders began the
attack before daylight. The city was to be stormed simultaneously at
two different points; and Montgomery, leading his division along the
river-bank, and often helping with his own hands to push aside the
huge blocks of ice that impeded their progress, succeeded in carrying
the first barrier. Waving his sword and shouting, “Men of New York,
follow where your general leads!” he pressed eagerly forward, when a
discharge of grape-shot ended his life, and also killed several of his
staff. Dismayed by the death of their leader, and discouraged by the
tremendous odds against them, the Americans were at length driven back,
and compelled to leave the gallant Montgomery on the field of battle.
The victors, appreciating the courage and nobility of the fallen hero,
generously offered a resting-place for his remains within the walls of
the beleaguered city.

In 1818, by an “Act of honor” passed by the New York Legislature in
behalf of Mrs. Montgomery, Sir John Sherbrooke, Governor-General of
Canada, was requested to allow her husband’s remains to be disinterred
and brought to New York. This was granted, and “her soldier,” as
she always called him, now sleeps in St. Paul’s churchyard near the
monument that was ordered in France by Benjamin Franklin, in pursuance
of a resolution of the Continental Congress.




JOHN THOMAS.


John Thomas, born in Marshfield, Massachusetts, in 1725, was a
successful medical practitioner, entering the British army first
as a surgeon, in 1746. He took a prominent part in the French and
Indian War, but at its close devoted himself to his profession.
He was, however, among the first to counsel resistance to British
oppression, and having raised a regiment of volunteers, was appointed
brigadier-general by the Provincial Congress on the 9th of February,
1775, and afterward received the same appointment from the Continental
Congress on the 22d of June of the same year. On the night of the 4th
of March, 1776, with three thousand picked men, he took possession
of Dorchester Heights, commanding Boston, where the British were
intrenched, and before morning had thrown up a formidable line of
earth-works,--an advantage which finally led to the evacuation of the
town by the enemy on the 17th of March. The death of Montgomery at
the storming of Quebec necessitating the appointment of an experienced
officer to command the troops in Canada, this duty was assigned to
Thomas,--Congress having advanced him to the rank of major-general on
the 6th of March, 1776. He promptly repaired to his new post, but while
waiting for promised reinforcements, was attacked by small-pox, from
which he died on the 2d of June, 1776, universally respected and deeply
deplored.




HORATIO GATES.


Horatio Gates, born in Malden, Essex County, England, in 1728, was
the godson of Horace Walpole. Entering the military service of Great
Britain at an early age, he soon rose to the rank of major. After
the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle he was stationed with his regiment at
Halifax. At the breaking out of the French and Indian War, he joined
General Braddock’s army in the expedition against Fort Duquesne, and
received in that battle a severe wound that prevented his taking an
active part again until near the close of the war, when he acted in
1762 as aid to General Monckton in the expedition against the island of
Martinique. After the peace of Paris in 1763, Major Gates, like many
other English officers, settled in America. He purchased a fine tract
of land in Berkeley County, Virginia, and devoted himself successfully
to agriculture. He had married Mary, the only child of James Valence of
Liverpool, and at her father’s death, just before the Revolution, she
joined her husband in this country, bringing with her $450,000, which
she freely expended. Thaddeus Kosciusko was tenderly nursed by her six
months. As his wound was a severe one, he owed his life to her generous
care.

When war became inevitable, Gates offered his services to Congress,
receiving the appointment of adjutant-general, with the rank of
brigadier-general, June[1] 17, 1775. From the first, however, he
coveted the position of commander-in-chief, and on more than one
occasion showed his jealousy of Washington. Having many powerful
friends in Congress, he was advanced to the rank of major-general
May 16, 1776, and in June was appointed to the command of the army
in Canada with his headquarters at Ticonderoga. Not finding any
army in Canada, it having been compelled to retreat to New York, he
claimed command of the whole Northern army, then under Schuyler, with
his headquarters at Albany. Congress sustained the latter general,
but this period marks the beginning of a series of intrigues which
culminated in the “Conway cabal” to supplant Washington. Gates’
complicity in this conspiracy will forever tarnish his fame, as it no
doubt saddened his life. Demoralized by hard service, insufficient food
and clothing, with their pay in arrears, and consequently no money to
send to their starving families, the Northern army could accomplish
little except to gain in discipline and knowledge of military tactics.
At length Schuyler’s prudent measures and wise strategy were beginning
to tell in northern New York, and his sacrifices and heroism were about
to be rewarded, when at this critical moment General Gates was given
command of the Northern army, and arriving on the 21st of August, 1777,
assumed the direction of affairs, already in train for a splendid
victory. The battles of Stillwater and Saratoga forced Burgoyne to
surrender his entire army with all their arms and ammunition on the
17th of the following October. The conduct of Gates during the latter
battle has led to the charge of lack of personal courage, as throughout
the engagement he remained in a position of safety two miles away,
ready to flee with the teamsters and baggage-wagons should the action
result in a defeat for the Americans. Burgoyne, on the contrary, was in
the thick of the battle, receiving three bullets in his clothing.

    [1] Journals of Congress. Appleton’s Cyclopædia gives the month
        July.

In 1780, Gates was given command of the Southern army, and prepared
to attack Cornwallis at Camden, South Carolina. By a serious error in
judgment, Gates suffered a most humiliating defeat, which ended his
military career. On the 5th of October, 1780, he was suspended from
service until his conduct could be investigated. Deeply mortified,
he retired to his farm in Berkeley County, but as he passed through
Richmond, the State Legislature passed a resolution expressive of
their sympathy in his misfortune and their unabated confidence in
his patriotism and military skill; he received, too, a letter from
Washington containing assurances of sincere sympathy and promises of a
command when the court of inquiry should have acquitted him. Restored
to his command on the 14th of August, 1782, he did not serve, as the
war was then practically over. The battle of Camden virtually ended his
career. In 1790, he removed to New York City, generously freeing all
his Virginia slaves, and amply providing for the aged and infirm. In
1800, he was elected to the New York State Legislature, and died on the
10th of April, 1806.




WILLIAM HEATH.


William Heath, born on the 2d of March, 1737, was the son of a farmer
living in Roxbury, Massachusetts. Delighting in military exercise, he
joined the militia company of his town. In 1765, he became a member of
the “Ancient and Honorable Artillery” corps of Boston, subsequently
becoming its commander. In 1770, he contributed a series of articles
to a Boston newspaper, urging the importance of military training,
etc. In 1774, he received an appointment in the Provincial army of
Massachusetts, and on the 22d of June was created brigadier-general by
the Continental Congress and placed in command at Roxbury. On the 9th
of August, 1776, he was raised to the rank of major-general. Though
taking part in none of the great battles of the war, he did good
service as recruiting officer, commissary, and quartermaster. After the
close of the war he retired to his farm at Roxbury. Subsequently he was
elected senator, counsellor, Presidential elector, judge of probate,
and in 1806 Lieutenant-Governor of Massachusetts. This office, however,
he declined, choosing to spend his last years as a private citizen. He
died on his estate in Roxbury on the 24th of January, 1814.




JOSEPH SPENCER.


Joseph Spencer, born at East Haddam, Connecticut, in 1714, was an
officer of militia, with the rank of colonel, during the French and
Indian War. He was appointed brigadier-general on the 22d of June,
1775, by the Continental Congress, and major-general on the 9th of
August, 1776. When the British fleet appeared off the coast of New
England, in December of that year, he was sent with Arnold to take
charge of the militia in that section. Spencer was in command at Rhode
Island in 1778. Admiral Sir Peter Parker having taken possession of
Newport, Spencer had assembled his forces at Providence to dislodge
him. After spending some weeks in marching and counter-marching, the
enterprise had to be abandoned, as the Americans were too weak to
attempt such an assault. General Spencer resigned his commission on
the 13th of January, 1778, and though an earnest advocate of American
independence, took but little part in public affairs during the
remainder of his life. He died at his native place, East Haddam, in
January, 1789.




JOHN SULLIVAN.


John Sullivan, born in Berwick, Maine, on the 17th of February, 1740,
was of Irish parentage, his father having emigrated to this country
in 1723. He was public-spirited, and hating oppression, as a zealous
advocate of American rights proved himself so able a partisan that
in 1772 he was commissioned major of the militia. In 1774, he became
a member of the Continental Congress, but resigned his seat to enter
the army, being appointed a brigadier-general, on the 22d of June,
1775. Employed for a time at Cambridge in disciplining the troops
and securing supplies, he was sent to Canada in 1776 to command the
survivors of the Northern army. Being superseded by Gates, he rejoined
the army under Washington, and on the 9th of August of the same year
was commissioned a major-general. He was made prisoner at the battle
of Long Island, but was soon after exchanged. In 1778, he was assigned
to the command of the forces in Rhode Island, and received not only
the commendation of the wisest men throughout the country, but also
the thanks of Congress for his conduct under very trying circumstances
during this campaign. In 1779, he was selected by Washington to lead
an army against the “Six Nations,” occupying the fertile region of
northern Pennsylvania and western New York. The atrocities of these
Indians demanding the severest measures, Sullivan, after defeating
their chief, laid waste their fields and orchards, burned their
villages, and drove them beyond the frontier to take refuge with their
English allies. He resigned his commission on the 30th of November,
1779, and entered upon the practice of the law. He held several
positions of national trust and responsibility, and served his State as
attorney-general, as president, and as justice of its Federal Court.
While discharging the duties of the latter office, he died at Durham
on the 23d of January, 1795. Harvard College conferred upon General
Sullivan the degree of LL.D. in 1780.




NATHANIEL GREENE.


Nathaniel Greene was born at Potowomut, within the jurisdiction of
Warwick, Rhode Island, on the 6th of June, 1742. His ancestors, of
good English extraction, were among the first settlers on the banks of
Providence River. Having a natural aptitude for study, he spent his
extra earnings for books, which trained and developed his mind, as
physical toil and out-door sports had strengthened his body. In 1770,
being elected to the General Assembly of Rhode Island, he acquitted
himself with credit. Foreseeing the struggle with the mother country,
he began to prepare himself for an active participation by studying the
best military text-books of those times. He married in July, 1774. The
following April, the battle of Lexington rendering the war inevitable,
Rhode Island promptly responded to the call for troops by raising an
army of sixteen hundred men; and in May, 1775, Greene was placed in
command as major-general. He showed the good effects of his former
preparation by the vigilant drill and thorough discipline of the troops
intrusted to his command. By his conduct at the battle of Bunker Hill,
he gained the confidence and esteem of Washington. When the different
bodies of State troops were reorganized into the Continental army,
Greene received a regular commission as brigadier-general on the 22d
of June, 1775; but in acknowledgment of his sterling worth, Congress
promoted him to the rank of major-general on the 9th of August, 1776.
His first regular battle was that at Harlem, when the British, having
taken New York, lay siege to Fort Washington. During the subsequent
retreat of the Americans through the Jerseys, he was the companion and
counsellor of Washington. When defeat was at last changed to victory
by the battle of Trenton, he seized the artillery of the enemy and
cut off their retreat to Princeton. The American army went into
winter-quarters at Valley Forge; and then Greene, yielding to the
urgent entreaties of Washington and of Congress, assumed the arduous
duties of quarter-master-general, which onerous position he held for
two years, with credit to himself, and with inestimable benefit to the
army. Greene presided at the “board of inquiry” convened for the trial
of André. With regret he signed the decree of the court condemning the
young officer to death. The post at West Point left vacant by Arnold’s
treason was given to Greene, who took command Oct. 8, 1780. After the
defeat of Gates at Camden, Greene was intrusted with the command of the
armies of the South, which post he held until the close of the war.
At the conclusion of his military career he established himself on a
plantation in Georgia, and for the first time in many years enjoyed the
opportunity of indulging his love of nature. This tranquil pleasure,
however, was short-lived, for through an unfortunate exposure to a
Southern sun and the exhalations of a Georgia rice-field, he contracted
a malignant fever, from which he died on the 19th of June, 1786, aged
but forty-four years. As a man, he was honorable, trustworthy, and
patriotic; as a soldier, wise, prudent, brave, and unflinching in the
discharge of his duty.




LORD STIRLING.


William Alexander, or according to his title, the Right Honorable
William, Earl of Stirling, better known in history as Lord Stirling,
was born in New York City, in 1726. His father, James Alexander, a
native of Scotland, fled to this country in 1716 after the wars of the
Pretender. Having been appointed Surveyor-General of New Jersey and New
York, he was able to give much personal supervision to the education of
his only son, and dying in 1756, left him an ample fortune. Thoroughly
trained in mathematics, and with a fine military spirit, William
Alexander distinguished himself in the French and Indian War; at its
close he visited Europe, took measures to establish his claim to the
earldom of Stirling, and returning to America, devoted himself to the
duties of Surveyor-General of New Jersey. His first opposition to the
mother country was his denunciation of the Stamp Act, and his efforts
to have it repealed. When bloodshed followed passive resistance, he
was selected, in the summer of 1775, to command a regiment. On the
1st of March, 1776, Congress appointed him brigadier-general. For
his gallantry during the attack of the British on New York, Congress
advanced him to the rank of major-general, on the 19th of February,
1777. Though compelled on several occasions to retreat before vastly
superior numbers, in each case he secured so advantageous a position,
and defended it with such courage and constancy, as to check the
further advance of the enemy, and to frustrate their purpose. During
the winter of 1777–78, while Washington was encamped at Valley Forge, a
conspiracy was set on foot to substitute Gates as commander-in-chief.
Providentially, this plot was discovered by Lord Stirling before any
material harm had resulted. It was not until 1780 that he obtained
leave of absence to visit his family, and to attend to his private
affairs at Baskenridge. In 1781, he again took the field to repel
a threatened invasion from Canada, and was actively engaged until
1783, when his useful and honorable career was brought to a close by
his death. He expired on the 15th of January, 1783, almost as deeply
mourned by the troops he had commanded as by his nearest connections
and warmest personal friends.




THOMAS MIFFLIN.


Thomas Mifflin, a descendant of one of the first settlers of
Pennsylvania, was born in Philadelphia in 1744, and educated for
the business of a merchant, which occupation he followed with much
success. In 1772 and the year following, he represented Philadelphia
in the Colonial Legislature, and in 1774 was one of the delegates for
Pennsylvania to the first Congress. After the battle of Lexington he
engaged promptly in enlisting and disciplining troops, being appointed
major. July 4, 1775, Washington made him an aide-de-camp, and in
the August following, quartermaster-general. May 16, 1776, Congress
commissioned him brigadier-general; and Feb. 17, 1777, he was appointed
major-general, in recognition of the skill and efficiency he had
shown in bringing the militia into service, though he failed to give
satisfaction in his capacity of quartermaster. Becoming discontented
during the gloomy period marked by the “retreat through the Jerseys,”
he tendered his resignation. Congress relieved him of his duties as
quartermaster and continued his rank as major-general, but without
the pay. In May, 1778, he rejoined the army, and was a mover in the
conspiracy to substitute Gates for Washington. Feb. 25, 1779, he again
resigned. In 1782, he was elected to the Continental Congress, and
being chosen president of that body the following year, received in
that capacity the commission of Washington when he resigned, on the
23d of December, 1783. Mifflin continued to take an active part in
American politics, and from 1790 to 1799 was Governor of Pennsylvania.
In December of that year he was elected to the State Legislature, and
died while attending its session at Lancaster, Jan. 20, 1800.




ARTHUR ST. CLAIR.


Arthur St. Clair, born in Edinburgh in 1734, graduated at the
university of that city, and began the study of medicine. His ardent
temperament, however, could ill brook the quiet monotony of a doctor’s
life, so enlisting in the British army, he came to this country in
1755. He was present at the battle on the “Heights of Abraham,” and
after the peace of 1763 was given command of Fort Ligonier in western
Pennsylvania. During the next ten years, he purchased a tract of land,
married, engaged in the business of a farmer and land surveyor, and
became a magistrate in Westmoreland County. His patriotism being well
known, he was appointed colonel in the Continental army in December,
1775, and in 1776 was ordered to Canada, arriving in the vicinity
of Quebec just in time to cover the retreat of the troops under
Arnold. On the 9th of August following, he received his commission as
brigadier-general, and joining Washington in the autumn, took part
in the battles of Trenton and Princeton. The confidence and esteem
of his commander-in-chief and of Congress found expression in his
advancement to the rank of major-general on the 19th of February, 1777;
and soon after he was intrusted with the command of Fort Ticonderoga.
On the approach of Burgoyne the following July, he deemed it best to
abandon this fortress and to retreat, as the smallness of the garrison
and the lack of everything necessary to withstand either an assault
or a siege rendered defeat inevitable. His conduct, however, was
severely criticised by Congress, and he was suspended and summoned to
Philadelphia for trial. Despite all his efforts to the contrary, this
investigation was delayed for many months. At last he was tried by
court-martial in October, 1778, and fully exonerated of all charges
against him. Washington’s confidence in him had never been shaken, and
he made it apparent by employing him in various important missions. He
served to the close of the war, and in 1786 was elected to Congress
from Pennsylvania, and soon afterward was chosen president of that
body. In 1788, Congress appointed him first governor of the Northwest
Territory, but in 1791, he suffered a terrible defeat by the Indians
of that section, and again his conduct was investigated and again
he was acquitted of all blame. In 1802, being removed by President
Jefferson from the office of governor, he returned to Ligonier Valley.
Broken in health, stripped of his fortune, and unable to make good
his just claims against the Government, he had abandoned all hope,
when the State of Pennsylvania settled an annuity upon him of $300,
which was afterward increased to $650 a year. He died at Greensburg,
Pennsylvania, on the 31st of August, 1818.




ADAM STEPHEN.


Adam Stephen, born in Virginia about 1730, served first as captain,
then colonel, under Washington throughout the French and Indian
War, aiding materially in bringing that struggle to a close. At
the beginning of the Revolution, Virginia gave him command of one
of her seven regiments, and Sept. 4, 1776, Congress appointed
him brigadier-general in the Continental army, promoting him to
major-general Feb. 19, 1777. He was at the battle of Brandywine; but
at Germantown his division became involved in a combat with the troops
of Anthony Wayne, owing to a fog. Stephen was held responsible for the
blunder, court-martialled, and dismissed from the service in October,
1777. He died in his native State in November of 1791.




BENJAMIN LINCOLN.


Benjamin Lincoln, born Jan. 24, 1733, at Hingham, Massachusetts, led
the life of a farmer; but warmly espousing the cause of the colonists
when troubles began with Great Britain, was intrusted with various
military offices, and after two years of active service with the
Massachusetts troops, was commissioned major-general in the Continental
army on the 19th of February, 1777. In the following October, he
received a severe wound which lamed him for life, and prevented his
rejoining the army until August, 1778. In September, Congress gave
him the chief command of the Southern army, but upon repairing to
Charleston, South Carolina, he found the entire State of Georgia in
the hands of the British, and the American army in the South almost
destroyed. Setting about his task with courage and resolution, he
busied himself in collecting the necessary supplies and recruits,
and making all needful preparations for driving the enemy from their
various strongholds. In each engagement, however, he was unsuccessful,
and was at last taken prisoner at the surrender of Charleston, on the
12th of May, 1780. He was exchanged in November, and rejoined the army
in June, 1781. Again he was despatched to the South, but this time with
far different results.

When the siege of Yorktown ended in the surrender of Cornwallis, that
general feigned illness; to escape the mortification of surrendering
his sword personally, he sent it by General O’Hara. Washington, with
a fine delicacy of feeling, ordered the sword to be delivered to
General Lincoln, who, eighteen months before, had been compelled to
surrender to Sir Henry Clinton at Charleston, Cornwallis being one of
the principal officers. This campaign closed Lincoln’s active service
in the field, as he was soon after appointed Secretary of War, and held
that responsible position until the disbanding of the army in October,
1783. Shays’ Rebellion, in 1786, again called him into the field, and
after quelling it, he served as Lieutenant-Governor of Massachusetts in
1788, and collector of the port of Boston from 1789 to 1806, when the
infirmities of old age necessitated his withdrawal. He died on the 9th
of May, 1810, in the seventy-eighth year of his age. Harvard College
conferred upon him the degree of M. A. in 1780.




BENEDICT ARNOLD.


Benedict Arnold, born Jan. 14, 1741, in Norwich, Connecticut, ran
away from home at the age of fifteen, and entered the military force
of his native State, then marching to Albany and Lake George, to
resist the French invasion. Growing weary of discipline, he deserted,
returned home alone through the wilderness, and became a druggist’s
clerk, afterward skipper of a New England schooner trading with the
West Indies, and at times a horse-dealer. His spirit of adventure
and his early taste of war led him to offer himself among the first
who took the field when the American colonies began their struggle
for independence. In conjunction with Col. Ethan Allen he surprised
the garrison at Fort Ticonderoga on the 10th of May, 1775, capturing
large stores of cannon and ammunition without the loss of a single
man. Disagreeing with the officers of the party, and becoming bitterly
jealous of Allen, Arnold left New York; and applying to Washington for
service in the Continental army, he was given command of about five
hundred men and despatched, by way of the wilderness, to join General
Montgomery in an attack on Quebec. During the Canadian campaign, as
during his service in New York, Arnold evinced the same traits of
character,--dashing gallantry and perfect fearlessness when in action,
with petty meanness, vindictiveness, arrogance, and covetousness at
all other times. On the 10th of January, 1776, Congress bestowed on
him the rank of brigadier-general, and after his defeat of Tryon at
Danbury, and his daring heroism in bearing from the field the body of
the gallant Wooster, he was promoted to the rank of major-general on
the 2d of May, 1777. Being ordered again to the North, he did good
service under Schuyler; but all his worst passions seem to have been
aroused when Gates took command. The stirring events immediately
preceding the surrender of Burgoyne prevented an open rupture, and
Arnold’s reckless daring at the battle of Saratoga, though gaining the
victory, resulted in rendering him a cripple for life. Incapacitated
for active service, he was placed in command at Philadelphia when that
city was evacuated by the British, on the 17th of June, 1778. At this
point Arnold’s downward career began. There are just grounds to believe
that he entered into a secret contract to enrich himself at the expense
of the public; and finding many of the wealthiest of the citizens
to be Tories, he used all his influence in their behalf, hoping, no
doubt, for a pecuniary reward. His second marriage with Miss Shippen
bound him still more closely to the Tory faction.[2] In November,
1778, Gen. Joseph Reed was elected president “of the executive council
of the State” of Pennsylvania, and in the discharge of his duties,
brought the delinquencies of Arnold to the notice of Congress. A
court-martial on Jan. 26, 1780, sentenced him to be reprimanded by
the commander-in-chief. In addition to the public disgrace, he was
now cut off from various sources of revenue by which he had been
striving to ward off a threatened bankruptcy, and his pecuniary affairs
became sadly involved through extravagance and wild speculations.
Unsuccessful in his attempt to obtain a loan from the French minister,
De la Luzerne, he appears to have entered into correspondence with
the British, but soon found that to obtain any considerable sum of
money from that quarter, he must have control of some place worth the
purchase. Accordingly, having many warm friends in Congress and in the
army, he brought strong pressure to bear upon Washington to grant him
the command of West Point. Yielding at length, though reluctantly,
Arnold was assigned to this important post, and immediately put
himself in direct communication with the British commander-in-chief,
Sir Henry Clinton. On the night of the 21st of September, 1780, Major
André was sent by the latter to obtain personally from Arnold all the
information necessary to capture West Point and the posts on the line
of the Hudson. Arnold’s elaborate plans, however, miscarried; André was
captured, West Point saved, and Arnold obliged to fly. Though receiving
the military rank and the money promised him by Sir Henry Clinton,--ten
thousand pounds sterling and a commission as brigadier in the
British army, he was almost as much detested by the English as by the
Americans, and after some brutal outrages in Virginia and Connecticut,
ended his days in obscurity in London, on the 14th of June, 1801.

    [2] His first wife was Margaret, daughter of Samuel Mansfield
        of New Haven, by whom he had three sons, Benedict, Richard,
        and Henry.




MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE.


Marie Jean Paul Roch Yves Gilbert Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, was
born at Chavagnac, in the province of Auvergne, France, on the 6th of
September, 1757. He was educated at the military college of Duplessis,
in Paris; graduating at sixteen, although offered a high position in
the royal household, he preferred the career of a warrior, and at
nineteen had risen to the rank of captain of dragoons. During the
summer of 1776 his interest in the American colonies in their struggle
for independence became so great that he determined to espouse their
cause. Discouraged by all except his noble young wife, who sympathized
with the oppressed colonists as warmly as he did, Lafayette persevered;
and when the news of the disastrous termination of the campaign of
1776 reached France, he generously determined to offer not only his
services, but also his wealth. Prohibited by the king from leaving
Europe, he reached Spain in disguise, and with Baron de Kalb and ten
other officers embarked for America. After a perilous voyage, they
landed on the Carolina coast. Proceeding at once to Philadelphia, he
offered his services as a volunteer and without remuneration. When his
credentials had been examined, and his rank, wealth, and undaunted
perseverance became known, he was appointed major-general July 31,
1777. His valor, coolness in the presence of danger, and military
ability were shown on more than one occasion; but when our alliance
with France involved that country in war, he applied to Congress for
permission to return to France, for although he had incurred the
displeasure of the king by coming to America, he was still that king’s
soldier, and in the hour of need he felt he owed his first duty to
his native land. Congress granted him the desired leave of absence,
instructed its president to write him a letter of thanks for coming to
America and for his valuable services, and directed our minister at
Versailles to present him a sword, suitably engraved, as a token of the
esteem and gratitude of the United States. His return to France was
hailed with joy by the people, though the court for a time refused to
notice him. Presently, however, he was given a command in the king’s
own regiment of dragoons. A year later, March, 1780, he returned to the
United States, and re-entering the army, was actively engaged until
the close of the war. After the fall of Yorktown, he again asked leave
of absence to visit his family. Arrived in France, he was at once made
major-general in the French army, his commission to date from the
surrender of Cornwallis.

In 1784, Lafayette paid a short visit to this country, being received
everywhere with marks of love and respect. In 1785, he returned to
Paris to find the finances of his country hopelessly involved, and
the people ripe for revolution. Throughout his subsequent life he
remained true to those high principles of honor, patriotism, and love
of humanity, that had led him so warmly to espouse the cause of liberty
and justice. Kept for years a prisoner in the most loathsome dungeons,
his property confiscated, his wife doomed to the guillotine and only
saved by the death of Robespierre, his son an exile but finding shelter
in the home of Washington, he was at length restored to liberty by the
power of Napoleon. In 1824, he was invited by Congress to revisit the
United States. Though most of his friends and companions-in-arms had
passed away, and a new generation had grown up, the whole nation united
to welcome and do him homage. He died in 1834, leaving behind him the
record of one who amid every temptation and allurement had remained the
stanch, unwavering advocate of constitutional liberty.




BARON DE KALB.


Johann, Baron de Kalb, born in Hüttendorf, Bavaria, on the 29th of
July, 1721, had gained in the armies of France the reputation of being
a brave and meritorious officer. At the close of the Seven Years
War, he married the daughter of a Holland millionnaire. In 1768, he
came to this country as a secret agent of the French Government, and
had already attained to the rank of brigadier-general in the French
army, when he entered into an agreement with Silas Deane and Benjamin
Franklin to join the Continental forces. Coming to this country with
Lafayette, De Kalb’s services were at once accepted by Congress, a
commission as major-general given him on the 15th of September, 1777,
and the command of the Maryland division of the Continental army.
Studious in his habits, exceedingly temperate in his diet, kindly and
courteous of manner, his many noble and lovable traits endeared him to
all with whom he was associated. For three years he served this country
gallantly and well, sealing his devotion to liberty and justice with
his life-blood. On the 16th of August, 1780, at Camden, South Carolina,
while fighting against vastly superior numbers, and rallying his men
by words of courage and deeds of valor, he fell, pierced with eleven
wounds. He died three days after, saying to one who was condoling with
him, “I thank you for your generous sympathy, but I die the death I
always prayed for,--the death of a soldier fighting for the rights of
man.”

Many years after, when Washington visited his grave, he exclaimed, “So
there lies the brave De Kalb,--the generous stranger who came from a
distant land to fight our battles and to water with his blood the tree
of our liberty. Would to God he had lived to share its fruits!”




PHILIPPE CHARLES JEAN BAPTISTE TRONSON DU COUDRAY.


Philippe Charles Jean Baptiste Tronson du Coudray, born in Rheims,
France, on the 8th of September, 1738, was educated to the vocation
of a mining engineer, and ranked as one of the best in his native
country, when in 1776, he offered his services to Silas Deane and
Benjamin Franklin. These commissioners entered into an arrangement
with Du Coudray by which, on condition of his furnishing certain
military supplies, he was to enter the American service, with the rank
and pay of major-general, and the command of the artillery. After
several days’ debate on the subject, Congress did not see fit to
ratify this agreement in full, Washington also expressing a doubt as
to whether so important a command as that of the artillery should be
vested in any but an American, or one attached by ties of interest to
the United States. He was accorded his promised rank, however, being
appointed major-general on the 11th of August, 1777, and placed in
superintendence of the works being constructed on the Delaware. His
service was of short duration, for on the 16th of September in the
same year, while hastening, after the battle of Brandywine, to offer
himself as a volunteer, he accidentally lost his life. While crossing
the Schuylkill in a ferry-boat, his horse became unmanageable, plunged
with him into the river, and he was drowned before any assistance could
be rendered. The next day Congress passed a resolution directing his
burial at the expense of the United States and with the honors of war.




ROBERT HOWE.


Robert Howe, born in Brunswick County, North Carolina, in 1732, was
of English descent. He married young, took his wife to England, and
lived for two years with some relatives. Returning to this country, he
was appointed in 1766 commander at Fort Johnson in North Carolina. At
the beginning of the Revolution, he was a member of the Committee of
Safety for his native county, and with General Woodford was in command
of Norfolk when that place was attacked and destroyed by Lord Dunmore,
on the 1st of January, 1776. Prosecuting the war with vigor, Howe drove
Dunmore out of Virginia. The Assemblies of North Carolina and Virginia
recognized his services by a vote of thanks; Congress appointed him
brigadier-general in the Continental army on the 1st of March, 1776;
and on the 5th of May following, General Clinton excepted him when
offering pardon in the king’s name to all Carolinians who would lay
down their arms and return to their allegiance. The next year he was
ordered to join the Southern army; and on the 20th of October, 1777,
he was raised to the rank of major-general, and intrusted with an
expedition against St. Augustine. After some successes, the destruction
of one fourth of his army by an epidemic compelled him to abandon
this project, and he was afterward assigned to duty in Georgia. Being
defeated here, he joined Washington on the Hudson, and remained in
active service at the North until the close of the war. In 1785, he
was appointed a commissioner to treat with the Western Indians, and
upon returning to his native State, was received with public honors and
shortly after elected to the Legislature. Before the time arrived for
him to take his seat, he died of fever on the 12th of November, 1785.




ALEXANDER McDOUGAL.


Alexander McDougal, born on the island of Islay, Scotland, in 1731,
was brought to New York while still a child, by his father. At first
Alexander followed the sea, took part in the French and Indian War as
commander of two privateers,--the “Barrington” and the “Tiger,”--and
then settling in New York City, became one of her successful merchants.
Keenly alive to the aggressive steps taken by the home Government in
her dealings with her American dependencies, he drew upon himself
censure and imprisonment in 1769, by writing an address entitled, “A
Son of Liberty to the Betrayed Inhabitants of the Colony,” in which
he rebuked the Assembly for entering upon the favorable consideration
of a bill of supplies for troops quartered in the city to overawe the
inhabitants, and for rejecting a proposition authorizing the vote by
ballot. An incarceration of twenty-three weeks in what is now the
registrar’s office, made him the first martyr in the American struggle
for independence. When set at liberty, he entered into correspondence
with the master-spirits all over the country, presided over the
celebrated “meeting in the fields” in 1774, was appointed colonel of
the first Revolutionary regiment raised in New York, and was created
brigadier-general in the Continental army on the 9th of August,
1776, and immediately went into active service. After the battle of
Germantown and upon the recommendation of Washington, he was promoted
to be major-general on the 20th of October, 1777. From the beginning of
1778 to the close of 1780, he was in command at various posts along the
Hudson, but was summoned in the latter year to represent New York in
Congress, and in 1781 was appointed minister of marine. In 1783, when
the army went into winter-quarters at Newburg, he was chosen as head of
the committee sent to Congress to represent their grievances. At the
close of the war he was elected to the Senate of New York, and filled
that position until his death on the 8th of June, 1786.




THOMAS CONWAY.


Thomas Conway, born in Ireland on the 27th of February, 1733, was
taken by his parents to France when he was but six years of age.
Educated in that country, he entered her army, and in 1777 had
attained the rank of colonel and the decoration of the Order of St.
Louis. Seeing in the American Revolution a chance of rapid promotion,
he sought an interview with Silas Deane, and came to this country
with his promise that he should be appointed to a high rank in the
Continental army. Congress redeemed this promise on the 13th of May,
1777, by giving him the commission of a brigadier-general and assigning
to him a command in Lord Stirling’s division. After taking part in
the battles of Brandywine and Germantown, he urged his friends in
Congress to obtain promotion for him. Washington, divining his true
character, and believing that his real motive in coming to America
was self-aggrandizement rather than a devotion to the sacred cause of
liberty, opposed his advancement as an injustice to more deserving
officers.

Selfish, unscrupulous, and delighting in mischief, Conway was busily
plotting against Washington; and being upheld by Gates, Mifflin,
Dr. Rush, and others, he sought to displace him and elevate Gates
to the position of commander-in-chief. This intrigue, known as the
“Conway cabal,”[3] coming to the knowledge of Washington, he informed
Conway of the discovery of the plot, whereupon the latter tendered
his resignation. Congress, however, though fully cognizant of the
charges against him, did not accept it, but on the contrary gave him
his coveted promotion, advancing him to the rank of major-general on
the 13th of December, 1777. Restless and ever dissatisfied, on the
28th of April, 1778, he wrote to Congress complaining of the post
assigned him, and conditionally tendering his resignation; but the
tide of favor had already turned, and Congress at once accepted his
resignation unconditionally, thus forcing him to quit the army. During
the following summer his caustic speech made him many enemies, and in a
duel with General Cadwalader, growing out of some disparaging remarks
of Conway concerning Washington, Conway was shot through the mouth, the
bullet coming out of the back of his neck. He fell upon his face, but
raising himself, said, “General, you fire with much deliberation and
certainly with a great deal of effect.” Believing the wound mortal,
a few days afterward Conway wrote an humble apology to Washington,
retracting all he had ever said against the commander-in-chief.
Contrary to his own and his surgeon’s supposition, however, he
recovered; but meeting with a cold reception from his former friends,
he soon after returned to France, re-entered the military service, and
was appointed Governor of Pondicherry and the French settlements in
Hindostan. His quarrelsome disposition involved him in a dispute with
Tippoo Sahib which is said to have ruined French prospects in India.
In 1792, he was sent to take command of the Royalist army in the south
of France, but during the revolution which followed he was obliged to
flee the country, and died about the year 1800.

    [3] Conway cabal,--“A conspiracy to deprive Washington of the
        command of the army.”




BARON STEUBEN.


Frederick William Augustus Henry Ferdinand von Steuben, known in this
country as Baron Steuben, was born in Magdeburg, Prussia, on the 15th
of November, 1730. The son of a soldier, his earliest recollections
were of the camp. At the age of ten years, returning with his father
from a campaign in the Crimea, he was placed in the Jesuit College
at Neisse, and later transferred to that at Breslau, distinguishing
himself at both as a mathematician. When but fourteen, he served
with his father in the war of 1744, and was present at the siege of
Prague. At seventeen, as a cadet, he entered a regiment of infantry,
rose in two years to be ensign, and in four more to be lieutenant.
As aide-de-camp to Frederick the Great of Prussia, he served in the
Seven Years War, taking part in the celebrated battle of Prague.
At the restoration of peace in 1763, he resigned his post in the
army and was appointed to a position at court, commanding a liberal
salary. In 1777, learning that the greatest weakness of the Americans
lay in their ignorance of military tactics and want of thorough
discipline, he left his life of ease in the Old World, and coming
to the New, presented himself to Congress as a volunteer. If the
cause were lost, they owed him nothing; if gained, he would expect
remuneration equivalent to the salary he had resigned. His offer being
accepted, he went to Valley Forge and began his great work, whereby
our whole military system assumed new shape. On the 5th of May,
1778, Congress appointed him inspector-general of the army, with the
rank of major-general, and no officer of that grade in the field did
so much toward our ultimate success as did this born organizer and
disciplinarian. The following year, he wished to take the field; but
the American officers expressed so much dissatisfaction, on account
of being outranked, that he withdrew his request and devoted himself
to his old work, which to him must have seemed little better than
that of a drill-sergeant. In 1780, he published a manual for the
army that was of great value, and is still considered an authority.
Written in German, it was translated into French, then into English,
in which language it was wholly unintelligible to him. Warm-hearted
and hospitable, he shared his last dollar with his suffering brother
officers, and even at one time sold his horse that he might have the
means of entertaining his camp guests. With a chivalrous regard for
truth and honor, he despised the very name of Arnold. At review one
day he heard the name of “Benedict Arnold” called over with those of
some new recruits. Regarding its owner keenly for a few moments, and
being pleased with his manly bearing, the baron said, “Young man, you
must change your name; you are too respectable to bear the name of a
traitor!” “What name shall I take, General?” “Take any other; mine is
at your service.” Adopting the name of Steuben, the young man received
a christening present of a monthly allowance, and eventually a large
tract of land.

After the defeat of Gates, Baron Steuben was sent to Virginia to help
General Greene, and when Arnold entered that State in the pay of the
British, the baron used every endeavor to capture the traitor and bring
him to justice. Serving actively at the siege of Yorktown, he was in
command of the trenches when Cornwallis was summoned to surrender.
Lafayette offered to relieve the baron; but he replied that European
etiquette required him to remain at his post until the terms of the
surrender were accepted or hostilities resumed. When the English
flag was lowered to its American conquerors, Steuben’s men had the
proud satisfaction of being foremost of those on duty. At the close
of the war, he was sent to Canada to demand the surrender of all the
posts along the frontier, but being unsuccessful in this mission,
returned to headquarters. Upon the disbanding of the army, he retired
to private life, resided in New York City for several years, while
waiting for Congress to redeem its promise to pay him for his arduous
and self-sacrificing services. In the mean time Pennsylvania, Virginia,
and New Jersey voted him grants of land; but that from the last-named
State he declined, because it had been the confiscated estate of a Tory
who would be left destitute. New York now voted him a township near
Utica, and Congress after an ungracious delay of seven years voted
him a pension of $2,400 per annum. Retiring to his New York estate,
he cleared sixty acres, built a log house, and spent the remainder of
his life in dispensing a large-hearted hospitality, in agricultural
pursuits, and the enjoyment of his valuable library. Once a year he
visited New York City, but in 1795, while preparing for this annual
trip, he was stricken with paralysis, and died on the 25th of November.
By his own direction he was wrapped in his military cloak, and on his
breast was placed the diamond star of the Order of Fidelity, which he
had received from the Prince Margrave of Bavaria, and which he always
wore. His funeral was attended by his neighbors, and was without pomp
or military display of any kind. Colonel North, his favorite aid,
inherited his property and erected a small monument to his memory.




WILLIAM SMALLWOOD.


William Smallwood, born in Kent County, Maryland, in 1732, was elected
colonel of the Maryland battalion on the 2d of January, 1776; and on
the 10th of July following, at the head of nine companies he joined
Washington in New York. His troops took an active part in the battle
of Brooklyn Heights on the 20th of August. Fighting desperately from
sunrise until the last gun was fired at night, they lost nearly half
their number. Again, on the 18th of October, at White Plains, the
Maryland troops fought valiantly. Smallwood was severely wounded, and
for his gallantry was commissioned brigadier-general by the Continental
Congress on the 23d of October, 1776. At Fort Washington, November 16
of the same year, his troops again distinguished themselves, but with
heavy loss in killed and wounded. In the summer of 1777, he joined
Sullivan in his expedition against Staten Island, and when the British
arrived in the Chesapeake, to Smallwood was intrusted the collecting
and organizing of the Western Shore Maryland Militia. In the battle of
Germantown, on the 4th of October, Smallwood’s troops retrieved the
day, and captured part of the enemy’s camp. Stationed by Washington at
Wilmington during the winter of 1777–78, he captured a British brig
in the Delaware River, laden with stores and provisions. Ordered
South with the army under Gates in 1780, his command behaved with
their accustomed bravery at the disastrous battle of Camden, for which
Smallwood received the thanks of Congress and was promoted to the rank
of major-general on the 15th of September, 1780.

When Greene superseded Gates in command of the Southern army, Smallwood
refused to serve under Baron Steuben, who was then his superior
officer, and declared his intention of retiring, unless his commission
was antedated two years. So absurd a claim could not be allowed,
as besides there being no reason for changing the date, to comply
would have thrown into confusion the entire list of major-generals.
Smallwood, however, remained in service until the 15th of November,
1783, when Congress accepted his resignation. In 1785, his native State
elected him to Congress and the same year chose him for governor. The
latter office he held for three years and then retired from public
life. He died in Prince George’s County, Maryland, on the 14th of
February, 1792.




SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS.


Samuel Holden Parsons, born in Lyme, Connecticut, on the 14th of May,
1737, graduated at Harvard College in 1756, studied law and began its
practice in 1759, was a member of the General Assembly of his native
State from 1762 to 1774, was chosen colonel of militia in 1775, and
appointed brigadier-general by Congress on the 9th of August, 1776.
In 1779, he succeeded Putnam as commander of the Connecticut line of
the army, was promoted to the rank of major-general on the 23d of
October, 1780, and served with distinction to the end of the war. In
1785, Congress appointed him one of the commissioners to treat with the
Indians at Miami; in 1788, President Washington made him judge of the
Northwest Territory; and in 1789, in behalf of Connecticut, he treated
as commissioner with the Wyandots and other Indians on the borders of
Lake Erie. Returning from this mission to his home in Marietta, Ohio,
he was drowned by the capsizing of his boat while descending the rapids
of Big Beaver River on the 17th of November, 1789.




CHEVALIER DUPORTAIL.


Louis Lebègue Duportail, born in France, was educated at the military
school of Mézières, and considered an excellent engineer. When Congress
instructed our commissioners in Paris to secure a few good engineers,
Duportail was one of the four thus selected; and these were the only
ones engaged by the express authority of Congress. On his arrival in
this country, he was appointed colonel of engineers and promoted to the
rank of brigadier-general on the 17th of November, 1777. He wintered
with the army at Valley Forge, and after the battle of Monmouth, when
the enemy left Philadelphia, he was sent to ascertain what defences
would be necessary to its security, and to plan fortifications for the
Delaware. He also superintended the strengthening of the defences at
Fort Clinton and at Boston. In 1779, he was charged with confidential
despatches to Count d’Estaing, but the subsequent repulse of the French
and American troops at Savannah, and the departure of D’Estaing,
rendered this mission fruitless.

In 1780, being sent to join General Lincoln at Charleston, Duportail
was captured, together with this officer, during the summer; but
through the efforts of Congress, they were both exchanged in the
autumn. In 1781, he carried despatches to the Count de Grasse, and
later the same year had charge of the engineering operations at the
siege of Yorktown, being specially mentioned by Washington in his
despatches after the capitulation. On the 16th of November, 1781,
Congress conferred on him the rank of major-general, and granted
him a six-months furlough to visit his native land. He resigned his
commission in the United States army on the 10th of October, 1783, and
in 1788 was named maréchal-de-camp of the French army. In 1790, he was
made minister of war, but resigned a year later, to accept a military
appointment in Lorraine. Leaving the army in 1792, he returned to this
country in 1794, and remained here until 1802, when, being recalled to
France, he died at sea during the voyage home.




HENRY KNOX.


Henry Knox, born in Boston in 1750, lost his father at an early age.
His mother’s income being a slender one, and his devotion to her being
very great, he soon felt the need of personal exertion, and before
attaining his majority, had established himself as a bookseller.
Having a natural fondness for military tactics, he joined a company
of grenadiers, and thus when the smouldering fire of dissatisfaction
against taxation without representation burst into the flames of the
Revolution, Knox had gained practical knowledge of warlike manœuvres.
His father-in-law was a pronounced Tory; but his wife, sharing his
own sentiments, helped him to escape from Boston that he might join
the army. Appreciating our need of artillery, and knowing that no
cannon were to be had except those in the old forts along the Canadian
frontier, he volunteered to bring this ordnance to Washington’s camp at
Cambridge, and accomplished this difficult and hazardous undertaking
with such skill and courage that Washington rewarded him with the
command of the artillery. This branch of the Continental service
being attached to the main body of the army, Knox was in every battle
where Washington fought, and never failed to exhibit the judgment,
perseverance, and bravery that gained him success in the Canada
expedition. On the 27th of December, 1776, Congress appointed him
brigadier-general. At the battle of Monmouth, June 28, 1778, he was
wounded in his left hand. For his distinguished services at the siege
of Yorktown in 1781, Congress appointed him major-general on the 22d
of March, 1782. He was one of the three commissioners intrusted with
the adjustment of the terms of peace. On the 25th of November, 1783, he
received as Washington’s deputy the surrender of the city of New York;
and his military career ended with the command of West Point. When the
Continental army was about to be disbanded, he conceived the idea of
forming a society of his old and dearly loved companions-in-arms. This
was the origin of the Society of the Cincinnati, of which Knox was
first vice-president.

At the close of 1783, Knox retired to his home in Maine, but in 1784,
Congress, under the Articles of Confederation, appointed him Secretary
of War, which office he held until, in 1795, Washington reluctantly
accepted his resignation. It was during the time he was at the head of
the War Department, and by his advice, that the United States Marine
Service was organized. Retiring once more to his home in Maine, he
dispensed the most princely hospitality, it being no unusual thing for
him to entertain a hundred guests daily. When events threatened a war
with France, and President Adams thought best to form an army, Knox was
again appointed major-general. He died suddenly at his residence in
Thomaston, Maine, in 1806.




WILLIAM MOULTRIE.


William Moultrie, born in England in 1731, came of good Scotch
ancestry. His education was such as could be gained at that early day
in the South Carolina colony to which his family had removed while he
was still a child. In 1761, as captain of a company of volunteers, he
marched against the Cherokee Indians, and gained much of that military
skill that made him such a conspicuous character during the Revolution.
In 1775, he was a member of the South Carolina Provincial Congress,
and when that body authorized the seizure of the public arsenals,
he was one of the patriot band who put this advice into practice.
When news of the battle of Lexington reached South Carolina, he was
appointed colonel of one of her regiments, and designed the flag--a
blue field with a silver crescent in the right-hand upper corner--which
her troops carried to their first victory. The driving of the British
sloops-of-war from Charleston Harbor, the seizing of Fort Johnson,
and finally the glorious victory at the Palmetto Fort on Sullivan’s
Island, freed South Carolina for several years from the horrors and
the devastations of war, and secured to Moultrie immortal fame and a
prompt recognition of his military ability. He received the thanks of
Congress; the fort he had so ably defended was named for him; and
Sept. 16, 1776, he was raised to the rank of brigadier-general in
the Continental army, with the duty of attending to the interests of
South Carolina and Georgia. The campaign of 1779 brought a renewal of
hostilities in the South, with most disastrous results. Repulsed and
kept at bay for a while by Moultrie, the British finally concentrated
their forces at Charleston, but badly provided as that city was for a
siege, it held out for six weeks, until driven by famine to surrender.
Moultrie was held a prisoner for two years, during which time he used
all his influence in obtaining justice for his fellow-prisoners and
the people of the country, and in vigorously keeping the enemy to the
terms of the capitulation. Several attempts were made to induce him to
resign his commission and enter the British service; and finally he
was offered large sums of money and command of a regiment in Jamaica,
to which he sternly replied, “Not the fee simple of all Jamaica should
induce me to part with my integrity.” He was exchanged about the end of
February, 1782, and promoted to the rank of major-general on the 15th
of October of the same year.

When the British evacuated Charleston in December, the American army
under General Greene resumed possession of it, Moultrie holding a
conspicuous position in the triumphant procession. In 1785 and 1794,
he was chosen Governor of South Carolina, discharging the duties of his
office to the satisfaction of all. From the close of his second term
until his death, which occurred in Charleston on the 27th of September,
1805, he enjoyed a well-earned and honorable repose.

The famous Palmetto Fort on Sullivan’s Island was constructed by
Moultrie. The cannonade from the “Admiral’s Ship,” the “Bristol,”
produced little effect upon the fort, owing to the soft spongy
palmetto-wood. After a nine-hours engagement, Sir Peter Parker
withdrew, with his ship almost a wreck.




SETH POMEROY.


Seth Pomeroy, born in Northampton, Massachusetts, on the 20th of May,
1706, was an ingenious and skilful mechanic, following the trade of
a gunsmith. He entered the military service early in life, ranking
as captain in 1744, and as major at the capture of Louisburg by the
English in 1745. On the morning of the 17th of June, 1775, he entered
Ward’s camp at Cambridge as a volunteer, having heard the artillery
at Charlestown and feeling it a personal summons. Borrowing a horse
from General Ward, he eagerly pushed on, but reaching the Neck and
finding it swept by the fire from the British sloop-of-war “Glasgow,”
lying in the harbor, he gave the horse to a sentry, and shouldering
his gun, proceeded on foot, too honest to risk the life of a borrowed
animal. Upon reaching the hill, and taking his place with Stark behind
the rail-fence, he was recognized and greeted with shouts all along
the line. On the 22d of June, 1775, Congress commissioned him senior
brigadier-general; but this causing some dissatisfaction among the
seven others raised to the same rank at the same time, he declined his
appointment, and soon after retired to his farm. In 1776, however, when
New Jersey was overrun by the British, he marched at the head of the
militia of his own neighborhood to the rescue of Washington. He reached
the Hudson River, but never returned, dying at Peekskill, New York, on
the 19th of February, 1777.




DAVID WOOSTER.


David Wooster, born in Stratford, Connecticut, on the 2d of March,
1710, graduated at Yale in 1738. At the breaking out of the war
between England and Spain in 1739, he entered the Provincial army with
the rank of lieutenant, but subsequently was given command of a vessel
built and equipped by Connecticut for the defence of her coasts. In
1745, he took part in the expedition against Louisburg as commander of
the war vessel “Connecticut,” which conveyed the troops to Cape Breton.
The next year he visited England and was given a captain’s commission
with half-pay for life. Returning to America, he served through the
French and Indian War; but when troubles began to arise between the
American colonies and the mother country, approving the demands of the
former, and believing his allegiance was due to them, he resigned his
commission in the British army in 1774, and was one of the originators
of the expedition by which Fort Ticonderoga was captured in May, 1775.

With the organization of the Continental army, Wooster was made
brigadier-general on the 22d of June, 1775, and ordered to join
Montgomery in the Canadian expedition. On the death of that officer,
the command for a time devolved upon Wooster, and he acquitted himself
to the satisfaction of Congress. Returning to Connecticut, he resigned
his commission in the Continental service, but was made major-general
of the militia of his native State. During the winter of 1776–77,
he was employed in raising recruits and in protecting the military
stores which had been collected at Danbury. On the 26th of April, 1777,
Governor Tryon, at the head of two thousand British regulars, attacked
the town, destroying the stores and retreating. Wooster and Arnold,
collecting about six hundred militia, went in hot pursuit; but the
undisciplined recruits gave way before the British artillery. Wooster,
endeavoring to rally his men, exclaimed, “Come on, my boys! never
mind such random shots!” when he was pierced through the body by a
musket-ball. Carried back to Danbury, he lived but a few days, dying on
the 2d of May, 1777. On the 17th of June, Congress passed appropriate
resolutions, and voted $500 for the erection of a monument. This duty
being neglected, the hero’s grave soon became unknown. In 1854, a
handsome monument of Portland granite was erected to his memory in
Danbury.




JOSEPH FRYE.


Joseph Frye, born in Andover, Massachusetts, in April, 1711, was
enterprising and intelligent, and at an early age represented his
town in the General Court of the county. Entering the army, he
was present at the siege of Louisburg and wrote the terms of the
surrender. He was a colonel when Montcalm captured Fort William Henry
in 1757. Being seized and stripped by an Indian, he was led away to
torture; but overpowering and killing his captor, Frye fled into
the woods, succeeded in eluding the savages, and after several days
reached a place of safety. In June, 1775, the Provincial Congress of
Massachusetts appointed Colonel Frye a major-general, and the 10th of
January, 1776, Congress gave him the rank of brigadier-general in the
Continental army. His age and infirmities, however, compelled him to
retire soon after from active service. Removing with his family to the
frontier of Maine, he founded the town of Fryeburg, and died there in
1794.




JOHN ARMSTRONG.


John Armstrong was born at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in 1758. He was
an aid on General Gates’ staff, and served with him through the
campaign against Burgoyne. On the 1st of March, 1776, he was appointed
brigadier-general in the Continental service. In February, the
following year, he received the appointment of adjutant-general of the
Southern army, but in consequence of ill health was obliged to retire
from the army for a time. After the war Armstrong was secretary of the
State of Pennsylvania. In 1787 he was sent to Congress; from 1800 to
1802 he was United States Senator, and again in 1803–1810. From 1813 to
1814 he was Secretary of War. He was censured for his lack of success
in preventing the British from sacking Washington City in 1814–15, and
became very unpopular. He resigned in 1814, retiring to Red Hook, New
York, where he died April 1, 1843.




WILLIAM THOMPSON.


William Thompson, born in Ireland about 1725, emigrated to the State
of Pennsylvania. During the French and Indian War he was captain of a
troop of mounted militia, and when in June, 1775, Congress ordered the
raising of eight companies of riflemen by the State of Pennsylvania,
Thompson was appointed colonel of the battalion. These troops were
the first raised on demand of the Continental Congress, and reached
the camp at Cambridge before the 14th of August; and on the 10th of
November following, they repulsed a British landing party at Lechmere’s
Point. On the 1st of March, 1776, Thompson was promoted to the rank of
brigadier-general; and on the 19th he superseded Gen. Charles Lee in
command of the troops in New York. In April, being ordered to Canada
to reinforce General Thomas, he met the retreating army and took
command during the fatal illness of that officer, but resigned it on
the 4th of June to Gen. John Sullivan, by whose orders, two days later,
Thompson made the disastrous attack on the British at Trois Rivières,
resulting in the defeat of the Americans, and the taking prisoner of
their general. Released on parole in August, Thompson returned to
Philadelphia, but was not exchanged until two years later. He was
never again actively employed in the service, but died near Carlisle,
Pennsylvania, on the 4th of September, 1781.




ANDREW LEWIS.


Andrew Lewis, born in Donegal, Ireland, about 1730, was of Huguenot
descent, his father coming to this country in 1732, and being the
first white resident in Bellefonte, Augusta County, Virginia. In 1754,
he joined an expedition to take possession of the lands lying along
the Ohio, in which he acquired great reputation by his conduct at
Braddock’s defeat in 1755, and for the part he took in all the Indian
wars down to the time of the Revolution. He served under Washington in
various capacities, and was with him at Fort Necessity. He commanded an
expedition to Sandy Creek in 1756, and was made prisoner in 1758 and
taken to Montreal. In 1768, he acted as commissioner from Virginia,
to conclude a treaty with the Six Nations at Fort Stanwix, New York.
“About 1775, when hostilities began again on the western frontier of
Virginia, he received the appointment of brigadier-general, and as
commander-in-chief at the battle of Point Pleasant, at the mouth of
the Great Kanawha, gained a victory over the Shawnee confederacy under
the celebrated chief Cornstalk” in what was considered the severest
engagement with the Indians up to that time.

On the 1st of March, 1776, Congress made Lewis a brigadier-general,
much to the surprise and disappointment of Washington, who considered
him entitled to a higher rank; and Lewis himself felt that he had been
slighted, but his patriotism triumphed, and he accepted the inferior
position. Ill health, however, caused him to tender his resignation
on the 15th of April, 1777; but afterward he accepted a commission to
treat with the Indians at Fort Pitt. On his way home from the Ohio,
he was seized with a fever, and died in Bedford County, Virginia, on
the 26th of September, 1780, when only forty miles from his home on the
Roanoke River. His statue occupies one of the pedestals at the base of
the Washington monument in Richmond.




JAMES MOORE.


James Moore, born in New Hanover, North Carolina, in 1737, was a lineal
descendant of the Marquis of Drogheda, Ireland. He was a captain of
artillery under Governor Tryon at the defeat of the Regulators at
Alamance in 1771, and colonel of the first regiment of North Carolina
troops that was raised for the defence of that State. In February,
1776, he was in command of the force a part of which, under Col. John
A. Lillington and Col. Richard Caswell, won the first victory in the
Revolution, at Moore’s Creek bridge near Wilmington, North Carolina,
over fifteen hundred Scotch Tories. For this exploit he was promoted
to be brigadier-general, March 1, 1776, made commander-in-chief of the
Southern Department, and received the thanks of Congress. His military
career, opening with such promise, was of short duration, as he fell
a victim to climatic fever, dying on the 15th of January, 1777, at
Wilmington, while on his way to join Washington.




BARON DE WOEDTKE.


Frederick William, Baron de Woedtke, born in Prussia about 1740, was
for many years an officer in the army of Frederick the Great, where
he attained the rank of major. Coming to Philadelphia with strong
letters of recommendation to Benjamin Franklin from friends of America
in Paris, he received from Congress a commission as brigadier-general
in the Continental army on the 16th of March, 1776, and was ordered
to join the Northern army under Schuyler. About three weeks before
his death he took part in a council of war which decided, against
the advice of Stark, Poor, Maxwell, and eighteen inferior officers,
to abandon Crown Point and to retire to the strong ground opposite
Ticonderoga, afterward known as Mount Independence. He died near Lake
George, New York, on the 31st of July, 1776, and was buried with the
honors due to his rank.




JOHN WHITCOMB.


John Whitcomb, born in Lancaster, Worcester County, Massachusetts, in
1720, served with distinction in the French and Indian War. On account
of his advanced age, he was not called into service at the beginning
of the Revolution; but his soldiers were so much attached to him
that they would serve under no other commander. His appeals to their
patriotism being unavailing to keep them in the army, he determined to
join the ranks as a volunteer; but Colonel Brewster, his successor,
learning his willingness to serve, relinquished the command of the
regiment, and Colonel Whitcomb continued with it until he was made a
brigadier-general, June 5, 1776, when he succeeded General Ward in
charge of the troops in Boston. On the 13th of the same month he was
made major-general. Soon after, he was permitted to resign; but he
lived to see our independence firmly established, and died in 1812.




HUGH MERCER.


Hugh Mercer, born in Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1720, entered the army
of Prince Charles Edward as assistant-surgeon, in 1745. The battle
of Culloden, April 16, 1746, resulted in the total defeat of that
unfortunate prince, sending him into exile, a proscribed wanderer,
and scattering or exterminating his devoted followers. Emigrating to
this country the following year, Mercer settled in Franklin County,
Pennsylvania, and in 1755 fought his first battle in America under
the leadership of John Armstrong and with the rank of captain. At
the battle of Kittanning in 1756, he was severely wounded; in 1758,
as lieutenant-colonel he took part in the capture of Fort Duquesne,
and was left in command of that important post. It was during this
expedition that he became acquainted with Washington; and in 1775, a
few days after the battle of Lexington, Mercer was among the first
to appeal to his former comrade-in-arms for instructions as to the
disposition of the Virginia troops, then arming in the cause of
liberty. June 5, 1776, Congress appointed him a brigadier-general;
and a few days later he joined the army at New York and entered
the Continental service, under the immediate orders of the
commander-in-chief. Gloomy forebodings filled the mind of even the
stanchest patriots, as defeat followed defeat, and Washington with his
brave band retreated through the Jerseys.

In December, at a council of war, a change of policy was agreed
upon, and the unexpected and successful attack upon Trenton was the
result, Mercer rendering most efficient service. The British, however,
gathering their forces, made ready to retaliate; and the cause of
liberty seemed lost, when Mercer boldly suggested by a night march
to surprise them in their stronghold at Princeton. His advice was
acted upon; but in that memorable battle--a battle that did more to
secure us our independence than any other during the war--the brave
General Mercer lost his life. Dismounted by the death of his horse,
and separated from his command, disdaining to surrender, he met
single-handed a detachment of the enemy, and was beaten to the earth by
the butts of their muskets and stabbed by their bayonets. Carried by
his aid from the battle-field to a neighboring house, he lingered for
nine days in great agony, expiring on the 12th of January, 1777. His
remains were taken to Philadelphia, where his funeral was attended by
thirty thousand people. St. Andrew’s Society of that city have erected
a monument to his memory at Laurel Hill Cemetery. Mercer County,
Kentucky, was named in his honor.




JOSEPH REED.


Joseph Reed, born in Woburn, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in
1724, served during the French and Indian War. In 1765, he settled
at Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire. When news of the battle of Lexington
reached this peaceful neighborhood, he volunteered with many of his
neighbors, and marched away to the camp at Cambridge, reaching there
in time to participate in the battle of Bunker Hill, where with John
Stark and the left wing of the army, posted behind a rail-fence,
he aided in keeping the British at bay and covering the retreat of
the main body from the redoubt. In 1776, he was ordered to join the
reinforcements under Sullivan, marching to the relief of the American
army in Canada. Reed, with many others, was attacked by small-pox, and
after a long illness rose from his bed incapacitated for further active
service. Congress, on the 9th of August, 1776, promoted him to the rank
of brigadier-general, and he retained command for a while, hoping to
regain his health and strength. Finding himself, however, unfit for
duty, he retired shortly after on half-pay, and returned home nearly
deaf and blind. He passed the remainder of his life in Fitzwilliam,
enjoying the esteem and respect of all who knew him, and died at
Fitchburg, Massachusetts, on the 13th of February, 1807.




JOHN NIXON.


John Nixon, born on the 4th of March, 1725, at Farmington,
Massachusetts, entered the British army at the age of twenty, taking
part in the expedition against Cape Breton and in the French and Indian
War. He commanded a company of minute-men at Lexington, and a regiment
at the battle of Bunker Hill. On the 9th of August, 1776, he received
the appointment of brigadier-general. He was in active service until
1780, when ill health, and the effects of a severe wound received at
Bunker Hill, compelled his resignation. He died on the 24th of March,
1815, at the ripe age of ninety.




JAMES CLINTON.


James Clinton, born on the 13th of August, 1736, at the family
residence, in what is now Orange County, New York, received an
excellent education under the supervision of his father, paying much
attention to the exact sciences, and early evincing that taste for
military enterprise which he inherited from his English ancestors.
In 1756, he received the appointment of ensign in the militia, and
remaining in the army after the peace of 1763, steadily rose by
promotion to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. At the close of the
French and Indian War, he married Miss Mary de Witt, a lady of great
personal attractions and a descendant of an old Holland family.
In June, 1775, renouncing his allegiance to Great Britain, he was
appointed colonel of the Third New York Regiment, and joined Montgomery
in the expedition against Canada. August 9, 1776, he was raised to
the rank of brigadier-general, and served to the close of the war,
faithfully discharging the duties of the several stations he was called
upon to fill. With his brother, Gov. George Clinton, he conducted
the defence of Fort Clinton in October, 1777, until overpowered by
vastly superior numbers, and then escaped, though severely wounded,
by sliding down a precipice of a hundred feet to a shallow stream.
Wading for some distance up the stream, he threw his pursuers off
the scent. In 1779, having joined General Sullivan in an expedition
against the Indians, he materially aided by a clever engineering feat
in the rapid transportation of the troops. Though stationed during most
of the war in command of the Northern Department at Albany, he took
part during the siege of Yorktown and the surrender of Cornwallis.
After the evacuation of the city of New York by the British, he took
leave of his commander-in-chief and retired to his home in Orange
County. Subsequently he held various civil positions of trust and
responsibility, and died on the 22d of September, 1812, at his
residence in his native State.




CHRISTOPHER GADSDEN.


Christopher Gadsden, born in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1724, was
sent to England at an early age to receive his education. Returning to
America in 1741, he was placed in a Philadelphia counting-house, where
he acquired methodical and strict business habits. Upon attaining his
majority, he revisited England. Returning in a man-of-war, and the
purser dying suddenly, the position was offered to him. He accepted the
appointment, remained in the navy two years, and resigned to engage
in commercial life on his own account in Philadelphia. Such was his
success that he was soon able to buy back the estate in South Carolina
which his father had lost in 1733 at play with Admiral Lord Anson.
Leaving the North, he took up his residence in the South as a planter,
and finally became a factor.

In 1759, when the outrages perpetrated by the Cherokee Indians called
for vigorous measures, Gadsden joined the expedition under Governor
Lyttleton, organized an artillery company, and introduced the first
piece of field ordnance into the colony. Thoroughly republican in
his political views, and with a mind capable of looking far ahead for
the results of present measures, he was the first to anticipate the
struggle that would surely be the outcome of Great Britain’s oppressive
policy toward her American colonies. In 1765, when the project of
the general Congress in this country was conceived, he was one of
the first and most active members. In 1775, he resigned his seat to
accept the appointment of colonel in the First South Carolina Regiment.
On the 16th of September, 1776, Congress raised him to the rank of
brigadier-general. The brilliant victory at Fort Moultrie secured to
his native State for several years an immunity from the perils and
hardships of war, and he resigned his commission on the 2d of October,
1777.

With the cessation of military duties, Gadsden resumed his legislative
cares; and being Lieutenant-Governor of South Carolina at the time
of General Lincoln’s surrender of Charleston, he was seized with
twenty-eight others and taken in a prison-ship to St. Augustine,
Florida. Here he was kept in the castle dungeon for ten months; but
beguiling the time by the study of Hebrew, he emerged from captivity a
much more learned man than when he entered it. The success of Greene in
the South brought him release in 1781. Upon returning to South Carolina
he was at once elected to the Assembly, and soon after chosen governor.
The latter honor he declined, declaring the “State needed a man in the
vigor and prime of life.” At the close of the war he retired to private
life; but from time to time and on more than one occasion he continued
to take part in public affairs. He died in his native city on the 28th
of August, 1805, from the results of a fall.




LACHLAN McINTOSH.


Lachlan McIntosh, born near Inverness, Scotland, on the 17th of
March, 1727, emigrated with his family to America in 1736 and settled
in Georgia. His early education was but limited, and at the age of
seventeen, being thrown upon his own resources by the death of his
father, he removed to Charleston, South Carolina, and entered a
counting-house as clerk. After several years, however, he adopted the
calling of land surveyor, married, and returned to Georgia, employing
his spare time in the study of civil engineering and military tactics.
Having gained the confidence and esteem of his fellow-citizens, when
hostilities began with Great Britain he was made colonel-commander
of the Georgia troops, and on the 16th of September, 1776, promoted
by Congress to be brigadier-general. In 1777, he was employed for
a considerable time in watching the motions of General Howe in
Philadelphia. In 1778, he headed an expedition against the Indian
tribes along the Ohio, and succeeded in giving repose to all western
Pennsylvania and Virginia. In 1779, he joined General Lincoln in
the invasion of Georgia, which proving unsuccessful, the Americans
retreated to Charleston, South Carolina, where they were besieged and
obliged to surrender on the 12th of May, 1780.

General McIntosh was held a prisoner for a long period, and when he
was released, the war was practically over. On the 30th of September,
1783, he became major-general by brevet, and retired to his home in
Georgia. In 1784, he served as member of Congress, and the next year as
a commissioner to treat with the Southern Indians. The war, however,
depreciated the value of his real estate, so that his latter years were
passed in comparative poverty and retirement. He died in Savannah on
the 20th of February, 1806, in the seventy-ninth year of his age.




WILLIAM MAXWELL.


William Maxwell, though little is known of his personal history, is
believed to have been born in Ireland, and brought to New Jersey in his
early life. He entered the colonial service in 1758, serving through
the French and Indian War, and as colonel of one of the New Jersey
regiments, took part in the disastrous campaign of 1776 in Canada. On
the 23d of October of that year he was commissioned brigadier-general.
He was with Schuyler on Lake Champlain, and later was attached to the
main army under Washington. In August, 1779, he joined Sullivan’s
expedition against the Indians, but soon after the action at
Springfield, he sent in his resignation, which was accepted by Congress
on the 25th of July, 1780. Washington said of him, “I believe him to be
an honest man, a warm friend to his country, and firmly attached to its
interests.” He died on the 12th of November, 1798.




MATTHIAS ALEXIS ROCHE DE FERMOY.


Matthias Alexis Roche de Fermoy, born in the West Indies in 1737, was
the thirty-fourth on the list of Continental brigadier-generals, his
commission bearing date the 5th of November, 1776. On coming to this
country and offering his services to Congress, Fermoy represented
himself to be a colonel of engineers in the French army. While serving
under Washington in the Trenton and Princeton campaigns, he was ordered
on the 1st of January, 1777, to hold an advanced post on Mile Run,
beyond Maidenhead, now Lawrenceville. That same night, however, leaving
his command, he returned to Trenton,--a breach of discipline that
under the circumstances was most reprehensible. Ordered North to join
the army under Gates, by direction of Congress, and notwithstanding a
protest from Washington, he was placed in command of Fort Independence,
opposite Fort Ticonderoga. When St. Clair found it necessary to abandon
the latter post, Fermoy, in defiance of the express orders of the
commanding officer, set fire to his quarters on Mount Independence at
two o’clock on the morning of the 6th of July, 1777, thus revealing
to Burgoyne St. Clair’s retreat, which otherwise would have been
accomplished in safety. In December, he applied for promotion to the
rank of major-general,--a request which Congress refused. Displeased at
this action, Fermoy requested permission to resign, which was granted
on the 31st of January, 1778, Congress at the same time appropriating
$800 to pay his debts and enable him to return to the West Indies.




ENOCH POOR.


Enoch Poor, born in Andover, Massachusetts, on the 21st of June, 1736,
was educated in the common schools of his native place. Removing to
Exeter, New Hampshire, he engaged in commercial pursuits until summoned
by his country to take up arms in her defence. Immediately after
the battle of Lexington, three regiments of militia were raised and
equipped in New Hampshire, and the command of one intrusted to Poor.
Serving first in New England, then in New York, and afterward joining
in the ill-starred Canadian expedition, he used all his influence
to dissuade General Schuyler from abandoning Crown Point, and when
that measure was decided upon, joined with several other officers in
sending him a written protest. Considering this a breach of discipline,
Schuyler appealed to the commander-in-chief, who, while declining to
reverse the general’s decision, wrote him a private letter, approving
Colonel Poor’s judgment, and regretting the abandonment of Crown Point,
which he considered the key of the lakes. On the 21st of February,
1777, Poor was commissioned brigadier-general and attached to the army
under Washington. In 1779, he joined the expedition against the Six
Nations and subsequently was attached to Lee’s command, remaining with
him until after the defeat at Monmouth, when Poor was ordered to join
the division under Lafayette. The following year he fell a victim to
fever, dying, after a short illness, at Hackensack, New Jersey, on the
8th of September, 1780. Washington, in acquainting Congress with the
sad intelligence, said of him, “He was an officer of distinguished
merit, who as a citizen and a soldier had every claim to the esteem
of his country;” and Lafayette, on revisiting this country many years
after, testified his loving remembrance by paying a tribute to the
memory of Poor when called upon for a toast.




JOHN GLOVER.


John Glover, born in Salem, Massachusetts, on the 5th of November,
1732, joined the army under Washington in 1775, with a regiment of
a thousand men raised in the district about his native town. Being
composed almost entirely of Marblehead fishermen, it was known as
the “amphibious regiment,” and was one of the finest in the whole
Continental service. It was at first the Twenty-first, and after the
reorganization of the army the Fourteenth, Massachusetts Regiment. It
was this body of men, under the command of Glover, that manned the
boats and transported the entire main army in safety on the retreat
from Long Island in 1775, and that manned the boats and led the advance
when the commander-in-chief crossed the Delaware on that memorable
25th of December, 1776. When Congress, on the 21st of February, 1777,
conferred upon Glover the rank of brigadier-general, he would have
declined, fearing he could not discharge with credit the duties of
that position. Being reassured by Washington, however, he accepted,
and by his subsequent conduct justified that general’s estimate of
his abilities. He was a member of the André court of inquiry which
assembled on Sept. 29, 1780, at which Nathaniel Greene presided. He
remained in active service throughout the war, earning the good opinion
of all who knew him, and died at Marblehead on the 30th of January,
1797.




JOHN PATERSON.


John Paterson, born in New Britain, Connecticut, in 1744, graduated at
Yale College in 1762, taught school, practised law, and was justice
of the peace in his native town. Removing to Lenox, Massachusetts, he
was elected a member of the first Provincial Congress of that State,
which met at Salem in October, 1774; and of the second, whose place
of meeting was Cambridge, in February, 1775. Deeply interested in the
welfare of his country, he busied himself in enrolling and organizing a
regiment of minute-men, composed of eight months’ volunteers. Eighteen
hours after the news of the battle of Lexington reached them, this
regiment, armed and mostly in uniform, marched away to Boston, and
upon their arrival were employed in constructing the first American
redoubt on the lines about the city. In the battle which followed
they manned and gallantly defended this outwork. After the evacuation
of the city, Colonel Paterson was ordered to Canada, and after some
active service in the North joined Washington just in time to cross
the Delaware and take part in the battles of Trenton and Princeton.
Feb. 21, 1777, he was made brigadier-general, and being attached to
the Northern Department, was present at the surrender of Burgoyne,
and remained in service to the close of the war. In 1786, he aided in
quelling Shays’ Rebellion in Massachusetts; he was presiding judge of
Broome County, New York, and spent the last years of his life quietly
on his farm, dying on the 19th of July, 1808, at Lisle, now Whitney’s
Point, New York.




JAMES MITCHELL VARNUM.


James Mitchell Varnum, born in Dracut, Massachusetts, in 1748,
graduated with a high reputation for scholarship in 1769, at the age of
twenty, from Rhode Island College, now Brown University. He adopted the
law as his profession, was admitted to the Bar, and rapidly acquired
an extensive and lucrative practice. Reading the signs of the times
aright, and feeling that soon there must be an appeal to arms, he
joined the “Kentish Guards,” and in 1774 was made commander. Soon
after the battle of Lexington, he entered the Continental service as
colonel; and on the 21st of February, 1777, he was promoted to the
rank of brigadier-general. With undoubted military ability, he enjoyed
few opportunities of distinguishing himself, though assigned several
important commands. He passed the winter of 1777–78 with Washington at
Valley Forge, and in the spring proposed the raising of a battalion of
negroes in Rhode Island; the State Legislature acceded, and passed an
act giving absolute freedom to every slave who should enter the service
and pass muster.

On the 5th of March, 1779, Varnum resigned his commission, there being
a greater number of general officers than was required for the army;
but soon after, he was elected major-general of the militia of his
native State, retaining that position until his death. He was twice
elected to Congress, and in 1788 removed to Marietta, Ohio, having
been appointed one of the judges of the Supreme Court of the Northwest
Territory. He was a member of the Society of the Cincinnati. Death put
an end to his brief but brilliant career on the 10th of January, 1789.




ANTHONY WAYNE.


Anthony Wayne, born Jan. 1, 1745, in the township of Easttown, Chester
County, Pennsylvania, was of Irish parentage. In boyhood he showed the
military bias of his aspirations by his close study of mathematics
and engineering, that he might fit himself to enter the army. From
his marriage, in 1767, to 1774, his occupation was that of a farmer
and land surveyor; in 1774–75 he was a member of the Pennsylvania
Legislature, and in the latter year, of the Committee of Public Safety.
The oppressive policy adopted by Great Britain toward the American
colonies aroused all his military spirit; and resigning his seat in
the Legislature, he raised a company of volunteers, and received
from Congress on the 3d of January, 1776, his commission as colonel.
Increasing his company to a regiment, he was ordered with it to New
York and afterward to Canada. The 21st of February, 1777, marks the
date of his promotion to brigadier-general, and in May, having joined
the army under Washington, he distinguished himself by driving the
enemy from New Jersey. His skill as a commander, and his personal
courage, secured him a conspicuous part in the battles that followed;
and being intrusted with a foraging expedition to relieve the destitute
army in winter-quarters at Valley Forge, he secured large stores of
provisions and many horses for the cavalry, at the same time defeating
the enemy in numerous skirmishes.

At the battle of Monmouth, Wayne’s brave conduct gained for him
personal notice in the report sent by Washington to Congress, while his
brilliant achievement at Stony Point was recognized by a resolution of
thanks in Congress, and in the General Assembly of Pennsylvania. After
rendering other important services in the North, realizing what had
been said of him early in the war, that “where Wayne went, there was a
fight always,--that was his business,” he was sent in 1781 to join the
Southern army, and was actively engaged in the siege of Yorktown until
the final surrender. The efforts of the Americans were now directed to
dislodging the British from their two remaining strongholds; and so
vigorously was the war carried on in Georgia and South Carolina that
by direction of the home Government Savannah was evacuated on the 12th
of July, 1782, and Charleston in the latter part of the same year,
Wayne marching in and taking possession on the 14th of December,--his
last military service during the Revolution. In July, 1783, he
returned to his home and civil life. On the 30th of September, he was
appointed major-general by brevet; in April, 1792, President Washington
nominated him commander-in-chief of an army to subdue the Indians of
the Northwest; and after the delays consequent upon organizing and
disciplining his men, Wayne began active operations in 1794, resulting
in the complete discomfiture of the savage tribes and their British
allies. This victory brought valuable territory to the United States,
and a long peace with the Indians. After a visit to his home, he
returned to the West to fulfil his duties as commissioner, and died
soon after from an attack of gout on the 15th of December, 1796, “after
a life of honor and usefulness.”

No general ever gained more sobriquets than Wayne; that most widely
known, “Mad Anthony,” was given on account of his unexpected success in
perilous expeditions, though Washington called him “prudent.” The title
of “Dandy Wayne” was also applied to him because of his scrupulous
attention to his dress; and in a letter to Washington he declares his
preference for an elegant uniform and soldierly appearance, rather than
poorly clad troops with more ammunition. The Indians at first called
him “Black Snake,” perhaps because that reptile will attack any other
species and rarely gets the worst of an encounter. After he defeated
them in 1794, however, they named him “Wind,” or “Tornado,” because
“he was exactly like a hurricane that drives and tears and prostrates
everything before it.”




JOHN PHILIP DE HAAS.


John Philip de Haas, born in Holland about 1735, belonged to an ancient
family of northern France. In 1750, he removed with his father to the
United States, settling in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. He served
as ensign during the French and Indian War, taking part in Bouquet’s
battle with the Indians at Bushy Run near Pittsburg, August 5 and 6,
1763. In 1776, he was appointed colonel of the First Pennsylvania
Regiment, and assisted in the Canada campaign and at Ticonderoga. After
the battle of Long Island, he was promoted to be brigadier-general on
the 21st of February, 1777, and served in that rank to the close of the
war. The remainder of his life was spent in Philadelphia, where he died
on the 3d of June, 1795.




JOHN PETER MUHLENBURG.


John Peter Muhlenburg, born in Trappe, Pennsylvania, on the 1st of
October, 1746, was the son of Reverend Henry Melchior Muhlenburg, D.D.,
the founder of the Lutheran Church in America. At the age of sixteen
he was sent to Germany to be educated, but while at Halle enlisted
in a regiment of dragoons, from which he was released through the
intervention of friends. Returning to this country in 1766, he studied
theology with his father, and was for a time pastor of the Lutheran
churches in New Germantown and Bedminster, New Jersey. In 1772, he
accepted a call to a church of the same denomination in Woodstock,
Virginia; but finding he could not enforce the payment of tithes unless
he had received Episcopal ordination, he went to England to secure
this, and returning, continued his labors in the same State. Watching
with keenest interest the train of events, he educated his congregation
as well as himself for the duties of freemen, which he believed would
soon devolve upon them. In 1775, at the earnest solicitations of
Washington, to whom his ardent patriotism and military spirit were well
known, he resolved to abandon his pulpit and enter the army. He took
leave of his congregation in an eloquent sermon on the text, “The Lord
of hosts shall arm the right,” and concluded, after rehearsing the
wrongs this country had suffered from Great Britain, by exclaiming,
“There is a time for all things,--a time to preach and a time to pray;
but there is also a time to fight, and that time has now come;” and
throwing off his gown, he appeared in complete uniform. By his orders
the drum and fife of the recruiting officer at this moment sounded at
the church door, and over three hundred of his congregation enlisted
and marched with their former pastor at their head to the relief of
Charleston, South Carolina.

Muhlenburg’s war record includes the battles of Sullivan’s Island,
Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, Stony Point, and Yorktown, his
commission as brigadier-general in the Continental army bearing date
the 21st of February, 1777. At the close of the Revolution he was
elected to the Pennsylvania council, and in 1785 became vice-president
of the State, with Benjamin Franklin as president. After the
organization of the federal Government he acted as representative and
senator, was appointed by President Jefferson supervisor of the revenue
for the district of Pennsylvania, and in 1803 collector of the port
of Philadelphia. While holding this office, he died near Schuylkill,
Montgomery County, on the 1st of October, 1807,--the anniversary of his
birthday.




FRANCIS NASH.


Francis Nash, born in Prince George’s County, Virginia, on the 10th
of March, 1720, was clerk of the Superior Court of Orange County,
North Carolina, and holding a captain’s commission also under the
crown, helped to defeat the Regulators at the battle of Alamance in
1771. These insurgents had banded together for the avowed purpose of
shutting up the courts of justice, destroying all officers of law and
all lawyers, and prostrating the Government itself. In August, 1775, he
received a commission as colonel from the North Carolina Convention,
and on the 5th of February, 1777, entered the Continental service as
brigadier-general, joining the army under Washington. At the battle of
Germantown, on the 4th of October of the same year, while at the head
of his brigade, he was mortally wounded, dying a few days after. In
November of that year, Congress passed a resolution to erect a monument
to his memory at a cost of $500; but the resolution was never carried
into effect.




GEORGE WEEDON.


George Weedon, born in Fredericksburg, Virginia, 1730, was an
innkeeper in his native town, and a zealous patriot. Entering the
army near the beginning of the Revolution in 1776, he held the rank
of lieutenant-colonel, and was commissioned brigadier-general by the
Continental Congress on the 21st of February, 1777. He took part in
the battles of Brandywine and Germantown, in the former co-operating
with General Greene in checking the British pursuit, and rallying the
retreating American troops. He retired from the army on the 18th of
August, 1778, owing to a disagreement with General Woodford on the
question of supremacy in rank. In 1780, however, he resumed command of
his brigade, and in 1781, during the siege of Yorktown, had charge of
the Virginia Militia stationed at Gloucester. He died in Fredericksburg
about the year 1790.




JOHN CADWALADER.


John Cadwalader, born in Philadelphia, Jan. 10, 1743, began early
in life to take an active part in public affairs. He was a member
of the Philadelphia Committee of Safety, and captain of a military
organization, half admiringly and half derisively dubbed by the
citizens the “Silk Stocking Company,” nearly every member of which
subsequently held a commission in the patriot army. On the formation
of the city battalions, he was placed in command of one of them. When
Washington, after his retreat through the Jerseys, established himself
on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River, opposite Trenton,
Cadwalader, at the head of fifteen hundred militia-men, marched to
his assistance. January, 1777, Washington urged upon Congress the
appointment of Cadwalader to the Continental army, describing him as “a
man of ability, a good disciplinarian, firm in his principles, and of
intrepid bravery.” On the 21st of February, 1777, he was offered the
commission of brigadier-general, but declined, preferring to remain in
the Provincial service. During this year he took part in the battles of
Brandywine and Germantown, and at the request of Washington assisted in
organizing the Maryland Militia.

After the discovery and frustration of the “Conway cabal” and the
consequent disgrace of its author, Cadwalader became cognizant of
some offensive remarks made by Conway concerning Washington, and
called the disparager of the commander-in-chief to account. Conway
refusing to retract, Cadwalader challenged him, and in the duel which
followed, though escaping injury himself, shot Conway in the mouth.
Again in September, 1778, Congress offered him the appointment of
brigadier-general; and again he declined, stating his belief that the
war was almost at an end. When the war was at last ended, he removed to
Maryland, was elected to the State Legislature, and died in Shrewsbury,
Pennsylvania, on the 11th of February, 1786, in the forty-fourth year
of his age.




WILLIAM WOODFORD.


William Woodford, born in Caroline County, Virginia, in 1735,
served with credit in the French and Indian War, and was appointed
colonel of the second regiment raised by his native State in 1775.
Evincing considerable military ability, and gaining a decided victory
at the battle of Great Bridge, where he was in command, upon the
recommendation of Washington he was made brigadier-general in the
Continental army, Feb. 21, 1777. At the battle of Brandywine, he was
severely wounded in the hand. Having been ordered to the South in 1779,
he was taken prisoner by the British at Charleston, May 21, 1780;
and being sent to New York that summer, he died there on the 13th of
November of the same year.




GEORGE CLINTON.


George Clinton, born on the 26th of July, 1739, in Little Britain,
Ulster County, New York, was of English extraction, his father having
emigrated to this country in 1729. In early life he evinced his love
of enterprise and adventure by leaving home to sail in a privateer.
Upon his return he joined the English troops in the French and Indian
War; but when peace was restored, he left the army and entered upon
the study of the law. Gaining reputation in his profession, he was
chosen in 1768 a representative to the Colonial Assembly and afterward,
in 1775, to the Continental Congress. He voted for the Declaration
of Independence; but the invasion of New York by the enemy, and the
trouble and excitement engendered by the Loyalists, caused him to be
summoned home before that famous document was ready for the signatures.
Having been appointed brigadier-general of the New York Militia in
July, 1776, he served in that capacity until the 25th of March, 1777,
when he was transferred to the Continental army with the same rank;
and the unfinished defences along the Hudson were committed to his
care. On the 6th of October these fortresses were stormed, and at
last, on account of their unfinished condition and the smallness of
the garrison, had to be abandoned, General Clinton and many of the
Americans escaping under cover of the night.

General Clinton was elected first Governor of New York State in 1777.
With great executive and much military ability, he continued to fill
his doubly responsible position; and the public records of that period
bear witness to the extent and value of his services. In 1786, a
large body of malcontents, having been discomfited in Massachusetts,
took refuge in New York. Governor Clinton marched promptly to their
encampment with two regiments, and in less than twelve hours the
rebel army was dispersed and the leaders brought to justice. In
1788, he presided at the convention at Poughkeepsie when the federal
Constitution was ratified. After five years of private life, he
was again elected to the Legislature, and in 1801 was again chosen
governor, holding that office until 1804, when he was elected to the
vice-presidency of the United States. He filled this office until his
death, which occurred in Washington on the 20th of April, 1812.




EDWARD HAND.


Edward Hand, born in Clyduff, King’s County, Ireland, Dec. 31, 1744,
came to this country in 1774 with the Eighteenth Royal Irish Regulars
as surgeon’s mate. Upon reaching America, he resigned his position,
settled in Pennsylvania, and began the practice of medicine. The
following year, however, found him taking part in the great strife,
as lieutenant-colonel in Thompson’s Regiment. March 1, 1776, he was
promoted to be a colonel, and took part with his regiment in the
battles of Long Island and Trenton. April 1, 1777, he was advanced
to the rank of brigadier-general; in October, 1778, he succeeded
General Stark at Albany, and in 1780 commanded one brigade of the light
infantry. At the end of the year he was appointed adjutant-general,
and held that post until the close of the war, gaining the approbation
of Washington. In 1784–85, he was a member of Congress, and in 1790
a signer of the Pennsylvania Constitution. In 1798, anticipating
a war with France, Washington recommended the appointment of Hand
as adjutant-general. He died at Rockford in Lancaster County,
Pennsylvania, on the 3d of September, 1802. During the Revolution he
was distinguished for his fine horsemanship and his daring spirit; but
he won the affection of his troops by his amiability and gentleness.




CHARLES SCOTT.


Charles Scott, born in Cumberland County, Virginia, in 1733, was
in the colonial service as a non-commissioned officer at the time
of Braddock’s defeat in 1755. At the beginning of our struggle for
independence, he raised and commanded the first company south of the
James River. In April, 1777, Congress promoted him from colonel to
brigadier-general. At the retreat of Lee from Monmouth, Scott was
the last to leave the field. Having been previously employed in the
recruiting service in Virginia, that State was anxious he should be
intrusted with the duty of her defence; Washington, however, ordered
him to South Carolina, and he became a prisoner at the capture
of Charleston, and was not exchanged until near the close of the
war. In 1785, he removed to Woodford County, Kentucky, filling the
gubernatorial chair of that State from 1808 to 1812, and dying there on
the 22d of October, 1813.




EBENEZER LARNED.


Ebenezer Larned or Learned, born at Oxford, Massachusetts, on the 18th
of April, 1728, served in the French and Indian War as the captain of
a company of rangers. At the beginning of the Revolution, he marched
to Cambridge at the head of a regiment of eight months’ militia.
Arriving after the battle of Lexington, he took part in the conflict
at Bunker Hill, and during the siege of Boston unbarred the gates with
his own hands, when the British evacuated that city, March 17, 1776.
Being wounded shortly after, he was compelled to retire from active
service for nearly a year. The 2d of April, 1777, Congress appointed
him a brigadier-general; but his health gradually failing, he sought
permission to leave the army, and retired on the 24th of March,
1778. The following year he acted as chairman of the Constitutional
Convention, and died in his native town on the 1st of April, 1801.




CHEVALIER PRUD’HOMME DE BORRE.


Chevalier Prud’homme de Borre, a French general of thirty-five years’
service in Europe, was appointed brigadier-general in the Continental
army on the 11th of April, 1777. His commission was dated Dec. 1, 1776,
in accordance with a compact made with him in France by the American
commissioner. In July, De Borre captured a Tory under circumstances
which warranted, in his judgment, the prisoner’s immediate trial
and execution,--a summary proceeding, for which he was severely and
justly reprehended by Washington. In August, he commanded a brigade
in Sullivan’s attack on Staten Island, and in September took part in
the battle of Brandywine. In this engagement De Borre claimed the post
of honor, on the right wing of the army; Sullivan would not yield
this to him, and when De Borre pertinaciously insisted on taking
it, the former made a long and circuitous march for the purpose of
outreaching him. This manœuvre did not succeed; and as a consequence,
Sullivan’s brigade was not formed for action when the battle began.
De Borre’s brigade was the first to give way before the British, and
much of the ill fortune of that day was owing to this occurrence. His
insubordination being made the subject of a Congressional inquiry, he
took offence and resigned his commission on the 14th of September,
1777, and soon returned to France.




JEDEDIAH HUNTINGTON.


Jedediah Huntington, born in Norwich, Connecticut, on the 4th of
August, 1743, was educated at Harvard, and graduating there when he
was twenty, delivered the first English oration ever pronounced in
that university. He engaged in commercial pursuits with his father,
and at the beginning of the Revolution was an active member of the
Sons of Liberty, and first captain, then colonel, in one of the local
regiments. Joining the Continental army at Cambridge in April, 1775,
he aided in repulsing the British at Danbury the following year, and
on the 12th of May, 1777, was commissioned brigadier-general. In
September, he was ordered to Philadelphia, and in May, 1778, to the
Hudson. He served in the court-martial that tried Lee, and also in the
one that examined André. At the close of the war, by a resolution
in Congress he was brevetted major-general. He was State treasurer,
and delegate to the convention that adopted the Constitution of the
United States. He was appointed by Washington collector of customs at
New London, to which place he removed in 1789, and held the office
twenty-six years. A zealous supporter of charitable institutions,
he was a member of the first Board of Foreign Missions. On the 10th
of May, 1784, at a meeting of officers, he was appointed one of a
committee of four to draft a plan of organization, which resulted in
their reporting on the 13th of that month the Constitution of the
Society of the Cincinnati. His first wife, Faith Trumbull, daughter of
the war governor of Connecticut, died while Huntington was on his way
to join the army in 1775, and his second wife was the sister of Bishop
Moore of Virginia. General Huntington died in New London, Connecticut,
on the 25th of September, 1818.




JOSEPH REED.


Joseph Reed was born at Trenton, New Jersey, on the 27th of August,
1742. After a thorough and comprehensive education in the colonies, he
adopted the law as his profession; and his advantages were greatly
increased by special training at the Temple in London. Returning to
America, he settled in Philadelphia and began to practise, but was
keenly alive to all passing events, and gave the British ministry
timely warning of what he thought the end would be, should the growing
dissatisfaction with the coercive measures adopted by Great Britain
toward her American colonies lead to an open revolt and an armed
resistance. His acquaintance with Washington began when the latter came
to Philadelphia from Virginia as a delegate to the first Continental
Congress. This friendship resulted in Reed’s accepting in 1775 the
office of military secretary to the commander-in-chief. When a friend
remonstrated with him on the step he had taken, he replied,--

  “I have no inclination to be hanged for half-treason. When a
  subject draws his sword against his prince, he must cut his way
  through, if he means afterwards to sit down in safety. I have
  taken too active a part in what may be called the civil part of
  opposition, to renounce without disgrace the public cause when it
  seems to lead to danger, and have a most sovereign contempt for the
  man who can plan measures he has not spirit to execute.”

So well did he fill this position that in 1776, on the recommendation
of Washington, Congress appointed him adjutant-general in the
Continental service, and well did he justify the chief’s favorable
opinion of him, by the vigilance, thoroughness, and ability with which
he discharged the arduous duties of this most responsible office. As
adjutant-general he met the messenger of Lord Howe, when the latter
sent a letter to “George Washington, Esq.,” and refused to transmit
it to the commander-in-chief, because it was not properly addressed.
Reed’s first taste of actual war was during the series of engagements
on Long Island in August, 1776; but when Washington began his retreat
through the Jerseys, he sent Reed to solicit reinforcements from
the State Legislature. Having spent his boyhood in Trenton, and his
college days in Princeton, his accurate knowledge of the topography of
the country contributed in no small degree to the glorious victories
which on the 26th of December, 1776, and 3d of January, 1777, changed
the gloom and despondency of the Americans into the assurance and
exultation of success.

As an acknowledgment of his distinguished services during the late
campaign, Congress, again at the instance of Washington, promoted
Reed, his commission as brigadier-general bearing date May 12,
1777. His legal ability also received its share of recognition, the
Executive Council of Pennsylvania appointing him to fill the office of
chief-justice of that State. He declined both appointments, however,
preferring to serve as a volunteer whenever occasion demanded his
military services. Congress accepted his resignation on the 7th of
June, 1777. At the first news of the invasion of Pennsylvania by the
British, he joined the army again and took part in the battles of
Brandywine and Germantown, and in the skirmish at Whitemarsh. Though
refusing the office of chief-justice, he had accepted a seat in
Congress; and his time was divided between active service in the camp
at Valley Forge, and in making appeals on the floor of Congress for
reinforcements and supplies for the destitute army. Impoverished by the
war, and with his great heart wrung by the sufferings he had witnessed
among our soldiers while in winter-quarters, he was suddenly exposed
to a great temptation. Ten thousand pounds sterling, and any colonial
office in the king’s gift, were tendered him, if he would withdraw
from the American cause, and use his influence in reconciling the two
countries. Reed hesitated not one moment, but proudly answered, “I
am not worth purchasing, but such as I am, the King of Great Britain
is not rich enough to buy me.” His military career closed with the
battle of Monmouth on the 28th of June, 1778, and in November he was
unanimously elected president of the State of Pennsylvania. To this
new dignity he brought all the incorruptible integrity, fertility of
resource, and indomitable courage that had characterized him as a
soldier. Twice re-elected, his tenure of office expired in October,
1781. A few months before his death, he was again called to serve the
public, being elected to a seat in the Continental Congress; but his
health had already begun to fail, and at the early age of forty-three
he died on the 5th of March, 1785.




COUNT KAZEMIERZ (OR CASIMIR) PULASKI.


Count Kazemierz (or Casimir) Pulaski, born in Podolia on the 4th
of March, 1748, received a thorough military education by serving
for a time in the guard of Duke Charles of Courland, and enlisting
when twenty-one under his father’s banner for the rescue of Poland
from her oppressors. Bereft of father and brother by the war, he yet
succeeded for a time in baffling all attempts to bring his country
into subjection; but at last in 1772 his enemies triumphed and the
partition of Poland was the result. Pulaski’s estates were confiscated;
he was outlawed; and a price was set upon his head. Escaping to
Turkey, but failing to gain any assistance there, he went to Paris in
1775. Sympathizing with the oppressed of whatever nation, he sought
an interview with Benjamin Franklin, tendered his services, and came
to this country in May, 1777, entering our army as a volunteer. His
conduct at the battle of Brandywine secured him promotion to the rank
of brigadier-general, on the 15th of September, 1777, with a command of
the cavalry. During the ensuing winter, however, finding the officers
under him dissatisfied at receiving orders from a foreigner who could
with difficulty speak their language, and whose ideas of discipline
and tactics differed widely from theirs, he resigned his command, and
returned to special duty at Valley Forge. At his suggestion, approved
by Washington, Congress authorized the raising of an independent
corps of Lancers and light infantry, in which even deserters from the
British, and prisoners-of-war, could enlist. This corps became famous
afterward as “Pulaski’s Legion,” and rendered great service at the
attack on Savannah. In this assault, Pulaski commanded all the cavalry,
both French and American. The conflict was obstinate and bloody.
Pulaski was severely wounded and left on the field of battle when his
men retreated; some of them, however, returned, and under fire of the
enemy, bore him to camp. With others of the wounded, he was taken on
board the American brig “Wasp,” which was lying in the harbor; but
notwithstanding the skill of the French surgeon, he died a few days
after, as she was leaving the river, and his body was consigned to
the sea on the 11th of October, 1779. The “Wasp” carrying the sad
intelligence to Charleston, appropriate funeral services were held
in that city. The cornerstone of a monument raised to his memory in
Savannah was laid by Lafayette, when in 1824 he visited this country as
“the nation’s guest,” and made a triumphant progress through each of
the twenty-four States.




JOHN STARK.


John Stark, born in Londonderry, New Hampshire, on the 28th of August,
1728, was of Scotch descent, his ancestors having been among the
followers of John Knox. His early life was spent in agricultural
pursuits, hunting, and trapping,--vocations which, though hazardous
and laborious, imparted a wonderful degree of physical power and
mental resource. At the age of twenty-five, he was taken prisoner by
the St. Francis tribe of Indians while on a hunting expedition, and
detained many months; but such was their admiration for his courage and
daring that they formally invested him with the dignity of chief, and
permitted him to share in the honors and successes of the tribe. Being
finally ransomed by the Commissioners of Massachusetts, the General
Court of that State having a “fund for the release of captives,” he
returned home, and as New Hampshire never refunded this money, $103,
Stark paid it back himself, earning the money by his own labor. Through
the French and Indian War he sustained a distinguished part, and at the
head of the “New Hampshire Rangers” often bore the brunt of the battle,
when the British regulars were baffled and defeated by the Indian
modes of warfare. During the twelve years of peace which followed,
Stark devoted himself to his old pursuits, and to the training of his
four sons; but within ten minutes after hearing the news of the battle
of Lexington, he had buckled on his sword and started for the scene
of action, calling upon all who loved their country to follow him.
Twelve hundred men answered his summons, and from these he organized
two regiments, ready for action under the Provincial authority. During
the remainder of this year and all the next, Stark did all that a
patriot could do to uphold the cause of liberty and independence. The
enthusiasm of his men for their leader was such that when their term of
enlistment expired, the regiment to a man re-enlisted; but Congress,
for some inexplicable reason, passed over his claims to promotion, and
advanced younger and far less experienced officers above him. Finding
his protests of no avail, he resigned his commission and retired to
his farm, sent his four sturdy sons into the ranks, and justified his
conduct in withdrawing from active service by saying, “An officer who
cannot maintain his own rank, and assert his own rights, cannot be
trusted to vindicate those of his country.”

The summer of 1777 threatened evil for the New England States. Burgoyne
was invading our territory from the north, while Lord Howe was making
unmistakable preparations to join him by way of the Hudson. At this
time of peril, the General Assembly of New Hampshire appealed to John
Stark to take command of the militia and check the triumphant progress
of Burgoyne. His consent was hailed with joy; willing troops flocked to
his standard; and his homely appeal on the 16th of August, 1777, “We
must conquer to-day, boys, or Molly Stark’s a widow!” incited his men
to such deeds of valor that the battle of Bennington resulted in the
complete rout of the enemy and the capture of seven hundred prisoners,
four pieces of brass cannon, and many hundred stands of arms,
broadswords, drums, etc. This brilliant achievement forced Congress to
acknowledge their former injustice and Stark’s true worth; on the 4th
of October, 1777, he was reinstated in the regular army, with the rank
of brigadier-general. He remained in active service until the close of
the war, when he once more retired to his farm.

Loved and revered by all who knew him, the veteran of two protracted
wars, Stark lived to see that of 1812, though too old then to take
the field in person. When the news reached him of the capitulation
of General Hull, and the loss of the cannon which he had won at
Bennington, the hero of many battles was fired with all his old
enthusiasm and longed once more to lead our troops to victory. He lived
to the age of ninety-four, dying at Manchester, New Hampshire, on the
8th of May, 1822. His grave on the banks of the Merrimac is marked by a
granite shaft bearing the simple inscription:

                    MAJOR-GENERAL STARK.




JAMES WILKINSON.


James Wilkinson, born near the village of Benedict on the Patuxent,
Maryland, in 1757, began the study of medicine with an uncle, who,
having been a surgeon under Wolfe, told his pupil many anecdotes of the
war in Canada. The military bias of his mind was further strengthened
by what he saw during his frequent visits to the barracks, while
attending the medical school in Philadelphia. Although having returned
home to practise his profession, upon hearing the news concerning the
battle of Bunker Hill, he hastened to join the army under Washington
at Cambridge. Here he made the acquaintance of Benedict Arnold and
Aaron Burr, and being given a captain’s commission, joined the
former’s expedition into Canada. In July, 1776, he was appointed major
and attached to the staff of Gates, who sent him in December with
despatches to the commander-in-chief; this gave him the opportunity of
taking part in the battles of Trenton and Princeton.

In 1777, Wilkinson was advanced to the rank of colonel and afterward
adjutant-general, in which capacity he fought in the battles of
Bemis Heights, on the 19th of September, 1777, and of Saratoga, on
the 7th of October. Prior to the latter engagement, under cover of
the darkness, Col. John Hardin, of Kentucky, penetrated the British
lines, and gained an actual view of their strength and position.
Regaining the American camp and meeting Wilkinson, he confided to him
his discoveries, with the entreaty that he would immediately inform
General Gates. Wilkinson did so, suppressing Hardin’s name and making
_himself_ appear the hero of this midnight exploit. When Burgoyne
surrendered, therefore, Wilkinson was sent to bear the news to Congress
with a recommendation to make him brigadier-general. Stopping in
Reading for some time, he consumed eighteen days in making the journey,
and thus the news was a week old when he reached Philadelphia. A
proposal in Congress to present him with a sword was defeated by Dr.
Witherspoon dryly remarking, “I think ye’d better gie the lad a pair
of spurs!” Nevertheless, a few days later, those members who accounted
themselves personal friends and admirers of General Gates, carried
the motion to make Wilkinson a brigadier-general, by brevet, on the
6th of November, 1777, and soon after he was appointed secretary of
the Board of War, of which Gates was president. His delay in Reading,
however, was eventually of great service to the country, for, having
visited Lord Stirling’s headquarters at that place, he dined with the
officers. After Lord Stirling left the table, Wilkinson, in a moment
of post-prandial confidence, revealed to Major McWilliams, an aid to
Lord Stirling, the scheme at that time being set on foot by Mifflin and
Conway, to have Gates supersede Washington as commander-in-chief of
the army. McWilliams felt it his duty to report what he had heard to
Lord Stirling, who in his turn felt constrained to communicate the plot
to Washington. When this infamous conspiracy became known, forty-nine
officers of his own rank petitioned Congress to revoke Wilkinson’s
appointment as brigadier. Hearing this, Wilkinson wrote to Congress on
the 3d of March, 1778, that he was

  “informed the mark of distinction conferred on him has occasioned
  a dissatisfaction in the army,” that “to obviate any embarrassment
  which may result from this disposition, by the consequent
  resignation of officers of merit, he begs leave to relinquish his
  brevet of brigadier, wishing to hold no commission unless he
  can wear it to the honor and advantage of his country;” and that
  “this conduct, however repugnant to fashionable ambition, he finds
  consistent with those principles on which he early drew his sword
  in the present contest.”

His resignation was accepted on the 6th of March, 1778; he was allowed
to retain his rank of colonel, but was not again actively employed
until near the close of the war, when for a time he filled the position
of clothier-general to the army. Settling in Lexington, Kentucky, in
1783, he found the Mississippi River closed to American commerce, and
Western produce rotting on the ground for want of transportation.
Seeing he could speedily make a fortune, could he but obtain from the
Spanish Government the exclusive right to trade with New Orleans, he
paved the way by presenting to the commandant at Natchez a pair of
Kentucky thoroughbred horses. Presently he loaded a boat with local
produce and sent it down the river. It was seized, but of course
released when he appeared as the owner. He now entered into formal
negotiations. Taking advantage of the dissatisfaction in the West
with the federal Government, because of its inability at that time to
protect them from the Indians, and to open the Mississippi for purposes
of transportation, Wilkinson covenanted, in return for a pension of
$2,000 per annum, and the exclusive right of trade with New Orleans,
to induce the Western States to separate from the Eastern, and place
themselves under the protection of the Spanish Government. This plot
had almost succeeded when it was discovered and defeated. Not finding
trading as remunerative as he had hoped, he applied in 1791 for
reinstatement in the army, and this request was granted by appointing
him lieutenant-colonel, because, as was urged in Congress, being of a
restless and intriguing disposition, “he was dangerous as long as he
was unemployed.” His conduct justified this estimate, for he rendered
such good service against the Indians that in 1792 he received the
appointment of brigadier-general; and upon the death of Wayne, in 1796,
he was given the supreme command on the Western frontier.

In 1805, Wilkinson was appointed Governor of Louisiana, when he
discovered and disclosed the conspiracy of Aaron Burr to establish a
separate confederacy beyond the Alleghanies. Burr and Andrew Jackson
declaring Wilkinson to be implicated, he was tried by court-martial
in 1811, but acquitted because of insufficient proof, though his
correspondence with the Spanish Government, since made public,
establishes his guilt. He was advanced to the rank of major-general in
1813, and employed in the North; but his operations were unsuccessful,
owing to a disagreement with Wade Hampton. A court of inquiry in 1815
exonerated him, however; but upon the reorganizing of the army, he
was not retained in the service, and retired to Mexico, where he had
acquired large estates. He died in the vicinity of the capital on the
28th of December, 1825.




CHEVALIER DE LA NEUVILLE.


Chevalier de la Neuville, born about 1740, came to this country with
his younger brother in the autumn of 1777, and tendered his services
to Congress. Having served with distinction in the French army for
twenty years, enjoying the favorable opinion of Lafayette, and bringing
with him the highest testimonials, he was appointed on the 14th of
May, 1778, inspector of the army under Gates, with the promise of
rank according to his merit at the end of three months. He was a good
officer and strict disciplinarian, but was not popular with the army.
Failing to obtain the promotion he expected, he applied for permission
to retire at the end of six months’ service. His request was granted
on the 4th of December, 1778, Congress instructing the president that
a certificate be given to Monsieur de la Neuville in the following
words:--

  “Mr. de la Neuville having served with fidelity and reputation in
  the army of the United States, in testimony of his merit a brevet
  commission of brigadier has been granted to him by Congress, and on
  his request he is permitted to leave the service of these States
  and return to France.”

The brevet commission was to bear date the 14th of October, 1778.
Having formed a strong attachment for General Gates, they corresponded
after De la Neuville’s return to France. In one of his letters the
chevalier writes that he wishes to return to America, “not as a
general, but as a philosopher,” and to purchase a residence near that
of his best friend, General Gates. He did not return, however, and his
subsequent history is lost amid the troubles of the French Revolution.




JETHRO SUMNER.


Jethro Sumner, born in Virginia about 1730, was of English parentage.
Removing to North Carolina while still a youth, he took an active
part in the measures which preceded the Revolution, and believed the
struggle to be unavoidable. Having held the office of paymaster to the
Provincial troops, and also the command at Fort Cumberland, he was
appointed in 1776, by the Provincial Congress, colonel in the Third
North Carolina Regiment, and served under Washington at the North.
On the 9th of January, 1779, he was commissioned brigadier-general,
and ordered to join Gates at the South. He took part in the battle of
Camden, and served under Greene at the battle of Eutaw Springs on the
8th of September, 1781, where he led a bayonet-charge. He served to the
close of the war, rendering much assistance in keeping the Tories in
North Carolina in check during the last years of the struggle, and died
in Warren County, North Carolina, about 1790.




JAMES HOGAN.


James Hogan of Halifax, North Carolina, was chosen to represent his
district in the Provincial Congress that assembled on the 4th of
April, 1776. Upon the organization of the North Carolina forces, he
was appointed paymaster of the Third Regiment. On the 17th of the same
month, he was transferred to the Edenton and Halifax Militia, with the
rank of major. His military services were confined to his own State,
though commissioned brigadier-general in the Continental army on the
9th of January, 1779.




ISAAC HUGER.


Isaac Huger, born at Limerick Plantation at the head-waters of Cooper
River, South Carolina, on the 19th of March, 1742, was the grandson
of Huguenot exiles who had fled to America after the revocation of
the Edict of Nantes. Inheriting an ardent love of civil and religious
liberty, reared in a home of wealth and refinement, thoroughly educated
in Europe and trained to military service through participation in an
expedition against the Cherokee Indians, he was selected on the 17th
of June, 1775, by the Provincial Congress, as lieutenant-colonel of
the First South Carolina Regiment. Being stationed at Fort Johnson, he
had no opportunity to share in the defeat of the British in Charleston
Harbor, as Colonel Moultrie’s victory at Sullivan’s Island prevented
premeditated attack on the city. During the two years of peace for
the South that followed, Huger was promoted to a colonelcy, and then
ordered to Georgia. His soldiers, however, were so enfeebled by
sickness, privation, and toil that when called into action at Savannah,
they could only show what they might have accomplished under more
favorable circumstances. On the 9th of January, 1779, Congress made him
a brigadier-general; and until the capture of Charleston by the British
in May, 1780, he was in constant service either in South Carolina
or Georgia. Too weak to offer any open resistance, the patriots of
the South were compelled for a time to remain in hiding, but with the
appearance of Greene as commander, active operations were resumed.

Huger’s thorough knowledge of the different localities and his frank
fearlessness gained him the confidence of his superior officer, and
it was to his direction that Greene confided the army on several
occasions, while preparing for the series of engagements that
culminated in the evacuation of Charleston and Savannah. Huger
commanded the Virginia troops at the battle of Guilford Court-House,
where he was severely wounded; and at Hobkirk’s Hill he had the honor
of commanding the right wing of the army. He served to the close
of the war; and when Moultrie was chosen president, he was made
vice-president, of the Society of the Cincinnati of South Carolina.
Entering the war a rich man, he left it a poor one; he gave his wealth
as freely as he had risked his life, and held them both well spent in
helping to secure the blessings of liberty and independence to his
beloved country. He died on the 17th of October, 1797, and was buried
on the banks of the Ashley River, South Carolina.




MORDECAI GIST.


Mordecai Gist, born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1743, was descended from
some of the earliest English settlers in that State. Though trained for
a commercial life, he hastened at the beginning of the Revolution to
offer his services to his country, and in January, 1775, was elected
to the command of a company of volunteers raised in his native city,
called the “Baltimore Independent Company,”--the first company raised
in Maryland for liberty. In 1776, he rose to the rank of major,
distinguishing himself whenever an occasion offered. In 1777, he was
made colonel, and on the 9th of January, 1779, Congress recognized his
worth by conferring on him the rank of brigadier-general.

It is with the battle of Camden, South Carolina, that Gist’s name is
indissolubly linked. The British having secured the best position,
Gates divided his forces into three parts, assigning the right wing to
Gist. By a blunder in an order issued by Gates himself, the centre and
the left wing were thrown into confusion and routed. Gist and De Kalb
stood firm, and by their determined resistance made the victory a dear
one for the British. When the brave German fell, Gist rallied about a
hundred men and led them off in good order. In 1782, joining the light
troops of the South, he commanded at Combahee--the last engagement in
the war--and gained a victory. At the close of the war he retired to
his plantation near Charleston, where he died in 1792. He was married
three times, and had two sons, one of whom he named “Independent” and
the other “States.”




WILLIAM IRVINE.


William Irvine, born near Enniskillen, Ireland, on the 3d of November,
1741, was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. Though preferring a
military career, he adopted the medical profession to gratify the
wishes of his parents. During the latter part of the Seven Years War
between England and France, he served as surgeon on board a British
man-of-war, and shortly before the restoration of peace, he resigned
his commission, and coming to America in 1764, settled at Carlisle,
Pennsylvania, where he soon acquired a great reputation and a large
practice. Warm-hearted and impulsive, at the opening of the Revolution
he adopted the cause of the colonists as his own, and after serving
in the Pennsylvania Convention, he was commissioned in 1776 to raise
a regiment in that State. At the head of these troops, he took part
in the Canadian expedition of that year, and being taken prisoner,
was detained for many months. He was captured a second time at the
battle of Chestnut Hill, New Jersey, in December, 1777. On the 12th of
May, 1779, Congress conferred on him the rank of brigadier-general.
From 1782 until the close of the war, he commanded at Fort Pitt,--an
important post defending the Western frontier, then threatened by
British and Indians. In 1785, he was appointed an agent to examine the
public lands, and to him was intrusted the administration of an act for
distributing the donation lands that had been promised to the troops
of the Commonwealth. Appreciating the advantage to Pennsylvania of
having an outlet on Lake Erie, he suggested the purchase of that tract
of land known as “the triangle.” From 1785 to 1795, he filled various
civil and military offices of responsibility. Being sent to treat with
those connected with the Whiskey Insurgents, and failing to quiet them
by arguments, he was given command of the Pennsylvania Militia to carry
out the vigorous measures afterward adopted to reduce them to order.
In 1795, he settled in Philadelphia, held the position of intendant of
military stores, and was president of the Pennsylvania Society of the
Cincinnati until his death on the 9th of July, 1804.




DANIEL MORGAN.


Daniel Morgan, born in New Jersey about 1736, was of Welsh parentage.
His family having an interest in some Virginia lands, he went to that
colony at seventeen years of age. When Braddock began his march against
Fort Duquesne, Morgan joined the army as a teamster, and did good
service at the rout of the English army at Monongahela, by bringing
away the wounded. Upon returning from this disastrous campaign, he was
appointed ensign in the colonial service, and soon after was sent with
important despatches to a distant fort. Surprised by the Indians, his
two companions were instantly killed, while he received a rifle-ball in
the back of his neck, which shattered his jaw and passed through his
left cheek, inflicting the only severe wound he received during his
entire military career. Believing himself about to die, but determined
that his scalp should not fall into the hands of his assailants, he
clasped his arms around his horse’s neck and spurred him forward. An
Indian followed in hot pursuit; but finding Morgan’s steed too swift
for him, he threw his tomahawk, hoping to strike his victim. Morgan
however escaped and reached the fort, but was lifted fainting from
the saddle and was not restored to health for six months. In 1762, he
obtained a grant of land near Winchester, Virginia, where he devoted
himself to farming and stock-raising. Summoned again to military duty,
he served during the Pontiac War, but from 1765 to 1775 led the life of
a farmer, and acquired during this period much property.

The first call to arms in the Revolutionary struggle found Morgan ready
to respond; recruits flocked to his standard; and at the head of a
corps of riflemen destined to render brilliant service, he marched away
to Washington’s camp at Cambridge. Montgomery was already in Canada,
and when Arnold was sent to co-operate with him, Morgan eagerly sought
for service in an enterprise so hazardous and yet so congenial. At the
storming of Quebec, Morgan and his men carried the first barrier, and
could they have been reinforced, would no doubt have captured the city.
Being opposed by overwhelming numbers, and their rifles being rendered
almost useless by the fast-falling snow, after an obstinate resistance
they were forced to surrender themselves prisoners-of-war. Morgan was
offered the rank of colonel in the British army, but rejected the offer
with scorn. Upon being exchanged, Congress gave him the same rank in
the Continental army, and placed a rifle brigade of five hundred men
under his command.

For three years Morgan and his men rendered such valuable service that
even English writers have borne testimony to their efficiency. In
1780, a severe attack of rheumatism compelled him to return home. On
the 31st of October of the same year, Congress raised him to the rank
of brigadier-general; and his health being somewhat restored, he joined
General Greene, who had assumed command of the Southern army. Much of
the success of the American arms at the South, during this campaign,
must be attributed to General Morgan, but his old malady returning, in
March, 1781, he was forced to resign. When Cornwallis invaded Virginia,
Morgan once more joined the army, and Lafayette assigned to him the
command of the cavalry. Upon the surrender of Yorktown, he retired once
more to his home, spending his time in agricultural pursuits and the
improvement of his mind. In 1794, the duty of quelling the “Whiskey
Insurrection” in Pennsylvania was intrusted to him, and subsequently
he represented his district in Congress for two sessions. He died in
Winchester on the 6th of July, 1802, and has been called, “The hero of
Quebec, of Saratoga, and of the Cowpens; the bravest among the brave,
and the Ney of the West.”




MOSES HAZEN.


Moses Hazen, born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, in 1733, served in the
French and Indian War, and subsequently settled near St. Johns, New
Brunswick, accumulating much wealth, and retaining his connection
with the British army as a lieutenant on half-pay. In 1775, having
furnished supplies and rendered other assistance to Montgomery during
the Canadian campaign, the English troops destroyed his shops and
houses and carried off his personal property. In 1776, he offered his
services to Congress, who promised to indemnify him for all loss he had
sustained, and appointed him colonel in the Second Canadian Regiment,
known by the name of “Congress’s Own,” because “not attached to the
quota of any State.” He remained in active and efficient service during
the entire war, being promoted to the rank of brigadier-general the
29th of June, 1781. At the close of the war, with his two brothers,
who had also been in the army, he settled in Vermont upon land granted
to them for their services, and died at Troy, New York, on the 30th
of January, 1802, his widow receiving a further grant of land and a
pension for life of two hundred dollars.




OTHO HOLLAND WILLIAMS.


Otho Holland Williams, born in Prince George’s County, Maryland, in
1749, entered the Revolutionary army in 1775, as a lieutenant. He
steadily rose in rank, holding the position of adjutant-general under
Greene. Though acting with skill and gallantry on all occasions, his
fame chiefly rests on his brilliant achievement at the battle of
Eutaw Springs, where his command gained the day for the Americans by
their irresistible charge with fixed bayonets across a field swept
by the fire of the enemy. On the 9th of May, 1782, he was made a
brigadier-general, but retired from the army on the 6th of June, 1783,
to accept the appointment of collector of customs for the State of
Maryland, which office he held until his death on the 16th of July,
1800.




JOHN GREATON.


John Greaton, born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, on the 10th of March,
1741, was an innkeeper prior to the Revolution, and an officer of the
militia of his native town. On the 12th of July, 1775, he was appointed
colonel in the regular army. During the siege of Boston, he led an
expedition which destroyed the buildings on Long Island in Boston
Harbor. In April, 1776, he was ordered to Canada, and in the following
December he joined Washington in New Jersey, but was subsequently
transferred to Heath’s division at West Point. He served to the end of
the war, and was commissioned brigadier-general on the 7th of January,
1783. Conscientiously performing all the duties assigned him, though
unable to boast of any brilliant achievements, he won a reputation for
sterling worth and reliability. He died in his native town on the 16th
of December, 1783, the first of the Revolutionary generals to pass away
after the conclusion of peace.




RUFUS PUTNAM.


Rufus Putnam, born in Sutton, Massachusetts, on the 9th of April, 1738,
after serving his apprenticeship as a millwright, enlisted as a common
soldier in the Provincial army in 1757. At the close of the French
and Indian War, he returned to Massachusetts, married, and settled
in the town of New Braintree as a miller. Finding a knowledge of
mathematics necessary to his success, he devoted much time to mastering
that science. In 1773, having gone to Florida, he was appointed
deputy-surveyor of the province by the governor. A rupture with Great
Britain becoming imminent, he returned to Massachusetts in 1775, and
was appointed lieutenant in one of the first regiments raised in that
State after the battle of Lexington. His first service was the throwing
up of defences in front of Roxbury. In 1776, he was ordered to New York
and superintended the defences in that section of the country and the
construction of the fortifications at West Point. In August, Congress
appointed him engineer with the rank of colonel. He continued in
active service, sometimes as engineer, sometimes as commander, and at
others as commissioner for the adjustment of claims growing out of the
war, until the disbanding of the army, being advanced to the rank of
brigadier-general on the 7th of January, 1783.

After the close of the war, Putnam held various civil offices in his
native State, acted as aid to General Lincoln during Shays’ Rebellion
in 1786, was superintendent of the Ohio Company, founded the town
of Marietta in 1788, was appointed in 1792 brigadier-general of
the forces sent against the Indians of the Northwest, concluded an
important treaty with them the same year, and resigned his commission
on account of illness in 1793. During the succeeding ten years, he
was Surveyor-General of the United States, when his increasing age
compelled him to withdraw from active employment, and he retired to
Marietta, where he died on the 1st of May, 1824.




ELIAS DAYTON.


Elias Dayton, born in Elizabethtown, New Jersey, in July, 1737, began
his military career by joining Braddock’s forces, and fought in the
“Jersey Blues” under Wolfe at Quebec. Subsequently he commanded a
company of militia in an expedition against the Indians, and at the
beginning of the Revolution was a member of the Committee of Safety. In
July, 1775, he was with the party under Lord Stirling that captured a
British transport off Staten Island. In 1776, he was ordered to Canada;
but upon reaching Albany he was directed to remain in that part of
the country to prevent any hostile demonstration by the Tory element.
In 1777, he ranked as colonel of the Third New Jersey Regiment, and
in 1781, he materially aided in suppressing the revolt in the New
Jersey line. Serving to the end of the war, he was promoted to be a
brigadier-general the 7th of January, 1783. Returning to New Jersey
upon the disbanding of the army, he was elected president of the
Society of the Cincinnati of that State, and died in his native town on
the 17th of July, 1807.




COUNT ARMAND.


Armand Tuffin, Marquis de la Rouarie, born in the castle of Rouarie
near Rennes, France, on the 14th of April, 1756, was admitted in 1775
to be a member of the body-guard of the French king. A duel led to his
dismissal shortly after. Angry and mortified, he attempted suicide, but
his life was saved; and in May, 1777, he came to the United States,
where he entered the Continental army under the name of Count Armand.
Being granted leave to raise a partisan corps of Frenchmen, he served
with credit and great ability under Lafayette, Gates, and Pulaski. At
the reorganization of the army in 1780, Washington proposed Armand for
promotion, and recommended the keeping intact of his corps. In 1781,
he was summoned to France by his family, but returned in time to take
part in the siege of Yorktown, bringing with him clothing, arms, and
ammunition for his corps, which had been withdrawn from active service
during his absence.

After the surrender of Cornwallis, Washington again called the
attention of Congress to Armand’s meritorious conduct, and he at last
received his promotion as brigadier-general on the 26th of March, 1783.
At the close of the war he was admitted as a member of the Society
of the Cincinnati, and with warmest recommendations from Washington
returned to his native country and lived privately until 1788, when
he was elected one of twelve deputies to intercede with the king for
the continuance of the privileges of his native province of Brittany.
For this he was confined for several weeks in the Bastile. Upon his
release he returned to Brittany, and in 1789, denounced the principle
of revolution and proposed a plan for the union of the provinces of
Brittany, Anjou, and Poitou, and the raising of an army to co-operate
with the allies. These plans being approved by the brothers of Louis
XVI., in December, 1791, Rouarie was appointed Royal Commissioner
of Brittany. In March of the year following, the chiefs of the
confederation met at his castle; and all was ready for action when they
were betrayed to the legislative assembly, and troops were sent to
arrest the marquis. He succeeded in eluding them for several months,
when he was attacked by a fatal illness and died in the castle of La
Guyomarais near Lamballe, on the 30th of January, 1793.




THADDEUS KOSCIUSKO.


Thaddeus Kosciusko, born near Novogrodek, Lithuania, on the 12th of
February, 1746, was descended from a noble Polish family. Studying at
first in the military academy at Warsaw, he afterward completed his
education in France. Returning to his native country, he entered the
army and rose to the rank of captain. Soon after coming to America,
he offered his services to Washington as a volunteer in the cause
of American independence. Appreciating his lofty character and fine
military attainments, Washington made him one of his aids, showing the
high estimation in which he held the gallant Pole.

Taking part in several great battles in the North, Kosciusko there
proved his skill and courage, and was ordered to accompany Greene to
the South when that general superseded Gates in 1781. Holding the
position of chief engineer, he planned and directed all the besieging
operations against Ninety-Six. In recognition of these valuable
services, he received from Congress the rank of brigadier-general in
the Continental army on the 13th of October, 1783. Serving to the end
of the war, he shared with Lafayette the honor of being admitted into
the Society of the Cincinnati. Returning to Poland in 1786 he entered
the Polish army upon its reorganization in 1789, and fought valiantly
in behalf of his oppressed country. Resigning his commission, he once
more became an exile, when the Russians triumphed, and the second
partition of Poland was agreed upon.

Two years later, however, when the Poles determined to resume their
struggle for freedom, Kosciusko returned, and in March, 1794, was
proclaimed director and generalissimo. With courage, patience and
skill, that justified the high esteem in which he had been held in
America, he directed his followers while they waged the unequal strife.
Successful at first, he broke the yoke of tyranny from the necks of his
down-trodden countrymen, and for a few short weeks beheld his beloved
country free. But with vastly augmented numbers the enemy once more
invaded Poland; and in a desperate conflict Kosciusko, covered with
wounds, was taken prisoner, and the subjugation of the whole province
soon followed. He remained a prisoner for two years until the accession
of Paul I. of Russia. In token of his admiration, Paul wished to
present his own sword to Kosciusko; but the latter refused it, saying,
“I have no more need of a sword, as I have no longer a country,” and
would accept nothing but his release from captivity. He visited France
and England, and in 1797 returned to the United States, from which
country he received a pension, and was everywhere warmly welcomed. The
following year he returned to France, when his countrymen in the French
army presented him with the sword of John Sobieski. Purchasing a small
estate, he devoted himself to agriculture.

In 1806, when Napoleon planned the restoration of Poland, Kosciusko
refused to join in the undertaking, because he was on his parole
never to fight against Russia. He gave one more evidence before his
death of his love of freedom and sincere devotion to her cause, by
releasing from slavery all the serfs on his own estate in his native
land. In 1816, he removed to Switzerland, where he died on the 15th
of October, 1817, at Solothurn. The following year his remains were
removed to Cracow, and buried beside Sobieski, and the people, in
loving remembrance of his patriotic devotion, raised a mound above his
grave one hundred and fifty feet high, the earth being brought from
every great battle-field in Poland. This country paid its tribute of
gratitude by erecting a monument to his memory at West Point on the
Hudson.




STEPHEN MOYLAN.


Stephen Moylan, born in Ireland in 1734, received a good education
in his native land, resided for a time in England, and then coming
to America, travelled extensively, and finally became a merchant in
Philadelphia. He was among the first to hasten to the camp at Cambridge
in 1775, and was at once placed in the Commissariat Department. His
face and manners attracting Washington, he was selected March 5, 1776,
to be aide-de-camp, and on the 5th of June following, on recommendation
of the commander-in-chief, he was made quartermaster-general. Finding
himself unable to discharge his duties satisfactorily, he soon after
resigned to enter the ranks as a volunteer. In 1777 he commanded a
company of dragoons, was in the action at Germantown, and wintered
with the army at Valley Forge in 1777 and 1778. With Wayne, Moylan
joined the expedition to Bull’s Ferry in 1780, and was with Greene
in the South in 1781. He served to the close of the war, being made
brigadier-general by brevet the 3d of November, 1783. After the
disbanding of the army, he resumed business in Philadelphia, where he
died on the 11th of April, 1811, holding for several years prior to his
decease the office of United States commissioner of loans.




SAMUEL ELBERT.


Samuel Elbert, born in Prince William parish, South Carolina, in 1743,
was left an orphan at an early age, and going to Savannah, engaged
in commercial pursuits. In June, 1774, he was elected captain of a
company of grenadiers, and later was a member of the local Committee
of Safety. In February, 1776, he entered the Continental army as
lieutenant-colonel of Lachlan McIntosh’s brigade, and was promoted to
colonel during the ensuing September. In May of the year following, he
was intrusted with the command of an expedition against the British
in East Florida, and captured Fort Oglethorpe in that State in April
of 1778. Ordered to Georgia, he behaved with great gallantry when an
attack was made on Savannah by Col. Archibald Campbell in December
of the same year. In 1779, after distinguishing himself at Brier
Creek, he was taken prisoner, and when exchanged joined the army under
Washington, and was present at the surrender of Lord Cornwallis. On the
3d of November, 1783, Congress brevetted him brigadier-general, and
in 1785 he was elected Governor of Georgia. In further acknowledgment
of his services in her behalf, that State subsequently appointed him
major-general of her militia, and named a county in his honor. He died
in Savannah on the 2d of November, 1788.




CHARLES COTESWORTH PINCKNEY.


Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, born at Charleston, South Carolina, on
the 25th of February, 1746, was educated in England. Having qualified
himself for the legal profession, he returned to his native State and
began the practice of law in 1770, soon gaining an enviable reputation
and being appointed to offices of trust and great responsibility under
the crown. The battle of Lexington, however, changed his whole career.
With the first call to arms, Pinckney took the field, was given the
rank of captain, June, 1775, and entered at once upon the recruiting
service. Energetic and efficient, he gained promotion rapidly, taking
part as colonel in the battle at Fort Sullivan. This victory securing
peace to South Carolina for two years, he left that State to join
the army under Washington, who, recognizing his ability, made him
aide-de-camp and subsequently honored him with the most distinguished
military and civil appointments. When his native State again became the
theatre of action, Pinckney hastened to her defence, and once more took
command of his regiment. In all the events that followed, he bore his
full share, displaying fine military qualities and unwavering faith in
the ultimate triumph of American arms.

At length, after a most gallant resistance, overpowered by vastly
superior numbers, and undermined by famine and disease, Charleston
capitulated in May, 1780, and Pinckney became a prisoner-of-war and
was not exchanged until 1782. On the 3d of November of the year
following, he was promoted to be brigadier-general. Impoverished by
the war, he returned to the practice of law upon the restoration
of peace; and after declining a place on the Supreme Bench, and the
secretaryship, first of War and then of State, he accepted the mission
to France in 1796, urged to this step by the request of Washington
and the conviction that it was his duty. Arriving in Paris, he met
the intimation that peace might be secured with money by the since
famous reply, “Not one cent for tribute, but millions for defence!”
The war with France appearing inevitable, he was recalled and given a
commission as major-general; peace being restored without an appeal to
arms, he once more retired to the quiet of his home, spending the chief
portion of his old age in the pursuits of science and the pleasures
of rural life, though taking part when occasion demanded in public
affairs. He died in Charleston on the 16th of August, 1825, in the
eightieth year of his age.




WILLIAM RUSSELL.


William Russell, born in Culpeper County, Virginia, in 1758, removed in
early boyhood with his father to the western frontier of that State.
When only fifteen years of age, he joined the party led by Daniel
Boone, to form a settlement on the Cumberland River. Driven back by
the Indians, Boone persevered; but Russell hastened to enter the
Continental army; and he received, young as he was, the appointment
of lieutenant. After the battle of King’s Mountain in 1780, he was
promoted to a captaincy, and ordered to join an expedition against
the Cherokee Indians, with whom he succeeded in negotiating a treaty
of peace. On the 3d of November, 1783, he received his commission as
brigadier-general.

At the close of the war Russell went to Kentucky and bore an active
part in all the expeditions against the Indians, until the settlement
of the country was accomplished. In 1789, he was a delegate to the
Virginia Legislature that passed an act separating Kentucky from that
State. After the organization of the Kentucky government Russell was
annually returned to the Legislature until 1808, when he was appointed
by President Madison colonel of the Seventh United States Infantry.
In 1811, he succeeded Gen. William Henry Harrison in command of the
frontier of Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri. In 1812, he planned and
commanded an expedition against the Peoria Indians, and in 1823 was
again sent to the Legislature. The following year he declined the
nomination for governor, and died on the 3d of July, 1825, in Fayette
County, Kentucky. Russell County of that State is named in his honor.




FRANCIS MARION.


Francis Marion, born at Winyah, near Georgetown, South Carolina, in
1732, was of Huguenot descent; his ancestors, fleeing from persecution
in France, came to this country in 1690. Small in stature and slight
in person, he possessed a power of endurance united with remarkable
activity rarely surpassed. At the age of fifteen, yielding to a natural
love of enterprise, he went to sea in a small schooner employed in the
West India trade. Being shipwrecked, he endured such tortures from
famine and thirst as to have prevented his ever wishing to go to sea
again. After thirteen years spent in peaceful tilling of the soil, he
took up arms in defence of his State against the Cherokee Indians. So
signal a victory was gained by the whites at the town of Etchoee, June
7, 1761, that this tribe never again seriously molested the settlers.
Returning to his home after this campaign, Marion resumed his quiet
life until in 1775 he was elected a member of the Provincial Congress
of South Carolina. This Congress solemnly pledged the “people of the
State to the principles of the Revolution, authorized the seizing of
arms and ammunition, stored in various magazines belonging to the
crown, and passed a law for raising two regiments of infantry and a
company of horse.” Marion resigned his seat in Congress, and applying
for military duty, was appointed captain. He undertook the recruiting
and drilling of troops, assisted at the capture of Fort Johnson, was
promoted to the rank of major, and bore his full share in the memorable
defence of Fort Moultrie on Sullivan’s Island, which saved Charleston
and secured to South Carolina long exemption from the horrors of
war. Little was done at the South for the next three years, when in
1779 the combined French and American forces attempted the capture
of Savannah. Marion was in the hottest of the fight; but the attack
was a failure, followed in 1780 by the loss of Charleston. Marion
escaped being taken prisoner by an accident that placed him on sick
leave just before the city was invested by the British. The South was
now overrun by the enemy; cruel outrages were everywhere perpetrated;
and the defeat of the Americans at Camden seemed to have quenched the
hopes of even the most sanguine. Four days after the defeat of Gates,
Marion began organizing and drilling a band of troopers subsequently
known as “Marion’s Brigade.” Though too few in number to risk an
open battle, they succeeded in so harassing the enemy that several
expeditions were fitted out expressly to kill or capture Marion, who,
because of the partisan warfare he waged and the tactics he employed,
gained the sobriquet of the “Swamp Fox.” Again and again he surprised
strong parties of the British at night, capturing large stores of
ammunition and arms, and liberating many American prisoners. He was
always signally active against the Tories, for he well knew their
influence in depressing the spirit of liberty in the country. When
Gates took command of the Southern army, he neither appreciated nor
knew how to make the best use of Marion and his men. South Carolina,
recognizing how much she owed to his unwearying efforts in her behalf,
acknowledged her debt of gratitude by making him brigadier-general of
her Provincial troops, after the defeat of Gates at Camden. Early in
the year 1781, General Greene assumed command of the Southern army,
and entertaining a high opinion of Marion, sent Lieutenant-Colonel
Harry Lee, with his famous legion of light-horse, to aid him. Acting in
concert and sometimes independently, these two noted leaders carried
on the war vigorously wherever they went, capturing Forts Watson and
Motte, defeating Major Frazier at Parker’s Ferry and joining Greene in
time for the battle of Eutaw Springs. When the surrender of Cornwallis
practically ended the war, Marion returned to his plantation in St.
John’s parish and soon after was elected to the Senate of South
Carolina. On the 26th of February, 1783, the following resolutions were
unanimously adopted by that body:--

  “_Resolved_, That the thanks of this House be given
  Brigadier-General Marion in his place as a member of this House,
  for his eminent and conspicuous services to his country.

  “_Resolved_, That a gold medal be given to Brigadier-General Marion
  as a mark of public approbation for his great, glorious, and
  meritorious conduct.”

In 1784, he was given command of Fort Johnson in Charleston Harbor,
and shortly after, he married Mary Videau, a lady of Huguenot descent,
who possessed considerable wealth and was a most estimable character.
On the 27th of February, 1795, Francis Marion passed peacefully away,
saying, “Thank God, I can lay my hand on my heart and say that since I
came to man’s estate I have never intentionally done wrong to any.”




THOMAS SUMTER.


Thomas Sumter, born in Virginia in 1734, served in the French and
Indian War, and afterward on the Western frontier. Establishing
himself finally in South Carolina, he was appointed in March, 1776,
lieutenant-colonel of the Second Regiment of South Carolina Riflemen,
and sent to overawe the Tories and Loyalists in the interior of the
State. The comparative immunity from war secured to South Carolina
during the first years of the Revolution deprived Sumter of any
opportunity for distinguishing himself until after the surrender
of Charleston to the British in 1780. Taking refuge for a time in
the swamps of the Santee, he made his way after a while to North
Carolina, collected a small body of refugees, and presently returned
to carry on a partisan warfare against the British. His fearlessness
and impetuosity in battle gained for him the sobriquet of “the
game-cock;” and with a small band of undisciplined militia, armed with
ducking-guns, sabres made from old mill-saws ground to an edge, and
hunting-knives fastened to poles for lances, he effectually checked
the progress of the British regulars again and again, weakened their
numbers, cut off their communications, and dispersed numerous bands of
Tory militia.

Like Marion, whenever the enemy threatened to prove too strong, Sumter
and his followers would retreat to the swamps and mountain fastnesses,
to emerge again when least expected, and at the right moment to take
the British at a disadvantage. During one of many severe engagements
with Tarleton, he was dangerously wounded and compelled for a time to
withdraw from active service, but learning Greene’s need of troops,
Sumter again took the field. After rendering valuable assistance toward
clearing the South of the British, the failure of his health again
forced him to seek rest and strength among the mountains, leaving his
brigade to the command of Marion. When once more fitted for duty, the
British were in Charleston, and the war was virtually at an end. Though
Sumter’s military career ended with the disbanding of the army, his
country still demanded his services. He represented South Carolina in
Congress from 1789 to 1793, and from 1797 to 1801; he served in the
United States Senate from 1801 to 1809, and was minister to Brazil from
1809 to 1811. He died at South Mount, near Camden, South Carolina,
on the 1st of June, 1832, the last surviving general officer of the
Revolution.




ADDENDA.


Prior to the adoption of the “federal Constitution,” partisan feeling
ran high on this side of the Atlantic,--indeed, it was no unusual
thing for a man to speak of the colony in which he was born as his
_country_. When the struggle for American independence began, though
men were willing to fight in defence of their own State, there was
great difficulty in filling the ranks of the Continental army,--not
only because of the longer time for which they were required to
enlist, but also because once in the Continental service, they would
be ordered to any part of the country. The same difficulty existed
in respect to securing members for the Continental Congress. With
the slowness of transportation and the uncertainty of the mails, it
was no small sacrifice for a man to leave his home, his dear ones,
and his local prestige, to become one of an unpopular body directing
an unpopular war, for it was not until near the end of the struggle
that the Revolution was espoused by the majority. It was under these
circumstances, then, that three different kinds of troops composed the
American army,--the Continentals, the Provincials, and the Militia. The
first could be ordered to any point where they were most needed; the
second, though regularly organized and disciplined, were only liable to
duty in their own State; and the last were hastily gathered together
and armed in the event of any pressing need or sudden emergency.
Washington, as stated in his commission, was commander-in-chief of
all the forces. The other subjects of the foregoing sketches were the
commanding officers of the Continental army. Marion and Warren were
famous generals of the Provincials; while Pickens and Ten Brock were
noted leaders of the militia. Dr. Joseph Warren received his commission
of major-general from the Massachusetts Assembly just before the battle
of Bunker Hill. He was among the last to leave the redoubt, and while
trying to rally his men was shot and killed. By his untimely end
America lost one of her purest patriots; and General Gage is reported
to have said, “Warren’s death was worth that of five hundred ordinary
rebels.” Andrew Pickens, brigadier-general of South Carolina Militia,
never fought outside of his own State, but received from Congress a
sword in recognition of his gallant conduct at the battle of Cowpens.

All the dates and facts in the foregoing sketches have been carefully
verified by comparison with the “Continental Army Returns” and
“Journals of the Continental Congress,” and various cyclopædias and
histories.


  University Press: John Wilson & Son, Cambridge.




Transcriber’s Notes


Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a
predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not
changed.

Simple typographical errors were corrected; occasional unbalanced
quotation marks retained.

Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained.

Page 81: The chapter about John Armstrong conflates the father, who was
born in 1717 and served as a General in the Continental Army, with the
son, who was only 18 in 1776 and became a Major in 1782 (Wikipedia).