Biographical Sketches of the Generals of the Continental Army of the Revolution
Date: 2017-02-12T00:00:00+00:00
Keywords: United States -- History -- Revolution; 1775-1783 -- Biography

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Title: Biographical Sketches of the Generals of the Continental Army of the Revolution

Author: Mary Theresa Leiter

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Most recently updated: October 23, 2024

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF THE GENERALS OF THE CONTINENTAL ARMY OF THE REVOLUTION ***

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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, Commander-in-Chief | Virginia | June   17,  1775.
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 3s.”

“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, June1 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).

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Table of Contents

Biographical Sketches OF THE GENERALS OF THE CONTINENTAL ARMY OF THE REVOLUTION.

A LIST OF THE GENERAL OFFICERS OF THE REVOLUTIONARY ARMY,

PREFACE.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

ARTEMUS WARD.

CHARLES LEE.

JOHN PHILIP SCHUYLER.

ISRAEL PUTNAM.

RICHARD MONTGOMERY.

JOHN THOMAS.

HORATIO GATES.

WILLIAM HEATH.

JOSEPH SPENCER.

JOHN SULLIVAN.

NATHANIEL GREENE.

LORD STIRLING.

THOMAS MIFFLIN.

ARTHUR ST. CLAIR.

ADAM STEPHEN.

BENJAMIN LINCOLN.

BENEDICT ARNOLD.

MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE.

BARON DE KALB.

PHILIPPE CHARLES JEAN BAPTISTE TRONSON DU COUDRAY.

ROBERT HOWE.

ALEXANDER McDOUGAL.

THOMAS CONWAY.

BARON STEUBEN.

WILLIAM SMALLWOOD.

SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS.

CHEVALIER DUPORTAIL.

HENRY KNOX.

WILLIAM MOULTRIE.

SETH POMEROY.

DAVID WOOSTER.

JOSEPH FRYE.

JOHN ARMSTRONG.

WILLIAM THOMPSON.

ANDREW LEWIS.

JAMES MOORE.

BARON DE WOEDTKE.

JOHN WHITCOMB.

HUGH MERCER.

JOSEPH REED.

JOHN NIXON.

JAMES CLINTON.

CHRISTOPHER GADSDEN.

LACHLAN McINTOSH.

WILLIAM MAXWELL.

MATTHIAS ALEXIS ROCHE DE FERMOY.

ENOCH POOR.

JOHN GLOVER.

JOHN PATERSON.

JAMES MITCHELL VARNUM.

ANTHONY WAYNE.

JOHN PHILIP DE HAAS.

JOHN PETER MUHLENBURG.

FRANCIS NASH.

GEORGE WEEDON.

JOHN CADWALADER.

WILLIAM WOODFORD.

GEORGE CLINTON.

EDWARD HAND.

CHARLES SCOTT.

EBENEZER LARNED.

CHEVALIER PRUD’HOMME DE BORRE.

JEDEDIAH HUNTINGTON.

JOSEPH REED.

COUNT KAZEMIERZ (OR CASIMIR) PULASKI.

JOHN STARK.

JAMES WILKINSON.

CHEVALIER DE LA NEUVILLE.

JETHRO SUMNER.

JAMES HOGAN.

ISAAC HUGER.

MORDECAI GIST.

WILLIAM IRVINE.

DANIEL MORGAN.

MOSES HAZEN.

OTHO HOLLAND WILLIAMS.

JOHN GREATON.

RUFUS PUTNAM.

ELIAS DAYTON.

COUNT ARMAND.

THADDEUS KOSCIUSKO.

STEPHEN MOYLAN.

SAMUEL ELBERT.

CHARLES COTESWORTH PINCKNEY.

WILLIAM RUSSELL.

FRANCIS MARION.

THOMAS SUMTER.

ADDENDA.

Transcriber’s Notes

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