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Military
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1750, Jul 251775-18051806, Oct 25
a military officer of the Continental Army and later the United States Army, who also served as the first United States Secretary of War from 1789 to 1794. Born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, he owned and operated a bookstore there, cultivating an interest in military history and joining a local artillery company. When the American Revolutionary War broke out in 1775, he befriended General George Washington, and quickly rose to become the chief artillery officer of the Continental Army. In this role he accompanied Washington on most of his campaigns, and had some involvement in many major actions of the war. He established training centers for artillerymen and manufacturing facilities for weaponry that were valuable assets to the fledgling nation.
 Quotes (11) • View in Quotations
Every friend to the liberty of his country is bound to reflect, and step forward to prevent the dreadful consequences which shall result from a government of events.
Having proceeded to this length, for which they are now ripe, we shall have a formidable rebellion against reason, the principle of all government, and against the very name of liberty.
Men at a distance, who have admired our systems of government unfounded in nature, are apt to accuse the rulers, and say that taxes have been assessed too high and collected too rigidly.
Our political machine, composed of thirteen independent sovereignties, have been perpetually operating against each other and against the federal head ever since the peace.
Something is wanting, and something must be done, or we shall be involved in all the horror of failure, and civil war without a prospect of its termination.
That taxes may be the ostensible cause is true, but that they are the true cause is as far remote from truth as light from darkness.
The frame of mind in the local legislatures seems to be exerted to prevent the federal constitution from having any good effect.
The powers of Congress are totally inadequate to preserve the balance between the respective States, and oblige them to do those things which are essential for their own welfare or for the general good.
They wish for a general government of unity, as they see that the local legislatures must naturally and necessarily tend to retard the general government.
We have arrived at that point of time in which we are forced to see our own humiliation, as a nation, and that a progression in this line cannot be a productive of happiness, private or public.
We imagined that the mildness of our government and the wishes of the people were so correspondent that we were not as other nations, requiring brutal force to support the laws.
 Contemporaries
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Henry Knox1750, Jul 251775
 
18051806, Oct 25

George Weedon17341754
 
17781793
 an American soldier during the Revolutionary War from Fredericksburg, Virginia. He served as a Br...
Robert Rogers1731, Nov 71746
 
17791795, May 18
 an American colonial frontiersman. Rogers served in the British army during both the French and I...
Israel Putnam1718, Jan 71755
 
17791790, May 29
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John Andre1750, May 21770
 
17801780, Oct 2
 a British Army officer hanged as a spy by the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary ...
Benedict Arnold1741, Jan 31757
 
17811801, Jun 14
 a general during the American Revolutionary War who originally fought for the American Continenta...
Thomas Gage [2]1718/19, Mar 101741
 
17821787, Apr 2
 a British general best known for his many years of service in North America, including his role a...
William Crawford1722, Sep 21749
 
17821782, Jun 11
 an American soldier and surveyor who worked as a western land agent for George Washington. Crawfo...
Jack Jouett1754, Dec 71776
 
 
17821822, Mar 1
 a politician and a hero of the American Revolution, known as the "Paul Revere of the South" for h...
Charles Edward Stuart1720, Dec 311743
 
17831788, Jan 31
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Horatio Gates [1]1727, Jul 261745
 
17831806, Apr 10
 a retired British soldier who served as an American general during the Revolutionary War. He took...
Ebenezer Learned1728, Apr 181756
 
17831801, Apr 1
 a brigadier general in the American Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. On April 24, 1...
Samuel Nicholas17441775
 
17831790, Aug 27
 the first officer commissioned in the United States Continental Marines (predecessor to the Unite...
Jonathan Trumbull1710, Oct 121731
 
17841785, Aug 17
 one of the few Americans who served as governor in both a pre-Revolutionary colony and a post-Rev...
Caesar Rodney1728, Oct 71755
 
17841784, Jun 25
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Francis Marion1732 ca1757
 
17841795, Feb 27
 a military officer who served in the American Revolutionary War. Acting with the Continental Army...
Joseph Reed [2]1741, Aug 271770
 
17841785, Mar 5
 a lawyer, military officer and statesman of the Revolutionary Era who lived the majority of his l...
William Whipple Jr.1730, Jan 141751
 
17851785, Nov 28
 a signatory of the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of New Hampshire...
Nathanael Greene1742, Jul 271770
 
17851786, Jun 19
 a major general of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War, known for his successf...
Esek Hopkins1718, Apr 261740
 
17861802, Feb 26
  the only Commander in Chief of the Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary War. He wa...
Maurycy Beniowski1746, Sep 201762
 
17861786, May 23
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Daniel Shays1747 ca1775
 
17881825, Sep 29
 an American soldier, revolutionary, and farmer famous for being one of the leaders of Shays' Rebe...
Thomas Hutchins17301746
 
17891789, Apr 18
 an American military engineer, cartographer, geographer and surveyor. In 1781, Hutchins was named...
Ethan Allen1737, Jan 101757
 
17891789, Feb 12
 a farmer, businessman, land speculator, philosopher, writer, lay theologian, and American Revolut...
Thomas Nelson Jr.1738, Dec 261761
 
17891789, Jan 4
 an American planter, soldier, and statesman from Yorktown, Virginia. He represented Virginia in t...
William Pierce17531775
 
17891789, Dec 10
 an army officer during the American Revolutionary War and a member of the United States Constitut...
Ezra Lee1749, Aug1776
 
 
17891821, Oct 29
 an American colonial soldier, best known for commanding the Turtle submarine. Lee was born in Lym...
William Dawes Jr.1745, Apr 61768
 
17901799, Feb 25
 one of several men and a woman who alerted colonial minutemen of the approach of British army tro...
David Brearley1745, Jun 111776
 
 
17901790, Aug 16
 a delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention and signed the U.S. Constitution on behalf of Ne...
James De Lancey [2]17321758
 
17911800
 a colonial politician, turfman, and the son of Lieutenant Governor James De Lancey and Anne Heath...
John Burgoyne1722, Feb 241743
 
17921792, Aug 4
 a British army officer, politician and dramatist. He first saw action during the Seven Years' War...
Nguyen Hue17531788
 
 
17921792, Sep 16
 the second emperor of the Tay Son dynasty, reigning from 1788 until 1792. He was also one of the ...
Henry Clinton1730, Apr 161751
 
17931795, Dec 23
 a British army officer and politician, best known for his service as a general during the America...
Alexandre de Beauharnais1760, May 281775
 
17941794, Jul 23
 a French political figure and general during the French Revolution. He was the first husband of J...
Artemas Ward1727, Nov 261751
 
17951800, Oct 28
 an American major general in the American Revolutionary War and a Congressman from Massachusetts....
Joseph McDowell1758, Feb 251776
 
 
17951795, May 18
 an American lawyer, soldier, and statesman from Morganton, North Carolina. His estate was name...
Tulaunknown1795
 
 
17951795, Oct 3
 an African man enslaved on the island of Curaçao, in the Dutch West Indies, who liberated himsel...
Anthony Wayne1745, Jan 11775
 
17961796, Dec 15
 a United States Army officer, statesman, and member of the United States House of Representatives...
Oliver Wolcott1726, Nov 201747
 
17971797, Dec 1
 a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence and also the Articles of Confederation ...
George Washington1732, Feb111789
 
 
17971799, Dec 14
 the first President of the United States (1789–97), the Commander-in-Chief of the Continental A...
Philip Schuyler1733, Nov 101761
 
17981804, Nov 18
 a general in the American Revolution and a United States Senator from New York. He is usually kno...
Thomas Heyward Jr.1746, Jul 281775
 
17981809, Mar 6
 a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence and of the Articles of Confederation as...
Daniel Morgan1736, Jul 61775
 
17991802, Jul 6
 an American pioneer, soldier, and United States Representative from Virginia. One of the most gif...
Joseph McDowell Jr.1756, Mar 81776
 
 
17991801, Feb 5
 an American planter, soldier, and statesman from North Carolina. He was known as "Quaker Meadows ...
Edward Rutledge1749, Nov 231774
 
18001800, Jan 23
 an American politician, and youngest signer of the United States Declaration of Independence. He ...
James De Lancey [3]1746, Sep 61769
 
18011804, May 2
 a political figure in Nova Scotia. He represented Annapolis township in the Nova Scotia House of ...
Samuel Mason1739, Nov 81790
 
 
18031803
 a Virginia militia captain on the American western frontier during the Revolutionary War, who sub...
Peter Muhlenberg1746, Oct 11768
 
18071807, Oct 1
 an American clergyman, Continental Army soldier during the American Revolutionary War, and politi...
John Page1743, Apr 281763
 
18081808, Oct 11
 a figure in early United States history. He served in the U.S. Congress and as the 13th Governor ...
Benjamin Lincoln1733, Jan 131754
 
18091810, May 9
 an American army officer. He served as a major general in the Continental Army during the America...
George Rogers Clark1752, Nov 191774
 
18091818, Feb 13
 a surveyor, soldier, and militia officer from Virginia who became the highest ranking American mi...
Archduke Charles of Austria1771, Sep 51792
 
18091847, Apr 30
 an Austrian field-marshal, the third son of Emperor Leopold II and his wife, Maria Luisa of Spain...
Charles Willson Peale1741, Apr 151770
 
18101827, Feb 22
 an American painter, soldier, scientist, inventor, politician and naturalist. He is best remember...
Paul Revere1734, Dec 211756
 
18111818, May 10
 an American silversmith, engraver, early industrialist, and a Patriot in the American Revolution....
Sybil Ludington1761, Apr 51777
 
18111839, Feb 26
 celebrated as a heroine of the American Revolutionary War. She reportedly rode to alert militia f...
George Clinton [2]1739, Jul 261754
 
18121812, Apr 20
 an American soldier and statesman, considered one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. H...
Zebulon Pike1779, Jan 51799
 
18131813, Apr 27
 an American brigadier general and explorer for whom Pikes Peak in Colorado is named. As a United ...
William Howe1729, Aug 101746
 
18141814, Jul 12
 a British Army officer who rose to become Commander-in-Chief of British forces during the America...
Philip Astley1742, Jan 81759
 
18141814, Jan 27
 an English equestrian, circus owner, and inventor, regarded as being the "father of the modern ci...
Benjamin Thompson1753, Mar 261766
 
18141814, Aug 21
 an American-born British physicist and inventor whose challenges to established physical theory w...
Dominique You17751802
 
18141830, Nov 14
 a privateer, soldier, and politician. Jean Lafitte's most trusted lieutenant, and rumored to have...
Joachim Murat1767, Mar 251790
 
18151815, Oct 13
 a Marshal of France and Admiral of France under the reign of Napoleon. He was also the 1st Prince...
Napoleon Bonaparte1769, Aug 151799
 
18151821, May 5
 a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and le...
John Clopton1756, Feb 71776
 
18161816, Sep 11
 a United States Representative from Virginia. He served as first lieutenant and as captain in the...
Frederick Kemmelmeyer1752/531782
 
18161823 ca
 Frederick Kemmelmeyer advertised that he was an artist for the first time in a Baltimore newspape...
Friedrich Maximilian Klinger1752, Feb 171773
 
18171831, Feb 25
 a German dramatist and novelist. His play Sturm und Drang (1776) gave name to the Sturm und Drang...
Isaac Shelby1750, Dec 111774
 
18181826, Jul 18
 the first and fifth Governor of Kentucky and served in the state legislatures of Virginia and Nor...
John Young1742 ca1780
 
18191835, Dec 17
 a British subject who became an important military advisor to KamehamehaI during the formation of...
Philip J. Schuyler1768, Jan 211796
 
18191835, Feb 21
 an American politician from New York. Schuyler lived in Rhinebeck, where he managed farms and est...
Alexander Murray1755, Jul 121773
 
18211821, Oct 6
 an officer who served in the Continental Navy, the Continental Army, and later the United States ...
Molly Pitcher1744, Oct 131777
 
18221832, Jan 22
 a nickname given to a woman said to have fought in the American Battle of Monmouth, generally bel...
Joseph Bloomfield1753, Oct 181775
 
18231823, Oct 3
 the fourth Governor of New Jersey. The township of Bloomfield, New Jersey is named for him. He at...
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney1746, Feb 251769
 
18251825, Aug 16
 an early American statesman of South Carolina, Revolutionary War veteran, and delegate to the Con...
William Hull1753, Jun 241775
 
18251825, Nov 29
 an American soldier and politician. He fought in the American Revolution and was appointed as Gov...
William Clark [2]1770, Aug 11789
 
18291838, Sep 1
 an American explorer, soldier, Indian agent, and territorial governor. Along with Meriwether Lewi...
Gilbert du Motier1757, Sep 61771
 
18301834, May 20
 in the U.S. often known simply as Lafayette, was a French aristocrat and military officer who fou...
Morgan Lewis1754, Oct 161774
 
18441844, Apr 7
 an American lawyer, politician, and military commander. The second son of Francis Lewis, a signer...
Henry Sargent1770, Nov 251793
 
18451845, Feb 21
  American painter and military man, was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts. In 1793 Sargent went t...
Kazimierz Lux17801795
 
18461846
 an officer of the Polish Legions and a pirate in the Caribbean Sea during the early 19th century....
Wilhelm Freiherr von Biela1782, Mar 191802
 
18491856, Feb 18
 a German-Austrian military officer and amateur astronomer. In the field of astronomy, he speciali...
Charles Hamilton Smith1776, Dec 261787
 
18591859, Sep 21
 an English artist, naturalist, antiquary, illustrator, soldier, and spy. His military career bega...
Antoine-Henri Jomini1779, Mar 61798
 
18691869, Mar 24
 a Swiss officer who served as a general in the French and later in the Russian service, and one o...
Major Ridge1771 ca1790
 
 
1921839
 a Cherokee leader, a member of the tribal council, and a lawmaker. As a warrior, he fought in the...
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