"I cannot however omit this opportunity of recommending General McDougall to their notice. This gentleman, from the time of his appointment as brigadier, from his abilities, military knowledge, and approved bravery, has every claim to promotion."[181]
On the 20th of the same month he was commissioned major-general. On March 16, 1778, he was directed to assume the command of the different posts on the Hudson, and, with activity, pursued the construction of the fortifications in the Highlands, and, after the flight of General Arnold, was put in command of West Point, October 5, 1780. Near the close of that year he was called upon by New York to repair to Congress as one of their representatives. It was a critical moment, and Washington urged his acceptance of the post; accordingly he took his seat in the Congress the next January. Congress having organized an executive department, in 1781, General McDougall was appointed Minister of Marine. He did not remain long in Philadelphia, for his habits, friendships, associations and convictions of duty recalled him to the camp. The confidence felt in his integrity and good judgment by all classes in the service, was such, that when the army went into winter quarters at Newburgh, in 1783, he was chosen at the head of the delegation to Congress to represent their grievances. The same year, after the close of the war, he was elected to represent the Southern District in the senate of New York and continued a member of that body until his death, which occurred in the city of New York June 8, 1786. At the time of his decease, General McDougall was president of the Bank of New York. In politics he adhered to the Hamilton party.
GENERAL LACHLAN M'INTOSH.
The history of the emigration of John Mohr McIntosh to Georgia, and the settlement upon the Alatamaha, where now stands the city of Darien, has already been recorded. The second son of John Mohr was Lachlan, born near Raits in Badenoch, Scotland, March 17, 1725, and consequently was eleven years old at the time he emigrated to America. As has been already noted John Mohr McIntosh was captured by the Spaniards at Fort Moosa, carried to Spain, and after several years, returned in broken health.
Both Lachlan and his elder brother William were placed as cadets in the regiment by General Oglethorpe. When General Oglethorpe made his final preparations for his return to England, the two young brothers were found hid away in the hold of another vessel, for they had heard of the attempts then being made by prince Charles to regain the throne of his ancestors, and they hoped to regain something that the family of Borlam had lost, of which they were members. General Oglethorpe had the two boys brought to his cabin; he spoke to them of the friendship he had entertained for their father, of the kindness he had shown to themselves, of the hopelessness of every attempt of the house of Stuart, of their own folly in engaging in this wild and desperate struggle, of his own duty as an officer of the house of Brunswick; but if they would go ashore, their secret should be his. He received their pledge and they never saw him again.
General Lachlan McIntosh.
At that time the means of education in Georgia were limited, yet under his mother's care Lachlan McIntosh was well instructed in English, mathematics and other branches necessary for future military use. Lachlan sought the promising field of enterprise in Charleston, South Carolina, where the fame of his father's gallantry and misfortunes secured to him a kind reception from Henry Laurens, afterwards president of Congress, and the first minister of the United States to Holland. In the house of that patriot he remained several years, and contracted friendships that lasted while he lived, with some of the leading citizens of the southern colonies. Having adopted the profession of surveyor, and married, he returned to Georgia, where he acquired a wide and honorable reputation. On account of his views concerning certain lands between the Alatamaha and St. Mary's rivers which did not coincide with those of Governor Wright of Georgia, it afforded the latter a pretence, for a long and deliberate opposition to the interests of Lachlan McIntosh, which gradually schooled him for the approaching conflict between England and her American colonies. When that event began to dawn upon the people every eye in Georgia was turned to General McIntosh as the leader of whatever force that province might bring into the struggle. When, therefore, the revolutionary government was organized and an order was made for raising a regiment was adopted, Lachlan McIntosh was made colonel commandant; and when the order was issued for raising three other regiments, in September, 1776, he was immediately appointed brigadier-general commandant. About this time Button Gwinnett was elected governor, who had been an unsuccessful competitor for the command of the troops. He was a man unrestrained by any honorable principles, and used his official authority in petty persecutions of General McIntosh and his family. The general bore all this patiently until his opponent ceased to be governor, when he communicated to him the opinion he entertained of his conduct. He received a challenge, and in a duel wounded him mortally. General McIntosh now applied, through his friend Colonel Henry Laurens, for a place in the Continental army, which was granted, and with his staff was invited to join the commander-in-chief. He soon won the confidence of Washington, and for a long time was placed in his front, while watching the superior forces of Sir William Howe in Philadelphia.
While the army was in winter quarters at Valley Forge, the attention of the government was called to the exposed condition of the western frontier, upon which the British was constantly exciting the Indians to the most terrible atrocities. It was determined that General McIntosh should command an expedition against the Indians on the Ohio. In a letter to the President of Congress, dated May 12, 1778, Washington says: