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.