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When Greene superseded Gates in command of the Southern army, Smallwood refused to serve under Baron Steuben, who was then his superior officer, and declared his intention of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.