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.