SAMUEL ELBERT.
Samuel Elbert, born in Prince William parish, South Carolina, in 1743, was left an orphan at an early age, and going to Savannah, engaged in commercial pursuits. In June, 1774, he was elected captain of a company of grenadiers, and later was a member of the local Committee of Safety. In February, 1776, he entered the Continental army as lieutenant-colonel of Lachlan McIntosh’s brigade, and was promoted to colonel during the ensuing September. In May of the year following, he was intrusted with the command of an expedition against the British in East Florida, and captured Fort Oglethorpe in that State in April of 1778. Ordered to Georgia, he behaved with great gallantry when an attack was made on Savannah by Col. Archibald Campbell in December of the same year. In 1779, after distinguishing himself at Brier Creek, he was taken prisoner, and when exchanged joined the army under Washington, and was present at the surrender of Lord Cornwallis. On the 3d of November, 1783, Congress brevetted him brigadier-general, and in 1785 he was elected Governor of Georgia. In further acknowledgment of his services in her behalf, that State subsequently appointed him major-general of her militia, and named a county in his honor. He died in Savannah on the 2d of November, 1788.
CHARLES COTESWORTH PINCKNEY.
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, born at Charleston, South Carolina, on the 25th of February, 1746, was educated in England. Having qualified himself for the legal profession, he returned to his native State and began the practice of law in 1770, soon gaining an enviable reputation and being appointed to offices of trust and great responsibility under the crown. The battle of Lexington, however, changed his whole career. With the first call to arms, Pinckney took the field, was given the rank of captain, June, 1775, and entered at once upon the recruiting service. Energetic and efficient, he gained promotion rapidly, taking part as colonel in the battle at Fort Sullivan. This victory securing peace to South Carolina for two years, he left that State to join the army under Washington, who, recognizing his ability, made him aide-de-camp and subsequently honored him with the most distinguished military and civil appointments. When his native State again became the theatre of action, Pinckney hastened to her defence, and once more took command of his regiment. In all the events that followed, he bore his full share, displaying fine military qualities and unwavering faith in the ultimate triumph of American arms.
At length, after a most gallant resistance, overpowered by vastly superior numbers, and undermined by famine and disease, Charleston capitulated in May, 1780, and Pinckney became a prisoner-of-war and was not exchanged until 1782. On the 3d of November of the year following, he was promoted to be brigadier-general. Impoverished by the war, he returned to the practice of law upon the restoration of peace; and after declining a place on the Supreme Bench, and the secretaryship, first of War and then of State, he accepted the mission to France in 1796, urged to this step by the request of Washington and the conviction that it was his duty. Arriving in Paris, he met the intimation that peace might be secured with money by the since famous reply, “Not one cent for tribute, but millions for defence!” The war with France appearing inevitable, he was recalled and given a commission as major-general; peace being restored without an appeal to arms, he once more retired to the quiet of his home, spending the chief portion of his old age in the pursuits of science and the pleasures of rural life, though taking part when occasion demanded in public affairs. He died in Charleston on the 16th of August, 1825, in the eightieth year of his age.
WILLIAM RUSSELL.
William Russell, born in Culpeper County, Virginia, in 1758, removed in early boyhood with his father to the western frontier of that State. When only fifteen years of age, he joined the party led by Daniel Boone, to form a settlement on the Cumberland River. Driven back by the Indians, Boone persevered; but Russell hastened to enter the Continental army; and he received, young as he was, the appointment of lieutenant. After the battle of King’s Mountain in 1780, he was promoted to a captaincy, and ordered to join an expedition against the Cherokee Indians, with whom he succeeded in negotiating a treaty of peace. On the 3d of November, 1783, he received his commission as brigadier-general.
At the close of the war Russell went to Kentucky and bore an active part in all the expeditions against the Indians, until the settlement of the country was accomplished. In 1789, he was a delegate to the Virginia Legislature that passed an act separating Kentucky from that State. After the organization of the Kentucky government Russell was annually returned to the Legislature until 1808, when he was appointed by President Madison colonel of the Seventh United States Infantry. In 1811, he succeeded Gen. William Henry Harrison in command of the frontier of Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri. In 1812, he planned and commanded an expedition against the Peoria Indians, and in 1823 was again sent to the Legislature. The following year he declined the nomination for governor, and died on the 3d of July, 1825, in Fayette County, Kentucky. Russell County of that State is named in his honor.