“Every morning when I look out of my window in the far distance I can see in the battlefield which decided the ownership of that region a tall and stately monument built by private subscription to General Sullivan, to commemorate his work on that bloody day, and just below it stands a magnificent marker of granite, placed there by the Sons of the American Revolution to mark the very center of the conflict which took those valleys away from the possession of the Indians and turned them over to civilization and happy and peaceful occupation; and those who know the iron will and determined character of John Sullivan know, as we do, that when he got through with the Indians and their worthless white associates they had no more thirst for blood. Sullivan served notice on them and carried it out that if there was any more blood shed in that part of the country the Indians would furnish the blood.
“So perhaps, in an humble way, I have alluded to that feature of Sullivans’ life—his closing campaign, which identifies him with Northern Pennsylvania and Central New York.
“With the close of the campaign of 1779, which may be said to have terminated his military career, General Sullivan resigned his commission and retired from the army. The constant strain of five years almost constantly in active and perilous service had wrecked a constitution never of the strongest, and he felt he had given all of his life and strength to the cause of Independence.
“His resignation was accepted with profound regret, although it was universally felt that the reasons for his retirement were imperative. Although he lived for fifteen years after his resignation, his health was not robust and he died in 1795 at the early age of fifty-four, universally admired and lamented. He had, however, no sooner left the army than his brilliant legal and forensic talent was seized upon, for such services to the country as his health would permit, in the legislative halls of the nation, the executive chair of his own State, and later upon the Federal Bench.
“In 1780–1781 he was a delegate to Congress. In 1782 he was appointed the Attorney-General of New Hampshire and was re-appointed to that office on the adoption of the new constitution of that State in 1784.
“In 1786–1787 he was President and Chief Magistrate of the State of New Hampshire, an office equivalent to that of Governor at the present time.
“In 1788 he was speaker of the House of Representatives of New Hampshire and President of the Convention that ratified the Constitution of the United States.
“In 1789 he was a presidential elector and voted for General Washington for President of the United States, and in March of the same year he was elected Chief Magistrate of the State for the third time.
“Later in 1789 he was appointed by Washington, his affectionate friend and admirer during his whole life, as Judge of the United States District Court of New Hampshire, an office which he held with honor to himself and the Judiciary until his death in January, 1795.
“I have thus briefly sketched the outline of a life which deserves an autobiography perfect in every detail and of the highest grade. History shows this man in more varied and brilliant lines than almost any character in Revolutionary annals. Consider him, my friends, as a young lawyer, prompt, keen, resourceful and competent, and you have a model of early professional life. Mark him as an active officer of the line, reckless of danger, ready to dare all that could be dared, willing to do all that he had dared. Mark him again as a commanding general, reliable, faithful, prudent and dauntless, unswerved by passion, unstained by chagrin, unmarred by envy and uninfluenced by clamor, steady and well-poised in the hour of peril or in a moment of undeserved injustice. Consider him again, my friends, when after years of fierce combat he is chosen for the command of such an expedition as I have indicated, which needs great skill in combination and with such resources in provision for the needs of a frontier army that his success seems impossible.