biography
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1736–1802)
|
| biography:
| American soldier, probably born in Hunterdon Co, New Jersey, USA. The son of an ironmaster who had settled in the Shenandoah Valley, VA, he had served with the British forces in the French and Indian War and against Pontiac's rebellion (1763–4). He joined the Revolutionary forces on the outbreak of war and fought at Quebec (Dec 1775), where he was captured. Exchanged in 1776, he led a crack regiment of sharpshooters that played an important role in the victory at Saratoga (1777). He then served under George Washington in Pennsylvania. After briefly resigning (1779–80) in dissatisfaction over his lack of promotion, he rejoined the army to command troops in W North Carolina, and on 17 January 1781 a force under his command defeated the British at Cowpens, SC, in one of the war's decisive battles. In 1794, commanding Virginia militia, he helped suppress the Whiskey Rebellion in W Pennsylvania. He served in the US House of Representatives (Federalist, Virginia, 1797–9). |
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