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Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Danbury, destruction of. (search)
Danbury, destruction of. Governor Tryon was one of the most malignant foes of the American patriots during the Revolutionary War. He delighted, apparently, in conspicuously cruel acts; and when anything of that nature was to be done he was employed to do it by the more respectable British officers. He was chosen to lead a marauding expedition into Connecticut from New York in the spring of 1777. At the head of 2,000 men, he left that city (April 23), and landed at Compo, between Norwalk and Fairfield, two days later. They pushed on towards Danbury, an inland town, where the Americans had gathered a large quantity of provisions for the army. The marauders reached the town unmolested (April 25) by some militia that had retired, and, not contented with destroying a large quantity of stores gathered there, they laid eighteen houses in the village in ashes and cruelly treated some of the inhabitants. General Silliman, of the Connecticut militia, was at his home in Fairfield when
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Darrah, Lydia, (search)
Darrah, Lydia, Heroine; place and date of birth unknown; lived in Philadelphia in 1777. One of the rooms in her house was used by the British officers, who planned to surprise Washington's army. She overheard their plans, and early in the morning of Dec. 3 left her home, ostensibly for the purpose of purchasing flour, but in reality to give warning to Washington. After a walk of several miles in the snow she met one of Washington's officers, to whom she revealed what she had overheard. Through this timely information Washington was prepared and the British expedition proved to be a failure.
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Deane, Silas, 1737-1789 (search)
his brother in Congress (Richard Henry Lee), in which he made many insinuations against the probity of both his colleagues. Ralph Izard, commissioner to the Tuscan Court, offended because he was not consulted about the treaty with France, had written home similar letters; and William Carmichael, a secretary of the commissioners, who had returned to America, insinuated in Congress that Deane had appropriated the public money to his own use. Deane was recalled, by order of Congress, Nov. 21, 1777; arrived at Philadelphia Aug. 10, 1778; and on the 13th reported to Congress. In that body he found false reports operating against him; and finally, exasperated by the treatment which he received at their hands, he engaged in a controversy with influential members. Out of this affair sprang two violent parties, Robert Morris and other members of Congress who were commercial experts taking the side of Deane, and Richard Henry Lee, then chairman of the committee on foreign affairs, being aga
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Dearborn, Henry, 1751- (search)
sixty volunteers he hastened to Cambridge on the day after the affair at Lexington, a distance of 65 miles. He was appointed a captain in Stark's regiment, participated in the battle of Bunker Hill, and in September following (1775) accompanied Arnold in his expedition to Quebec. He participated in the siege of Quebec, and was made prisoner, but was paroled in May, 1776, when he became major of Scammel's New Hampshire regiment. He was in the battles of Stillwater and Saratoga in the fall of 1777, and led the troops in those engagements—in the latter as lieutenant-colonel. He was in the battle of Monmouth, was in Sullivan's campaign against the Indians in 1779, and in 1781 was attached to Washington's staff as deputy quartermastergeneral, with the rank of colonel. In that capacity he served in the siege of Yorktown. In 1784 he settled in Maine, and became general of militia. He was marshal of Maine, by the appointment of Washington, in 1789, member of Congress from 1793 to 1797, a
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), De Lancey, Oliver, 1708-1785 (search)
De Lancey, Oliver, 1708-1785 Military officer; born in New York City, Sept. 16, 1708; brother of Judge De Lancey; for many years a member of the Assembly and Council, also a colonel of the provincial troops, and when the Revolution broke out he organized and equipped, chiefly at his own expense, a corps of loyalists. In 1777 he was appointed a brigadier-general in the royal service. His military operations were chiefly in the region of New York City. At the evacuation of that city in 1783 he went to England. He died in Beverley, England, Nov. 27, 1785. Military officer; born in New York City in 1752; educated abroad; entered the British army in 1766, and rose to major in 1773; was with the British army in Boston during the siege in 1775-76, and accompanied it to Nova Scotia. He returned with it to Staten Island in June, and commanded the British cavalry when the army invaded Long Island in August, which formed the advance of the right column. To him General Woodhull s
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Des Barres, Joseph Frederick Wallet, 1722-1824 (search)
ick Wallet, 1722-1824 Military officer; born in England, of French ancestry, in 1722; educated for the army at the Royal Military College at Woolwich, and, as lieutenant, came to America in 1756, and raising 300 recruits in Pennsylvania and Maryland, formed them into a corps of field-artillery. He distinguished himself as an engineer in the siege of Louisburg (q. v.)and was aide-de-camp to Wolfe when he fell at Quebec, that general dying in Des Barres's arms. He was active in the retaking of Newfoundland in 1762, and for ten years afterwards he was employed in a coast survey of Nova Scotia. He prepared charts of the North American coasts in 1775 for Earl Howe, and in 1777 he published The Atlantic Neptune, in two large folios. He was made governor of Cape Breton, with the military command of Prince Edward's Island, in 1784, and in 1804, being then about eighty-two years of age, he was made lieutenant-governor of Prince Edward's Island. He died in Halifax, N. S., Oct. 24, 1824.
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Dickinson, John, 1732-1808 (search)
infringement on the liberties of the colonies. The most noted of these writings were papers (twelve in number) entitled Letters from a Pennsylvania farmer, etc., published in the Pennsylvania chronicle in 1767. Mr. Dickinson was a member of the first Continental Congress, and wrote several of the state papers put forth by that body. Considering the resolution of independence unwise, he voted against it and the Declaration, and did not sign the latter document. This made him unpopular. In 1777 he was made a brigadier-general of the Pennsylvania militia. He was elected a representative in Congress from Delaware in 1779, and wrote the Address to the States put forth by that body in May of that year. He was successively president of the States of Delaware and Pennsylvania (1781-85), and a member of the convention that framed the national Constitution (1787). Letters from his pen, over the signature of Fabius, John Dickinson. advocating the adoption of the national Constitution, a
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Dickinson, Phiilemon, 1739- (search)
Dickinson, Phiilemon, 1739- Military officer; born in Croisedore, Md., April 5, 1739; settled near Trenton, N. J. In July, 1775, he entered the patriot army; in October of the same year was promoted brigadiergeneral; in 1776 was a delegate to the Provincial Congress of New Jersey; in 1777 was promoted major-general of the New Jersey troops; in October of that year marched against the British on Staten Island, for which he received the thanks of Washington; and served with marked distinction during the remainder of the Revolutionary War. In 1784 he served on the commission to choose a site for the city of Washington. He died near Trenton, N. J., Feb. 4, 1809.
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Douglas, William, 1742-1777 (search)
Douglas, William, 1742-1777 Military offices born in Plainfield, Conn., Jan. 17, 1742 served in the French and Indian War and was present at the surrender of Quebec He recruited a company at the beginning of the Revolutionary War and accompanied Montgomery in the expedition against Canada. He participated in the unfortunate campaign which ended in the fall of New York, and greatly distinguished himself in the engagements on Long Island and Harlem Plains. He died in North ford, Conn., May 28, 1777.
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Dow, Lorenzo, 1777-1834 (search)
Dow, Lorenzo, 1777-1834 Clergyman; born in Coventry, Conn., Oct. 16, 1777; was ordained in the Methodist ministry; went as a missionary to Ireland in 1799 and 1805; introduced camp-meetings into England; and through a discussion which resulted from these the Primitive Methodist Church was organized. On account of his eccentricities he was nicknamed Crazy Dow. He died in Georgetown, D. C., Feb. 2, 1834.
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