JOHN SULLIVAN,

MAJOR-GENERAL IN THE AMERICAN ARMY.

GENERAL SULLIVAN was a native of New Hampshire, where he resided before the revolution, and attained to a high degree of eminence in the profession of the law. He was a member of the first Congress, in 1774; but on the commencement of hostilities, preferring a military commission, he relinquished the fairest prospects of fortune and fame, and appeared among the most ardent patriots and intrepid warriors.

"In 1775, he was appointed a brigadier general, and immediately joined the army at Cambridge, and soon after obtained the command on Winter Hill. The next year he was ordered to Canada, and, on the death of General Thomas, the command of the army devolved on him. The situation of our army in that quarter was inexpressibly distressing; destitute of clothing, dispirited by defeat and constant fatigue, and a large proportion of the troops sick with the small-pox. By his great exertions and judicious management, he meli

orated the condition of the army, and obtained general applause. On his retiring from that command July 12th, 1776, the field-officers thus addressed him: It is to you, sir, the public are indebted for the preservation of their property in Canada. It is to you we owe our safety thus far. Your humanity will call forth the silent tear and the grateful ejaculation of the sick. Your universal impartiality will force the applause of the wearied soldier.'

"In August, 1776, he was promoted to the rank of major-general, and soon after was, with Major-General Lord Stirling, captured by the British in the battle on Long Island. General Sullivan being paroled, was sent by General Howe with a message to Congress, after which he returned to New York. In September he was exchanged for Major General Prescott. We next find him in command of the right division of our troops, in the famous battle at Trenton, and he acquitted himself honourably on that ever memorable day.

"In August, 1777, without the authority of Congress, or the commander-in-chief, he planned and executed an expedition against the

enemy on Staten Island. Though the enter prise was conducted with prudence and success, in part, it was said by some to have been less brilliant than might have been expected under his favourable circumstances; and as that act was deemed a bold assumption of responsibility, and reports to his prejudice being in circulation, a court of inquiry was ordered to investigate his conduct. The result was an honourable acquittal; and Congress resolved, that the result, so honourable to General Sullivan, is highly pleasing to Congress, and that the opinion of the court be published, in justification of that injured officer.

"In the battles of Brandywine and Germantown, in the autumn of 1777, General Sullivan commanded a division, and in the latter conflict his two aids were killed, and his own conduct was so conspicuously brave, that General Washington, in his letter to Congress, concludes with encomiums on the gallantry of General Sullivan, and the whole right wing of the army, who acted immediately under the eye of his excel ency.

"In August, 1778, General Sullivan, was sole commander of an expedition to the Island of Newport, in co-operation with the French

fleet under the Count D'Estaing. The Marquis de la Fayette and General Greene volunteered their services on the occasion. The object of the expedition was defeated, in consequence of the French fleet being driven off by a violent storm. By this unfortunate event, the enemy were encouraged to engage our army in battle, in which they suffered a repulse, and General Sullivan finally effected a safe retreat to the main. This retreat, so ably executed, without confusion or the loss of baggage or stores, ncreased the military reputation of General Sullivan, and redounds to his honour as a skilful commander.

"The bloody tragedy acted at Wyoming, in 1778, had determined the commander-in-chief, in 1779, to employ a large detachment from the continental army to penetrate into the heart of the Indian country, to chastise the hostile tribes and their white associates and adherents, for their cruel aggressions on the defenceless inhabitants. The command of this expedition was committed to Major-General Sullivan, with express orders to destroy their settlements, to ruin their crops, and make such thorough devastations as to render the country entirely uninhabitable for the present, and thus

to compel the savages to remove to a greater distance from our frontiers.

"General Sullivan had under his command several brigadiers, and a well chosen army, to which were attached a number of friendly Indian warriors. With this force he penetrated about ninety miles, through a horrid swampy wilderness and barren mountainous deserts, to Wyoming, on the Susquehanna river, thence by water to Tioga, and possessed himself of numerous towns and villages of the savages.

"During this hazardous expedition General Sullivan and his army encountered the most complicated obstacles, requiring the greatest fortitude and perseverance to surmount. He explored an extensive tract of country, and strictly executed the severe, but necessary orders he had received. A considerable number of Indians were slain, some were captured, their habitations were burnt, and their plantations of corn and vegetables laid waste in the most effectual manner. "Eighteen villages, a number of detached buildings, one hundred and sixty thousand bushels of corn, and those fruits and vegetables which conduce to the comfort and subsistence of man, were utterly