American soldier and jurist, born at Shrewsbury, MA, on the 27th of November 1727; graduated at Harvard in 1748; was lieutenant-colonel in the French and Indian wars; was made commander-in-chief of the Massachusetts troops, May 19, 1775, and the Continental Congress placed him first on the list of major-generals, June 17, 1775; was commander-in-chief at the siege of Boston until the arrival of Washington. He resigned on account of ill health in April 1776. In 1776 he was elected chief justice of common pleas of Worcester County, MA, and in 1777 he became president of the Massachusetts executive council. For sixteen years he was a member of the state legislature of Massachusetts, and its speaker in 1785. From 1791 till 1795 he was a member of Congress. He died at Shrewsbury on the 28th of October 1800.
