American general, born in Thurso, Scotland, in 1734, and educated at the University of Edinburgh. He served in the British army as lieutenant at Louisburg and Quebec in 1758; resigned his commission in 1762, and in 1764 bought land near Ligonier, PA, settling there and building mills. He became justice of the court of common pleas, held other local offices, accepted a colonel’s commission in the Continental armies in 1775; took part in the expedition against Quebec; rendered valuable services at the battle of Princeton. He was appointed major-general in 1777; succeeded Gates in command of Ticonderoga, but being forced to evacuate that post he was retired from his command, but was later justified in his action by a court-martial; distinguished himself in the southern campaign under Greene, and in the one terminating at Yorktown; was president of Congress in 1787, and was appointed governor of the Northwest Territory in 1789. In 1791 he was appointed commander-in-chief of the United States army, but owing to his defeat by the Miami Indians he resigned in 1792. He was removed from the governorship of the Northwest Territory in 1802, and retired to Greensburg, PA, where he died on the 31st of August 1818.
