American general, born at Hingham, MA, on the 3rd of February 1733. At the outbreak of the Revolution he was active in organizing the Massachusetts troops; in 1776 was appointed major-general of the state militia; commanded the expedition that, in 1776, cleared Boston harbor of British vessels. Having reinforced Washington after the defeat on Long Island, he was given an appointment as major-general in the Continental army. Lincoln served with Schuyler against Burgoyne during the next summer, and afterward was wounded at Bemis Heights, while reconnoitering. In August, 1778, he was placed in command of the army in the South. In 1780 he was besieged at Charleston by Sir Henry Clinton with a superior force, had to capitulate, and returned to Hingham on parole. But after being exchanged in 1781 he joined Washington again on the Hudson, was with him at the siege of Yorktown, and was deputed by Washington to receive the sword of Lord Cornwallis on his surrender of the British forces. From 1781 to 1784 Lincoln was Secretary of War. After quelling Shay’s rebellion in Massachusetts in 1787, he was elected lieutenant-governor, and in 1789 Washington appointed him collector of the port of Boston, which office he held till 1808, when he retired from public life. He died in Hingham on the 9th of May 1810. His Life was written by Francis Bowen in Sparks’s American Biography.
