John Paterson | |
---|---|
Member of the
U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 16th district | |
In office March 4, 1803 – March 3, 1805 | |
Preceded by | District created |
Succeeded by | Uri Tracy |
Personal details | |
Born | John Paterson 1744 Farmington or New Britain, Connecticut Colony, British America |
Died | July 19, 1808 Lisle, New York, U.S. | (aged 63–64)
Resting place | Church on the Hill Cemetery Lenox, Massachusetts, U.S. |
Political party | Democratic-Republican Party |
Spouse |
Elizabeth Lee (
m. 1766) |
Children | 7 |
Parent(s) | Major John Paterson (1708–1762) Ruth (Bird) Paterson |
Education | |
Profession |
|
Military service | |
Allegiance | |
Branch/service |
Massachusetts Militia Continental Army |
Years of service | 1774–1775, 1786–1791 (Militia) 1775–1783 (Army) |
Rank | Major General |
Battles/wars | American Revolution |
John Paterson (often spelled Patterson) (1744 – July 19, 1808) was a major general in the Continental Army during the American Revolution, and a U.S. Congressman from New York.
Paterson was born in 1744 [1] in either Farmington [1] or New Britain in the Connecticut Colony. [2] His mother was Ruth (Bird) Paterson, and his father Colonel John Paterson (1708–1762), was a militia veteran of the French and Indian War, who died during the Siege of Havana. [3] He graduated from Yale College in 1762, studied law, attained admission to the bar, and practiced in New Britain. [4] He was a justice of the peace in New Britain until 1774, when he moved to Lenox, Massachusetts. [5] Paterson was elected to the Lenox board of selectmen and as a town assessor. [6] The town's proprietor's also chose him to serve as their clerk, which required him to maintain records of land transactions and ownership. [6] He was elected to represent Lenox in the Massachusetts House of Representatives in both 1774 and 1775. [6] He also represented Lenox at the 1774 Berkshire Convention, held in Stockbridge, Massachusetts to discuss how to respond to the Boston Port Act. [7] When the governor dissolved the legislature as pre-revolution tensions continued to rise, the people of Massachusetts formed a provincial Congress. [8] Paterson was elected as Lenox's representative in both 1774 and 1775. [9]
When the American Revolution began in April 1775 Paterson was commissioned as a colonel by the Massachusetts Committee of Safety, and he marched with his militia unit to take part in the Siege of Boston. [10] Paterson's command, the 1st Massachusetts Regiment saw action at the Battle of Bunker Hill. [11] After the British evacuation of Boston, Paterson's regiment took part in the Invasion of Canada [12] and the battles of Trenton and Princeton in New Jersey. [13] On February 21, 1777 Paterson was promoted to brigadier general in the Continental Army. [14]
During the Saratoga Campaign of 1777 Paterson commanded a brigade of Horatio Gates' army, consisting of the 10th, 11th, 12th, and 14th Massachusetts Regiments, and the 1st Berkshire County Militia Regiment. [15]
Paterson served under George Washington at the Battle of Monmouth in 1778. [16] He served primarily in the Hudson Valley of New York until the end of the war. [17] In September 1783, he received promotion to major general, [18] and he was discharged in December 1783. [19] Paterson was one of the last generals to leave active duty at the end of the war. [20]
While Paterson served in New York in 1782 and 1783, his personal staff included Private Robert Shirtliff of the 4th Massachusetts Regiment, who served as a waiter. [21] Shirtliff (also spelled Shirtliffe or Shurtleff) was later revealed to be Deborah Sampson, a woman who had disguised herself as a man in order to join the Continental Army. [21] Rather than reprimand her, as had often been the case with women discovered in the ranks, Paterson provided her with a certificate of honorable discharge, a note with words of encouragement, and money sufficient to pay for travel to her home in Massachusetts. [21]
In January 1783, Paterson took part in the organizational meeting that created the Society of the Cincinnati, and he was one of the society's charter members. [22]
After the war Paterson returned to Massachusetts, where he resumed practicing law, and also served in local offices including town meeting moderator, selectman, fence viewer, tax assessor, and highway surveyor. [23] In addition, he was the leader of the successful movement to locate the Berkshire County seat in Lenox. [23] (It was moved to Pittsfield in 1860.) [24] In 1785, he was again elected to represent Lenox in the state House of Representatives. [24] In 1786, he was commissioned as a major general in the Massachusetts Militia, and assigned to command the militia's 9th Division. [25] In 1786 and 1787, Paterson commanded militia units that took part in the quelling of Shays's Rebellion. [26]
In 1790, Paterson was one of the investors in the Boston Patent, a large land grant in Broome and Tioga Counties, New York. [27] In 1791, he moved to Lisle, a newly-organized town in Tioga County. [27] He was a member of the New York State Assembly in 1793. [28] The area of Lisle where Paterson settled was later organized as the town of Triangle; the site of his home and farm was in what is now the village of Whitney Point. [28]
In 1798, Paterson was appointed judge of the Tioga County Court, and he served until 1806. [29] When Broome County was organized separately from Tioga in 1806, Paterson was appointed judge of the new county's court. [28] [29]
In the late 1700s and early 1800s, Deborah Sampson published a memoir and made a lecture tour in which she gave presentations about her military service. [30] Her tour took her to New York, and from November to December 1802, she visited Paterson in Lisle. [30] While she stayed with Paterson, Sampson was able to take part in reunions with other former Massachusetts soldiers who had settled in the area of the Boston Patent. [30]
In 1802, Paterson was a successful Democratic-Republican candidate for the United States House of Representatives. [28] He served in the 8th United States Congress (March 4, 1803 – March 3, 1805), and was not a candidate for reelection in 1804. [28]
Paterson died in Lisle on July 19, 1808. [28] He was originally interred at Riverside Cemetery in Whitney Point. [28] In 1892 he was reburied at Church on the Hill Cemetery in Lenox, Massachusetts. [28]
In 1766, Paterson married Elizabeth Lee. [31] They were the parents of seven children, including: [31]
Congressman Thomas J. Paterson (1805–1885) and State Senator John E. Paterson (born 1800) were Paterson's grandsons. [32] [33] Scientist and academic Thomas Egleston was his great-grandson. [34]