An Historical Account of the Settlements of Scotch Highlanders in America Part 31

GENERAL SIMON FRASER.

Lieutenant-General Simon Fraser, son of a tacksman, born in 1738, was senior of the Simon Frasers serving as subalterns in Fraser's Highlanders in the campaign in Canada in 1759-1761. He was wounded at the battle of Sillery, April 28, 1760, and three years later was placed on half-pay as a lieutenant. In 1775 he raised a company for the 71st or Fraser's Highlanders; became senior captain and afterwards major of the regiment, with which he served in America in the campaigns of 1778-1781.

In 1793 he raised a Highland regiment which was numbered 133rd foot or Fraser's Highlanders, which after a brief existence, was broken up and drafted into other corps. He became a major-general in 1795, commanded a British force in Portugal in 1797-1800. In 1802 he became lieutenant-general, and for several years second in command in Scotland, in which country he died March 21, 1813.

GENERAL JAMES GRANT OF BALLINDALLOCH.

General James Grant was born in 1720, and after studying law obtained a commission in the army in 1741, and became captain in the Royal Scots, October 24, 1744. General Grant served with his regiment in Flanders and in Ireland, and became major in Montgomery's Highlanders, with which he went to America in 1757. In the following year he was surprised before Fort Duquesne, and lost a third of his command in killed, wounded and missing, besides being captured himself with nineteen of his officers.

He became lieutenant-colonel of the 40th foot in 1760, and governor of East Florida. In May, 1761, he led an expedition against the Cherokee Indians, and defeated them in the battle of Etchoe. On the death of his nephew he succeeded to the family estate; became brevet-colonel in 1772; in 1773 was returned to parliament for Wick burghs, and the year after for Sutherlands.h.i.+re; and in 1775 was appointed colonel of the 55th foot. As a brigadier, in 1776, he went to America with the reinforcement under Sir William Howe; commanded two brigades at the battle of Long Island, Brandywine and Germantown. In May, 1778, was unsuccessful in his attempt to cut off the marquis de Lafayette on the Schuylkill. In December, 1778, he captured St. Lucia, in the West Indies. In 1777, he became major-general, in 1782 lieutenant-general, and in 1796 general; and, in succession became governor of Dumbarton and Stirling Castles. In 1787, 1790, 1796, and 1801, he was again returned to parliament for Sutherlands.h.i.+re. He was noted for his love of good living, and in his latter years was immensely corpulent. He died at Ballindalloch April 13, 1806.

GENERAL ALLAN MACLEAN OF TORLOISK.

General Allan Maclean, son of Torloisk, Island of Mull, was born there in 1725, and began his military career in the service of Holland, in the Scots brigade. At the siege of Bergen-op-Zoom, in 1747, a portion of the brigade cut its way with great loss through the French. Lieutenants Allan and Francis Maclean, having been taken prisoners, were carried before General Lowendahl, who thus addressed them: "Gentlemen, consider yourselves on parole. If all had conducted themselves as your brave corps have done, I should not now be master of Bergen-op-Zoom." January 8, 1756, Allan became lieutenant in the 62nd regiment, and on July 8, 1758, was severely wounded at Ticonderoga. He became captain of an independent company, January 16, 1759, and was present at the surrender of Niagara, where he was again dangerously wounded. Returning to Great Britain, he raised the 114th foot or Royal Highland Volunteers, of which he was appointed major commandant October 18, 1761. The regiment being reduced in 1763, Major Maclean went on half-pay. He became lieutenant-colonel May 25, 1772, and early in 1775 devised a colonization scheme which brought him to America, landing in New York of that year. At the outbreak of the Revolution he identified himself with the British king; was arrested in New York; was released by denying he was taking a part in the dispute; thence went to the Mohawk, and on to Canada, where he began to set about organizing a corps, which became the nucleus of the Royal Highland Emigrants. Of this regiment Major Allan was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the first battalion which he had raised. On the evidence of American prisoners taken at Quebec, Colonel Maclean resorted to questionable means to recruit his regiment. All those of British birth who had been captured were given permission to join the regiment or else be carried to England and tried for treason.

But these enforced enlistments proved of no value. Quebec unquestionably would have fallen into the hands of General Arnold had not Colonel Maclean suddenly precipitated himself with a part of his corps into the beleaguered city. Had Quebec fallen, Canada would have become a part of the United States. To Colonel Allan Maclean Great Britain owes the possession of Canada. During the prolonged siege Colonel Maclean suffered an injury to his leg, whereby he partially lost the use of it during the remainder of his life. On May 11, 1776, Colonel Maclean was appointed adjutant-general of the army, which he held until June 6, 1777, when he became brigadier-general, and placed in command at Montreal. As dangers thickened around General Burgoyne, General Maclean was ordered, October 20th, with the 31st and his battalion of the Royal Highland Emigrants, to Chimney Point, but the following month was ordered to Quebec. He left Quebec July 27, 1776, for England, in order to obtain rank and establishment for his regiment which had been promised. He returned to Canada, arriving in Quebec May 28, 1777. In 1778 he again went to England and made a personal appeal to the king in behalf of his regiment, which proved successful. May 1, 1779, he sailed from Spithead and arrived at Quebec on August 16th. He became colonel in the army November 17, 1780, and in the winter of 1782 had command from the ports at Oswegatchie to Michilimackinac. Soon after the peace of 1783, General Maclean retired from the service. He married Janet, daughter of Donald Maclean of Brola.s.s, and died without issue, in London, in March, 1797. From the contents of many letters directed to John Maclean of Lochbuie, it is to be inferred that he died in comparative poverty. His correspondence during his command of the Highland Emigrants is among the Haldimand MSS, in the British Museum.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SIR ALLAN MACLEAN, BART.]

General Allan Maclean of Torloisk has been confused by some writers--notably by General Stewart in his "Sketches of the Highlands"

and Dr. James Brown in his "History of the Highlands and Highland Clans"--with Sir Allan Maclean, twenty-second chief of his clan. Sir Allan served in different parts of the globe. The first notice of his military career is as a captain under the earl of Drumlanrig in the service of Holland. July 16, 1757, he became a captain in Montgomery's Highlanders, and June 25, 1762, major in the 119th foot or the Prince's Own. He obtained the rank of lieutenant-colonel May 25, 1772, and died on Inch Kenneth, December 10, 1783. He married Anna, daughter of Hector Maclean of Coll. Dr. Samuel Johnson visited him during his tour of the Hebrides, and was so delighted with the baronet and his amiable daughters that he broke out into a Latin sonnet.

GENERAL FRANCIS MACLEAN.

General Francis Maclean, of the family of Blaich, as soon as he was able to bear arms, obtained a commission in the same regiment with his father; was at the defence of Bergen-op Zoom in 1747, and was detained prisoner in France for some time; was appointed captain in the 2nd battalion of the 42nd Highlanders on its being raised in October, 1758.

At the capture of the island of Guadaloupe, he was severely wounded, but owing to his gallant conduct was promoted to the rank of major, and appointed governor of the island of Marie Galante. In January, 1761, he exchanged into the 97th regiment, and April 13, 1762, was appointed lieutenant-colonel in the army. In the war in Canada, he commanded a body of troops under General Wolfe, and partic.i.p.ated in the capture of Montreal. He was sent, in 1762, to aid the Portuguese against the combined attack of France and Spain, and was made commander of Almeida, a fortified town on the Spanish frontier, which he held for several years; and on being promoted to the rank of major-general, was nominated to the government of Estremadura and the city of Lisbon. On leaving Portugal in 1778, the king presented him with a handsomely mounted sword, and the queen gave him a valuable diamond ring. On his return to England--having been gazetted colonel of the 82nd foot, December 16, 1777--he was immediately dispatched with a corps of the army for America, and appointed to the government of Halifax in Nova Scotia, where he held the rank of brigadier-general. During the month of June, 1779, with a part of his army, General Maclean repaired to the Pen.o.bscot, and there proceeded to erect defenses. The American army under General Lovell, from Boston, appeared in the bay on July 28th, and began to erect batteries for a siege. Commodore Sir George Collier, August 13th, entered the bay with a fleet and raised the siege. General Maclean returned to Halifax, where he died, May 4, 1781, in the sixty-fourth year of his age, and unmarried.

GENERAL JOHN SMALL.

General John Small was born in Strathardale in Athole, in the year 1726, and entered the army early in life, his first commission being in the Scotch Brigade. He obtained an ensigncy in 1747, and was on half-pay in 1756, when appointed lieutenant in the 42nd Highlanders on the eve of its departure for America. He accompanied the regiment in 1759 in the expedition to northern New York, and in 1760 went down from Oswego to Montreal. In 1762 he served in the expedition to the West Indies, and on August 6th of the same year was promoted to a company. On the reduction of the regiment in 1763, Captain Small went on half-pay until April, 1765, when he was appointed to a company in the 21st or Royal North British Fusileers, which soon after was sent to America. With this regiment he continued until 1775, when he received a commission to raise a corps of Highlanders in Nova Scotia. Having raised the 2nd battalion of the Royal Highland Emigrants, he was appointed major commandant, with a portion of which he joined the army with Sir Henry Clinton at New York in 1779, and in 1780, became lieutenant-colonel of the regiment. In 1782 he was quartered on Long Island. November 18, 1790, he was appointed colonel in the army, and in 1794, lieutenant-governor of the island of Guernsey; he was promoted to the rank of major-general October 3, 1794, and died at Guernsey on March 17, 1796, in the seventieth year of his age.

FLORA MACDONALD.

No name in the Scottish Highlands bears such a charm as that of Flora Macdonald. Her praise is frequently sung, sketches of her life published, and her portrait adorns thousands of homes. While her distinction mainly rests on her efforts in behalf of the luckless prince Charles, after the disastrous battle of Culloden; yet, in reality, her character was strong, and she was a n.o.ble type of womanhood in her native isle.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FLORA MACDONALD.]

Flora Macdonald--or "Flory," as she always wrote her name, even in her marriage contract--born in 1722, was a daughter of Ra.n.a.ld Macdonald, tacksman of Milton, in South Uist, an island of the Hebrides. Her father died when she was about two years old, and when six years old she was deprived of the care of her mother, who was abducted and married by Hugh Macdonald of Armadale in Skye. Flora remained in Milton with her brother Angus till her thirteenth year, when she was taken into the mansion of the Clanra.n.a.lds, where she became an accomplished player on the spinet.

In 1739 she went to Edinburgh to complete her studies where, until 1745, she resided in the family of Sir Alexander Macdonald of the Isles.

While on a visit to the Clanra.n.a.lds in Benbecula, prince Charles Edward arrived there after the battle of Culloden in 1746. She enabled the prince to escape to Skye. For this she was arrested and thrown into the Tower of London. On receiving her liberty, in 1747, she stayed for a time in the house of Lady Primrose, where she was visited by many persons of distinction. Before leaving London she was presented with 1500. On her return to Scotland she was entertained at Monkstadt in Skye, at a banquet, to which the princ.i.p.al families were invited.

November 6, 1750, she married Allan Macdonald, younger of Kingsburgh. At first they resided at Flodigarry; but on the death of her father-in-law they went in 1772 to Kingsburgh. Here she was visited, in 1773, by the celebrated Samuel Johnson. Her husband, oppressed by debts, was caught in that great wave of emigration from the Highlands to America. In the month of August, 1774, leaving her two youngest children with friends at home, Flora, her husband and older children, sailed in the s.h.i.+p Baliol, from Campbelton, Kintyre, for North Carolina. Flora's fame had preceded her to that distant country, and her departure from Scotland having become known to her countrymen in Carolina, she was anxiously expected and joyfully received on her arrival. Demonstrations on a large scale were made to welcome her to America. Soon after her landing, a largely attended ball was given in her honor at Wilmington. On her arrival at Cross Creek she received a truly Highland welcome from her old neighbors and kinsfolk, who had crossed the Atlantic years before her. The strains of the Piobaireachd, and the martial airs of her native land, greeted her on her approach to the capital of the Scottish settlement. Many families of distinction pressed upon her to make their dwellings her home, but she respectfully declined, preferring a settled place of her own. As the laird of Kingsburgh intended to become a planter, he left his family in Cross Creek until he could decide upon a location. The house in which they lived during this period was built immediately on the brink of the creek, and for many years afterwards was known as "Flora Macdonald's house." Northwest of Cross Creek, a distance of twenty miles, is a hill about six hundred feet in height, now called Cameron's hill, but then named Mount Pleasant. Around and about this hill, in 1775, many members of the Clan Macdonald had settled, all of whom were of near kin to the laird and lady of Kingsburgh. Hard by are the sources of Barbeque Creek, and not many miles down that stream stood the old kirk, where the clansmen wors.h.i.+pped, and where Flora inscribed her name on the members.h.i.+p roll.

Mount Pleasant stands in the very midst of the pinery region, and from it in every direction stretches the great pine forest. Near this center Allan Macdonald of Kingsburgh purchased of Caleb Touchstone a plantation embracing five hundred and fifty acres on which were a dwelling house and outhouses which were more pretentious than was then customary among Highland settlers. The sum paid, as set forth in the deed, was four hundred and sixty pounds. Here Flora established herself, that with her family she might spend the rest of her days in peace and quiet. But the times were not propitious. There was commotion which soon ended in a long and bitter war. Even this need not have materially disturbed the family had not Kingsburgh precipitated himself into the conflict, needlessly and recklessly. With blind fatuity he took the wrong side in the controversy; and even then by the exercise of patience might have overcome the effects of his folly. Before Flora and her family were settled in America the storm gave its ominous rumble. When Governor Martin, who had deserted his post and fled to an armed cruiser in the mouth of the Cape Fear river, issued his proclamation, Allan Macdonald was among the first to respond. The war spirit of Flora was stirred within her, and she partook of the enthusiasm of her husband. According to tradition, when the Highlanders gathered around the standard Flora made them an address in their own Gaelic tongue that excited them to the highest pitch of warlike enthusiasm. With the due devotion of an affectionate wife, Flora followed her husband for several days, and encamped one night with him in a dangerous place, on the brow of Haymount, near the American forces. For a time she refused to listen to her husband's entreaties to return home, for he thought his life was enough to be in jeopardy. Finally when the army took up its march with banners flying and martial music, she deemed it time to retrace her steps, and affectionately embraced her husband, her eyes dimmed with tears as she breathed an earnest prayer to heaven for his safe and speedy return to his family and home. But alas! she never saw him again in America.

The rebellion of the Highlanders in North Carolina, which ended in a fiasco, has already been narrated. Flora was soon aroused to the fact that the battle was against them, and her husband and one son were confined in Halifax jail. It appears that even she was brought before the Committee of Safety, where she exhibited a "spirited behavior."[177]

Sorrows, indeed, had acc.u.mulated rapidly upon her: a severe typhus fever attacked the younger members of the family and two of her children died, a boy and a girl aged respectively eleven and thirteen, and her daughter, f.a.n.n.y, was still in precarious health, from the dregs of a recent fever. By the advice of her imprisoned husband she resolved to return to her native country. Fortunately for her she secured the favor and good offices of Captain Ingram, an American officer, who promised to a.s.sist her. He furnished her with a pa.s.sport to Wilmington, and from thence she found her way to Charleston, from which port she sailed to her native land, in 1779. In this step she was partly governed by the state of health of her daughter f.a.n.n.y. Crossing the Atlantic with none of her family but f.a.n.n.y--her five sons and son-in-law actively engaged in the war--the Scottish heroine met with the last of her adventures.

The vessel in which she sailed engaged a French privateer, and during the conflict her left arm was broken. So, in after years, she truthfully said that she had served both the House of Stuart and the House of Hanover, but had been worsted in the cause of each. For some time she resided at Milton, where her brother built her a cottage: but on the return of her husband they again settled at Kingsburgh, where she died March 5, 1790.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 176: Memoir General Stark, 1831, p. 252.]

[Footnote 177: Captain Alexander McDonald's Letter-Book, p. 387.]

CHAPTER XV.

DISTINGUISHED HIGHLANDERS IN AMERICAN INTERESTS

The att.i.tude of the Highlanders during the Revolutionary War was not of such a nature as to bring them prominently into view in the cause of freedom. Nor was it the policy of the American statesmen to cater to race distinctions and prejudices. They did not regard their cause to be a race war. They fought for freedom without regard to their origin, believing that a just Providence would smile upon their efforts. Many nationalities were represented in the American army. Men left their homes in the Old World, purposely to engage in the cause of Independence, some of whom gained immortal renown, and will be remembered with honor by generations yet unborn. As has been already noted, there were natives of the Highlands of Scotland, who had made America their home and imbibed the principles of political liberty, and early identified themselves with the cause of their adopted country. The lives of some of these patriots are herewith imperfectly sketched.

GENERAL ALEXANDER McDOUGALL.

[Ill.u.s.tration: GEN. ALEXANDER MCDOUGALL.]

There are few names in the annals of the American Revolution upon which one can linger with more satisfaction than that of the gallant and true-hearted Alexander McDougall. As early as August 20, 1775, Was.h.i.+ngton wrote to General Schuyler concerning him: his "zeal is unquestionable."[178] Writing to General McDougall, May 23, 1777, Was.h.i.+ngton says: "I wish every officer in the army could appeal to His own heart and find the same principles of conduct, that I am persuaded actuate you."[179] The same writing to Thomas Jefferson, August 1, 1786, lamented the brave "soldier and disinterested patriot," and exclaimed, "Thus some of the pillars of the revolution fall."[180]

Alexander McDougall was born in the island of Islay in Scotland, in 1731, being the son of Ra.n.a.ld McDougall, who emigrated to the province of New York in 1735. The father purchased a small farm near the city of New York, and there peddled milk, in which avocation he was a.s.sisted by his son, who never was ashamed of the employment of his youth. Alexander was a keen observer of pa.s.sing events and took great interest in the game of politics. With vigilance he watched the aggressive steps of the royal government; and when the a.s.sembly, in the winter of 1769, faltered in its opposition to the usurpations of the crown and insulted the people by rejecting a proposition authorizing the vote by ballot, and by entering on the favorable consideration of a bill of supplies for troops quartered in the city to overawe the inhabitants, he issued an address, under the t.i.tle of "A Son of Liberty to the Betrayed Inhabitants of the Colony," in which he contrasted the a.s.sembly with the legislative bodies in other parts of the country, and held up their conduct to unmitigated and just indignation. The bold and deserved rebuke was laid before the house by its speaker, and, with the exception of Philip Schuyler, every member voted that it was "an infamous and seditious libel." A proclamation for the discovery of the author was issued by the governor, and it being traced to Alexander McDougall, he was arrested in February, 1770, and refusing to give bail was committed to prison by order of chief justice Horsmanden. As he was being carried to prison, clearly reading in the signs about him the future of the country, he exclaimed, "I rejoice that I am the first sufferer for liberty since the commencement of our glorious struggle." During the two months of his confinement he was overrun with visitors. He poured forth continued appeals to the people, and boldly avowed his revolutionary opinions. In every circle his case was the subject of impa.s.sioned conversation, and in an especial manner he became the idol of the ma.s.ses. A packed jury found an indictment against him, and on December 20th he was arraigned at the bar of the a.s.sembly on the same charge, on which occasion he was defended by George Clinton, afterwards the first governor of the State of New York. In the course of the following month a writ of habeas corpus was sued out, but without result, and he was not liberated until March 4, 1771, when the a.s.sembly was prorogued. When the a.s.sembly attempted to extort from him a humiliating recantation, he undauntingly answered their threat, that "rather than resign my rights and privileges as a British subject, I would suffer my right hand to be cut off at the bar of the house." When set at liberty he entered into correspondence with the master-spirits in all parts of the country; and when the celebrated meetings in the fields were held, on July 6, 1774, preparatory to the election of the New York delegates to the First General Congress, he was called to preside, and resolutions prepared by him were adopted, pointing out the mode of choosing deputies, inveighing against the Boston Port Bill, and urging upon the proposed congress the prohibition of all commercial intercourse with Great Britain. In March 1775, he was a member of the Provincial Convention, and was nominated as one of the candidates for the Continental Congress at Philadelphia, but was not elected. In the same year he received a commission as colonel of the 1st New York regiment, and on August 9, 1776, was created brigadier-general. On the evening of the 29th of the same month he was selected by Was.h.i.+ngton to superintend the embarkation of the troops from Brooklyn; was actively engaged on Chatterton's Hill and in various places in New Jersey; and when General William Heath, in the spring of 1777, left Peekskill to a.s.sume the command of the eastern department, he succeeded that officer, but was compelled, by a superior force under Sir William Howe, to retreat from the town, after destroying a considerable supply of stores, on March 23rd. After the battle of Germantown, in which he partic.i.p.ated, Was.h.i.+ngton, writing to the president of Congress, under date of October 7, 1777, says:

"I cannot however omit this opportunity of recommending General McDougall to their notice. This gentleman, from the time of his appointment as brigadier, from his abilities, military knowledge, and approved bravery, has every claim to promotion."[181]

On the 20th of the same month he was commissioned major-general. On March 16, 1778, he was directed to a.s.sume the command of the different posts on the Hudson, and, with activity, pursued the construction of the fortifications in the Highlands, and, after the flight of General Arnold, was put in command of West Point, October 5, 1780. Near the close of that year he was called upon by New York to repair to Congress as one of their representatives. It was a critical moment, and Was.h.i.+ngton urged his acceptance of the post; accordingly he took his seat in the Congress the next January. Congress having organized an executive department, in 1781, General McDougall was appointed Minister of Marine. He did not remain long in Philadelphia, for his habits, friends.h.i.+ps, a.s.sociations and convictions of duty recalled him to the camp. The confidence felt in his integrity and good judgment by all cla.s.ses in the service, was such, that when the army went into winter quarters at Newburgh, in 1783, he was chosen at the head of the delegation to Congress to represent their grievances. The same year, after the close of the war, he was elected to represent the Southern District in the senate of New York and continued a member of that body until his death, which occurred in the city of New York June 8, 1786. At the time of his decease, General McDougall was president of the Bank of New York. In politics he adhered to the Hamilton party.

GENERAL LACHLAN M'INTOSH.

The history of the emigration of John Mohr McIntosh to Georgia, and the settlement upon the Alatamaha, where now stands the city of Darien, has already been recorded. The second son of John Mohr was Lachlan, born near Raits in Badenoch, Scotland, March 17, 1725, and consequently was eleven years old at the time he emigrated to America. As has been already noted John Mohr McIntosh was captured by the Spaniards at Fort Moosa, carried to Spain, and after several years, returned in broken health.

Both Lachlan and his elder brother William were placed as cadets in the regiment by General Oglethorpe. When General Oglethorpe made his final preparations for his return to England, the two young brothers were found hid away in the hold of another vessel, for they had heard of the attempts then being made by prince Charles to regain the throne of his ancestors, and they hoped to regain something that the family of Borlam had lost, of which they were members. General Oglethorpe had the two boys brought to his cabin; he spoke to them of the friends.h.i.+p he had entertained for their father, of the kindness he had shown to themselves, of the hopelessness of every attempt of the house of Stuart, of their own folly in engaging in this wild and desperate struggle, of his own duty as an officer of the house of Brunswick; but if they would go ash.o.r.e, their secret should be his. He received their pledge and they never saw him again.

[Ill.u.s.tration: GENERAL LACHLAN MCINTOSH.]

At that time the means of education in Georgia were limited, yet under his mother's care Lachlan McIntosh was well instructed in English, mathematics and other branches necessary for future military use.

Lachlan sought the promising field of enterprise in Charleston, South Carolina, where the fame of his father's gallantry and misfortunes secured to him a kind reception from Henry Laurens, afterwards president of Congress, and the first minister of the United States to Holland. In the house of that patriot he remained several years, and contracted friends.h.i.+ps that lasted while he lived, with some of the leading citizens of the southern colonies. Having adopted the profession of surveyor, and married, he returned to Georgia, where he acquired a wide and honorable reputation. On account of his views concerning certain lands between the Alatamaha and St. Mary's rivers which did not coincide with those of Governor Wright of Georgia, it afforded the latter a pretence, for a long and deliberate opposition to the interests of Lachlan McIntosh, which gradually schooled him for the approaching conflict between England and her American colonies. When that event began to dawn upon the people every eye in Georgia was turned to General McIntosh as the leader of whatever force that province might bring into the struggle. When, therefore, the revolutionary government was organized and an order was made for raising a regiment was adopted, Lachlan McIntosh was made colonel commandant; and when the order was issued for raising three other regiments, in September, 1776, he was immediately appointed brigadier-general commandant. About this time b.u.t.ton Gwinnett was elected governor, who had been an unsuccessful compet.i.tor for the command of the troops. He was a man unrestrained by any honorable principles, and used his official authority in petty persecutions of General McIntosh and his family. The general bore all this patiently until his opponent ceased to be governor, when he communicated to him the opinion he entertained of his conduct. He received a challenge, and in a duel wounded him mortally. General McIntosh now applied, through his friend Colonel Henry Laurens, for a place in the Continental army, which was granted, and with his staff was invited to join the commander-in-chief. He soon won the confidence of Was.h.i.+ngton, and for a long time was placed in his front, while watching the superior forces of Sir William Howe in Philadelphia.

While the army was in winter quarters at Valley Forge, the attention of the government was called to the exposed condition of the western frontier, upon which the British was constantly exciting the Indians to the most terrible atrocities. It was determined that General McIntosh should command an expedition against the Indians on the Ohio. In a letter to the President of Congress, dated May 12, 1778, Was.h.i.+ngton says:

"After much consideration upon the subject, I have appointed General McIntosh to command at Fort Pitt, and in the western country, for which he will set out as soon as he can accommodate his affairs. I part with this gentleman with much reluctance, as I esteem him an officer of great worth and merit, and as I know his services here are and will be materially wanted. His firm disposition and equal justice, his a.s.siduity and good understanding, added to his being a stranger to all parties in that quarter, pointed him out as a proper person."[182]

With a reinforcement of five hundred men General McIntosh marched to Fort Pitt, of which he a.s.sumed the command, and in a short time he gave repose to all western Pennsylvania and Virginia. In the spring of 1779, he completed arrangements for an expedition against Detroit, but in April was recalled by Was.h.i.+ngton to take part in the operations proposed for the south, where his knowledge of the country, added to his stirling qualities, promised him a useful field. He joined General Lincoln in Charleston, and every preparation in their power was made for the invasion of Georgia, then in possession of the British, as soon as the French fleet under count D'Estaing should arrive on the coast. General McIntosh marched to Augusta, took command of the advance of the troops, and proceeding down to Savannah, drove in all the British outposts.

Expecting to be joined by the French, he marched to Beauly, where count D'Estaing effected a landing on September 12th, 13th, and 14th, and on the 15th was joined by General Lincoln. General McIntosh pressed for an immediate attack, but the French admiral refused. In the very midst of the siege the French fleet put to sea, leaving Generals Lincoln and McIntosh to retreat to Charleston, where they were besieged by an overwhelming force under Sir Henry Clinton, to whom the city was surrendered on May 12, 1780. With this event the military life of General McIntosh closed. He was long detained a prisoner of war, and when finally released, retired with his family to Virginia, where he remained until the British troops were driven from Savannah. Upon his return to Georgia, he found his personal property wasted and his real estate much diminished in value. From that time to the close of his life, in a great measure, he lived in retirement and comparative poverty until his death, which took place at Savannah, February 20, 1806.