Major General John Sullivan

Sullivan, John (1740-95), American military officer and statesman, was born in Somersworth, New Hampshire. During the American Revolution, as Brigadier General and later Major General in the Continental Army, he held important commands at the siege of Boston from 1775-76; the battles of Long Island and Trenton in 1776; and the battles of Princeton, Brandywine, and Germantown in 1777.

Sullivan was captured during the Battle of Long Island (1776), but was exchanged in time to fight at Trenton and Princeton. In 1778, he headed the American forces that besieged Newport. In 1779 he fought his most effective campaign, against the Iroquois and Loyalists along the New York frontier. Sullivan is particularly noted for his leadership, together with General James Clinton, of an expedition that decisively defeated a strong combined force of British Loyalists and Iroquois warriors at Newtown (now Elmira), New York, on August 29, 1779. He resigned his commission in November of that year and served (1780-81) in the Continental Congress. He later served also as New Hampshire's attorney general (1782-86) and president (1786-87, 1789) and as U.S. district judge of New Hampshire (1789-95).

(See Bibliography below)

| Back to Timeline | or click on your browser's "back to previous page" button

Picture Credit: Independence National Historic Park collection, Philadelphia
Bibliography: Amory, Thomas C., The Military Services and Public Life of Major General John Sullivan (1868; repr. 1968); Whittemore, Charles P., A General of the Revolution: John Sullivan (1961);"Sullivan, John," Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 99.