AmRev-Bio.V1tpgs 9/29/03 3:44 PM Page 3 Volume 1: A–J American Revolution Biographies Linda Schmittroth and Mary Kay Rosteck Stacy A. McConnell, Editor AmRevBioFM.qxp 7/29/03 3:00 PM Page iv Linda Schmittroth and Mary Kay Rosteck s e i Staff h Stacy McConnell, U•X•L Editor p Judy Galens, U•X•L Contributing Editor a Carol DeKane Nagel, U•X•L Managing Editor r Thomas L. Romig, U•X•L Publisher g Margaret Chamberlain, Permissions Specialist (Pictures) o Rita Wimberley, Senior Buyer Bi Evi Seoud, Assistant Production Manager Dorothy Maki, Manufacturing Manager : n Tracey Rowens, Senior Art Director o LM Design, Typesetting i t u Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data l Schmittroth, Linda o American Revolution : biographies / Linda Schmittroth and Mary Kay v Rosteck ; edited by Stacy McConnell. e p. cm. R Includes bibliographical references and index. n Summary: Profiles sixty men and women who were key players on the British or American side of the American Revolution. a ISBN 0-7876-3792-0 (set) — ISBN 0-7876-3793-9 (v. 1). — ISBN 0-7876- c 3794-7 (v. 2) i r 1. United States—History—Revolution, 1775-1783—Biography—Juvenile e literature. [1. United States—History—Revolution, 1775-1783—Biography.] m I. Rosteck, Mary Kay. II. McConnell, Stacy A. III. Title. E206 .S36 2000 A 973.3’092’2—dc21 99-046941 CIP This publication is a creative work fully protected by all applicable copy- right laws, as well as by misappropriation, trade secret, unfair competition, and other applicable laws. The authors and editors of this work have added value to the underlying factual material herein through one or more of the following: unique and original selection, coordination, expression, arrangement, and classification of the information. All rights to this pub- lication will be vigorously defended. Copyright © 2000 U•X•L, an imprint of The Gale Group All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. Front cover photographs (top to bottom): Crispus Attucks reproduced courtesy of the Library of Congress; Patrick Henry reproduced courtesy of the Library of Congress. Back cover photograph: Mount Vernon reproduced by permission of the Detroit Photographic Company. Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 AmRevBioFM.qxp 7/29/03 3:00 PM Page v Contents Advisory Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix Reader’s Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii Words to Know . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxiii Volume 1: A-J Abigail Adams. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 John Adams. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Samuel Adams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Ethan Allen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Benedict Arnold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Black Freedom Fighters . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Joseph Brant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Mary “Molly” Brant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 John Burgoyne. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Edmund Burke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Margaret Cochran Corbin. . . . . . . . . . . . 90 v AmRevBioFM.qxp 7/29/03 3:00 PM Page vi Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur. . . . . . . . . . 97 John Dickinson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 Benjamin Franklin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 Deborah Read Franklin . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 Elizabeth Freeman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 Thomas Gage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 Bernardo de Gálvez . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 George III. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 Simon Girty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164 Mary Katherine Goddard . . . . . . . . . . . 173 Nathan Hale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 Alexander Hamilton. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 John Hancock. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198 Nancy Morgan Hart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210 Patrick Henry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218 William Howe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228 John Jay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 Thomas Jefferson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxiii Volume 2: K-Z Thaddeus Kosciuszko . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257 Marquis de Lafayette . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264 Pierre Charles L’Enfant. . . . . . . . . . . . . 275 Louis XVI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284 Flora Macdonald . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294 James Madison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302 George Mason . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312 Mary McCauley (“Molly Pitcher”) . . . . . . . 321 Jane McCrea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328 Judith Sargent Murray . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338 Jonathan Odell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345 Thomas Paine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353 William Pitt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361 Casimir Pulaski . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370 David Ramsay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379 Esther De Berdt Reed . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385 Paul Revere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391 Frederika von Riedesel . . . . . . . . . . . . 399 James Rivington. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408 vi American Revolution: Biographies AmRevBioFM.qxp 7/29/03 3:00 PM Page vii Betsy Ross . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417 Benjamin Rush . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426 Deborah Sampson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434 Daniel Shays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443 Charles Townshend . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451 Horace Walpole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459 Mercy Otis Warren . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468 George Washington . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478 Phillis Wheatley. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489 John Wilkes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxiii Contents vii AmRevBioFM.qxp 7/29/03 3:01 PM Page ix Advisory Board Special thanks are due for the invaluable comments and sug- gestions provided by U•X•L’s American Revolution Refer- ence Library advisors: • Mary Alice Anderson, Media Specialist, Winona Middle School, Winona, Minnesota. • Jonathan Betz-Zall, Children’s Librarian, Sno-Isle Regional Library System, Edmonds, Washington. • Frances Bryant Bradburn, Section Chief, Information Tech- nology Evaluation Services, Public Schools of North Car- olina, Raleigh, North Carolina. • Sara K. Brooke, Director of Libraries, Ellis School, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. • Peter Butts, Media Specialist, East Middle School, Holland, Michigan. ix AmRevBioFM.qxp 7/29/03 3:01 PM Page xi Reader’s Guide American Revolution: Biographies presents biographies of sixty men and women who took part in, influenced, or were in some way affected by the American Revolution. Among the people profiled in each of the two volumes are American patriots and presidents; colonists who remained loyal to Eng- land; Native Americans, royalty, politicians, scoundrels, and military officers from foreign nations who helped or hindered the American fight for freedom; writers, poets, and publishers; and heroic colonial women who wrote, took up arms, acted as spies, or raised funds for American independence. American Revolution: Biographies not only includes the biographies of such famous patriots as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Samuel Adams, Thomas Paine, and Thomas Jefferson, it also features the life stories of less celebrated people such as Phillis Wheatley, renowned poet and former slave; Frenchman Pierre Charles L’Enfant, who designed the city of Washington, D.C.; Deborah Sampson, a woman who donned a military uniform and served as an army soldier; and Frederika von Riedesel, a German who chronicled the Revolution while traveling throughout the colonies with her young family as her husband fought for the British. xi AmRevBioFM.qxp 7/29/03 3:01 PM Page xii Other features American Revolution: Biographiesalso highlights interest- ing people with ties to the main biography subjects, and adds details that help round out events of the Revolutionary period. Each entry contains cross-references to other individuals pro- filed in the two-volume set, and each offers a list of sources— including web sites—for further information about the indi- vidual profiled. A timeline and glossary introduce each volume and a cumulative subject index concludes each volume. American Revolution: Biographies has two companion volumes: American Revolution: Almanac, which describes in narrative form the events leading up to the war and the major events of the war; and American Revolution: Primary Sources, which contains excerpts from more than thirty Revolutionary- era documents. Acknowledgments The authors wish to thank Mary Reilly McCall, who contributed encouragement, enthusiasm, and several biogra- phies to this set. Comments and suggestions We welcome your comments on this work as well as your suggestions for topics to be featured in future editions of American Revolution: Biographies.Please write: Editors, American Revolution: Biographies, U•X•L, 27500 Drake Rd., Farmington Hills, MI 48331-3535; call toll-free: 1-800-877-4253; fax: 248- 414-5043; or send e-mail via www.galegroup.com. xii American Revolution: Biographies AmRevBioFM.qxp 7/29/03 3:01 PM Page xiii Timeline of Events in Revolutionary America 1754 Start of the French and Indian War, pitting the French and their Indian allies against the British for control of North America. 1760 George IIIbecomes King of England. 1762 James Otis Jr., brother of Mercy Otis Warren, pub- lishes a pamphlet arguing for a limitation on Parlia- ment’s right to interfere with colonial affairs. 1763 French and Indian War ends with a British victory. To appease Native Americans, King George IIIforbids colo- nial settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains. 1765 In March, King George III approves the Stamp Act, which taxes the American colonies to pay for the French and Indian War. Horace Walpole, British Member of Parliament, opposes the Stamp Act before Parliament and speaks out for the rights of American colonists. In July, Boston patriots (“Sons of Liberty”) unite in opposition to the Stamp Act. In August, a mob destroys the house of Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Thomas Hutchinson to protest the act. xiii AmRevBioFM.qxp 7/29/03 3:01 PM Page xiv In September, Deborah Read Franklin defends her property when an angry mob outside her home protests that her husband, Benjamin Franklin, has not fought vigorously enough against the Stamp Act. In October, delegates at a Stamp Act Congress adopt John Dickinson’s Declaration of Rights and Griev- ances, protesting the Stamp Act. 1766 The British government repeals the Stamp Act and replaces it with the Declaratory Act, asserting Eng- land’s right to make laws that colonists must obey. British politician William Pittmakes a famous speech in Parliament, declaring his opinion that Britain “has no right to lay a tax upon” the American colonies. 1767 In June, British politician Charles Townshendpushes through Parliament the Townshend Acts, imposing new taxes on American colonists. In December, John Dickinson’s “Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania” appear in colonial newspapers, protesting Parliament’s power to tax the colonies. 1768 In February, Samuel Adams writes a letter opposing taxation without representation and calls for the colonists to unite against British oppression. In May, British troops arrive in Boston to enforce the Townshend Acts. In June, tax collectors seize John Hancock’s ship the Libertyand sell its cargo. 1769 George Mason’s Virginia Resolves, which opposes British taxation and other policies, is presented to Vir- ginia lawmakers. 1770 Benjamin Rush publishes the first American chem- istry textbook. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur begins writing the pieces that are later published as Letters from an Ameri- can Farmer. In March, during the Boston Massacre, five colonists are killed by British soldiers, including a black man named Crispus Attucks. xiv American Revolution: Biographies