Sullivan, John (1740-1795), was an American military officer and statesman. He gained fame as a general serving under George Washington during the American Revolution (1775-1783).
Sullivan was born on Feb. 17, 1740, in Summersworth Parish (later Somersworth), New Hampshire. He studied law as a young man. Sullivan practiced law briefly in Berwick, Maine. In 1763, he opened a law practice in Durham, New Hampshire.
Sullivan became an officer in New Hampshire’s colonial militia (citizen army) in the early 1770’s. In 1774, he attended the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia. The Congress demanded that the British government grant the American Colonies the right to regulate their internal affairs. The British government ignored the Congress. Sullivan also represented New Hampshire at the Second Continental Congress when it met in May 1775.
In June 1775, in the early months of the American Revolution, Sullivan was appointed a brigadier general in the Continental Army. He later won promotion to major general. Sullivan led army units during patriot victories at Trenton in 1776 and Princeton in 1777. He received criticism, however, after patriot defeats at Brandywine and Germantown in 1777. Sullivan gained a reputation for both courage in battle and hostility toward rivals he believed had disrespected him.
In 1778, Sullivan served as leader of the patriot military forces in Rhode Island. His effort to capture the British garrison at Newport with the help of the French Navy ended in yet another failure. Sullivan’s reputation survived this setback, however. In 1779, George Washington gave him command of an expedition to punish British-allied Iroquois in western New York for their many raids along the American frontier. Sullivan succeeded in this mission, defeating the Iroquois in battle at Newtown and burning many Iroquois villages. He resigned from the army later that year.
In 1780 and 1781, Sullivan represented New Hampshire in the Continental Congress. He later served as New Hampshire’s attorney general. Sullivan was elected New Hampshire’s governor in 1786, 1787, and 1789. In 1789, he was appointed to the Federal District Court of New Hampshire. He served as a judge on the court through 1792. Sullivan died in Durham on Jan. 23, 1795.
See also American Revolution; Germantown, Battle of; Trenton, Battle of.
